EL SEGUNDO — The in-game IQ of LeBron James is known to be lofty, but the most impressive thing to Luke Walton has been seeing it firsthand in practice.
As the Lakers ran a 5-on-0 drill in Tuesday morning’s shootaround, Walton called out plays and actions from the sideline. James, who was on the floor, was shouting the same plays and actions, almost at the same time as Walton, without the benefit of seeing the playcard.
“He sees where it’s going and he starts calling it out at the same time,” Walton said. “I have the sheet in front of me. He hasn’t seen the sheet yet. So that’s something he’s doing all the time.”
The challenge for James and the Lakers will be to apply that to tonight’s game against the Denver Nuggets after falling to the same team two nights earlier. In that game, they fouled too much, lost Nuggets on closeouts and gaps in defensive coverage, and played (at times) too sloppy on offense.
The happy news is they have five more preseason games to get it right.
“I think we’re a new group, we’re not at the level a lot of teams are as far as cohesiveness and chemistry,” James said. “So every day is another opportunity for us to get better and not take a step back.”
It will be the first time James plays in Staples Center as a Laker. He’ll likely have a similar arrangement as the first preseason game: starting and playing mostly in the first half, then resting for the second. How much fans are clamoring to see him won’t be a factor in his playing time.
“They will see a lot of him, he’ll be in the building,” Walton quipped. “But as far as on the court, he will get him out there again to start the game and take it from there.”
Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee and Brandon Ingram will also be starting Tuesday night.
There will be a change in the starting lineup: Josh Hart takes the spot of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whom Walton wants to see in second-unit rotations. The Lakers plan to have about a 10-man rotation this year, so the preseason is the time when Walton wants to see all the different configurations.
“No matter who we end up starting, they’re going to be playing with different groups throughout the game,” he said. “So, it can’t just be one group and then another group comes out. We got to get guys comfortable playing with each other.”