“It’s not my decision,” James said Monday before leaving the club. “It’s not my decision to sit here and say, ‘Well, we have to bring this back and have it on the roster.’ That would be the decision of the front office. “And obviously they can ask my opinion, but at the end of the day, they will make the decision that they think best suits this franchise in the future.” Ever since James joined the Lakers in the summer of 2018, vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka has referred to James as “interested”, allowing more influence from the star when it comes to staff decisions than the typical player. -Management relationship.
1 Relevant However, after the contribution of James and Anthony Davis led LA to revise its roster to replace Russell Westbrook last summer, only to see the team finish just 33-49 and fail to even qualify for the playoffs. -in, there seems to be a change of strategy. “I think the front office will do whatever it takes to help this club become a better top-down club,” said James. “Ask my opinion, I will say my opinion. But at the end of the day, they will make the decision they think is best for the franchise.” Pelinka took responsibility for Westbrook’s failure and decided to separate his role from James in joining the team, despite the collaboration. “The roster decisions ultimately rest on my shoulders,” Pelinka said on Monday. “And I will take the contribution of LeBron and Anthony as our two leaders. I did it throughout my term. But at the end of the day, I think I am the one who runs the basketball operations department and I will take the final responsibility for roster decisions taken “. Pelinka said LA will continue to build around James, with an average of 30.3 points per game this season proving that there is a lot left in the tank. “LeBron James is a player on Mount Rasmore in basketball and every season at 19 he’s been treated as a valuable asset,” Pelinka said. “And we have to do what we can to take care of his legacy and try to build the best team we can around him. And that was something we had in mind for that last year and obviously this roster did not work. But there is a high level of confidence in our cooperation with him to make sure we do it right this summer and fix it. “We do not know exactly how long LeBron will play, but of course he played at the highest level this year. An incredible year for him aggressively and he feels, in my departure meeting with him, with great motivation to return next year and have another elite, “Elite level of play … Playing at this level in the 19th year of his career is very impressive and his motivation to come back and do it next year is tangible.” The Lakers officially fired Frank Vogel shortly after James’s meeting with reporters. Prior to the announcement, James approved the coach he worked with to win a championship in 2020. “I respect Frank as a coach and as a person,” said James. “At the end of the day I do not know what will happen to Frank and him being here, but I have nothing but respect for him.” James also backed Westbrook, but did not say he wanted to bring the same core group to LA next season. “One thing about Russ that I love and will always love is just his competitive spirit, what he brings to the game every night,” said James. “And when you are in a profession where so many injuries happen and so many things happen and you have a man who is reliable and can wear a uniform every night, that is something I respect … I will not sit here and take front office decisions and things like that, but I like being a teammate of Russ’. After playing only 56 games due to various injuries, James said he should use the offseason to heal. He said an MRI scan of his left ankle on Friday that made him sit in seven of LA’s last eight games revealed that he would not need surgery or any kind of injection to help the recovery process. However, he will need an extra four to six weeks of rest for his ankle before he can start off-season training. “If we were the team I was hoping to be and I wish we were, I should not have played in that New Orleans game. [April 1] “after the injury,” James said of his ankle. “It simply came to our notice then. “But I wanted to see if we could make a belated push.” Approaching his 20th season and turning 38 in December, James said he remains committed to boosting his career to add another league to his resume. He dismissed a description that his choice to join the Lakers was anything but a success. “I came here to win a championship. And I want to win more. So I got what I wanted to get, but I’m still thirsty for more,” said James. “I’m sure this organization wants the same thing. That’s always been the case. … So I did it. We did it. But I want to do it again.” In February, James called the Lakers “a franchise in which I see myself” in the future, but has not discussed a two-year, $ 97.1 million contract extension that he will be eligible to sign in August. “Technically, because of the collective agreement, it can not even be discussed later in the year,” James said. “Well, we get to this point, we’ll see.” Pelinka seemed confident that the two sides would reach an agreement when the CBA allowed it. “Every indication we have is that he sees the Lakers as his home,” Pelinka said. “The feeling is that he likes being a Laker and he sees that as a long-term home and that has become loud and clear.” James, who finished second in the league with a goal from Joel Embiid of Philadelphia (30.6 points per game) but was not eligible for the title because he needed to play at least two more games to qualify, said he had not intended to play these games after LA was out of the playoffs. “Once we were eliminated from the playoffs, then there was nothing to discuss, nothing to think about,” said James. “I’m not going to be out there just playing meaningless games to try to win the title. This is far below me and where I am in my career … For me, I’m 19 years old and chasing a scoring title when you are not doing the postseason is the craziest thing “.
