At the beginning of the season, some well-known basketball commentators in China, that is, "experts" often heard by fans, made predictions about the ownership of the final championship team.
From the above figure, it is not difficult to see that two basketball commentators surnamed Wang were punched in the face, of which Wang Shipeng is also the main member of the former national men's basketball team and one of the core players of the Guangdong Hongyuan Dynasty.
The Los Angeles Lakers they supported were declared disqualified from even the playoffs with three games remaining in the regular season.
Of course, the Lakers' current situation is not even expected by Zhan Hei and Lake Black, if the sports lottery at the beginning of the season has the option of betting on whether the Lakers can enter the playoffs, then I believe that the odds may be higher than leicester City's Premier League championship that year.
The Lakers' failure this season has the factor of Westbrook's incompatibility, and there are also the reasons for the lack of adaptability of head coach Vogel, of course, Davis's successive injuries are also extremely fatal, but as the undisputed leading big brother of this team, LeBron James's responsibility is undoubtedly the greatest.
So far, James has averaged 30.3 points per game this season, the second highest scorer of his career, in addition to 8.2 rebounds per game and 6.2 assists. The shooting percentage is as high as 52.4%, and the three-point shooting rate is also 35.9% of the passing line level.
It is reasonable to say that such a personal performance is blameless, but the crux of the speechless is also this, with such excellent personal data but inversely proportional to the team's record, you look at the top ten of the current scoring list, in addition to James and then Terry Young also brought the Hawks to the ninth position in the East, the other eight players are on their respective teams as of today have locked up seats in the top eight in the East and West.
To say that the difficulty of leading the team, Jokic's difficulty is completely greater than James' coming, the team's number two scorer Murray has not played a game in the whole season, and the third scorer Porter Jr. has played several games and is also an early high-hanging free card. And James's side of Wei Shao almost the entire season full attendance, thick eyebrow brother also played in half of the game, but in this case, the Lakers stunned is not even squeezed into the playoffs, you say that James's problem is not big?
James' biggest problem this season is two, one is the further decline in the role of the defensive end. James ranks 305th in the league for defensive efficiency this season, the worst season of his career so far. According to statistics, among the players who have played more than 10 games, James has averaged 5.5 times per game to interfere with the opponent's shots every 36 minutes, ranking 318th in the league.
According to statistics, James has the second-to-last in the league for his average movement speed this season, while his movement speed on the defensive end is third from the bottom in the league. Some would argue that it's because James is 37 years old and certainly can't keep up with young players on the run, but James is averaging 4.8 points per game on fast breaks and is the first in the league. Why many fans question James brushing data, it is also derived from this, the offensive end you run fast, the defensive end you often let your teammates defend four or five, teammates dare to be angry, frustrated emotions will naturally arise in their hearts, and then affect the play on the field.
In fact, it is easy to change this, James's playing time this season is still as high as 37.2 minutes per game, and it should be known that Embiid, Jokic, Alphabet Brother and other players who are at their peak are also playing around 33 minutes. The reason why the Lakers management traded Laiwei this season is that they hope to use him to add a ball holding point to the team and reduce James' playing time.
Of course, there are reasons for the unfavorable scheduling of the Vogel forest field, but if James takes the initiative to communicate with the coach, asks for three or four more minutes of rest per game, and replenishes the physical strength, I believe that Vogel will not disagree. It's probably far more cost-effective for the team than he would be on the field to replace rest with his eyes defensively. But that's the way it is, to put it selfishly, more playing time ensures that James has more opportunities to create points for himself, and the price paid for by the team is the bad defense paid by other teammates and him.
The second point is really a matter of freewheeling attitude. These two days with the Lakers completely missed the playoffs, from management, coaches to stars are facing a storm of criticism, which is predictable, after all, you have four NBA history 75 superstars on your team, not even a playoff, think about it is a joke.
But what disappointed many Lakers fans and experts who had high hopes for James was that in a game so important to the Suns, James watched from the sidelines. James has no injuries, there must be, but you have played two recent games against the Pelicans, and the lone ranger and jazz in the middle of the interval he has chosen to take a break, which makes lakers fans think? They can only think of Kobe Bryant who tried his best to break the Achilles tendon in order for the team to enter the playoffs.
The reason why many people, many fans are reluctant to compare Kobe Bryant and James, is that this is a player with two complete personalities.
It's not that James must be wrong, maybe James saw through the NBA many years ago that the NBA is a business league, so he must always control his own destiny, not be swayed by unknown injury risks, and do not want to be a pawn of the team. And Kobe Bryant is willing to take risks for the sake of the team and the fans, because in his eyes, not only the commercial interests of the NBA and the team, but also the thousands of fans behind him who love him, would rather bear the injury that destroys his career than let the fans who love him down a little.
Of course, more James fans hope that he can get back on his feet next season, but it also needs James himself to realize that he is not who he was ten years ago, appropriately reduce some playing time, appropriately reduce some ball rights, maybe there is more spare energy on the defensive end, maybe the teammates around him will stand up.