1. LeBron James
It isn’t often that a developing team adds a 14-time All-Star and 4-time league MVP whose teams have won three titles and been to the NBA Finals the last eight consecutive years- which happens to be every year since the Lakers were last in the Finals.
LA could have retained the same squad as last year by re-signing Julius Randle, Brook Lopez, Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and Thomas Bryant. If they had, it’s conceivable that the young core might have improved enough to give that team a legitimate chance at qualifying for the playoffs.
But the front office opted instead to vastly alter the team dynamic. It essentially traded those five players for five veterans: Rondo, Beasley, Stephenson, McGee and, of course, LeBron James.
The first four players will add experience and various degrees of skill level. None is signed beyond this season, so it is questionable whether any will return next year.
The plum prize, naturally, is LBJ, who is being counted on to facilitate and fast-track the progress of Ingram, Ball, Kuzma and Hart and other young players, thereby helping to move the Lakers more quickly up the NBA ladder.
Last season was the first time since he initially left Cleveland in 2010 that LeBron didn’t play alongside two other All-Stars. With the Cavs, he teamed with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love for three years, and for the four seasons before that in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
As a result, last year he almost literally carried his team on his back into this past June’s Finals, where fans could see exhaustion etched on his face.
But with the Lakers this season, James will have a completely different kind of supporting cast. On the one hand, there will be no fellow All-Stars lining up beside him. But on the other, there will be a bevy of young, still-developing talent combined with several hard-nosed vets. That should produce a team with a greater wealth of depth than LBJ has probably ever experienced.
The challenge for him is to help meld the pieces together to produce what promises to be the first winning Lakers team since the 2012-13 season. Certainly, that entails leading by example. But it’s also necessary that LeBron seek the right balance, understanding that it is in both his and the team’s best interests for the young core to make plays on their own without needing James to orchestrate the offense every time down the court.
The more LeBron allows, encourages and celebrates his teammates’ contributions, the faster the team will move forward. He is noted for his greatness as well as his high basketball IQ and should relish the opportunity to master his new role.
James’ teams have made the playoffs 13 straight years, missing out only his first two seasons in the league. It is unlikely he will let that streak end this year.
Conclusion
The combination of the incomparable LeBron James with the emerging talent of the core 4 along with the Lakers potent offense and their robust depth should vault the team into the Western Conference playoffs this season.
Expect for them to start slowly as they get accustomed to one another and have a strong second half.
All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com