Los Angeles Lakers: Communication is key in building chemistry

If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to build their chemistry, LeBron James believes communication is key.

The Los Angeles Lakers started things off on the right foot during their 2019 NBA preseason opener. The Lakers traveled to take on the Golden State Warriors, who were playing in their brand new Chase Center for the first time. The purple and gold ruined that home opener.

Los Angeles defeated Golden State 123-101. Anthony Davis had a dominant debut, scoring 22 points with 10 rebounds. He didn’t even play in the second half. LeBron James also played well, seeing minutes only in the first half, recording 15 points, three rebounds and eight assists.

If that is a sign of things to come, the rest of the NBA has been put on notice. D’Angelo Russell, who was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets as part of a sign-and-trade involving Kevin Durant, was in awe of what he was seeing on the court with AD and James.

While fans are excited after that first performance, the team still has a long way to go. After all, this was only the first preseason game. While there were plenty of positives to take away from the performance, there is still a lot that needs to be figured out.

The rotation won’t be set for a few weeks, as Frank Vogel will experiment throughout the preseason with different combinations. Multiple players are also nursing injuries, which makes it difficult to see what a rotation could look like. Those injuries will also hamper the team’s ability to build chemistry and cohesion.

The Lakers added a ton of new faces to the roster this season, nine to be exact, which includes Dwight Howard but does not count two-way players and players that are on training camp deals.

While some have experience playing with each other elsewhere, such as Rajon Rondo with Anthony Davis with the New Orleans Pelicans and Avery Bradley with the Boston Celtics, or Cook with JaVale McGee, work will still need to be put in.

James knows a thing or two about building chemistry with new teammates. The key to building that success, in his opinion, is in communication.

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"“Communication. If your communication is high, you talk to your teammates, you know what they like, you know what how they benefit the most on the floor, then you’re able to fast track that. Not shortcut the process, but you’re able to fast track it a lot more by just being in communication at all times.”"

Communication is arguably the most important part of playing successful basketball. The coaching staff has to communicate with the players on the court instructions for them to exploit opposing teams.

On the court, if players are not talking, they cannot expect to find success, especially defensively. With the new age of positionless basketball, communication has become even more important as teams are constantly switching on defense. Teams succeed defensively when they are playing as one five man unit on a string, not five individual defenders only looking out for themselves.

Building this chemistry as early as possible is key for the Lakers to reach the goals they have set for themselves.

It also doesn’t hurt that they have a favorable schedule to begin the season in which they could iron out some issues that may persist while still racking up tallies in the win column.