LeBron James Is Not Happy With The Lakers’ Minute Management.
We now know why the Lakers’ decision to restrict LeBron James’ playing time early in the season failed.
Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reports that James “bristled at the idea of restricting his minutes.”
When he played just 29 minutes in the Lakers’ season-opening loss to the Denver Nuggets, his playing time came under scrutiny.
James spent a significant amount of time that evening on the bench during the fourth quarter. When James was sitting down in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were outscored 7-0 as Denver’s advantage extended to 11 points and the game began to unravel.
Ham was questioned about his intention to stick with the minute restriction after the game.
“We’ll observe. Most likely, yes,” Ham replied. “With him, it’s easy to get swept up in the intensity of the game and forget that you want to play these long stretches, but we have to be aware of the minute output and how long his stretches are in order for him to be as effective as possible.”
James participated in 35 minutes, including the whole fourth quarter as the Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 100-95 in their subsequent meeting. It was evident that James had received his wish, and it had done so quickly.
James claimed that it was a “simple” decision to play the additional minutes after the game.
The Lakers have subsequently fired Ham. Just four days after the Lakers were eliminated by the Nuggets in the opening round of the playoffs, he was fired.
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