The Los Angeles Lakers finally entered the NBA’s 2018-19 winners’ circle by defeating the Phoenix Suns 131-113 Thursday night. After three consecutive losses to start the season, many questioned the decision that LeBron James made over the summer that brought him and his talents to the City of Angels.
But one win doesn’t guarantee that the Lakers’ losing ways are over. Not by a long shot. James understands this. After the loss to the Spurs on Tuesday night, he said to The Associated Press:
“It’s a process. I get it, and we’ll be fine. I didn’t come here thinking we were going to be blazing, storming right out of the gate.”
The naysayers will continue to follow James after he moved to the wild, wild West(ern Conference) after staying for more than a decade in the league’s weaker conference, the East. Sure, the West is loaded with the best teams in the league such as the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, and Oklahoma City Thunder. But James elevates a team to greater heights in season one of his arrival and they get better in year two.
Early in the Season
Teams that are at or near the bottom of the standings in week one of a season rarely stay there. At the same time, not every team that’s at the top stays there as well. Yet, fans who have a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately approach toward the NBA standings are calling for Luke Walton’s head already. And even if they aren’t, some are expecting Walton to be axed eventually.
That’s ignorant thinking especially after this Lakers team was in the playoffs race last season until late March without James’ services. Sure, other teams have improved but the Lakers can only get better not worse.
In other words, there’s nowhere else for the Lakers to go except up.
Does anyone believe that the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat will keep their respective positions at third, fourth and sixth place by the end of the season? Or how about teams like the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets who are at first and second place, respectively, in the West?
There’s a lot of time left in the schedule for teams to turn it around and enough time for the Lakers to play better on both ends of the court.
The LeBron Adjustment
Every time James’ teams struggle, social media reactions are littered with doomsday predictions as if it’s the first time any of his teams have gone through a bump in the road during the regular season. In fact, his teams usually start slow coming out of the gate especially in year one of his arrival. When he moved from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Heat in 2010, they started out 9-8 despite the fact that he had two superstars along with him for the ride in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. When he returned to the Cavs, they were 5-7 in their first 12 games. That team also had two All-Stars who played with James namely the since-traded Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
There is an adjustment period that accompanies playing with James that isn’t as pronounced when compared to other stars in the league. He doesn’t merely change your system. He becomes the system, one in which all other players (superstar or not) revolve around. That’s why in Miami, Wade had to decide to take a step back in year two of their partnership for the Heat to win the 2011 NBA championship. In Cleveland, though it was Irving’s team before he returned, James eventually took the reins of the team. The result? A championship in year two once again.
Wait ‘Til the Midseason
It will take a while for the Lakers to truly hit their stride with so many new players in place aside from James. Coach Luke Walton also has to integrate key acquisitions Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee into the team and find roles for each one that will complement James’ all-around talent.
The good thing going for the Lakers is that these players are veterans who are ready to win and are willing to do what it takes for the team to become successful. Just don’t ask Beasley. Trust us.
Walton didn’t have a good feel for his team last year until the midseason when they started to win games more consistently. They had a stretch in which they won 12 of 16 games from January 8 to February 9. After a three-game losing streak, they ran off five straight wins en route to an 8-2 record in their next 10 games.
The Lakers will hit their stride eventually once the pieces become more familiar with one another.
Sophomore players Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma have shown that they have a winning attitude and have worked hard on their games during the summer. Notice that Ball can no longer be left open from three-point range. He is currently shooting 40.9 percent from deep and he is shooting the rock with confidence this season. In four games, Hart is one of the team’s leading scorers averaging 16.5 points per contest. Kuzma is also emerging as a go-to player. In the loss against the Spurs early this week, the youngster scored a career-high 38 points including seven three-pointers. His 20.0 points per game average is second only to James on the team.
Third-year player Brandon Ingram was supposed to emerge as the team’s second-best player. His temper got the best of him in the Houston game, however, and he seems unsure of his standing on the team when he’s on the floor. But it’s only two games so Ingram has a lot of time to prove that he is capable of playing at a high level when he returns from his four-game suspension.
LeBron in the Playoffs is a Different Animal
Last season, the Cavaliers were the most drama-filled team in the league with a team that was rebuilt in the summer to potentially dethrone the Warriors with a number of high-profile acquisitions and wily veterans. By January, the Cavs were losing games they would normally dominate. That led to the roster overhaul by general manager Koby Altman in February that reshaped the roster to complement James more. But that didn’t solve the problem entirely as the Wine and Gold struggled to find their groove. In the end, however, the team still won 50 games.
By the time the playoffs arrived, James elevated his game into the stratosphere and beyond. He averaged 34.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in the postseason in his 15th year in the NBA. These are historic numbers for someone who has played in as many seasons as he had. That Jordan-like 34.0 points average led the entire NBA in the playoffs along with his 41.9 minutes per game.
There’s no question that the Lakers are making the playoffs and that the team James is on has a better supporting cast than what he had in Cleveland. Now, can you imagine the three-time MVP on this team in the postseason? There’s no telling how far he can take them and no Western Conference team will want to face them when the stakes are highest because that’s when number 23 goes to work the hardest.
No matter where the Lakers land in the final regular season standings, don’t be surprised to see them knocking off a couple of teams in the playoffs on their way to an appearance in the 2019 Western Conference Finals. James may have more challengers in the West, but he’s been to the Finals eight straight times and in the remaining years of his career, he is determined to keep that streak alive no matter who’s in front of him.
Don’t count out the Lakers just yet. They are led by the best player in the game today and they have a good mix of veterans and young guns who are looking to win now rather than later.
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