It will be fun to watch LeBron and the Lakers become instant oatmeal flakes



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Photo: Steve Dykes (Getty)

Here is what LeBron James had to say after his first contact with the Lakers, who opened the season 128-119 against the Blazers:

"Er, not as fast as you think, it'll happen," said James when asked how long it would take for the Lakers chemistry to develop. "I always compare that to instant oatmeal. It is not so fast. It takes a while to get to where you can close your eyes and find out exactly where your guys are.

This last point can be taken very literally. James, who has had six turnovers, can be seen throwing hilarious passes in a different sense from the traditional sense that LeBron passes are hilarious. One of them was a rebound-free pass at the time of the tightening that he launched directly on the photographers, without any reasonable hope that there would be a Laker to receive him.

It's bad, but really, it's good. Even a basketball spirit like James, the de facto coach of all his teams and a visionary of basketball to the cosmic genius, will take some time to understand how these strange pieces go together well. Growth pains! What a pleasure to see a GOAT at its peak having to review it – and not just with another generically genious Cavs group. These Lakers have a lot of talent, but a flavor different from the one he's used to. This season brings a welcome disruption to the familiar LeBron Plus Shooters Wins The East scheme. Suddenly, each of these variables is being modified.

Now in the West, the playoffs are no longer a given for him and every routine match in conference will cause the Lakers to sweat. Now, James leads a team where, for example, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope must rely on crucial spacing. The LeBron steamroller disappeared into one of the most successful shooting pockets: Last night, the Lakers failed their first shot of the arc behind until 2:22 in the third quarter. For LeBron, Kyle Korver's tearing around a screen is a lean memory. Even a supremely dominant king would be welcome in some of these queues. (Alright, maybe not.)

The basketball will not move at the difficult tempo of James' conductor. Defining experience of watching a LeBron team – the king speeding on the floor, picking up his jersey, examining all his options, making signs here, barking orders, getting everything just so much– will be a rarer show. Head coach Luke Walton wants to accelerate the pace, which no Bron team has ever done, to let the lineup's geniuses enjoy all of JaVale's fresh legs and legs. McGee. Against a team of Blazers who were also happy to keep the tempo, the Lakers accumulated 34 points in quick break, including 70 in the painting. In the hope that it will be cursed, these alignments of LeBron and Rajon Rondo should constitute a spooky orgy: the two will parade through the defenses, the attacking loops, the hail-marie exit passes, batshit hockey aids. It will be cool to watch them cook, and even colder if Lonzo Ball manages to outdo and surpass Rondo for all those minutes.

If the complaint against the NBA in general is a stylistic similarity (airy squadrons, which bomb three times), and that the complaint against LeBron in particular forces everyone to bend to his will zap in your hands), there would have had no more satisfactory answer to this question than these Los Angeles Lakers, probably dysfunctional and probably very differently composed in February.

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