Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James should be the starting point guard
By Zamir Bueno
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton should name LeBron Jams the starting point guard as it gives him an opportunity to add more shooting in the starting lineup
"“Talent, talent, talent figure it out later”."
Houston Rockets GM Darryl Morey said this on an episode of NBA Open Court in regards to whether talent or fit is most important when constructing a roster.
However, one can argue that Morey’s opinion is flawed because roster construction is dependent on the skill set of the franchise player. A prime example of this is the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James, LeBron is used to having the basketball in his hands.
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LeBron dribbles the ball to the 3-point line and analyzes the entire defense. If one of the defenders is sagging off a shooter, he will pass the basketball to the shooter for an open 3-pointer.
On the other hand, if everyone stays home, he will study everything about his defender to determine the next course of action. If the defender decided to sag off of him, LeBron would take the open jumper. But, if the defender played him tight, he will attempt to drive towards the basket for a score, to draw a foul or attract a double team.
Distance is not the only aspect of the defense that LeBron analyzes as he also pays attention to the size of his defender. If he has a smaller defender, LeBron will back him down into the post to score or throw a cross-court pass to a teammate behind the arc.
The LeBron James offense forces point guards to spend a substantial amount of time as a spot up shooter/bystander. Unfortunately, Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo will struggle in the role as they have a career shooting percentage from behind the arc of 31 percent.
This is significantly below the league average in 3-point percentage for last season (36.2%). Being considerably below the league average puts the opposing team in a good position defensively when Lonzo/Rajon do not have the ball because they can afford to leave them open to provide help defense elsewhere.
Consequently, Luke Walton should consider giving LeBron the official title of starting point guard at least until the trading deadline. The potential change would give Walton the opportunity to permanently insert Josh Hart into the starting lineup giving LeBron an extra shooter to further spread the defense. Hart has a career three-point shooting percentage of 39.8 which is at least 8.8 percent better than both Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo.
The change would force an opposing team to make a tough decision on whether to stop LeBron or defend the shooters. If they choose to concentrate on LeBron, he can pass the ball to a shooter for the open three-point shot. On the other hand, if they stay home with the shooters, LeBron will have an easier time getting to the rim and scoring the basketball.
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When LeBron takes a rest, Luke Walton can bring Lonzo Ball or Rajon Rondo to orchestrate the offense because their main strength as players is the ability to distribute.