Was anybody….ANYBODY surprised when this report came out…
Lake Show Life addressed this before the season even started!!!! Nobody’s shocked!
LeBron James: his storied history with his coaches!
All LeBron James talk is of his contract, new teammates and expectations. What about the coach. Ronald Agers looks at all of the LeBron/coach relationships.
Let me give you some excerpts here…then remember what the scouts said in the ESPN piece!
"Forget what LeBron James does on the court. The Los Angeles Lakers will not have a chance if the best player (that being LeBron James) and the head coach (that being Luke Walton) are not on the same page. These two have to have almost a synergy on the floor that is hard to describe but is easy to see. It’s not that there is any friction between the two…yet, but has anyone seen the player/coach relationship between James and Luke Walton? In the media you hear about the Magic Johnson and LeBron James partnership, but not much about the relationship with Walton."
Every great player has a great partnership with their head coach and this relationship has to get started early. With LeBron James and Luke Walton It is clear that obviously has not been the case.
This has nothing to do with the blowing off of the play calls. All players do it. Magic Johnson himself changed the play in the 1987 Finals against the Boston Celtics with the “Baby” sky hook.
Michael Jordan probably didn’t check in with Phil Jackson for every play during a game. Same with Kobe Bryant.
But this story got so much steam because of all the coaches that got the hook with LeBron James lurking somewhere near the crime…evidence? Read that piece above!
But for right now, LeBron James is now the point guard again. But the pace that Magic Johnson wants to run at is not happening…
To remind everyone of the Lakers mission statement…here’s the boss.
"“We’re going to run,” Johnson said. “Whoever gets it, we’re gone. … We’ve got a number of ball handlers, that’s how we built this team. We won’t rely just on LeBron making all the shots for people — in terms of creating the shots for people or himself. We want him also to play off of it, but that’s on Luke. I’m not here to tell you how the offense is going to go because that’s not my job and that’s not Rob’s job. Luke will handle that situation and he’s already been thinking about ways and utilizing not just LeBron but everybody.”"
They are not running. It seems that everyone is cool with it. Think this can work for the young guys?