It seems pretty safe to say that, outside of his desire to add another superstar, LeBron James already has a priority for what he wants the Lakers to add to their roster next season: 3-point shooting.
As we were told last summer, the Lakers roster moves after adding LeBron James were meant to target “playmaking and defense” over 3-point shooting. The reason, as Magic Johnson would later suggest, was that he didn’t want the Lakers to be like Cleveland. By the sounds of it, it seems like LeBron would be in for that Cleveland-kind of strategy.
As the kicker in a piece about how and where the Lakers first year with LeBron went wrong, James was asked by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin to assess the Lakers experiment this season. His response was not exactly English, but also clearly disapproving.
“That experiment?” James said of the roster construction for his first season in L.A.
James stared out onto the court for a moment, turned his attention back to the conversation, pursed his lips and stuck out his tongue as he trumpeted air out of his mouth, making a raspberry sound.
“THBPBPTHPT!”
So LeBron’s response was making a gibberish-like sound with his mouth, which basically sums up the Lakers season to this point. The experiment of not having any shooting has predictably ended with the Lakers ranking 29th in 3-point shooting percentage among the league’s 30 teams.
Simply put, the Lakers roster was ill-equipped to maximize the best skills of LeBron James and the efficient opportunities he provides for teammates. James, as the story has been told, was on-board with Magic’s decisions over the summer. Now that he’s seen it doesn’t work, perhaps that will inform what the Lakers plan to do in the coming months.
