If Luke Walton needs some advice on how to coach LeBron James, he can look no further than James’ last head coach.
Speaking at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Saturday, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said that he was planning to meet over dinner with his Los Angeles Lakers counterpart (as well as Lakers associate head coach Brian Shaw) to discuss coaching The King.
“I’ll just tell them LeBron’s easy,” said Lue, per Tania Ganguli of the LA Times. “People get this whole thing built up like he’s hard to coach, it’s not. LeBron’s not the problem. It’s the outside tension that’s the problem. Just put added pressure immediately on the coaches, on his teammates. Now everything you do is under a microscope.
“So it’s going to be a totally different change for the Lakers,” he continued. “They’ll be able to handle it. LeBron is easy to play with, very unselfish. LeBron can bring guys along, make sure they’re doing the right thing. It’s going to be good. The outside is what you’ve gotta be able to block out.”
Lue coached James for four years in Cleveland (two as head coach and two as associate head coach). He also used to be teammates with Shaw on the Lakers during their playing careers, which may help explain his willingness to assist.
As Lue hinted at, the four-time MVP mostly takes care of the basketball part of things himself, but it’s the scrutiny that comes along with him that can create headaches for the rest of the team and coaching staff. We do wonder though if one of Lue’s techniques for coaching James would work as well for the Lakers.
