Lakers News: How LeBron James Feels About Lakers Without Anthony Davis
LeBron James stated the obvious about your Los Angeles Lakers' struggles without their best player, All-NBA big man Anthony Davis (the team has gone 1-4 since he went down): they're just not very good. One could argue that was the case even before the 6'10" future Hall of Famer suffered a stress injury in his right foot on December 16th against Denver Nuggets MVP center Nikola Jokic, but still.
Yesterday, the Lakers fell 124-115 (but don't let the final tally fool you, things weren't that close) to the Dallas Mavericks, and James opted for brutal honesty in his media remarks, as captured by Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“Reality is, without AD, we lose a lot of length, which we don’t have already,” James said. “So we have to make up in ways that, without AD, is very difficult, very challenging. So, I think at one point we had a lineup of I think (Austin Reaves) was the tallest guy on the court. So, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
Pointing to that insane five-guard lineup as being the product of the Lakers missing Anthony Davis isn't fair. There's absolutely no reason L.A. ever should have gone to an all-tiny small ball lineup comprising Austin Reaves, Lonnie Walker IV, Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, and Dennis Schroder (they were roundly outscored and out-rebounded in their 94 seconds together before a player above 6'5" was finally brought back into the game -- James).
"At the end of the day, I love to play the game of basketball," James said. "I'm still enjoying going out there and playing in front of fans, either at home or on the road. And I'm just trying to control what I can control. I show up, try to lead these guys and try to lead to victories, and obviously there's been times when it's been frustrating. There's been times that I've been happy. There's been times where I've been like, 'OK, we can do better here,' or whatever the case may be. But I always try to stay even keeled."
