NBA Season Preview 2018-19: The King has arrived

The new-era Lakers are here. They started their offseason by signing some LeBron James fellow, who early reports indicate is very good at basketball. Some hilarity ensued after that in terms of signings, but any time a team signs the best player in the world they had a pretty darn good summer.

The biggest questions entering the 2018-19 season for the Los Angeles Lakers are: 1) do they have enough shooting? and 2) do they have a starting center?

As for perimeter shooting, I think the LeBron James effect should be enough. Over the last three seasons, LeBron’s teammates have shot 4.1 percent better from behind the stripe with him on-court versus off-court. He is able to pass guys wide open in a way that few other players in NBA history have been able to. While I would not expect the Lakers to be among the league leaders in 3-point percentage like the Cavaliers were with LeBron at the helm, there should be enough to keep the defense honest especially with the individual gravity LeBron creates by handling the ball.

The center issue is one that I find more interesting. My first thought looking into was does it even matter in 2018-19 if there are not enough full-time centers on a roster? Small ball, or skill ball, has taken over the NBA. LeBron James will regularly spend time at center. Kyle Kuzma has been talking about playing a little center in practice. Michael Beasley could easily see minutes there as well of the course of the year. You no longer need 48 minutes from a big 7-footer to succeed in the modern league.

That being said, there is still 48 minutes to fill out and none of those players would be ideal as full-time 5s. Looking at the Lakers roster, those minutes will go to some combination of JaVale McGee, Ivica Zubac, and Mo Wagner. McGee was solid for the most part last season with the Warriors, but is prone to massive mental mistakes. One of the best descriptions of him I have seen was that he plays elite defense and is a great roller for 10 percent of the time, and is a space cadet the other 90 percent. As the likely starting center for the team, McGee will have to limit those mental mistakes to maintain the strong defense the Lakers exhibited last season.

Zubac and Wagner are both very different players who will have to get some run by the nature of the roster’s construction. Zubac is a far more traditional big, who struggled to finish at times last season, but did a good job rebounding and being tall. He is probably the best rim protector of the three centers and that could eventually win him more minutes of he exhibits some offensive growth playing next to LeBron. Wagner is a rookie out of Michigan. He can shoot, and shoot it really well for a guy of his size. I do not think he will play much next season but could easily spot in for key minutes when the team needs to pull an opponent’s rim protector out of the paint.

There will be much written about the Lakers this season and it will take them some time to fully gel on the court, but there is a really good team here if Luke Walton can pull the right strings.

By the way, did I mention the signed LeBron freaking James?