Coaching LeBron 'Awesome,' Walton Says, Cavaliers Coach Offers Him Advice

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue is certain LeBron James will need no time to adapt to his new surroundings at the Staples Center under coach Luke Walton.

The three-time NBA champion left the Cavaliers after their second straight NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors to join the Los Angeles Lakers on a $154 million four-year deal earlier in the summer.

It did come as a surprise as the Lakers, who have missed making the playoffs for five consecutive seasons, are not championship contenders at the moment. They have a young roster packed with talent.

James admitted recently he will have to be patient with his new teammates, with the Lakers still putting the pieces together to get back to winning ways. The 33-year-old is used to winning or at least challenging for the championship ring, having made the finals with the Cavaliers for four straight seasons, while he is also considered the greatest player of the current era, the likes Lakers have not seen since Kobe Bryant’s retirement.

Lue, however, believes James will not pose any problems for Lakers coach Walton and is certain he will seamlessly adapt to the new coaching style. The Cavaliers coach also revealed advice he gave Walton during a conversation over the summer.

“I just told him about Bron, how easy he is,” Lue said, as quoted by the Express. “Bron’s easy, man. It’s not what it seems… If he has a problem or disagrees with you, he’s going to talk to you.”

“He’s not going to make a big scene or blow up, occasionally you see him (upset) on the bench but… people blow it out of proportion, like it’s something crazy,” he added. “It’s just the surrounding s*** that they try to make it hard.”

James, meanwhile, made his first appearance for the Lakers during their opening pre-season loss at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. The second most successful franchise in NBA history went down 107-124 at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California.

The 14-time All-Star played 15 minutes in the first-half and contributed nine points, three assists and three rebounds in his first appearance in the iconic purple and gold jersey. The small forward admitted they are nowhere near where they want to be before the start of the new season, but agreed they can take something out of the game despite the loss.

Walton, however, was delighted at the opportunity to coach James and believes the former Cavaliers star’s competitive spirit and desire to succeed is certain to rub off on the rest of the team over the course of the coming weeks and months.

“It was awesome, coaching the Lakers and looking out and seeing LeBron wearing your team colours is a pretty good feeling,” Walton said.

“We talked and we planned to take it as it came. He was going to start and we’d go from there,” he explained. “Second quarter he gave me the nod that he wanted to get back into it and we put him back out there. … What we want to be as a team are who LeBron is. Showing that competitive spirit he did tonight sends a real nice message to the group.”