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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Luke Walton is still setting up and implementing his game book. But the Los Angeles Lakers coach knows who he will award the majority of the matches at the end of the games.
For the first time since Kobe Bryant retired in 2016, the Lakers have a superstar to throw the ball in closing games at LeBron James.
"When you get to the end of a game, that's what the best players do, that's what they do," Walton said after the second day of Lakers practice with James. "I can comfortably say that LeBron will be our first option at the end of the base game when he is close."
Since Bryant's retirement, the Lakers have exactly one winning whistle, courtesy of D & # 39; Angelo Russell vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves, on April 9, 2017, according to Statistics & Information Research. # 39; ESPN.
LeBron James had "an excellent first practice" under the direction of Luke Walton and the Lakers, using the session to focus entirely on the defensive side of the ball.
They are already on the chat – LBJ is more than an athlete, but he is still an athlete.
Lakers second-year guard, Lonzo Ball, who "just released" to complete training after surgery on a torn left meniscus, hopes to show an improved jump shot and the ability to finish better in the painting.
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Last season, the Lakers wanted to give the opportunity to close a tight match against Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Julius Randle. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Isaiah Thomas were also options, sometimes.
The Lakers, who finished with 35 wins last season, were 3-for-20 on shot or attack attempts in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime, according to ESPN data. They were 2-in-14 in the last five seconds of the fourth quarter or in overtime with a chance to tie or take the lead.
Ingram was the only Laker to shoot multiple shots in these 24-second and five-second situations, for a total of 4 shots out of 9 in these scenarios.
Walton wanted to develop young prospects such as Ingram, Kuzma, Ball and Josh Hart, and the coach gave them the opportunity to face end-of-game situations.
It is still possible that Walton puts the ball in James' hands at the end of the games and that the first star of the team can be creative and find one of his young teammates and give this player a chance to see how he reacts. .
But at least Walton knows that he has James when the Lakers absolutely need a basket. The Lakers star has won twice in the last season.
The striker hit a bank in the middle of the race and beating on the left side of the basket in the third game of the Eastern Conference semifinal to deflate the Raptors, before his Cleveland Cavaliers failed. to defeat Toronto. And in the fifth game against the Indiana Pacers in the first round, James buried a 3-pointer on the buzzer while passing to his left near the top of the key.
During his career, James is 44-for-144 (30.6%) in shooting situations in the last 24 seconds of a fourth quarter or overtime in the regular season and playoffs. With five seconds or less under such circumstances, he is 18-in-86 (20.9%), with three high-level drummers in his career last season and in the playoffs.
"It will be great to have LeBron at the end of the games," Walton said. "But it's good for Brandon and these guys to take advantage of those opportunities over the last couple of years and take pictures and make missing.
"It's the famous old [Michael] Jordan's question, right? All the shots he missed are what made him so strong and allowed him to work harder. Now we have one of the best players in the game, but we also have guys who have been in this situation in the last two years. "
Meanwhile, James will use the camp to learn the trends of his new teammates and where they will like to receive the ball when he passes them.
"It's my job, I know how guys like the ball," James said. "I watch a lot of films and I know if guys like seams or seams, they like low passes or high passes, they like numbers or forehead, my job is to make them understand. positions where they must be on the floor.It's my job to send them them. "
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