For the 2018-19 NBA season, the Toronto Raptors shocked the world when they defeated the Golden State Warriors to win their first championship in franchise history.
What made it so surprising was the Raptors were not a team that had been together for numerous seasons. They made a big trade by adding Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in addition to a trade deadline move for Marc Gasol so chemistry had to be developed quickly. And it’s something the Lakers hope to emulate for the 2019-20 season.
The Lakers have a number of new players on the roster with Anthony Davis obviously being the biggest addition. Players like Green, Avery Bradley, and Dwight Howard are all veterans added to returning Lakers like LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, and JaVale McGee.
Building that chemistry will be very important for the Lakers to be successful, but Green believes it can happen as he dealt with it first-hand last season.
“I think that you obviously need time to build chemistry, but I think with [the Toronto Raptors], we did it within one year,” Green said during Lakers Media Day.
“New guys coming on, I don’t think you need that much time, you could do it within a couple of months. Especially after the trade deadline, we got Marc Gasol and a bunch of other guys, Jeremy Lin, to come on board and we didn’t have a lot of time.”
The Lakers don’t have much time, but they do have some great veterans who can help the process. In addition to James, players like Rajon Rondo and Jared Dudley should help bring the team together. Green has also been through a lot in his NBA career and believes the Lakers have the right combination of players to make something special happen.
“But you can build that chemistry if you have the right pieces and the right veteran leadership to make something special happen,” Green said. “Even though this is a new team of new young players and new old players and veterans, it’s very possible that we can build chemistry really fast and still be a special team or the last team standing.”
It won’t be an easy process as the Lakers and the coaching staff have a lot of things to figure out. Kuzma being hurt to start the season also doesn’t help matters.
However, Green and others on this team have experienced so much in the NBA and that could help the Lakers put everything together sooner rather than later.