On paper, the Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of talent and one of the best rosters in the NBA. Of course, games aren’t played on paper and with so many new players being brought in and a lot of them who have yet to play together, the fit and chemistry is a bit of a concern.
Even choosing a starting lineup for this Lakers team is difficult. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are locks and Danny Green seems to be one as well, but the other two spots are complete question marks as is the entire rotation.
But any team with James, Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kyle Kuzma is sure to strike some fear into opposing teams.
One of those opposing coaches actually spoke about it, revealing to Keith Smith of Real GM that he believes James will bounce back and that he hopes to catch the Lakers early on in the 2019-20 NBA season while they’re still figuring things out:
“Well, LeBron will be engaged again. We caught them later in the year last season and he was kind of checked out at that point. I bet he has an MVP type of season. I mean, he was better than 90% of the league last year when he didn’t really care. Him and Davis will be a tough cover. They’ve got shooting this year. They can play in the post with (DeMarcus) Cousins. They’ve got some defenders. It’s going to be a good group. I just hope we get them early while they are still figuring things out.”
With any team in any sport, chemistry is extremely important and it usually takes time for everything to get figured out. For a team like the Lakers, with a number of players expecting to play consistent minutes, it could be a struggle to make everyone happy and get them comfortable in their roles.
Th team’s frontcourt is loaded with Davis, Kuzma, Cousins, and JaVale McGee all looking for minutes along with James who has been most effective at the power forward position. Avery Bradley, Alex Caruso, Rajon Rondo, and Quinn Cook will also be battling for guard minutes and there is no way to appease all of them.
The ‘Big 3’ Miami Heat started just 10-8 in their first season together as they took time to adjust to each other and that is the case with most star-studded teams early on.
The Lakers could very well struggle early on and many teams might take advantage of that but once things are figured out, many see them as a championship contender.