Thought Starter...
One of the interesting perks of the new NBA Cup tournament is the impact it has on the schedule. Because the league needs to leave space for games that are impossible to slate before the seasons starts, there’s about a 10-day stretch or so that provides a lot more off-days than is typical in the regular season.
For the Lakers, it means no games until Friday, then another on Sunday, and nothing until the following Thursday.
So two games in about 10 days. And more days off for LeBron James, who sat out Sunday’s win against Portland. That amount of rest was undoubtedly on the mind of JJ Redick and the training staff (and James himself) when they made the decision to sit him, rather than push through a bothersome foot injury. With the Lakers essentially taking Monday and Tuesday off before resuming practice on Wednesday, James will get four days to rest and recharge. And because he’s now missed a game, the whole “play 82" thing is out the window.
Taking rest days as needed shouldn’t be as big a deal.
Figuring out a way to navigate these stretches of schedule like the one they just finished, with seven games in 11 days—they don’t happen often, but they happen enough—so James can play as effectively as possible needs to be the priority. But LeBron isn’t the only player who can use some time off his feet. Anthony Davis in the most literal sense needs space to let his plantar fasciitis to calm down. Austin Reaves is healing, as is Jaxson Hayes. (And this is before even bothering to mention Christian Wood or Jarred Vanderbilt).
Health isn’t the only thing the Lakers need to regain over this stretch. As JJ Redick noted before Sunday’s game, and multiple players said after, the Lakers need to get back to their early-season identity on offense, where Anthony Davis was the highest usage rate and the whole operation had more motion and fluidity. During the slump, for a variety of reasons (including some of LeBron’s habits built over 22 years) that usage flipped to where James was the dominant figure.
The Lakers need to reverse that trend.
Friday’s loss in Atlanta and Sunday’s win were decent steps in that direction, but surely the opportunity to get meaningful practice time in and reinforce those habits is something Redick and his staff are excited about. It’s likely not a coincidence that their execution and attention to detail are slipping as the season gets older, and teams have less time to practice and fewer bodies to do it with, anyway.
So can the Lakers regain the best version of themselves? It’ll help to get Reaves back, especially. But it’s not just about personnel. The Lakers aren’t as talented from top to bottom as the better teams in the West, meaning they have to execute at a higher level.
The Lakers have an opportunity now to get back to what worked, with consistency.
—BK
Overheard On This Episode
“LeBron James did not play on Sunday, which means he will have a full week off between games... So a long break for him.”
“I would expect them to reconfigure how he’s deployed going forward to avoid what we just saw in this miserable stretch of schedule.”
“They cannot go anywhere this year if AD isn’t driving the bus.”
“The more you are remembering just to involve Rui, you’re remembering to involve everybody, and then you’re remembering the whole principle of it all begins with Anthony Davis.”
