Here is why the Los Angeles Lakers should consider managing the minutes of LeBron James.
LeBron James has been very durable in his career, despite logging many minutes in his early Cleveland days. LeBron continued carrying on, playing heavy minutes most years in the playoffs and being in excellent shape physically.
But last year with the Los Angeles Lakers, things may have started to take a toll, it was the first time in his career he failed to play at least 69 games, minus the shortened lockout year in 2011-12. The groin injury he suffered against the Warriors caused him to miss 17 games, and then once the Lakers were out of contention they shut him down for good.
LeBron James was still dominate when he did play, at 34 years old he put up a line of 27.4/8.5/8.3 while shooting 51% from the field, so he still is an elite player and one of the best on the planet. But durability is going to be very key for a Lakers team, that has hopes of contending for a title, as the team will want their superstar duo healthy and rest for the playoff run.
The Lakers struck out on adding another big name such as Kawhi Leonard, D’Angelo Russell or Jimmy Butler to pair with their superstar duo. This could turn out to be a positive, as the Lakers were able to spread cap around to guys who can contribute, instead of just one big fish. The Lakers need to do everything they can to ensure their star players are healthy the entire season, so when playoffs come around they can have a full deck of cards to play with.
Enter what we started seeing from the San Antonio Spurs with their trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and then the Raptors last year with Kawhi Leonard, “load management”. This was very valuable in each of those teams winning a championships and preserving their players for games played in May and June.
Kawhi Leonard played in 60 of the Raptors 82 games in the regular season, often not playing back to backs and also resting against bottom feeder teams. In those regular season games he played 34 minutes a night, averaging a line of 26.6/7.3/3.3.
In the playoffs Kawhi Leonard played every game and averaged 39.1 minutes a night, while averaging a line of 30.5/9.1/3.9. He looked fresh and was active on both ends of the court, often taking over scoring and accepting any defensive challenge ahead of him, proving why he is the best two-way player in basketball.
The Lakers should take a similar route this upcoming season with LeBron James, when they’re presented the opportunity to do so. LeBron has never had the luxury to sit games in his career, whether it was the team wasn’t good enough without him or they were battling for seeding. With the depth they added, they should be able to win games with those pieces and Anthony Davis in the fold.
Danny Green, Rajon Rondo, DeMarcus Cousins, JaVale McGee, Alex Caruso, Jared Dudley, Quinn Cook and Avery Bradley were all brought in this offseason. Although they’re not high profile signings the Lakers do have intriguing depth that will play a huge part in determining how far they go. They didn’t max cap and sign a third star, which allowed them to spread money around, which I believe will be beneficial for them.
Anthony Davis has proved he can win games in this league as the go to guy so the Lakers will have that luxury to rest LeBron. These instances can come when they play teams such as the Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, and also the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers depending on the health of their stars.
I believe this would ultimately be a positive for the franchise and barring an unforeseen injury can ensure that the Lakers can go into the playoffs next year at full health. If they do choose they can also give nights off to Anthony Davis sporadically, to ensure his health as well. Frank Vogel and management can be cautious about spreading the off days around, but getting AD and LeBron each 15 games or so off and still battle for a top four seed would be a huge positive.
LeBron is a gamer, he wants to be out there every night helping his team, but now more than ever, it’s time to scale back what he does in the regular season. With bigger aspirations, the Lakers need to preserve all the health that they possibly can with hopes of winning a championship.
That starts with using the method of managing James on a nightly basis, picking which nights he plays on back to backs, and getting him out of games that the score is long decided in the fourth quarter. It will only help as the season moves along and as James continues to age, as he is now pushing 35 years old and 17 seasons in the league.
The Lakers are a storied franchise with their best chance in eight years to win a championship. To achieve that, they need to be 100% healthy in a tough Western Conference and then whatever team comes out of the East.
If they play their cards right, they will be able to sit their stars a lot in the fourth quarter and keep LeBron to around 60-65 games in the regular season, while still finishing top four in the West standings.