Shortcut to a championship? LeBron James would say there’s no such thing.
Nowhere is that more apparent than in Los Angeles, where the Lakers swung a trade for a former MVP and signed a slew of former All-Stars all to go 0-6 in the preseason. Their new star, Russell Westbrook, has looked rusty in a celebrated homecoming, and when their three stars played into the fourth quarter of Thursday’s exhibition game in Sacramento, they couldn’t steal a win against a franchise that has traditionally been their punching bag.
A degree of perspective is necessary: The preseason doesn’t count. The roster, already beset by injuries, has been in flux. And most opinions of the Lakers’ overall talent have not changed – only how quickly most believe it will all come together.
But it is telling that the man who is most keenly up against the clock, who has the least amount of time to waste, is preaching the very quality which he can least afford: patience.
“We’re going to have moments where we’re not quite right there; we may take steps backwards,” he said earlier this month. “I think nothing is worth having if it’s not worth working for.”
The layman’s understanding of James’ career is one of picking his teammates, where the now-36-year-old pioneered an NBA where the best players hop franchises together to create a title favorite. This is true, but it skips over how difficult forging these teams can be: James has never leaped to a new team and won in his first year.
Miami’s 2011 Finals failure was epic in scope and James came out of it the most poorly, forcing him to reinvent aspects of his game that allowed him to take a leap forward. In Cleveland, he helped lead the only Finals comeback from a 3-1 series deficit in 2016, the only year he took a win from the Golden State dynasty. The 2018-19 Lakers season is one that might be better swept from collective memory; James was only ever able to consistently win once Anthony Davis was in the fold.
So yes, James knows the patience necessary to preside over a superteam. But unlike in his previous quests, James might not have a year to build cohesion: The latest gambit with Russell Westbrook has to work soon.
Carmelo Anthony has been friends with James since before they were drafted in 2003, and has seen the evolution in his approach. The biggest difference, Anthony said, is after 19 years, James has seen it all.
“Whether it’s good teams, bad teams, whatever it may be, everything that comes along with the game of basketball we’ve seen,” Anthony said. “And he’s seen it at a very high level, night in and night out, year in and year out. So he understands it. He understands what it takes to build championship teams. Nobody is coming together and it happens in preseason and Week 1 and Week 2.”
But still, few likely imagined how rough those early weeks would look: The Lakers were one of the worst-performing preseason teams, getting outscored by opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions. It wasn’t until the last game in Sacramento when the Lakers’ Big Three formed any public semblance of being the powerhouse they’ve been styled as by oddsmakers and prognosticators.
But within the Lakers’ film sessions, coaches have pointed out positives: They’ve created lots of open 3-pointers, they just haven’t hit them. They’ve taken a lot of rebounds and created extra possessions. With a few improved reads, their 18.4% turnover rate can come down and create assists. And defensively, Coach Frank Vogel has confidence that his defensive system can be ingested quickly, possibly creating the kind of speedy start the team enjoyed in 2019 when he took over.
“When we look back at film, you think you played bad, but you actually played pretty well, despite a loss or a win,” Davis said. “And every day we go in film, Coach shows us positive things. The way we move the ball, the way we cut, the plays we’re making just playing randomly. So we’re encouraged by everything we do.”
At the heart of that encouragement is James, who General Manager Rob Pelinka credited with infusing the roster with a sense of belief that a championship is in their sights this season. Perhaps a bit on the nose, the Lakers have emblazoned “CHAMPIONSHIP MINDSET” on their warm-up T-shirts this year.
James was one of the big figures behind the deal for Westbrook: He was close with the 32-year-old star long before this summer, when he factored into Westbrook’s decision to request a trade to the Lakers. It’s telling that he has posted about workout sessions with Westbrook, documenting his faith in a player who many wonder how he’ll fit with on the court.
Against the Kings, some of what James has foreseen was evident, as he and Westbrook were able to alternate possessions charging at the rim. That is what players and coaches say will help the Lakers rise back to the top.
“Defenses are loading early, not wanting us to get into the paint and break the defense down,” James said. “Now when both of us are on different sides, if one of us is bringing the ball down and we get the defense shifting on this side – a quick swing to the other side and now we’re able to go without a set of three or four eyes looking at us. It’s just constant pressure that we’re going to put on a defense.”
Earlier this week, James spoke about selling shares of SpringHill Entertainment, which has been publicly valued at $750 million. That company, like many of James’ personal enterprises, is run with Maverick Carter, his high school teammate-turned-top business partner. Along with Rich Paul and Randy Mims, James has entrusted much of his business dealings to childhood friends, which was largely questioned when he first started out.
“It was a lot of people in the majority who believed that we would fail, said that I was making a huge mistake by bringing in my friends to run the business side of what we wanted to do,” he said. “And we used that as motivation.”
In basketball as in business, James has been able to choose the teammates he works with. And even though patience might be tested, his own not the least, James’ worldview is that when he bets on his own people, things tend to work out.