Zhang Gongzi said that since LeBron began to change teams frequently, there will be a four-year cycle. If you think about it, that's exactly what happened. With four years as a contract cycle, James can often break out a strong institutional force at the second node of the franchise. And in this first year, it was a bit sloppy. When going to the Heat, the first year lost to the Mavericks. Go to the Cavaliers, the first year still did not work as a warrior. Coming to the Lakers, the first year didn't even make the playoffs. The first stage of this set of cycle templates is often similar.
Then the next year, the team set up all the configurations. The Heat went from not knowing how to distribute the ball to letting James play freely and letting Wade make the sacrifice of not having the ball. The Knight recruited all potentially possible players and then built the Jedi Seven. The Lakers approached Davis and completed the run-in in a short time. Basically, the teams were all successful in the second year. The effect behind this is that the management has tasted the sweetness.
So in the third year, the team continued to increase the weight. Didn't James come with his own system? The team meets all the requirements of this system. The Heat played the prototype of a small ball to suit James's mobility needs. Small lineups, high rotations, James do no-position sweeps and full-court control work. The Heat let Bosh play as a center, the Cavaliers let James play from the first position to the fifth position, the Lakers are a bit miserable, and the injury problem has not been thoroughly studied. Overall, the third year is about meeting demand and then speeding up.
In the fourth year, it is basically a period of recession. Occasionally there are good performances, but the potential of this lineup is basically squeezed dry by James. So the next step is to consider changing the lineup, from the Heat back to the Cavaliers, from the Cavaliers to the bigger Market Lakers. James knows that a new lineup is needed to continue the utility of the system. Even if the outside world keeps saying that James is just hugging the group, he will not shake his decision. Victory and off-field commercial value need to be supported by honor. James has long been eager to get into the GOAT discussions, if not, at least the second in history. That's a full LeBron cycle and where James made decisions about these teams.
So it's not hard to see that the Lakers didn't make the playoffs this season, essentially at the end of LeBron's four-year cycle. Does that mean that if you want to succeed, you can renew the fee and you're done? Isn't that the Lakers spend another four years to keep James behind, and then watch a forty-year-old veteran in a daze on the field for years to come? I don't believe the Bass family has the courage to do so, and of course the Rambis are less likely to do so.
In fact, James's cyclic law can only be applied at its peak. In the growth stage, as well as in the final stage, this set of laws does not apply. The reason is simple, James's abilities are too mythical. When people discuss James' team, they actually pay too much attention to James himself and ignore the role of other members. In layman's terms, everyone overestimates James and underestimates the role of the team. I have to admit that James is a businessman who is very good at packaging himself. Whether it's in interviews or off-the-field speeches, it's actually one purpose: to use other people's propaganda to improve their role in the so-called James system. Elevate your position as much as possible and make a profit from it.
During the Heat period, James' teammates were Bosh, Wade, and these were the giants. During the Cavaliers period, James' teammate was Irving and Love. Even if we don't mention these super giants, look at the accessories and know that the bottom of role players is not bad. Ogier, Jamison, Big Z, Chalmers, Joel Anthony. Honestly, the character players themselves are not ordinary. Don't always think that people are three sets of god clothes to bring up, the basic plate is placed there, no matter how bad it is, it will not be bad. Therefore, from the perspective of historical development, James's entire system, the star color and team composition, are better than other teams.
At the same time, most fans have ignored the environment James has been facing in the East. To be honest, except for recent years, the alliance has been in a situation where the west is strong and the east is weak for a long time. It is no exaggeration to say that in the years when James was in the East, there were actually very few super-strong teams. Compared with the current situation, the environment that James faced back then must have been much easier. We can even use James' most mythical 18 seasons to emphasize this statement.
Who was James' opponent in the East at the time? The Pacers of Oladipo, the Raptors of DeRozan, the Celtics of Irving. With the configuration of these teams at that time, in the current Eastern Conference, can they enter the top three? The Celtics who reached the Eastern Conference Finals, if it is in the current environment, do they still have this confidence? Not necessarily.
Even if it is not the 18 season, in the previous few seasons, the best player in the East is basically James's teammate. Wade and Bosh, Love and Owen, these lineups are luxurious enough, right? In the past few years, the only player James has played against, the head star of the Eastern Conference team is a player, only the young and crazy Rose. Good fellow, I don't mention this achievement. What's going on with Rose's Bulls, what's going on with James's Heat, and the two are completely incomparable. It is the East's too weak lineup, so that some cloud fans who do not watch the ball think that with James, they have a ticket to the playoffs and even the Finals. To be honest, this is indeed a bit unrealistic.
So you can see that after James's role has been over-mythologized, as long as there is a record that is not quite in line with the actual situation, everyone will stand up and begin to blindly analyze. What James lost that year, what team affected James' play. All kinds of strange tricks, as well as hydrology that cannot distinguish between friend and foe, emerge endlessly.
Of course, I still think James's own ability is enough. A 37-year-old veteran can cut 30+ in such a team, personally I think there is still enough strength. However, it should also be noted that the act of brushing points at the end of the season to get the scoring king is not considered. So looking back, you will find that the Lakers are basically the number of lives when they come here. James's situation is really only at this level. The next thing the Lakers have to consider is how to optimize the lineup. As for James? It's more about considering business value. After all, using him to earn tickets and endorsement money is not bad.