Lakers News: LA All-Stars Miss Out On Expert's "Top Tier" Of Current Players
As long as the Los Angeles Lakers have a healthy Anthony Davis and LeBron James, they can take down any team in the league. Now, add in some quality role players that complement the stars well, and you have a championship recipe.
That is exactly what this year’s version of the Lakers looks like at this point in the summer. They added some nice depth around their two stars and kept continuity throughout the roster from the team that just went to the Western Conference Finals.
However, when it comes to player rankings, some still view the Lakers duo in a lower tier. Seth Partnow of The Athletic released most of his yearly NBA player tier rankings, and neither James nor Davis ended up in his “Tier 1”.
Both players came in his “Tier 2” category, and honestly, it’s a little interesting that not even James made the cut at the top. Here is Partnow on why James landed where he did.
“He still has the “any given night” ability to be transcendent, but any given night is in contrast with “every” or even “most” given nights, a capacity he used to have and the players in Tier 1 still do. The biggest declines have come, very visibly, on defense, where his level of concentration and intensity frequently waver during the long season. In the right matchup, he can still use his strength to dial up the defensive effort, but his lateral quickness isn’t what it was.”
James may not be the player that he was a few years ago, but he is also entering year 21 in the league. And he is still better than most players in the NBA.
In the Lakers final game of the season, James scored 40 points to try and keep LA’s season alive. He showed just how effective he could still be, and he shouldn’t have to be relied upon as heavily this year.
With Davis, I understand why he was put into the second tier. At times, Davis lacks aggressiveness, and it has hurt him in the past. His defense is still out of this world, but his jump shot does leave something to be desired.
“Unfortunately, he lacks a reliable jumper, with the contrast between his long-range shooting during the 2020 bubble and virtually every other period of his career being particularly stark.”
All in all, at least James should be in the first tier. Even if he was at the lower end of it, that would be okay.
He still is one of the top players in the NBA, and the Lakers should be championship contenders once again this season. It will be interesting to see how both James and the Lakers perform this season with the expectations put on them.
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