Los Angeles Lakers: Is Charles Barkley right about LeBron James?

The Los Angeles Lakers came out on fire in the first quarter. LeBron wasn’t running the point. He was in the post.

When the Lakers lost their season opener to the Los Angeles Clippers 112-102, the offense was humming right along as they ran off to an early 13-2 lead in the first quarter.

That lead had a lot to do with LeBron James getting down in the post and bullying Patrick Beverley to get to the basket. Sure Beverley fought him in the post but, LeBron basically rendered Zubac useless as his slow rotations messed up the entire Clippers defense. First, he just powered his way to the basket here.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1186836545375887362

Then he used his matchup in the post to draw a double team and set up Danny Green for an open 3-point shot. These two plays highlight the fact the LeBron James is playing off the ball and how different the offense flows. He even had a turnaround jumper over Kawhi Leonard working off the left block.

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1186836778654658560

After Doc Rivers banished Zubac to the bench and brought in his players off the bench featured by Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, LeBron started his transition back to the perimeter. Then the offense started to slow down.

Anthony Davis was never comfortable and was less aggressive. LeBron James shot a sub-par 7-of-19 from the field. Between the two in the last quarter, they both combined to score two points. The offense was based around the two taking turns shooting the ball at times.

This game should have been a blowout. Had it not been for Danny Green exploding in the 3rd quarter, there would have been more panic at the time. Magic Johnson was on FS-1 analyzing the game with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe and pointed out that simply the Lakers had abandoned the pick and roll.

Three minutes in after Magic Johnson talks about his exit from the team. He talks about how the Lakers still call him for advice on how to deal with LeBron James playing the point.

What is being discussed here is possibly the overall vision of the Lakers for the championship run. LeBron James will be used in the Magic Johnson mold of the “Showtime” era.

He joins Charles Barkley in the theory that LeBron James should not be the primary playmaker. It’s important to note that LeBron won his titles with a wing or guard who was great shot creators. He won in Miami with Dwyane Wade and in Cleveland with Kyrie Irving.

The Lakers don’t have players of this magnitude, but they found possibly the next best thing in the next game.