LeBron James says Lakers have “a whole new offensive system this year”

LeBron James already made it clear on Friday night that he doesn’t care about preseason basketball. But for anyone IS Worried about the Lakers starting the 0-3 preseason game after their 121-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors, he explained why this team is looking a little awkward right now.

“We’ve got pretty much a whole new offensive system this year that we’ve been working on in our practices since training camp started,” James said. “It’s an adjustment for us offensively, just having guys in different positions, having guys in different places on the pitch with our new look and what we’re trying to do.”

For now, he’s preaching patience as the team gets used to their new sets, actions, and patterns. He thinks the results will be worth it.

“It will be a process for us, but I think it will be better for us in the long run. This allows the ball to move from side to side, ”said James. “Not much with a dribble but more with a pass. And obviously we have downhill forwards with Russ, K (endrick) Nunn, myself and Talen.

And despite James saying he can’t learn anything from preseason basketball at this point in his career, that doesn’t mean we can not. Because looking at last night’s game – and the squad as a whole this preseason – it’s clear that they’ve focused on a few new things.

After the loss to the Warriors, the site’s friend and almost intelligent artificial intelligence Tim (aka “Cranjis McBasketball”) of the Lakers Exceptionalism Podcast broke down some of the Lakers’ new actions on his Twitter account. The one below stood out in particular:

The Lakers missed the shots they took at this specific piece, but Westbrook being a willful and active screen creator was one of the big question marks for the Lakers this year as they tried to make it in. so that he and James are co-players. . That he’s already doing it in his very first preseason game is a notable sign, especially considering he’s never put more than 68 screens in a season and put in less than 20 in a season. total with the Washington Wizards last year, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe ($$$).

But it’s not just the Westbrook screening that deserves to be excited. As James said, the Lakers also keep the ball moving side-to-side and also benefit from the downhill creators he mentioned:

As James put it, “We want to make sure that we keep everyone involved offensively, that the ball moves from side to side, that the defense always stays away… thing. It’s all in the process.

The process has yet to yield good results with great frequency, but with a little more patience than the Lakers preach, it could very well.

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