With LeBron James healthy and back in action for the first time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers cruised past the Utah Jazz on Tuesday by 14 points. While they were far from perfect, they put up a season-high 140 points and dished out 31 assists, and as the game progressed, they put on a bit of a clinic at times on how basketball should be played offensively.
James had 12 assists and helped set the right tone as far as pace and ball movement. The Lakers made the extra pass and had players move without the ball to get open, and the result was an unreal 59.5% field-goal shooting rate and 31 assists on 50 made baskets.
The team was already showing signs of this type of cohesiveness and unselfishness prior to James’ debut. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, beneficiaries of this modus operandi has been center Deandre Ayton. After two dismal seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, he is elevating the Lakers with his rebounding, paint scoring and, yes, even his defense.
Los Angeles has made it a point to run many pick-and-roll sequences with him and get him the basketball near the rim on lob passes and lead passes in transition. One NBA executive says Ayton will benefit even more now that James is back in the lineup.
Via ESPN:
“Ayton should benefit the most out of LeBron back,” one Eastern Conference executive told ESPN, pointing out the open looks the center will receive with James, [Luka] Doncic and [Austin] Reaves demanding extra attention from defenses. “LeBron makes people look good. [He’ll feed Ayton] lobs and dump-offs at the rim.”
Ayton, whom L.A. signed in July after his previous contract was bought out by Portland, is averaging 16.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks a game, and he has posted at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in each of his last three contests. He’s shooting a supernova-like 69.9% from the field, which illustrates how many easy baskets he has been getting.
James, Doncic and Reaves give the Lakers three high-level triple-threat players who are all capable of running the team’s offense, especially in the halfcourt, while also presenting the threat of being a volume scorer. Everyone else must be a role player or complementary player and fill in the blanks on offense, whether it means hitting 3-pointers, flashing into the lane or sprinting downcourt on every defensive rebound in an attempt to create pace and fast breaks.
L.A. certainly needs more 3-point shooting. It ended Tuesday just 27th in 3-point attempts per game and 23rd in 3-point accuracy at 33.8%. If James maintains his recent marksmanship from deep — he made 37.6% of his attempts from downtown last season and 41% of them the season prior to that — he will definitely help in that regard.
But where it perhaps needs the most help is on the defensive end, as it ranks in the bottom half of the NBA in defensive rating. On Tuesday, it allowed the Jazz to score 71 points and make 55.3% of their shot attempts in the first half, and it lacks plus defenders up and down its roster.
This is where James can also help, especially now that he won’t have to be as much of a volume scorer as he had been for almost his whole career. After Doncic arrived midway through last season, James showed more effort on the defensive end than he had in years, and one scout explained how the superstar can change the Lakers’ complexion on defense.
“The ability for him to guard big — if they play him and Rui [Hachimura] and Luka, although they’re small, they’re still big as [expletive] and then they can play Austin too, and I don’t really care who you put as the fifth guy,” a West scout told ESPN. “They could be big and skilled at pretty much every position.”
The Lakers will not play again until this Sunday, when they face the Jazz again, this time on the road. That will allow them to get some practice time in and figure out how best to incorporate James into what is still a relatively new roster.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: NBA executive says one player will benefit most from LeBron’s return
