LeBron James is running the show in LA, something that he has been used to in his previous franchises as well.
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When LeBron is on court, things happen through him, something that burns him out, but also brings out the best in him.
While it might not have been enough to land a NBA title in the last two years, LeBron was able to take his Cleveland side to the finals for 4 straight years(even winning the title in 2016) through this form of game play.
But when Lakers brought him in, they did not really want LeBron to take all of the burden of running the team.
Ball handlers like Rondo and Lonzo were supposed to help LeBron settle into the team, taking the pressure off him, but things didn’t quite work out as the Lakers had envisaged.
The Lakers did not quite get off to a good start and it was only after Tyson Chandler was drafted in and LeBron was given more of the ball that the Lakers started to click.
Reports last night suggested that LeBron was infact ignoring play calls from Luke Walton and was running the show on his own, especially during clutch moments.
“The scouts also have noticed that when James is running the point, he rarely looks toward the bench to receive play calls from coach Luke Walton. Even when he has seen them, the scouts say, he ignores them and runs the play he prefers. Walton has adjusted, and now when James is running the show, Walton will typically just let him call the game. This probably shouldn’t be considered a slight — it’s just James being James.” the report from Windhorst read.
However, Magic Johnson, the Lakers team president has shot down those reports, confirming that all is well within the Lakers camp and that people need something to write about the Lakers.
“Brian got it wrong,” Johnson said.
“This is all about making sure that they can say something on ESPN and everybody can just talk. We have a system that the ball moves around, a lot of pick-and-roll plays. If you watch us play, the ball is not in LeBron James’ hands all of the time. It can’t be, because you want to pass it around, you want to get into your pick-and-roll plays.
“But hey, we’re the Lakers. People are going to be talking about us. But that’s not how it’s going right now.” he added.
Now, despite what Magic Johnson says, reports suggest that the players are not happy with the lineups. Magic Johnson had also held a meeting with Walton after their 3-5 start, where he had reportedly blasted him for the way he was running the Lakers on court.
