Lebron, the Defensive Liability

In the last post I suggested that, in the absence of AD, Lebron should play the 5.  That's not meant to be any disrespect to Thomas Bryant as, imo, players like him, Austin Reaves and especially Lonnie Walker IV epitomize what it means to be granted the opportunity to be a Laker (not to mention the ScapeGOAT having a couple of triple-doubles off the bench!).  But the mistake I did make in making that suggestion was dissing Darvin Ham in the process, like he doesn't know what he's doing.  Because now after watching LAL play a couple of games since, I realize that LBJ doesn't give a rat's ass about playing defense, and of course you can't have someone like that playing the 5 which, even in the current age of three-point chucking, remains the most-important defensive position in basketball.

I forget against who, but a few days ago your boy did some shit like chuck up a 3-pointer; the man who was defending him got the long rebound, and King James let dude run right pass him, all the way to the other end of the court, while pointing at one of his teammates to defend him instead.  That's what we call the ol' okey doke - making it look like someone else is slipping when you're rather supposed to be playing D.  And only someone as (old and) respected as Lebron can get away with that shit.

Then last night against the Mavs down in the post, it's like your boy was a nonfactor.  He may have even been a negative factor because at least a lesser Laker bigman, trying to earn playing time, would've probably made an effort.  In a way, it's like LBJ has become a coach's worst nightmare.  His defensive effort is arbitrary and declining even, yet at the same time he can't be benched.

And that's not to say that Lebron doesn't occasionally make an outstanding defensive play, reminiscent of his days in Miami.  Nor is this post intended to be a diss against him.  If anyone, it's the Lakers who are to blame, because if a nameless guru like myself was able to see that building a core around LBJ and AD was bad plan in the long run, then they had to see it also.  What they should've done is get while the getting was good, as in punishing teams in post when both of their big dogs were healthy.  If they had played that way throughout, they probably would have had two or three championships together instead of just one.  

So now it's like maybe if AD came back, it would invigorate Lebron to play D.  But like I was saying before, we just have to appreciate LBJ for who he is.  You have people saying 'oh, King James is about turn 38 years old, and he's still averaging nearly 30 points' and that kinda shit.  Yeah, that's points manigga.  Dude can average 40pts, but given his spectator-like defense, if he's slotted in any frontcourt position the Lakers are likely to lose.

CONCLUSION

So now I guess for the first time ever I'm officially advocating Lebron to be formally placed at PG.  The way the NBA is these days, you definitely wouldn't want your pointguard slacking on defense.  But again, that's preferable than the weakness being in the frontcourt.  Also, LBJ is so big that his size alone can be counted as an attribute against most guards, so long as he makes an honest defensive effort, which is not to be taken for granted.

And the sad thing about it is that the Lakers are actually deepest at G.  Oh well.  This season is sorta like LBJ's farewell tour anyway, since he's about to become the number one scorer in league history.  But asking Uncle Lebron to actually play quality defense, especially without AD around, is not a realistic expectation at his age, mileage and tenure.  In other words, he's old(er) and really doesn't have anything else to prove (defensively).