When LeBron James Starts At Point Guard

When LeBron James Starts At Point Guard

After losing four games in a row with the two-seated Thunder next up on their schedule the Lakers made a key adjustment instead of starting D’Angelo Russell they moved him to the bench for Jared vanderbel creating this super sized lineup of versatile forwards which of course left LeBron James at the point

Traditionally that means lots of spread pick and roll he’ll turn the corner off a screen and apply some downhill pressure where he’s had more than enough time to see quite literally every single coverage you can think of so he’ll probably make the right read to get his

Team an open shot the problem with this opening lineup though is that it sacrifices some shooting so on a play like this where the Big’s in a drop with help from one pass away sitting at the nail to tag the roller while a kick out to the open shooter is the obvious

Decision it’s not always going to punish the more paint oriented coverage thankfully Braun and AD are just so good that it doesn’t always matter in the case of Davis it’s his in between game the defense may do a good job of shutting off the paint but he’s

Effective enough going over the top to still get a good shot off and in the case of Braun it’s the fact that sometimes it doesn’t matter how many Defenders you put in between him and the basket he’ll drive and finish over around or through anyone at The Rim the

Benefits of having capable Shooters to kick it out to really stand out on a play like this though where dork gets taken out of the play by the screen turning The Possession into a quick five on four chat picks up the ball leaving ad open for the shovel pass which draws

In Cas Wallace from the corner with pretty much every OKC Defender touching the paint in some capacity ruy hachimura is left on an island and capitalizes for three points the luxury of having knockdown Shooters on the floor isn’t always there though and definitely wasn’t in the Lakers new new starting

Five so they had to find ways to create space one way they did that was by running the ball through ad away from the paint they opened the game with a corner dribble handoff for Braun and notice how they cleared out that side of the floor so that there’s no immediate

Help at the nail that way when he attacks the middle he’s able to get downhill and all the way to the rim he doesn’t convert but because Chad had to contest there’s nobody in position to keep Davis off the glass the most valuable part about running the offense

Through ad up top is that it stretches Chad the Thunder don’t run a lineup of multiple Rim protectors so when he’s not in the paint it’s really vulnerable and when Braun frees up on a cut all they can do to save two points is foul here’s

Another example it starts with ad in the post and he draws a quick double he finds cam reddish on a cut and from this Frame right here you’ll see that chat’s not in position to to rotate down with just three guards protecting the basket that’s never going to cut it against

LeBron James the Lakers actually had Davis bringing the ball up and initiating for a large chunk of this game so that they could start possessions with Chad at the top of the key now when they enter the ball to LeBron in the mid post it’s Jaylen Williams who’s coming over to help with

Just a quick up fake bronze got himself another easy two ad at the point also allows him to attack in space here they reverse the pick and roll by having LeBron screen and he’s going to reject it to force chat into a backpedal from there the weight room takes care of the

Rest another way the Lakers were able to combat a lack of outside shooting in these lineups was by playing with Pace that way the defense isn’t able to properly set and prioritize the pain and even at age 38 it’s nearly impossible to stop Brun from getting to the r Rim in

Transition threat number one is that downhill battering ram but if the defense starts to bring in help or sits an extra defender in his Lane that just leaves them vulnerable to his all-time great passing and if they completely commit to building a wall in an effort

To keep him as far away as possible he’s got no problem stepping into pullup threes as effective as these fast breaks are though they’re even more dangerous with better Shooters surround in him and that’s because of how his drives pull in the defense with D’Angelo Russell by his

Side it’s a lot harder to bring in an extra defender or two and although torian Prince isn’t necessarily known for his shooting he’s been at about 38% over the past two seasons so he’s another guy who can knock it down when the opportunity comes here’s what it

Looks like when LeBron isn’t met with those helping Defenders Shay the League’s leader in steals by a landslide attempt attempts to make a play on the ball but to no avail as James just throws him into the Baseline more shooting on the floor also makes a noticeable difference for bronze game in

The half court here you’re going to see him inbound the ball and get it right back on a handoff Vander Bill isn’t much of an outside threat at all so they’re comfortable leaving him open to protect the rim but D’Angelo Russell’s a great shooter so Jaylen Williams doesn’t make

Any attempt to help from one pass pass away that leaves Braun with all the space in the world to hit a midi here’s a real similar play that starts with a handoff and notice how they have chat on Vando so that he’s always in position to rotate down without giving up a quality

Three again it’s DLo being one pass away that makes the difference though because as soon as Dort slides down to tag the roll there’s enough space for him to comfortably step into three points it’s not just the shooting though getting more ball handlers on the floor adds

More diversity to the attack like here instead of setting it up himself bronze going to move it to D and get into some double screen action Prince is a threat to shoot and Dort doesn’t want to leave braon so DLo is able to get all the way

To the cup for two this next play really highlights the versatility of LeBron and the flexibility that comes with having a second ball handler on the floor it starts with a high pick and roll but the Thunder do a great job of mitigating any advantages so he’s going to kick it out

To Austin Reeves and start a second pick and roll this time as the screener and Reeves gets into the lane where he finds cam reddish on a lob for all of these reasons after already establishing a comfortable lead the Lakers threw out their best possible offensive lineup in

An effort to put the game Out Of Reach in quarter number four you’ve got Reeves and DLo in the the back court both ball handlers who can shoot next to a front Court of Prince Braun and AD the Thunder Tried countering by throwing out a Zone but the skill was just too much

Attacking decisively and making the right plays eventually Russell subbed out for ruie and from there it all ran through Braun in the middle after getting a switch he attacks an isolation and that’s just way too easy he made a living out of switch hunting to CL out

This game notice how he waves off Davis and calls for Reeves to screen instead and that’s so he can get Shay on him from there he creates a driving lane where Dort once again picks him up but now that he’s already built some downhill momentum he’s able to create

Some separation with a bump setting up a tough floater next time down he again got the switch onto Shay and he’s going to isolate from a standstill with a couple jab steps he threatens a drive before before pulling the trigger from deep and it was just one of those

Knights he shot five of five from three which included a wide variety of pull-ups quick hitters away from the ball open spot UPS he was feeling it and that’s probably why he ended with 47 and7 on 83 1.2% true shooting the Lakers offense was cooking after starting a

Lineup that seemed to be geared more towards defense either way they were able to end the losing streak against one of the League’s best teams and it’ll be interesting to see if they stick with this rotation moving forward LeBron James back to playing point guard if you

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After losing 4 games in a row, the Lakers adjusted by starting LeBron James at point guard, to which they absolutely torched the OKC Thunder.

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