No team will have more eyes on it in the 2018-19 NBA season than the Los Angeles Lakers. Not the dynastic Golden State Warriors, not the challenger Houston Rockets, and not the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers or Indiana Pacers as they all fight for the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
When LeBron James joins the most storied franchise in basketball, heads will turn.
The Lakers are in an interesting position. They have the best player in the world but are not seen as true contenders by plenty of people. There are legitimate reasons for that. The Western Conference is a bloodbath of talented teams (it could take 48 wins, if not more, to even make the playoffs) fighting for only eight playoff spots. The Lakers are incredibly young; it can be argued that the next four best players on the roster after James are all under 24 years old.
That lack of experience has many questioning how far the Lakers can go. Combine that with an interesting collection of veterans signed to one-year deals in the offseason, and the reliance on a young, unproven core becomes more of an eyesore.
The counterpoint is that those young players have shown the ability to improve, largely due to the Lakers’ development efforts over the past two seasons. In each of Luke Walton’s first two years on the job as head coach of the purple and gold, the Lakers have improved their win total by nine games over the previous year. That has largely come due to strides taken by the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram. While Russell and Randle are no longer on the roster, their developments – especially those of Randle and Ingram – could be indicative of a Lakers development process that has vastly improved since the team fired Byron Scott two years ago.
Those strides will have to come quicker and at larger rates with James accelerating the team’s timeline, however. Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart have been deemed big parts of the team’s future but are also the keys to success for this season.
Can Lonzo Ball’s shooting and finishing at the rim improve so that teams can no longer play him for the pass? Will Brandon Ingram’s shooting translate to more attempts, and can he imitate the success he had last season if he doesn’t have the ball as much? Will Kyle Kuzma’s scoring prowess be a flash in the pan or can he continue the success he had in his rookie season? Will Josh Hart play well enough to get Reggie Miller to stop calling him Jason?
The Lakers have plenty of concerns on top of their youth. Their depth at center is critically low with JaVale McGee, Ivica Zubac and rookie Moritz Wagner expected to take the load. They added little shooting after hitting only 34.5 percent of their 3-point attempts – the second-lowest mark in the league – last season.
But the Lakers seem to have a lot of faith in their plan. They refused to give in to a reportedly ridiculous offer from the San Antonio Spurs to trade for Kawhi Leonard, believing they can sign him outright in 2019. Perhaps that decision will come back to haunt them as it did with Paul George. Or perhaps it will be prescient, allowing the team to develop chemistry and skills in year one with James before adding Leonard to an already promising core.
For now, the team will be reliant on James. Even with the focus on giving him more ball-handlers to ease the load on the 16-year veteran, it’s clear he will have a lot to do to take the Lakers deep into the playoffs. James played in all 82 games for the first time in his career last season, averaging 36.9 minutes a night, so perhaps he can handle that load. But the Lakers have maintained that it is their mission to keep their superstar fresh and healthy for the duration of his four-year contract with the Lakers. That will mean regular rest and games in which the Lakers will need their young players to step up to the plate and deliver crucial wins for playoff positioning with or without James alongside them.
Each of the young players on the Lakers has something to provide despite their relative inexperience.
Ball was an elite defender in his rookie season, ranking as average or better in every defensive category (other than guarding the big in pick-and-roll situations) according to Synergy. His unique ability to create plays for teammates without dominating the ball will fit in seamlessly with James, especially if his lack of scoring ability from all levels improves by any significant margin.
Ingram was in the 76th percentile in spot-up offense, per Synergy, with the ability to hit 3s (albeit at a low volume) and to attack closeouts and get to the point where he could finish or draw fouls. That ability will make the third-year forward a dynamic partner alongside James on the wings.
Hart was a stud defensively and one of the best guards in the league on the glass in his rookie season. He will help contain penetration on the defensive end and will force his way into fouls and layups in transition, bouncing off defenders like a bowling ball.
Kuzma showed an innate ability to score at every level whether he was spotting up or creating on his own. He will have to adjust to having another dominant ball-handler on the roster, but when you can get a bucket, you can get a bucket.
Even the band of misfits that the Lakers signed after James have roles they can play. Rajon Rondo dominates the ball, but coming off the bench that can be a positive in allowing the team’s depth to play to the best of its abilities. McGee is a solid all-around player and the first vertical threat the Lakers have had at the center position in years, even if his minutes must be kept low due to his asthma. Even Michael Beasley, in the few minutes he will get, can contribute with his offensive chops.
On paper, the Los Angeles Lakers may not be better than the elite teams in the Western Conference. But the Rockets lost two crucial 3-and-D role players (and gained Carmelo Anthony for whatever that’s worth), the Jazz rely heavily on Donovan Mitchell offensively, and the Thunder lack depth and spacing. That’s not to say the Lakers will be better than any of those teams, but with LeBron James in the new-era Showtime jerseys, anything is possible.
