Brandon Dill/Associated Press
LeBron James does not want to hear about distractions from his teammates following Monday’s 110-105 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Ben Golliver of the Washington Post shared comments provided to Spectrum SportsNet in which James said, in part, “If you’re still allowing distractions to affect the way you play, this is the wrong franchise to be a part of and you should just come in and be like, ‘Listen, I can’t do this.'”
Ben Golliver @BenGolliver
Lakers’ LeBron James after loss to Grizzlies (via @SpectrumSN): “If you’re still allowing distractions to affect the way you play, this is the wrong franchise to be a part of and you should just come in and be like, ‘Listen, I can’t do this.’” https://t.co/s3gHiuhODx
Distractions or not, the Lakers are in free-fall mode at this point. They are three games behind the San Antonio Spurs, two games behind the Sacramento Kings and tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and have just 22 games remaining.
They have lost 10 of their last 14 and four straight on the road, with the last three coming against the hapless Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans (without Anthony Davis) and Grizzlies. The defense has allowed triple digits in 19 consecutive contests and was nonexistent for stretches against Memphis.
It was one thing to allow the steady Mike Conley to score 30 points, but it was an entirely other thing to let Joakim Noah blast his way to the rim for a head-turning dunk on multiple occasions.
James is far from blameless when it comes to the defensive struggles, as Pete Zayas of Laker Film Room explained to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report: “LeBron rarely exerts himself beyond a casual jog in transition defense and disregards spot-up shooters in most half-court situations, leaving them wide open. His defensive game these days resembles a disinterested center rather than the high-end wing defender that he once was.”
The fact that James specifically stressed the ability to play through distractions is notable following the team’s public pursuit of Davis at the trade deadline. It ultimately didn’t land him despite reports it offered the vast majority of its young pieces in Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.
That surely created an awkward situation within the locker room with the players knowing they were dangled as trade bait, and one NBA executive told Pincus of James, “He killed the [Lakers’] chemistry. He shouldn’t have been so public about it. Even during the All-Star draft, he laughed about [wanting Davis to be his teammate].”
The Lakers are always going to create headlines given their status as one of the league’s iconic franchise and now the presence of one of the all-time greats in James. The four-time MVP seemed ready to play through distractions with the playoffs slipping away, but it’s fair to wonder at this point how much of the distractions he’s had a hand in creating.
from Declare News https://ift.tt/2Ec31aK
0 Comments