On December 29, Beijing time, when the Lakers acting coach Fitzdale was in danger, directly let James serve as the starting center, James used a triple-double performance of 32+11+11 to lead the Lakers to defeat the Rockets to end a 5-game winning streak. Fitzdale revealed why James played the starting center, he said that it was a gamble, because James's plus-minus of the fifth position is too incredible, but also played Tai Chi did not respond positively to whether James would be more of a center in the future.
According to a data from previous US media statistics, during the Lakers' 5-game losing streak, James played a center for 105 minutes, and when he played center, the Lakers net win 27 points efficiency is not bad. In contrast, Howard, Jordan Jr. and Anthony played center 100 minutes, and they lost a total of 91 points on the court, which is undoubtedly a very bad performance.
Because of the injury of the thick eyebrow brother, Fitzdale chose to directly let James play center, and James also proved that he could play any position on the basketball court.
In this regard, Fitzdale gave the root cause of James's decision to play the starting center, "The speed and transposition of the opponent forced us into a difficult situation. The current plus-minus when James plays center forwards is really incredible. Since we're currently missing a lot of players, I'm going to take a big gamble and I said, 'James should start in the fifth position tonight.' ’”
Fitzdale's experimental gamble was successful, allowing the Lakers to avoid 6 consecutive losses, and the Lakers surged 132 points to attack and warm up sharply. Just as for whether James will play as a starting center for a long time in the future, Fitzdale also added, "I think once we usher in the return of those forward players, Ariza is about to return, of course we are still waiting for the return of the thick eyebrow brother, we will play a lot of small ball lineups." ”
Fitzdale revealed, "I think our center players, the role in the team is still valuable, because there are some excellent players in the league, especially the interior players who are over 7 feet tall. If you choose to play a small ball lineup, they will blow you up. I still want our centre-forwards to be involved, and Jordan Jr. and Howard are still important to the way we play. Tonight I follow my bold ideas, keeping up with the squad of small balls, trying to keep up with the speed and diversity of my opponents. ”
Fitzdale did not respond positively to whether James would play more centers in the future, but stressed that Jordan Jr. and Howard are still important, but they are also looking forward to the early return of Ariza and Brother Thick Eyebrows, which undoubtedly means that James's future playing center may become the norm.
(Text/Drunken Floating Life)