LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts in the second quarter as Jusuf Nurkic of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on during their game at Moda Center on Oct. 18, 2018 in Portland, Ore.Steve Dykes/Getty Images
LeBron James spent much of his first game with the Los Angeles Lakers pointing. He pointed at teammates. He pointed at spots on the floor where he wanted his teammates to move. He pointed at opposing players whom he wanted his teammates to defend. He pointed at the ball so that his teammates would pass it to him.
After storming to the basket for a dunk, he even pointed to the crowd — with both fingers, smoking-pistols style. Just to mix things up.
As much as James dribbles and shoots and soars and scores, he is a constant communicator. His approach is not always gentle or nuanced. He points with authority.
But even by his own standards, built up over the course of 14-plus seasons, James is probably doing more communicating than usual right now, because the Lakers are new to him, and he is new to them. So he points during games, and he talks about patience between them.
“That’s all I’ve been preaching since the season started,” he said, “since we got back to work, that it was going to take patience from our team, from all of us, just to figure out one another, to figure out what we’re good at, to figure out what we’re not so good at and get better at it.”
There is ample room for improvement from the LeBron-era Lakers, who were christened with a 128-119 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night. The Lakers will return to work Saturday night in their home opener against the Houston Rockets, who merely won a franchise-record 65 games last season. Welcome to the Western Conference, LeBron.
James has appeared in eight consecutive NBA finals, first with the Cleveland Cavaliers, then with the Miami Heat, and then with the Cavaliers again, but the dynamic is different for him this season. The Lakers are unlikely contenders, not yet anyway. Even making the playoffs is no sure thing.
The Lakers have lots of young talent (Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball), along with a hodgepodge of veterans on one-year contracts, but their defence and outside shooting are suspect. Consider: They missed their first 15 three-pointers against Portland.
For his part, coach Luke Walton acknowledged that the Lakers needed work, because of course they do, but he was noticeably upbeat at his news conference.
All those errant three-pointers? “They were good shots,” he said.
How about the team’s style of play? “I liked our pace,” he said.
What did he think of James’ first game? “I’m glad he’s on our team,” he said.
In fairness, it is too early to make sweeping judgments about the season, but there is a reason James has been using the p word — patience — so much in recent weeks. He is guarding against expectations. He understands the challenges ahead. It is also not the worst strategy to inoculate the team’s more inexperienced players against undue pressure.
After Thursday’s loss, he was asked about chemistry — specifically, how long it will take for this group to coalesce. He was non-commital with his response.
“Not as fast as you guys think it’s going to happen,” he said. “I always kind of compare it to instant oatmeal. It’s not that fast. It takes a while for the chemistry to get to where you can close your eyes and know exactly where your guys are. So that’s what we’re going to work toward.”
It is worth noting that each time James has gone to a new team — four times in all, starting with the Cavaliers straight out of high school — that team has endured growing pains. Even when he joined the supercharged Heat as a free agent in 2010, they lost eight of their first 17 games and had a five-game losing streak in March. They wound up reaching the finals. Later, when James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, they lost seven of their first 12. (They reached the finals, too.)
After Game 1 with the Lakers, James was asked if he would be forgiving with the team’s younger players: Would he give them a “pass” early on? It was a fair question. After all, of all the adjectives used to describe him over the years, patient — no matter how many times he wants to use the word — is not the first that comes to mind.
It is true, James said, that many of his teammates simply need more experience, and that experience only comes with time.
“But you don’t get a pass for not practicing excellence every day,” he said, “and trying to be great every day.”
James will make those judgments, which is one of the reasons the Lakers are so intriguing. No one knows quite what to expect from them. No one, not even James.
New York Times