The Los Angeles Lakers had a busy summer. After suffering a brutal first-round defeat, the team made a number of roster changes, bringing in Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and Rajon Rondo (among others).
And while there is much optimism about what is to come for this new-look Lakers team, LeBron James is doing his best to temper expectations, remaining the world that it’s going to be a process for all of their players to get on the same page offensively.
“We pretty much have got a whole new offensive system this year that we’ve been working through over our practices since training camp started,” James said, via Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll.
“It’s an adjustment for us offensively, just having guys in different positions, having guys in different places on the floor with our new look and what we’re trying to do. It’s going to be a process for us, but I think it will be better off for us in the long run. It keeps the ball moving from one side to another,” James said. “Not much with a dribble but more with a pass. And obviously we’ve got downhill attackers with Russ, K(endrick) Nunn, myself and Talen.”
Westbrook’s debut on Friday night is proof that there will be growing pains. After amassing a whopping six turnovers in just 17 minutes of play, it’s pretty clear that Russ is going to need some time to adjust before he hits his groove.
As for LeBron, one can only imagine the level of difficulty involved in trying to mesh with a new roster at nearly 37-years-old.
Whether it’s the “Big Three” Heat or the LeBron-led Cavs, there is a precedent for superteams needing as much as a year before reaching their potential.
We’ll see soon enough how much time this Lakers team needs.
