Raise your hand if you really thought LeBron James was going to play center long-term?
The Los Angeles Lakers starting this season was selling the positionless scheme very hard. On paper it made sense…
…and in Golden State.
LeBron James was supposed to play the role of Draymond Green, a big man who can handle the ball while playing solid defense on the back line.
Let’s just say that was never going to work I knew as much early…
"Question? You want to reduce the workload, but you’re asking LeBron James to lean against the likes of possibly Nikola Jokic, DeAndre Jordan, Marcin Gortat or maybe even Jusuf Nurkic. With this positionless basketball the Lakers want to play, I don’t even want to get into talking about Clint Capela. Let’s go back to his years in Miami when he balked at times at playing the power forward position. Now you are asking for him to play center? Long term? On paper, this works. There is no one on planet earth that can stop LeBron James in the post, however, the amount of energy that is required to play the back line contradicts the workload reducing scenario because he will work even harder at times playing defense against the bigger players while still helping initiate the offense."
After about seven games at 2-5, the consensus was that plan was not going to work out. After Magic Johnson blew a gasket and criticized Luke Walton, the Lakers found a diamond in the rough in Tyson Chandler.
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The Chandler signing stopped a lot of bleeding with the porous defense of the Lakers. His crowning moment was here…
TYSON CHANDLER WITH THE GAME-SAVING BLOCK! 🚫#LakeShow | #CrunchTime pic.twitter.com/nsOjCwGcnU
— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 12, 2018
But the underlying message with this signing was…
No more LeBron James at the five-spot. Now it’s not like Luke Walton hasn’t tried to slide the scheme back in from time to time. Then life shows him better than I can in these articles…
Speaking of Luke Walton…and “James being James” scenario…