Tag: Dwight Howard

LeBron James is displaying his versatile skill set in the purest way this season

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is leading the NBA in assists and is averaging a career-low in minutes per game this season.

Throughout his career, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has possessed an extraordinary all-around game, with his playmaking skills making him one of the most talented players in NBA history. But his current performance this season may be the purest expression of his skillset that we’ve ever seen as he continues to challenge the limits of greatness in season No. 17.

Often, the versatility of LeBron’s skills has had to be placed in the background for more practical reasons. He’s had to take on a big chunk of the scoring load several times throughout his career, with his rookie season being the only time he didn’t average 25 or more points a game.

This season is different, though. For once, he’s not leading his team in scoring, though he is second behind Anthony Davis. James is averaging a career-high 10.8 assists per game and is the league’s leader in assists. If he keeps this pace, he will lead the NBA in assists for the first time in his storied career.

A player that’s wowed audiences for almost two decades, James is using his skill set in perhaps the purest way he ever has in his NBA career this season with the Lakers. He’s been playing point guard, although one could argue James has been a “point guard” his whole career. Never one to tout himself as a “scorer,” even as one of the most prolific in NBA history, James has been allowed to play basketball in a style that suits his preferences this year.

A player that’s been compared to Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, James’ stands alone, with his unique style of play never being more apparent than this season. A big part of that is because he has the perfect pick-and-roll partner in Davis. The duo has run the action beautifully this season, with Davis scoring 4.1 points a game as a roll man, per NBA.com. 

Davis has already solidified himself as one of the most talented teammates James has played with. He’s up there with Dwyane Wade and Kyrie Irving. Davis’ game complements James’ skill set well, with his ability to score in multiple ways, inside and outside. Davis has won Player of the Week twice this season for the Lakers and is coming off back-to-back games of 39 and 50 points.

Davis has allowed LeBron’s playmaking to flourish. Per NBA.com, the assist points created tallies the number of points a player or team makes through assists. Assist points created began being recorded in 2013-14, and since then James has ranked in the top 10 of the category six times, including this season. This season, James leads the league in assist points created (27.1). He’s also doing this while averaging a career-low 34.4 minutes per game.

Whether it’s seeing an open driving lane or finding an open teammate on the fastbreak, James can usually make any play he wants.  In the video below, James floated a pass to Davis, who was running up the floor. Possessing great court vision is an important part of being a good passer, and James has some of the best court vision ever. Likely the best ever.

Davis’ quality play has helped James immensely. In addition, though, James is arguably playing with one of the best-supporting casts he’s ever had in his career in terms of spacing. With shooters such as Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, this roster is simply built for James to succeed at the highest level. Green and Caldwell-Pope are both shooting at least 38% from the 3-point line. In Cleveland and in Miami, shooting around LeBron meant great things and this season has been no different.

He also has some help handling the ball. Alex Caruso and Rajon Rondo have come off the bench to share ball-handling and facilitating duties, giving James a break so he doesn’t have to get his minutes too high. Rondo is second in assists on the team behind James, and Caruso ranks fourth.

Dwight Howard has also been a key player for the Lakers’ top-tier defense, and he’s rebounded the ball well, too. He has a 102.1 defensive rating, and he ranks second on the team in rebounds (7.0). Davis has been great defensively as well, leading the team in blocks (2.7). Having Davis and Howard as safety blankets has also allowed LeBron to take more risks, helping the Lakers be one of the best teams in the league in forcing turnovers.

James can also still score at a high level too, but he hasn’t been asked to do it as much this season. He’s posted eight games of 30-plus points this season, with a season-high 39 coming during overtime in a win against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 1. 

And defensively, he’s had a resurgence as well. He’s been playing passing lanes, positioning himself for steals. James is averaging 1.3 steals, tied for second on the Lakers with Green. He’s been able to play the free safety position on defense while being the quarterback of the offense.

With all these contributions from teammates, James doesn’t have to be concerned about handling the ball, scoring, making plays and playing defense.

And because of that, fans have gotten to see James in perhaps his purest form.

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Jameer Nelson opens up about Dwight Howard’s ugly exit from Orlando

Jameer Nelson opened up to HoopsHype about playing with Dwight Howard and having a front-row seat for his ugly exit from the Orlando Magic.

One of the most fascinating stories of the 2019-20 NBA season thus far has been the resurgence of Los Angeles Lakers big man Dwight Howard.

The 34-year-old center played just nine games last year and it seemed like his playing days were nearing an end. However, now he’s playing well for the same franchise that he once left on not-so-great terms.

Considering that Howard has seemingly turned a new leaf, it was interesting to hear from his former Orlando Magic teammate Jameer Nelson. The 2009 All-Star spoke with our own Alex Kennedy about playing alongside Howard for eight years and the big man’s drama-filled departure from Orlando.

You can listen to the whole podcast here, but the most noteworthy takeaways happened when he discussed how he felt about Howard’s final season on the Magic in 2011-12 (via HoopsHype):

“We had a culture and when that culture got broken, that’s when the team started to break up,’ Nelson said. “There were different reasons why the culture broke, but the main thing was certain guys weren’t seeing eye-to-eye anymore. The goal changed. Social media started coming into play. The brand started getting bigger for individual guys. Winning wasn’t even the priority at that time, in my opinion, for certain guys. It kind of got blown up because of that, in my opinion. I’m sure you’ve been around and you’ve seen it. But it kind of deflates you and you’re like: ‘Ugh, I don’t feel like coming to practice today because it’s not going to be as fun.’ Our practices used to be fun. When we were winning, everything was fun. But when things got a little tougher and adversity hit, certain guys just didn’t want to be there anymore.”

Howard was coming off three consecutive seasons in which he was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. In 2008-09, the Magic advanced to the NBA Finals and then made it back to the Eastern Conference Finals in the following season. But in 2010-11, Orlando was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

(Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

As such, there was a very different vibe around the team entering the following season. Winning was no longer the focus, explained Nelson, and Howard publicly requested a trade. Despite asking to be traded in December of 2011, Howard wasn’t actually dealt until August of 2012.

“Every day when we came in, it was about Dwight wanting to be traded and about Dwight wanting Stan [Van Gundy] to be fired and things like that,” Nelson said. “Everybody found anything but positive things to say to us. But I thought we handled it well. We still continued to win; we still played and we fought through it. But it was just a lot of weight on everybody’s shoulders. From the players to the coaching staff. It took a lot out of you, dealing with all of that negativity. A lot of things that happen in professional sports just need to stay in the locker room or in the office. Whether it’s with the general manager, the owner or the team president, if you want to have a conversation with that person, just let it stay there. If you want to request a trade, request it quietly. Then, things won’t trickle down to your coach, your teammates and your fans. It had an effect on everybody, [even] the people working on the business side. Nobody was having any fun anymore. It was almost like the ending to a great movie, and it was a sad ending.”

Nelson noted that the franchise still found ways to win, which is fair because they made the playoffs. However, they were coming off of three years in a row of owning the best record in the Southeast Division and finished with at least 50 wins in each of those seasons. But in 2011-12, they entered the postseason as a No. 6 seed with a .561 win percentage (37-29).

(Photo by Victor Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)

While most of the blame for the regression was put on Howard, Nelson did say that the big man shouldn’t get all of the blame. He told Kennedy that he hasn’t had a chance to clear the air with Howard yet, but he hopes to eventually reconcile with the eight-time NBA All-Star.

“To put all of it on Dwight isn’t fair,” Nelson said. “To say, ‘If he would’ve stayed, things would’ve been the same…’ or, ‘He’s the reason why everything broke up,’ is not fair because there were other things that transpired as well. I’m sure there are certain things [that happened] that we’ll probably never know. But I definitely would like to sit down and talk with him one day. And I’ve always rooted for him; I’ve been on his side and wanted to see him come out on top. But I’m definitely looking forward to that day when I get to sit down and talk with him and iron some things out.”

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Anthony Davis (flu) received IV fluids at halftime of win over Nuggets

Tuesday night may go down as the Anthony Davis Flu Game for the Los Angeles Lakers after what he went through on Tuesday.

The stage was set for Tuesday night to go down as The Anthony Davis Flu Game and with his performance in the closing moments of the Los Angeles Lakers 105-96 victory over the Denver Nuggets, he did exactly that. After the game, more detail came out about Davis’ heroic performance.

Although Davis wasn’t the only player who was reportedly dealing with flu-like symptoms, he did receive an IV in the Lakers locker room during halftime of their win against the Nuggets, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

Davis finished the night with 25 points, which tied his teammate LeBron James for a game-high. Davis made several huge plays defending the rim in the last few minutes but he also did an excellent job disrupting Nikola Jokic for most of the night as the All-Star center had an off-night from the field.

In addition to the two superstars, the Lakers got a nice lift off the bench from Dwight Howard (12 points, six rebounds), Rajon Rondo (11 points, six rebounds and six assists) and Alex Caruso (Six points, four rebounds, team-high plus-11).

Now the Lakers are off to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.

Kyle Kuzma credits Lakers vets with helping him accept new role

During an interview with Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, Kyle Kuzma talked about his new role on a better Los Angeles Lakers team.

Kyle Kuzma has had a few big finishes for the Los Angeles Lakers this season and although he may not play in Sunday afternoon’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, Kuzma is still adjusting to a role of coming off the bench after finishing the last two seasons as a starter.

The subject of Kuzma in a new role was the focus of a new column from Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, where they discussed Kuzma adjusting to being a role player on a team with championship aspirations. During the interview, Kuzma credited the team he is on and the teammates he has for helping him catch himself when he gets frustrated about not being featured more.

“That’s just part of sacrifice and trying to be on a winning team,” he said. “Obviously, it’s hard sometimes when you’re a young player wanting to continue to establish yourself and see you measure up across the league. In certain situations, you have the opportunities to just play. It’s hard sometimes — naturally.

“But I’ve got good vets around me, keep things in perspective. I have an opportunity to win a ring in my third year. Sometimes, I just have to catch myself, realize.”

Kuzma has had a few big breakout moments throughout the season like his first big game against Chicago with 11 fourth quarter points or his big shots against the Pelicans on Wednesday to help the Lakers comeback.

Kuzma has eclipsed 20 points only twice this season and he hasn’t reached that mark for over two weeks. Still, that’s not as important as him accepting a role with fewer field goal attempts and focusing on becoming a better defender to be able to play in big moments alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If he’s able to do those little things, the opportunities for big shots will continue to come.

LeBron James drops 30 to survive nail-biter at Grizzlies for seventh straight win

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have matched their longest winning streak of the season with Saturday’s win at Memphis.

LeBron James had a game-high 30 points to go with six rebounds and four assists to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to their seventh straight victory, 109-108 over the Memphis Grizzlies. In addition to James, Anthony Davis had 22 points but the Lakers overall had a rough offensive night as they shot lower percentages than Memphis in every category save for free-throws. The Lakers forced 19 turnovers however and they made timely plays for the victory.

For much of Saturday night’s game against the Grizzlies, the Lakers played the part of a team that played the previous night in another city and arrived in Memphis in the wee hours of the morning. But down the stretch, Davis and James both made the requisite plays for the Lakers to match their longest winning streak of the season at seven games.

The Lakers took a 109-106 lead with just over 35 seconds left and after a rebound by Kyle Kuzma, Kuzma lost control of the ball to give the Grizzlies the ball leading to a lay-up by Ja Morant. A missed 3-pointer by James gave the Grizzlies one final shot to win the game with 1.3 sesconds left. The Grizzlies threw a full-court pass down the court and it was deflected by the Lakers to help them escape with the win.

The Lakers had a rough shooting night but they did get some solid production from the bench, especially from Dwight Howard, who had 10 points and nine rebounds on just four field goal attempts. Rajon Rondo had 14 points and six assists but he had 15 points to just three on the night for Kuzma, clearly a a reflection of the way the Grizzlies guarded the Lakers second unit.

Now the Lakers will head back west as they’ll visit the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.

Harassment charges dropped against Lakers DeMarcus Cousins

After charges were filed for a domestic dispute in August, they’ve reportedly been dropped, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Although the Los Angeles Lakers oddly chosen to say it’s not out of the question for DeMarcus Cousins to return during the playoffs after tearing his ACL in August, the tangible news that came Friday afternoon is of much greater importance for their injured center.

Charges filed against the Los Angeles Lakers for third-degree harassment have been dropped in Mobile, Alabama, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. A few days after suffering the knee injury in a pick-up game, Cousins was wanted for arrest in Alabama after a domestic dispute regarding a former girlfriend and his four-year old son whom they share.

Shortly after Cousins was injured, the Lakers agreed to a contract with Dwight Howard that is currently paying wonderful dividends for their team. With Howard much older than Cousins, the Lakers may be thinking of keeping Boogie on the roster in order to bring him back once he’s healthy.

Cousins also has a strong relationship with Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo dating to their lone season together in New Orleans, which can’t be discounted in the calculus of keeping him on the roster even though he won’t be able to contribute this season.

Don’t discount LeBron’s defense in Lakers surge to the top of the standings

While plenty of ink has rightfully been spilled on LeBron’s offensive resurgence, it’d be a mistake to ignore his and his team’s defense.

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The Los Angeles Lakers currently own the best record in the NBA by a nose, and LeBron James’ rejuvenated play has almost everything to do with it.

This is not, of course, to disparage the outstanding play coming from the other top-ten player on the Lakers’ roster, Anthony Davis, mind you — far from it. But James’ resurgence has made the pair a truly lethal combination, a testament to the traction his #WashedKing hashtag has had as L.A. has surged to the top of the standings.

Tuesday night, LeBron added to his growing resume of achievements by getting a triple-double against the Oklahoma City Thunder. On its surface, it wasn’t an especially remarkable achievement, particularly given that club’s comparatively weakened conditioned compared to seasons past.

That it was the final remaining team James had yet to log such a feat against was both remarkable in its completeness and in that it had only just occurred now in his 17th season despite being seen as a “walking triple-double” for his entire basketball life.

But the headline-grabbing feat is only one part of what’s driving the Akron native’s success — defense, a quality James hasn’t been known for in recent years, has also been a significant factor.

“It’s a new year,” to paraphrase the man himself (via The Score), and indeed it is. Despite a number of analysts questioning the makeup and depth of the roster in the preseason — to say nothing of the defensive reputations of LeBron in recent years, to which the above comment alludes — the Lakers are now among the league’s best defenses, much of which can be credited to the Ohioan’s buy-in as a defender.

The replication of head coach Frank Vogel’s defensive approach used in his time with the Indiana Pacers has been amplified by the commitment ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported James making to Davis over the summer, resulting in defensive performance unseen since his stint with the Miami Heat.

Logging the third best defensive rating (100) of his career and tying his second-best defensive box plus/minus (2.8) James has found teammates JaVale McGee, Dwight Howard and Danny Green as competent as ever on that side of the court, as well as Avery Bradley, Alex Caruso and even Rajon Rondo taking steps forward compared to recent years.

And of course, having All-Defensive monster big man Anthony Davis leading the league in blocks doesn’t hurt, either.

Taken together, a team some questioned whether would even be in the postseason conversation is now sitting atop the league, in no small part to their rejuvenated defensive chops, also currently atop the league. A blueprint lifted from head coach Vogel’s past successes has proven quite a potent combination, to the consternation of foes across the league.

How far can this defensive renaissance take the new-look Lakers? So long as health and a concurrently elite offense continues to flow from La-La land’s finest, it’s looking like the sky’s the limit.

Fan captures video of LeBron telling ref he plays defense ‘it’s a new year’

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James joked to a ref regarding past headlines about him not playing defense, saying this is a new year.

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With the wins coming in and the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers shutting teams down on a nightly basis, the vibes are as good as they’ve ever been during the LeBron James era of the franchise history. And it was not long ago that things looked like they may never see sunny days again after injuries and trade rumors torpedoed their season.

But even before LeBron got hurt last season, there was a growing belief in basketball circles that him playing defense was a thing of the past. Even his best Cleveland teams were never elite defensively and it was basically an unspoken form of load management, within games. But James read all the headlines over the seven months that he was away from the NBA lights and he’s even using that perception in arguments with the referees.

Thanks to a fan filming court side at the right time, we have footage of LeBron joking to the referee that he may have heard “he doesn’t play defense” but that this season is “a new year.”

This is the kind of stuff that makes things like LeBron’s “#WashedKing” comments more acceptable, when basically everyone had previously accepted that he wouldn’t play defense in the regular season. This season, James has flipped the script on his defense as he is a key part of the NBA’s best defense while he is also leading the NBA in assists for the first time in his career.

LeBron may have given the comments he received a name and a title, but as he pointed out last night, he does have a bit of point: his defense has been different this season.

DeAndre Jordan grabs career rebound No. 9,000

DeAndre Jordan reached a major rebounding milestone in the Brooklyn Nets’ matchup with the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

Throughout the course of his NBA career, DeAndre Jordan has developed into one of the league’s premier rebounders. Since 2013-14, Jordan’s rebounds per game average has been in the double-digits. He’s even averaged 10.5 boards per game throughout his first 10 contests in a Nets uniform, despite the fact he only averaged 22 minutes per game during the stretch.

On Saturday, while playing the Chicago Bulls, Jordan reached a major milestone in the rebounds category. With his fifth rebound on the night, Jordan reached the 9,000 rebounds mark.

Jordan is one of four active players with at least 9,000 rebounds. The others are Pau Gasol (11,305), Tyson Chandler (10,436) and Dwight Howard (9,579). (All totals entering play on Saturday.)

Jordan still ranks No. 52 all-time in total rebounds. Elton Brand is No. 51 with 9,040 and Johnny Green — a forward for the New York Knicks who started his career in 1959-60 — is No. 50 with 9,083.

RELATED: WATCH: Nic Claxton starts Nets fastbreak, finishes it emphatically

LeBron James tweets support for Colin Kaepernick before open workout

LeBron James sent his support for former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick before his open workout in the Atlanta area on Saturday.

LeBron James, like many in the sporting community and those who have become invested in the story of Colin Kaepernick and his exile from the NFL, expressed his support for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback before taking part in a workout on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta that was initially scheduled by the NFL.

Teams are reportedly in Atlanta for the workout, which just began a few minutes ago in metro Atlanta after originally being scheduled for the practice facility of the Atlanta Falcons. Concerns about an uncommon waiver from the NFL and a lack of media availability pushed Kaepernick’s reps to move the workout to another location. Several NFL scouts were spotted at the workout location on Saturday.

But no matter what happens on Saturday, and whether the NFL is truly serious about giving Kaepernick a chance, LeBron James wanted Kap to know that he’s special regardless what happens.

Obviously James and several football fans would love to see Kaepernick back on the field, only six years removed from playing in a Super Bowl, especially as back-up quarterbacks have seen the field in astonishing numbers this NFL season. But even if he doesn’t, James wants Kaepernick to know that his sacrifices were worth it no matter what happens next.