Lakers Rumors: LeBron James ignoring calls from the sideline

Recent Lakers rumors are that LeBron James has been ignoring calls from head coach, Luke Walton, from the sidelines.

Boy, I love doing Lakers rumors articles. I just sit back and listen to analysts, fans on social media and the sports writers make their opinions and it’s almost like a NBA reality show. Then after everyone has said their peace, I make my take and keep it moving to the next article until the next batch of Lakers rumors hit..

Which probably will be the next week.

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the middle of a two game losing streak losing in the last-minute to the Orlando Magic on Sunday…

Los Angeles Lakers again lose to the Magic and bad habits!

Stop me if you have heard this before...the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic! For the second time, the Lakers lose over bad matchups & habits

Then following that up with the Nuggets taking the Lakers lunch money and telling them to sell their new jerseys in front of the arena in the Denver cold beating them 117-85…

Los Angeles Lakers lose twice, the game and Lonzo Ball

Boy, the Los Angeles Lakers stunk on this one! They go to Denver and roll over 117-85. The Los Angeles Lakers rolled over but so did Lonzo Ball's ankle!

Most teams in the NBA would be covering injuries to their important players and the big stories would center around them getting back in action.

This is the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James on the roster. It never works out that way. Where he goes, drama seems to always have a U-Haul  worth of baggage set up in the parking lot of any franchise he plays for. This always lights the match for hot Lakers rumors for everyone to react to.

Boy this one is good!

Does anyone remember this phrase right here…

I guess that patience lasted about reportedly 20 games?

According to ESPN’s Senior Writer, Brian Windhorst, it seems that anonymous NBA scouts have observed LeBron James barely acknowledging Luke Walton for the play call while running the point and ignoring the call and doing his own thing at other times on offense.

"The scouts also have noticed that when James is running the point, he rarely looks toward the bench to receive playcalls 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."

Now, to be clear here, Windhorst has been covering LeBron James since high school so he is going to be the inside track to any real story that carries weight like this one does. Think Ahmad Rashad’s relationship with Michael Jordan in the 90’s. Everyone in the industry knew that you could count on one hand the amount of people in the media Jordan actually trusted. Rashad is to this day on that list. Windhorst has that much juice with LeBron in this scenario.

I’m not too sure that Lakers Head of basketball operations, Magic Johnson agrees with Windhorst’s view of how the Lakers are handling the situation. I’m being politically correct here…

But what about the other half? To be clear here, Magic Johnson is in a better space than he was when LeBron discussed losing patience at 2-5 as opposed to this story showing evidence of NBA scouts.

But let’s take a look back and the chain of events that led up to Windhorst’s article…

LeBron was trying to get away from the Cleveland way…Maybe it was just Magic? 

When Magic Johnson signed LeBron James to his four-year $154 million dollar contract in the summer, the original plan was for the Lakers to cut down on all of the constant ball handling responsibilities that LeBron James had in Cleveland.

Reportedly James was on board with all of this. It makes sense and the roster was created based on this understanding.

I wondered if LeBron James was going to hold up his end of the bargain in this piece here…

Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Hot takes for LeBron James in 2018-19

LeBron James begins a new era with the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow night on the road against Portland.

I would recommend reading this article if you are new to Lake Show Life. If you’ve read it before, you might need a review.

It is common knowledge at this point that LeBron James’ teams are based on two different blueprints…

One…he needs shooters around him to kick the ball out to when he see fit when he drives the ball to the basket. Plus if the shooters are standing outside waiting for the ball, it doesn’t clog the lane for LeBron’s patented drives to the hoop.

Two…he likes to play with veterans that he trusts. Let’s take a look back to Miami with their version of the “Big three” with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. It’s easy to forget all of the veterans coming off the bench like Shane Battier, Ray Allen, Mike Miller just to name a few.

The Lakers team that was built by Magic Johnson is built-in a totally different philosophy. The signing of Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson with the addition of Lonzo Ball was to have a list of ball handlers and creators.

LeBron James is a nightmare in the post. Magic Johnson knows that and plus with James’ basketball I.Q. it will cut down on the wear and tear on his body and allow him to destroy his matchup in the post…

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1054583803623104513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1054583803623104513&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flakeshowlife.com%2F2018%2F10%2F23%2Flos-angeles-lakers-5-takeaways-overtime-loss-spurs%2F

All of this changed with Rajon Rondo breaking a bone in his hand and being out for an extended period of time. Since then the Lakers offense has slowed down a bit.

The Lakers want to speed up the pace by playing good defense, rebounding the ball and running the fast break. Well, at least that’s what Magic Johnson envisioned. A lot of this was dependent on LeBron changing his game and mindset from the way things were in Cleveland.

Sure the Lakers have won 8 games in their last 11 as of this writing, but the change in James’ mindset has affected the offense.

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.

Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Reasons Tyson Chandler will be signed

The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to sign Tyson Chandler after his buyout from the Phoenix Suns. Ronald Agers probes why the LA is signing the veteran.

The Chandler signing stopped a lot of bleeding with the porous defense of the Lakers. His crowning moment was here…

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…

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?

If LeBron James can do what he wants and get away with it…why can’t they??

This is very important clip to listen to right here. If you have noticed, these articles or post games have always talked about effort and defense. Why? I have no clue to what the Lakers identity is on offense. Sure, the Lakers have said that they would run at every opportunity, but that mission statement got lost somewhere.

The reason why? When LeBron James free lances plays. It affects the young players of the Lakers. Sure LeBron has been wildly successful with his way of thinking, but that doesn’t mean the young players won’t struggle. Here’s the effect.

Now listen closely to what Marcellus Wiley is saying in this video.

You have young players in Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart that are just trying to learn the NBA game in general. But with LeBron James constantly free lancing, and bucking plays at times, the chemistry is off.

The teams that LeBron James played for in the past were loaded with veteran players that have been in the league for up to ten years or more. Here’s where everybody uses the old “They can figure it out”… excuse. Even Dwyane Wade was struggling playing with James in the beginning in their days in Miami. He’s a Hall of Famer. What do you expect from guys that are in their early 20’s?

Also…

Look, LeBron James is going to get some leeway based on his body of work and I get that. But let’s take a look at the mind frame of the young guys.

You hear the double standard of Walton already relinquishing some control to James during the game. If what Marcellus Wiley says is true with Walton pulling the young guys for free lancing plays and LeBron James gets free reign, over time Luke Walton will lose the respect of the young guys in the locker room.

Anybody hear Whitney Houston singing…”I believe the children are our future…” in your head?

Soon after that, more reports are going to leak out about LeBron James taking over. After that Lakers rumors of who the next coach will be.

Here’s my guess…

Nothing personal…

The Lakers have two business plans going on here!

People actually think that this roster will be here for the entire season! Umm…no. The Lakers roster was built on LeBron James’ word to play off the ball (Oh well…can’t win them all!) and for cap space.

People actually thought the LeBron James signing would hamstring the franchise. They forget what Magic Johnson did for the cross town Dodgers…

Magic Johnson’s goal is about flexibility to sign a max-level free agent in the summer or during trading season if Kawhi Leonard or Anthony Davis do not see a long-term future on their respective teams. That’s it. All the veterans have one year contracts to keep the Lakers competitive enough to make the playoffs while the front office gets another star to keep things going when LeBron James leaves. All the while, the young player continue their development through the season.

In other words, after LeBron’s era comes to an end, the franchise won’t be in flames like the other teams (also read…planning for the future!).

Here’s where the issues come in. Luke Walton is caught in the middle of these two business plans. His rotations have been so bad, the rhythm of everybody seemingly is off.

Why? Let Charles Barkley tell it…

"“What kind of team are they? Are they gonna let those young guys play, or are they going to put those old guys out there? That’s why I didn’t understand because those old guys are not their future. Ball, Kuzma, Brandon Ingram — that’s their future. So, I don’t know what the Lakers are doing. Are they going to try to groom those young guys and go forward with LeBron, or are they going to play those old guys? I think that’s going to be the most fascinating thing. I mean, I have no idea what the Lakers are doing. Are they a young team or are they an old team? I think that’s what I’m gonna be watching for the most.”"

It’s been over 20 games as of this writing and Luke Walton is close to ruining a certain player on that list.

What’s the Lakers identity and who’s vision is going to be in effect going forward?

This doesn’t look very good for Luke Walton. This is the second time this season, that Luke Walton looks like a lame duck coach. First, it was the media circus over Luke Walton’s discussion with Magic Johnson over the direction of the team. Now this story about LeBron looking over him during games.

If you are a Lakers fan there are three different dynamics at play here…

Magic Johnson who runs the team, who want to see the Lakers run at EVERY opportunity with the offensive scheme as far from the Cleveland days as possible with LeBron James playing off the ball.

LeBron James who wants the ball to control the offense the way he has for the past 15 years. Only problem? The offense has slowed down from the pace the franchise wants.

Finally Luke Walton…who’s trying to find a balance between all of this.

The way things are going, the Lakers will be a slow plodding team at times that wins ugly or they lose to really good teams with an identity.

The Los Angeles Lakers have started their long journey through the NBA season. Lake Show Life will be there every step of the way. Continue to check in for Lakers news, previews and reviews.