Which Clipper Will be Guarding LeBron James?

LeBron Cornelius James

The reason I ask: Barring a catastrophe, the Eastern Conference will be won by the Miami Heat. If we're fortunate enough to make the finals (although some people think we're already a lock) we're going to be confronted with LBJ at arguably the prime of his career.

You don't need to remind me: I get it. You can't guard him. Best thing you can do is slow him down. But even the biggest optimists here have to admit some players slow him down better than others. I feel like our selection at SF puts us at the bottom 3rd in the league in terms of potential to deal with LeBron.

Suggested practical solutions? Team defense only takes you so far. And if you think it's the holy grail, the San Antonio Spurs beg to differ. (Probably the Pacers too) What do you guys think?

Again, I'm thinking "title" which is why I even bring it up. You can't beat the game without beating the boss.

barnes, dudley, at times, depending if griffin keeps improving, id go with BG.

barnes, dudley, at times, depending if griffin keeps improving, id go with BG.

In the post? Maybe, but Blake would get raped trying to defend Lebron on the perimeter.

Despite the fact that Indy has PG and San Antonio with Kawhi, both teams slowed Lebron with TEAM defense (closing the lanes, forcing him to make jumpers). That's pretty much what every team has to do against such a physical specimen.

Redick our new defensive guru

Cramps

Blake's done a pretty good job staying in front of small forwards on the perimeter at times...just wouldn't want him to do that on a regular basis.

Basically we guard him the way we did last time. We did split the series. Only I believe Dudley will be better than Butler on D. Heck, I think we've upgraded D on both wings. We'll be alright. James is almost unguardable anyway. Could be a matter of stopping everyone else, while still trying to make James work for it.

Matt JD and count reggie bullock i know in the draft prospect they say hey can shoot but what they missed out is reggie is a top notch defensive player. He always guard whoever the best player on the opposing team..

Dudleynto start put, Matt Barnes as the main option, Bullock can come in and defend if needed, and from time to time BG can. You can stop him but you have to throw different biddies at and give him different looks thought the game. DJ will have to develop to be our on the team to help protect the rim. Our team defense has a lot of work to do but I have faith

When it comes to legendary good players like Lebron it's not important. Why? Because NOBODY in the NBA can guard Lebron James consistently in a series. Better to focus on shutting down all the Heat role players and other stars who CAN be shutdown. Let Lebron go off for 50/10 as long as you shut down guys like Bosh, Allen, Miller and Battier.

If the Clippers make the finals, guarding Lebron is important for sure, but the real question is who slows down the whole Heat offense and that will be the team. Dudley will make Bron work a little on offense, not individually, but because he moves a lot off the ball. You want to do that, make him expend some energy. Barnes will do the same. The advantage is that they affect Lebron's ability as a team defender because they move and don't let him sit back and play the role of super help defender as easily.

Play off him and make him a shooter, and focus more on not letting Miami's shooters go off too often on you. You obviously can't totally limit the shooters, but you can't let them burn you all day.

Deng/Butler:

23.6 / 7.0 / 7.8 / .573 TS% / 118 Ortg

George:

29.0 / 7.3 / 5.3 / .609 TS% / 121 Ortg

Leonard/Green/Pop strategy/not fouling:

25.3 / 10.9 / 7.0 / .529 TS% / 113 Ortg

The first thing to note is that Lebron's Ortg vs SA despite the first three poor games he had to start the series was equal to Memphis's offensive production vs LAC. Second thing to note is that all this scoring production was in a lot of minutes, so his scoring rate wasn't anything crazy, I think like 22 pts/36 minutes. Last thing to note is that the individual defenders weren't the most effective, the defensive strategy of SA limited him the most because I don't believe Leonard and Green defended so much better that Deng/Butler and George

EDIT: Type, not "can let them burn you", but "can't"

Who's gonna guard ZBo and Gasol

Bingo.

I know that we're all very excited about the new signings and many of us think that Doc Rivers will magically install a defense that will completely shut out the likes of our best Western Conference competition, but I'm not so optimistic.

If we play Memphis again in the first round of the playoffs, who is going to guard their front court lineup? Who is going to step up and beat their elite defense? Who are we going to call on when Blake, CP3 or both of them get hurt against that team... AGAIN?

I get it, Memphis might've actually gotten worse this off-season. Arguably. But everyone else got better.

So here's my question, if the Clippers get to the Finals and end up playing the Heat, who will have stepped up and surpassed all of our wildest expectations?

Deandre or Blake?

The team has too.That is what Doc's defensive system needs to figure out.Also we need Blake and DJ to step up big time and protect the rim.Lebron loves to drive so guys like Hibbert,Howard,and Duncan made it difficult for Lebron.No one can guard him and it's hard to even slow him down.But if you can protect the rim and force him to take jump shots,then you have a chance to beat him.

Agent that didn't prove much of anything. Lebron crushed all of those guys and was beyond efficient. Leonard did a very admirable job but he's a unique defender and there aren't any available like him. Besides Doc's defensive system is team/trap oriented like Pop's, it's not about 1 on 1 defenders. If DJ becomes the defensive anchor we all need we can handle anybody when the wing players funnel into the paint.

Cramps

LOL

Agent that didn't prove much of anything. Lebron crushed all of those guys and was beyond efficient. Leonard did a very admirable job but he's a unique defender and there aren't any available like him. Besides Doc's defensive system is team/trap oriented like Pop's, it's not about 1 on 1 defenders. If DJ becomes the defensive anchor we all need we can handle anybody when the wing players funnel into the paint.

You do realize I was saying that it was SA's defensive strategy, NOT the individual defenders that limited Lebron the most because I don't believe their individual defenders are superior in any way to the ones Chicago and Indiana threw out. And even with that, and his poor start to the series, his Ortg was the same as Memphis' vs LAC, Memphis offensive production vs LAC made the Clippers look worse than the league's worst defense.

well no one said that griffin would guard him every minute. so yeah. it would be dudley, barnes and bullock. griffin would have his shot at him. like several posters said its going to be by committee with an emphasis to lock up the other players

When it comes to legendary good players like Lebron it's not important. Why? Because NOBODY in the NBA can guard Lebron James consistently in a series. Better to focus on shutting down all the Heat role players and other stars who CAN be shutdown. Let Lebron go off for 50/10 as long as you shut down guys like Bosh, Allen, Miller and Battier.

Amen. Any questions???

Exactly my answer, along with many of yall. Throw different bodies at him. I voted for BG. Although I can see Fudley and Matty B there more naturally. But it's historically proven that the league wants mega stars to shine. So we make it as difficult for him to shine, but the main objective is shut out everyone else. That's how you get the W.

I think Griffin has the potential to shut down lebron..

Some of these answers are absurd. Why is CP3 on this poll lol?

The best strategy to guard Lebron James is to have a capable wing defender sag off him and have other players ready to collapse on him if he drives.

This was shown in the Spurs series. This strategy is especially effective if Wade is on the floor since he has no 3 point shot.

This does not mean that Lebron is a bad shooter. He is a very good shooter. Its just that its much better to get punished by his 46% mid ranged jump shot than letting him convert at the rim which he does at 70s%.

So basically Dudley/Bullock/Barnes sags off him and dares him to shoot jumpers. If he manages to drive to the basket hopefully those Sfs will get help or DJ deters him.

This strategy sadly isn't too effective with the Lebron + 4 shooters lineup. I would rely on single coverage in that case and play small ball. You don't want those shooters having open 3s when Lebron gets double teamed so I prefer single coverage in that case. Lebron is too good of a passer to not pass to the open man.

Willie Green can shut down anyone with a basketball!!!!!!! From point guard to center, they don't stand a chance!!!!

This is also why we need an effective back up to DJ. I think DJ will be a defensive monster this year, but don't think his free throw rate will improve by 20%. This will limit his minutes down the stretch, specifically in close games. Every Time Lebron beat these teams in crucial minutes they had their big men sitting down. I would of liked to have gotten O'neal but brand or dalembert are just as good.

If the defender sags off and Lebron sees Hollins as the defenders back up he knows he's most likely getting free throws.

Yeah, Hollins is a bit of a foul machine.

The East is the Bulls to lose. Miami lucked out that D Rose tore his ACL or whatever a couple of years ago because Chicago was primed to spank Miami's butts. If D Rose comes back fully healthy, and seeing as how much Joakim Noah grew, and the emergence of Jimmy Butler, the Bulls are going to be friggin awesome.

ANd for the 2 games we will play them in the regular season, who cares? Don't we usually beat these guys anyways? Any losses are clearly becase Dwyane Wade, Bosh and Lebron scream and whine so loud, you can hear it over the crowd so we get horrible calls against us because we aren't cry babies.

Basketball is a game, I don't whine when someone beats me in monopoly.

Are you joking? Heat, Nets, Knicks, Bulls. We don't know if Rose will ever even play again he has been cleared for months but he was not mentally there. Bulls are a strong team but i don't think they beat out the Heat Knicks and Nets.

I agree to a point of the new found strengths of the Bulls. They still need to replace Boozer in my opinion, but Butler was a great find. They did give the Heat a lot of trouble in the playoffs while missing everyone. So has Doc's defense in the past, all those physical tough defenses are not what the Heat like to play.

With that said, and as much as I hate to say it. They are still the reigning champions, and have to be treated as such until dethroned.

Personally I would rather Blake step his game up so much, that the Heat (Bulls, Knicks, Nets, everyone in the West, whoever) have to ask themselves who is going to stop Blake. I really think that is what can make us unstoppable.

Are you joking? Heat, Nets, Knicks, Bulls. We don't know if Rose will ever even play again he has been cleared for months but he was not mentally there. Bulls are a strong team but i don't think they beat out the Heat Knicks and Nets.

Knicks aren't going anywhere, outside of enjoying early round exits for years. How the hell are the Knicks going to be a top team in the East with Grandpa Stoudemire and Melo as their top 2 players? Melo is like 23-48 in career playoff games, that's craptastic.

Nets may make some noise, East is still the Bulls though. I hate Chicago but D Rose is a monster and they have the best coach in that entire conference on their bench. Bulls don't mess around and Bosh will get molested in the paint by Boozer, Gibson and Noah. D Wade can't hang with Derrick Rose so it's pretty much Lebron V the entire Bulls team.

Heat's lucky run is over folks.

Erm what? Last time I checked the Heat had no problem dispatching a "great" Bulls team in 5 games in 2011 with a healthy Rose. Lebron completely shut down Rose. Rose went 1/15 when guarded by Lebron. I take the team with Lebron over the team with "monster" Rose any day.

The Bulls got better but so did the Heat. If Wade is semi-healthy then the Heat win in 6 tops. He played with the same injury that made CP3 miss about 10 games last season which is why he was crap in the playoffs.

As for saying D Wade can't handle Rose.... Disrespectful. Rose is basically a homeless man's peak D Wade. I take a healthy D Wade(the one after all star break last season) over "MVP" Rose any day.

The best answer is: Blake Griffin & CP3's lethal double team that worked so well against other players last year.

LeBron is too smart to let himself get double teamed, but that the best thing I can think of.

a 2011 Bulls team is a whole helluva lot different than today's Bulls. Bulls weren't even the top seed nor the favorites to win the East the year Rose got injured. Noah is one of the best Centers, probably the best complete Center in the league today. Rose is one of the top players in the NBA, Luol Deng, Jimmy Butler and Carlos Boozer are beasts. I'll take Chicago over Miami any day of the week. Heat got lucky 2 years in a row, luck ends next season.

Be interesting to see how well they do against Indiana if Granger is healthy, the new Nets squad and a healthy Bulls team. Only 4 teams are capable of doing anything in the East, Knicks are pretenders all the way. A team full of selfish, offensive players with 1 guy to play defense.

Who will guard Blake, Redick and CP3 on the Heat? Bosh couldn't guard me and I'm 6' 200lbs and I'd shove that twig around in the paint. That's what Heat fans should be asking. Lebron can be contained, Indiana proved that and it's been proven before. D Wade is like 50 and clearly doesn't like playing second fiddle all the time to Lebron. I really hope Bron goes back to Cleveland after next season.

glad someone is asking this question, and.... only wish we had drafted Tony Mitchell.... there is a reason San Antonio drafted Andre Roberson.... hey, but at least Bullock can shoot.... whoever claims he can play D, is giving him a huge benefit of the doubt, 'specially at sf....

Rose wasn't injured in 2011 and they were the 1st seed....

The Bulls are marginally better this season at best. We don't know if Rose will be as good as he was in 2011 this season and Lebron will shut him down. Rose relies way too much on his athleticism. Deng and Boozer are worse than their 2011 selves. They loss key members of their bench like Asik. They used be mob deep but not anymore. Yea nothing suggests that they are significantly better if at all unless you think Jimmy Butler makes up for those changes.

The Heat are still the favorite and Lebron went off on the Pacers so I fail to see how they contained him so well. Don't remember the numbers but he scored on 60+ TS%. If anything they contained Wade and Bosh. The X factor is Wade's health. The Bulls haven't proven squat. The Pacers have pushed the Heat a lot harder than the Bulls ever had. Bosh has always had good series against the Bulls. Noah isn't Hibbert. Hibbert is a much more intimidating force and he is much better offensively while Noah is a garbage type offensive player. Great defender, rebounder and passer but different types of players.

Griffin/Barnes/Dudley on Lebron at different moments in the game.