LeBron James Can Only Blame Himself For Lakers Not Having Enough Depth
With the Lakers losing 4 out of their last 5 games, including losing by a pathetic 41 points to the Miami Heat earlier this week, LeBron James is now saying that the team needs more pieces to compete at the level they want.
"Mismatching with lineups, we're trying to figure out ways, obviously [to make the team work.] So it's very challenging. We don't have much room for error. [We are missing] big, big pieces," James told reporters after last night's overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
What's ironic about James's comments, however, is that the Lakers literally could have had one more person on their bench to at least add some relief to their depth problem. But instead, LeBron pressured the team to draft his son, Bronny James, with the 55th overall pick in this year's NBA Draft.
Bronny has already been sent down to the G-League because new head coach JJ Redick and the Lakers organization realized what everyone else did - the 20-year-old wasn't ready to play at an NBA caliber level.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have the 5th worst bench in the league. Not great for King LeBron, as even Redick is at a loss for words.
THE LAKERS ARE 10TH IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE
"It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed, we're all embarrassed… I'm not sure what was lost in translation. There has to be some ownership on the court," the former Duke star told reporters earlier this week.
I have no idea what Redick means by "lost in translation," and apparently LeBron didn't either. When he was told by reporters what his head coach said, James responded, "I'll do everything that JJ says."
What's ironic is that the Lakers organization has been saying that about James's demands for years and especially this past offseason, and look where they are at now. For now, LeBron and Anthony Davis and the team are going to have to do it all until Austin Reaves and Jaxson Hayes and others return from their injuries.