The Los Angeles Lakers are recreating LeBron’s version of the Miami Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers have to modify Miami’s blueprint given LeBron is not the same player he was seven years ago

The Lakers will obviously adapt Miami’s original blueprint to not just their aging personnel but also to how the game has trended.

The Lakers smash-mouth offense was an outlier to a league that was increasingly more perimeter-oriented year after year. After being one of the ten worst offenses in the NBA last season, they are adapting to become like everyone else.

Ironically, Miami’s offense back then looked a lot like a modern-day NBA offense. Their pace would rank as the slowest in the league by a long shot. But how it looked was very similar to the five-out offense that is all the rage now.

It is their defense that will no longer be effective. At the time, Miami’s aggressive defense was so dominant because most teams put two post players on the court at all times. Most teams did not have the proper spacing or the ball-handling to counter Miami’s pressure.

The same level of pressure Miami applied will not be as effective now. Nearly every team puts at least four perimeter players on the court at all times. Most of the power forwards now are either small forwards playing down a position (e.g. Phoenix’s Jae Crowder) or “stretch fours” who only spot up on the perimeter (e.g. Cleveland’s Kevin Love).

Ultimately, I expect the Lakers to play the same kind of defense Vogel has always run. A more conservative, physical brand of defense that dominated the NBA inside the bubble. The Lakers can still implement the same system with LeBron and AD playing down a position.

Granted, they will switch a bit more than last season. Anthony Davis at center gives Vogel more flexibility in how he prepares for specific opponents.

But do not believe the talking heads when they say the Lakers should switch more. What has worked for them in the past will work for them in the future.

Conclusion

The Lakers will try to reinvent themselves as an iteration of LeBron’s Miami Heat teams. The comparison between the AD/Westbrook duo and the Wade/Bosh duo is obviously the reason why the Lakers might want to follow that blueprint.

But this will fail miserably. LeBron James will have to play as he did in his absolute prime for this to work. For the reasons I outlined above, I just don’t see that happening.

The Lakers will modify their game plan to adapt some of the principles from LeBron’s teams in Miami. However, the Lakers will eventually go back to their physical brand of basketball that has always worked best for them.