Why LeBron James Needs to Play Better... and Why That's Bad for the Lakers

Last week, Anthony Davis was a big topic of conversation. Namely, how the Lakers star, despite some perfectly good early season production, needed to play better for the Lakers to get where they want to go. Well, the same is true of LeBron James. It starts on the defensive side of things, where James admitted following Friday's loss to the Clippers that he wasn't good enough, particularly in some of the moments where he was playing center. For those lineups to work—and they need to work—James has to be far more precise, and do less freelancing. But broadly, his performance Friday was indicative of the season as a whole. James hasn't been bad, but for a variety of reasons hasn't played at the MVP level of a year ago, before he was injured. That's the James the Lakers need. Maybe even a little better. And given the amount of work he now has to do defensively (along with Davis) because of the roster turnover, it's fair to ask whether he's truly capable. That the Lakers may need much more from James indicates some glitches in the offseason vision for the squad. Remember, the idea behind adding Russell Westbrook was to make LeBron's life easier, not harder. Hasn't worked out, to this point. Finally, Frank Vogel has said he'll only play one of DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard on any given night. For now, it looks like that will be Howard. So is that progress? And should that center be starting, or coming off the bench? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. BetOnline AG There is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. PrizePicks Don’t hesitate, check out PrizePicks.com and use promo code: “NBA” or go to your app store and download the app today. PrizePicks is daily fantasy made easy! TrueBill Don’t fall for subscription scams. Start cancelling today at Truebill.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Shopify Go to SHOPIFY.com/lockedonnba for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices