Following the Lakers' lopsided defeat to the Warriors, LeBron James makes a not-so-subtle swipe at the executive office.

 


LeBron James wasted no time in making an implied criticism of the Los Angeles Lakers' management.

LeBron, who effortlessly dropped 31 points, 14 rebounds, and eight assists on 12-of-25 shooting (3-of-10 from three), used his postgame podium to lament the lack of three-point shooters on his team's roster minutes after the Lakers shot 10-of-4o from three-point range in an ultimately uncompetitive 123-109 season-opening loss to the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center.

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When questioned about the Lakers' difficulties from downtown on Tuesday, following a 30 percent shooting performance in their 1-5 preseason, by Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, he responded as follows:


“I mean, I don’t know. I think we’re getting great looks and I think there could also be teams giving us great looks. I mean, to be completely honest, we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting. 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.”

“But, I mean, let’s keep it a buck,” LeBron later added, before dialing up his favorite analogy. “It would be like a football team…and you had a bunch of guys that were underneath route-runners and wondering why the quarterback is not throwing 20-plus (yard) passes down the field. … That doesn’t mean you can’t win. (Tom Brady) did it.”

The biggest concern on the roster for the Lakers was their lack of shooting, which was second only to overall health and the Russell Westbrook scenario. The Lakers front staff, lead by recently-extended Rob Pelinka, seems to have failed to address a clear issue from last season, which is a little odd, even though they were constrained by the salary cap and trade restrictions. The Lakers failed to keep any of their three best shooters (Malik Monk, Carmelo Anthony, or Wayne Ellington), nor did they recruit any skilled snipers during the summer, despite being in the bottom ten in three-point shooting in 2021–22.

The three players on the squad with the highest career three-point shooting percentages are LeBron (34.6 percent), Kendrick Nunn (36.5 percent), and Patrick Beverley (37.7 percent). The team's two best shooters are presumably undrafted rookie on a two-way deal Cole Swider and underdog tale Matt Ryan, who made 1-of-3 triples in 18 minutes on Tuesday and is hardly a rotation-caliber player.


Lakers 3-point shooting in the 1st half:


The Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks both benefited from good spacing, which is a need of Darvin Ham's four-out, one-in system that he inherited from Mike Budenholzer. Russell Westbrook, one of the worst perimeter shooters in history, and Anthony Davis, who has shot 22 percent from three since the bubble, have been praised by Ham as prospective high-volume shooters.

The Lakers are hoping for enough internal improvement in the shooting department from players like Nunn (3-of-6 vs. Golden State), Lonnie Walker IV (coming off an ice-cold season), Troy Brown Jr. (out for weeks with a back injury), stretch-five Thomas Bryant (out for weeks with a thumb injury), and rookie Austin Reaves (31.7 percent) to muster up solid-enough spacing to keep defenders honest, as Pelinka stated at Media Day. Pelinka stated that the Lakers will enhance their pool of shooters through trades and free agency.

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