NBA 2018-19: How ready are the Los Angeles Lakers for the new season?

How would you increase the potential of a franchise to win a championship with just one addition? Most probably by adding the best player in the world to your team. The Los Angeles Lakers not only added the best player in the world right now i.e., LeBron James, but they also recruited some more veterans to the team such as Michael Beasley, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, and Lance Stephenson.

To make a dream team, one would just pick players with different skills who can dominate the game at different spots. Since the last 2 seasons, teams have really got shuffled up, players either getting traded or choosing other teams while being a free agent. Some teams have become rock solid and some just got shaken up.

The Lakers team, which was once named as the dream team and the Showtime Lakers could only win 35 games last season and finished 11th in the Western Conference. After the departure of Kobe Bryant, the team lost its strength. But now, the Lakers seems to be coming out of the bad time.

The front office of the Lakers has made significant changes in the roster of the team which now can be easily noticed. But, are the Lakers really ready to challenge the toughest teams in the NBA right now? Let's see what they have done so far and what they will do to get back their strength:

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#1 Team's front office

Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka

Every decision of a team goes through the front office and a strong front office assembles a strong team. Magic Johnson as the President and Rob Pelinka as the General Manager of the Lakers, tried to build a tough base for the upcoming years for the team.

No doubt Johnson was one of the best while being on the court and now we can see him doing a great job off the court as well. They landed James to their team to lead the team. Now the task was to build a team around him so as to assist him to run the team to its full potential. There, they did a really nice work as well.

They recruited several veterans who can pair-up with James and can push the team up to become of the best teams once again. The front office job doesn't end here, the Lakers are yet to start the season and Johnson and Pelinka have to make many adjustments in the team throughout the season which is going to put their strength to an ultimate test. We'll see how the 2018-19 season turns up for them!

#2 LeBron's leadership

Much of Lakers' fortunes will depend on LeBron James' form

LeBron loves challenges, loves to lead his team and he doesn't really worry about the end results after putting a ton of hard work to whatever he does. If the end result turns out good to him then that's great! But if not, then he gets back up, makes some adjustments and works even harder.

Last season we witnessed his love for the game and the hunger to do everything to get his team to the finals again and he was able to do that as well. And now, as the new season has come up, with a new franchise and a whole new team with so many talented and skilled teammates, his love and enthusiasm have gone up to another level and he just cannot wait for the season to start for them.

James has got a whole new, almost a young team to work with. He could motivate them easily to work more and perform better on the court. He is also getting better with age, he could shoot better now even from long distance, his ball handling is getting better and he is getting stronger as well.

James has the ability to make everyone around him better and getting a team with a blend of both young and veteran players is what he would ever wish to have. Now, how he utilises everything he has with him, is what we are about to see this season.

But how he is going to adjust with the team's style of playing the game? James usually tries to play the most of the minutes, but the coaching staff could restrict his minutes to give other players the time to make themselves comfortable and confident for the season and for the playoffs as well.

#3 The young guns

Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball

The Lakers franchise has been a work in progress over the last five years. They had veterans who were getting slow, so they had to build a strong team and for this, they targetted young and energetic players and recruited top prospects for several years in the draft.

They drafted Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and some other young and talented players. Now, the Lakers knew that these players can become stars in the upcoming years, but the only thing they were lacking was a leader and his guidance and we noticed this in the last season as well. Lack of direction and guidance during the game reflected in the performance of the team as they finished with 35 wins last season.

Players such as Ball and Ingram had some setbacks as well. Ingram worked hard during the offseason to correct the hitch in his shot and has improved it a lot. Lonzo could also be seen working on his unorthodox shooting form to make it better and at the same time, he was recovering from his knee surgery which he had this offseason.

There has been a lot of adjustments going on in the team to make it more efficient. Luke Walton would start the team with some of these young players, at least for the regular season.

Now as they have James who will be on the court with them to guide and enable them to work on their full potential and a strong coaching staff as well, the Lakers could really shine this season but we have to see how much they're going to.

#4 The support of other veterans

The Lakers have worked a lot to get these veterans on their team!

This team has recruited some amazing veterans this offseason! Stephenson, McGee, Beasley, and Rondo are some of the most experienced campaigners of the league and the Lakers have signed them this season to make their roster rock solid, to add some strength and to support the team in every aspect.

Rondo and Beasley's experience and the ability to rotate the ball adds to the team's arsenal. McGee has the strength and the toughness to play in the paint and can defend like a wall. Stephenson is always energetic and loves to play like a force and when you want him, he gets the job done for you.

They add a variety of skills to the team; as and when you need' em, they deliver it. They can match with LeBron on the court and can be the guides to the young players on the team. They could be very beneficial if the team goes to the playoffs.

But, what could go wrong? Rondo is an elite playmaker, but he lacks scoring. Stephenson is energetic, but he usually puts his energy the wrong way and usually ends up getting fouled out. Beasley has a lot of experience, but he still tries to find his real talents and skills on the floor. If they can coordinate well with each other and could really figure out what they have to do at what time, then the Lakers have done a really good job by signing them.

#5 The real task for the coaching staff

Can Luke Walton inspire his side?

Luke Walton is the Head Coach of the Lakers team. The last season really didn't end up good for him. He is still a young coach and has to put a lot of work to get this team going in the right direction. Last season, he couldn't use the team's ability to get the job done the right way and the interactions with Lavar Ball bothered him as well.

The team was scattered, there's been a lot of adjustments in the team, some players came, some were traded, and they couldn't coordinate well. This created chaos in the organization; they didn't even know where they are going and Walton didn't know how to stabilize the team.

This year is going to bring a lot of challenges for Walton. Now that James and other veterans have joined in, the job of Walton has gone to a new level. He needs to figure out how to coordinate the team, what should be the lineup and how they can match well in clutch situations.

As the 2018-19 NBA season is going to tip-off for the Lakers, the fans and the media is going to have tons of questions for them to be answered. The amount of pressure on Walton will be both on the court as well as off the court.

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