The season did not get off to the start the Lakers hoped for as they dropped their first three games of the LeBron James era. Since then, they’ve battled back to 7-6, getting above .500 for the first time this season after a one-point home win over the Hawks on Sunday.
Impartial observers haven’t been all that surprised that the Lakers have had their struggles. Those not looking through rose-colored glasses could see the potential pitfalls of this roster and the likelihood of them having trouble slowing down opponents. Still, the Lakers found themselves frustrated with close losses and an inability to take care of business down the stretch in close games — five of their six losses have been by single digits.
For LeBron, it’s the first time in four years he’s had to go through the process of joining a new team and teaching them to win, and he’s had to reset his own personal expectations. Throughout the offseason and camp, James did a good job of tempering expectations for the team publicly, but once the losses start happening, it’s much more difficult to keep that same perspective.
LeBron has hinted that he’s been nearing his boiling point at times this season, noting that folks won’t want to be around him when he loses his patience. The Lakers three-game win streak has helped calm him down, but even before then he says he had to remind himself that he knew what he was getting into in L.A., as he told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
“I haven’t changed anything outwardly, but you know me. You know how I am. I almost cracked [last week]. I had to sit back and remind myself, ‘[Expletive], you knew what you were getting yourself into,’” James told Yahoo Sports while laughing after Saturday’s win in Sacramento. “This process has been good for me. I just have to continue being patient.”
It’s not surprising LeBron was nearing his internal breaking point while the Lakers were floundering at 4-6 on the season with plenty of issues on both sides of the ball. Still, as he said, he knew exactly what this roster was when he signed and knew it was about the long-term process and not immediate results out of the gate.
Making matters worse for James is that his play hasn’t quite lived up to what Lakers fans hoped, particularly on defense where he is most definitely in regular season LeBron mode, which is to say not exactly putting in a ton of effort. This has led to frustration from the fan base, which has at times accused him already of not wanting to win and having signed in L.A. just to be in L.A. This is what LeBron does, though. He made the young guys in Cleveland try to figure it out on their own early on in 2014 when he re-signed before eventually taking over.
With the Lakers, it seems like he’s doing the same thing, but every once in awhile even he loses that patience and just wants to take over. At times it works and at times it hasn’t — particularly when he’s been forced to shoot free throws late — but everyone in L.A., from James to the fans, needs to sometimes take a step back and look at the realities of the situation. This is a roster that, as constructed, isn’t a real contender. This year, at least until the trade deadline, is about evaluating and building habits for the young guys. Once moves are made on the trade market and free agency next summer, then the clock starts and the lines about patience go out the window.
