King James needs minions who can shoot, not bricklayers — that is, if he wants to rebuild his championship kingdom. James said as much after watching the reigning NBA champs dismantle his also-ran Lakers in game one of the 2022-23 NBA season, James’s 20th campaign. (One pauses to note this astonishing fact — twenty seasons at the top.)
But this won’t be James’s happiest season — unless he can get some splashing from the outside. There is no better example of the current recipe for NBA success than the Lakers game one opponent: the Golden State Warriors who can just pure splash it from deep.
The Warriors needed just 35 percent shooting from three in the opener to beat the Lakers, who accommodated the Warriors by shooting a paltry 25 percent from behind the arc.
James was frank in his assessment afterwards, admitting that the Lakers have a giant problem in the efficiency-focused NBA of today:
“I mean to be completely honest we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting,” James said. “And that’s just what the truth of the matter is. It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team. But that doesn’t deter us from still trying to get great shots. When you get those opportunities, you take them. But we’re not sitting here with a bunch of 40-plus (percent) career 3-point shooting guys.”
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