LeBron James was blunt with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin about the Lakers‘ expectations for next season. He noted that he has no expectations of the Lakers right now, as they haven’t gotten to play at all under new head coach JJ Redick. Right now, they are taking things slowly and figuring things out as they go.
“I don’t have any expectations. And that’s unfair to put any expectations on us right now. The only thing that we can count on each other is how we come to practice and come to work every day.”
James’ response to ESPN is unsurprising, and completely understandable given where we are in the season right now. The Lakers are yet to play their first pre-season game under new head coach JJ Redick, so to try and form any expectations for the team when they haven’t played under the new management’s system is presumptuous.
Furthermore, it puts an unfair level of pressure on the players, as they must accommodate a new system, which is very difficult in the NBA to begin with, while also balancing the high expectations placed on them, making their challenge even harder.
With the Lakers, expectations are always high. They are one of the most popular and successful franchises in the history of the NBA. On top of that, they have two of the best players in the NBA right now, including one of the greatest players in history LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
But the inclusion of those two stars doesn’t mean that they should automatically be expected to win an NBA championship. The past few years in the NBA have shown that it takes more than just talent to win a championship, and to expect players on paper to be title favorites is not the right approach.
LeBron James Adjusting To JJ Redick’s New System
In the same interview, James also spoke about how he communicated with JJ Redick during the summer, but that was the extent to which they spoke about the new system Redick is going to be implementing on the Lakers squad. Reflecting on their first practice, James took a very steady approach.
“‘Great first day It was very detail-oriented’. James said that he didn’t spend much time with Redick going over the coach’s new system during the summer, other than texting from time to time, so he’s picking it up as they go just like his teammates. ‘It’s a collision course for all of us. We’re all learning on the fly’.”
JJ Redick reportedly conducted a private team meeting for the Lakers, where they all discussed the identity their team would have on the offensive and defensive end, along with laying down some ground rules that the players will have to follow as the season unfolds.
It’s clear that this is a new beginning for the Lakers. After years of playing under Darvin Ham, the Lakers seem confident behind their untested head coach. And if he can bring the best out of the Lakers roster, which Ham couldn’t, we might have to have some conversations about the Lakers as potential contenders.
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