Лос Анжелес Лэйкерсээс явахаар шийдсэн Леброн Жеймс Голдэн Стэйт Уорриорс багт нэгдэх магадлал өндөр байгаа нь NBA-ийн хүрээнд анхаарал татаж байна.
Леброн Жеймс Лэйкерс дэх найман жилийн хугацаагаа дуусгаж, шинэ боломжуудыг эрэлхийлэхээр болсон нь Голдэн Стэйт Уорриорс багтай нэгдэх үүд хаалгыг нээлээ. Стив Керр 2024 оны Парисын олимпын үеэр Леброн Жеймс болон Стефен Карри нарын хамтын ажиллагааг удирдаж байсан бөгөөд тэдний тоглолтын төлөөх чин хүсэл тэмүүлэл, хөдөлмөрч зан чанар ижил гэдгийг онцолсон юм. Хэрэв энэ шилжилт бодитоор хэрэгжвэл Леброн Жеймс өөрийн удаан хугацааны өрсөлдөгч Стефен Карри болон Дрэймонд Гринтэй нэг багт тоглох болно.
Багийн бүрэлдэхүүний хувьд Стефен Карри, Дрэймонд Грин, Кристапс Порзингис нар Леброн Жеймстэй хамт гарааны тавтад багтах төлөвтэй байна. Гэсэн хэдий ч Леброн Жеймс өнгөрсөн улиралд гурван онооны шидэлтийн хувьд 31.7 хувийн амжилт үзүүлсэн нь тус багийн талбайн зайг тэлэх тактикт сорилт үүсгэж болзошгүй юм. Мөн бэртлээсээ эргэн ирж буй Жимми Батлерийн эрүүл мэндийн байдал нь багийн плэй-офф дахь амжилтыг тодорхойлох гол хүчин зүйл байх болно.
Голдэн Стэйт Уорриорс удирдлагын хувьд залуу тоглогчдыг түлхүү ашиглах бодлого баримталж байгаа ч Леброн Жеймс шиг туршлагатай тоглогчийг элсүүлэх боломжийг алдахыг хүсэхгүй байна. 41 настай Леброн Жеймс нь багийн ахлагч Стефен Карригийн нөмөр нөөлөг дор тоглож, аваргын төлөөх өрсөлдөөнд нэгэн шинэ хуудсыг нээх магадлалтай. Энэхүү шилжилт нь түүний мэргэжлийн замналын сүүлийн жилүүдэд илүү таатай орчинг бүрдүүлж магадгүй юм.
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SAN FRANCISCO — LeBron James immediately would make the Golden State Warriors a better team. What Steve Kerr and his coaching staff would need to figure out, if James ultimately agrees to join, is how to maximize the remaining greatness he can offer them.
James’ potential arrival became realistic on Tuesday after he chose to leave the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons. He informed the franchise he intended to explore opportunities elsewhere rather than finish his career in L.A. The Warriors have quickly emerged as one of the possible landing spots, which could pair James with his longtime rival Stephen Curry on a team that has spent much of the last year searching for one more championship run.
What Kerr has always known — and saw firsthand as the coach of Team USA when he was tasked with finding a way for James and Curry to get the best out of each other during the 2024 Olympics in Paris — is that the pair of all-time greats share the same love for the day-to-day grind required to remain atop the basketball world for so long.
“It’s just the love for the game,” Kerr said before a game against James and the Los Angeles Lakers on April 9. “Love for the competition, the process, the work. I think all great players share an obsession with the game itself. It’s a love for the game. It’s an obsession with getting better, with competing. All the guys who I either played with, or have coached, you can just see — it means everything to them. So, when you combine that with incredible talent, which both guys have, Steph has the greatest hand-eye coordination I think of anybody on earth. And LeBron is probably the greatest athlete, physical specimen, that I’ve ever seen. So, you get those qualities behind, and this is the result. There’s a reason they’re both still going. They love it. They’re obsessed with it.”
LeBron James becomes all-time leader in games played
In that regard, James would instantly fit with the Warriors — and not just because he is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Curry sets a tone every day inside Chase Center that everybody else in the organization follows. Kerr, and other longtime staff members, have long marveled at Curry’s consistency. His personality and leadership set the tone for everybody else. Players — young and old — see that and want to do their part to support him. James would respect the standard that Curry has set and lean on a relationship between the pair that has lasted more than 20 years. He’ll also have close friend Draymond Green to bounce questions off of as he learns the Warriors’ structure.
From a basketball standpoint, the biggest question would be how James fits with everyone besides Curry. James played 60 games last season, more than most of the veterans on the Warriors’ injury-plagued roster. Like seemingly every other player who has played with Curry, he would love the space that his longtime rival’s presence creates. But James would have to find his own rhythm with everyone else.
If James joins the Warriors, four of the five spots in the starting lineup would likely be locked. He would join Curry, Green and big man Kristaps Porziņģis, along with Kerr’s choice of either guard Brandin Podziemski, forward Gui Santos or rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.
Kerr said throughout the beginning of last season that his hope was to stick with a starting group and allow that group to find its own rhythm. Early-season injuries and inconsistency derailed that plan. James’ arrival would give the Warriors’ another chance to start fresh.
One of the biggest concerns would be that James shot just 31.7 percent from beyond the arc last year with the Lakers, his lowest percentage from 3 since the 2015-16 season. Teams who already slack way off Green defensively would also force James to beat them from the outside while clogging as much space for Curry to operate. Porziņģis, if he can stay healthy, would provide another long-range option to create more openings. While James, Green and Curry can all set up the offense when needed, Podziemski would appear to be the favorite to start early if he can improve on initiating the offense, something Kerr wanted him to do at times last year.
What’s clear, whether James signs or not, Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy wanted the roster to get younger this summer and to have more options of players that would be able to play both ends of a back-to-back. But nobody is turning down the chance to have James for roughly $15 million, and the Warriors will figure the rest out as they go along.
It’s why Podziemski, who played in every game last season, Santos, Lendeborg and second-year guard Will Richard need to be ready to produce every night. It’s also why whoever the Warriors sign to fill out the end of the roster, along with holdovers such as Malevy Leons, LJ Cryer and second-round pick Lajae Jones must come into the season ready to play meaningful minutes.
James has been remarkably durable throughout much of his career, but if this deal happens, the Warriors are going to treat James the same way they treat Curry, Green, Porzingis and Al Horford: cautiously. The wild card in James’ potential arrival, and perhaps to the Warriors’ season itself, is the health of Jimmy Butler. If Butler, who is recovering from an ACL injury, can return to being close to the player he was before he got hurt, the Warriors could have the type of Hall of Fame-stuffed lineup no team would want to face in the postseason.
On paper, the Warriors still have many of the same issues they did last season, especially a lack of pure shot creators who can get rolling offensively. But James still changes the equation, even at 41.
As was the case last season, though, the Warriors success or failure depends on health. All Kerr and Curry have wanted is one more chance to play in meaningful postseason games together. If James arrives, will they get that chance this time?
If the reports are true and James is prioritizing basketball happiness over just title contention in the final stage of his career, the Warriors offer the best landing place in the league. They give their players, especially their stars, a lot of freedom to live the way they want and have shown through the years that they know how to treat the greats of the game.
If the Warriors do land James, they would also allow him to play two roles that he has rarely undertaken during the course of his career: Secondary star and underdog. James would join a team that already has an established leader in Curry while playing for an organization that is accustomed to the spotlight but no longer is viewed as a realistic title contender. James’ arrival would bring the hype, but the expectations aren’t the same as they were earlier in his career.
If James is really trying to find a basketball retirement home, there are far worse places he could pick to spend his final playing days.
