Lakers superstar LeBron James believes the team should have a sense of urgency going into each game, something that certainly won’t change now that the team is below .500 with a 8-9 record, Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com writes.
James returned from an abdominal strain on Friday against the Celtics, recording 23 points, six rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes. Los Angeles was dominated by Boston 130-108 — its third straight loss and sixth in the last 10 games.
“It’s never, ‘We got 65 games left,'” James said when asked if he can take the long view on the season, according to McMenamin. “We damn sure need to play better, no matter who is in the lineup. We have our system and we need to obviously fast-track it and get better with it so we can play, no matter who is out on the floor, we can play at a high level.
“There’s no level of panic, but there should be some sense of urgency any time we take the floor.”
The Lakers have been dealing with several injuries to start the season. Along with James, projected starting forward Trevor Ariza underwent ankle surgery back in October, while backup point guard Kendrick Nunn has been out with a bone bruise. James has only played in seven of 17 games to date.
Los Angeles currently owns the ninth-best record in the Western Conference, with upcoming road games scheduled against the Pistons on Sunday, Knicks on Tuesday and Pacers on Wednesday.
He should show some urgency to all the slave labor he endorses in China.
The CCP is going to fire him if he doesn’t pick it up a notch!!
Dudes didn’t you get the memo… No one cares about China, got it?
I don’t think LeBron has to worry about getting fired by anyone. Who is the CCP that you guys are all excited about? I don’t know anything about these Politically Correct acronyms you guys throw around.
The Chinese Communist Party, but I don’t think they’re very PC.
I know. They are most definitely being Politically Correct. If they are bringing up politics all the time, and telling people how to think, then they are being PC.
It’s not politically correct, CCP is the literal acronym for the Chinese Communist Party. Come one man, use google.
@cryptonerd So, you are using the Correct words to describe a Political organization. So, you are being Politically Correct. The world is much bigger than you realize.
Statement was given from Lebron in his rocking chair.
Crazy dude shuts up and dribbles while children manufacture his shoes
Lakers suck
Current 9th seed doesn’t mean Lakers can’t win championships
Lakers are about average level team now but they know how to make a big trade
Joke
Trade Westbrook to Rockets for Wood and Gordon
That’s a good one. Gordon is actually playing well right now, there should be some teams out there considering a possible trade for him if he keeps it up.
You are aware that Houston already had then got rid of Westbrook?
Rockets can sit Westbrook and Wall on the bench all year around
Wall actually looks better on the bench than Russ does as a starter.
Teams have figured out this early, you play and move the ball fast against the LAKERS, you got a decent chance of beating them.
Nobody plays engaged defense in this version of the LAKERS. It’s clear now that any defense they played the past few seasons, was only due to the players themselves, Caruso, KCP, Mathews, heck even Kuzma.
Vogel is exposed once again.
The question is how soon will they trade for a defensive minded player? Unfortunately they have only a couple of players that have trade value outside of AD.
My dudes…the Lakers have NOTHING to trade…my goodness this isn’t hard to spot
They are stuck for better or {probably} worse. Every article we hear posters talking trades that have no hopes of ever coming to fruition
Both Lakers starters and bench are all time greats
If Big 3 can’t play total of 200 games, Lakers miss the playoffs this year, and then rebuild by trading away all time greats
lebron should have stayed with the cavs and shown some loyalty. They have some very good young players coming up and should be a force soon. He just doesn’t have any patience in building a good team. took the easy way out and now he is stuck in LA.
His contract runs out after next year
If he went to Genie after the season and asked to be traded Id bet she would oblige him
Nobodies stuck, cmon
How urgent can a bunch of old grandpas be?
Depends
@greenwood I saw what you did there. Nice one.
Funny someone who takes off playing every other night to speak about “ URGENCY” maybe he should give shutting his pie hole some “ URGENCY” and use that on the court. Has he retired yet?
He plays too much you guys vilify him
Sit after inj, vilified
Face it, no matter what he does there’s 50-70% of yall that are going to burn him at the stake. These aren’t basketball takes
Strange you can’t even take the time to separate the art from the artist at minimum .
This dude is PURE on the court STILL TODAY. I’m in awe nightly how his brain operates between the lines
He’s not “taking off” games. He’s being forced to sit out due to injuries. When he does play, he plays 36.3 minutes per game which is good for 5th in the league.
Lots of lebron haters here
This has meltdown written all over it
If it was a 1 and done situation it would be easy to keep your head up as a Laker fan but it’s not. That 22/23′ 47 mill RW option is the ultimate kick in the nuts here
Id run RW strictly with the 2nd unit w Melo Monk Ellington and Dwight for inevitable rim protection . 3 spot up shooters is needed for Russ whenever he’s on the court that just sit behind the 3 and camp. Yes this is an awful defensive lineup but he does nothing for Lebron/AD in the half court but get in the way so you make the best of it
Celtics came to play. And no one could stop Tatum. Lakers are still figuring it out. This team is built around AD and Bron. So it’s on them to make it work.