No hero worship here
Youngsters confident they won’t be in awe against Lakers when ball tips
When the Lakers’ LeBron James made his NBA debut in 2003, scoring 25 points for the Cavaliers in Sacramento, Jalen Green was 8 months old. James’ first coach, Paul Silas, is the father of Green’s coach, Stephen Silas.
When Carmelo Anthony scored 12 points in his NBA debut with the Nuggets, also that same year, Alperen Sengun was a few days away from turning 3 months old.
When Dwight Howard began his career a season after Anthony and James started theirs, Rockets rookies Josh Christopher, Usman Garuba and Daishen Nix had celebrated all of two birthdays.
The Lakers tell jokes with references the Rockets don’t get. The Rockets concern themselves with celebrities the Lakers never heard of. When the Rockets go out to dinner, the Lakers go to bed.
Not that there is something of a generation gap between the rebuilding Rockets and retooled Lakers but the last time Green went against James it was to play against Bronny, LeBron James’ son, in a matchup of Prolific Prep and Sierra Canyon.
“That’s a blessing of being in the NBA,” Green said. “It’s going to be an exciting moment, a good experience. (Playing against) that whole team is going to be a good experience, A.D. (Anthony Davis), Russ (Westbrook), Melo (Carmelo Anthony). It’s going to be exciting.”
Still, it would seem unusual for a player to have gone against a peer in high school and his father in the NBA — unless the father is LeBron James.
“Kind of look at LeBron as a superhero in a way,” Green said. “The way he carries himself, he’s in the league so long, still moving the way he’s moving. He’s still healthy, still doing his thing.”
The Rockets’ starting guards, Kevin Porter Jr. and Green, have never played the Lakers in Staples Center. When announcer Lawrence Tanter says their names, when the enormous screen drops from the center scoreboard before the game and the band plays as soon as the game ends, it will all be the first time to see the rituals that are familiar firsthand.
“The lights are different when you go in there,” Silas said. “They have all the banners. For their generation, it’s probably it.”
Christopher said in the preseason that it is exciting to visit the arenas that they had seen for years, which then were their trips to Toronto and San Antonio.
“For us young guys, definitely growing up you see Madison Square Garden and Staples, even Toyota Center, a place like this is a great venue, but those places, those landmarks like Staples and Madison Square Garden, you always dreamed of playing on that floor,” Porter said. “Even watching a game there. To be able to play and have that energy from the fans and feel it and be focused on that court is crazy. I’m definitely looking forward to playing in a big spot like that.”
For Green, any game in Los Angeles will feel special, played close to home in Fresno and where he spent his months of preparation for the draft.
“I like of made L.A. like a home,” he said. “It’s going to mean a lot to me playing in Staples.”
It’s not just the venue or courtside celebrities.
“Honestly, it’s like a realization,” Porter said. “We grew up seeing these players playing at a high level. Now, you look across, you’re defending them, you’re trying to beat them. It’ll help you stay motivated, stay grounded, because I’m here but there’s levels to this league, and I just want to get to their level so I got to keep going.
Porter said there was no concern about being in awe of an opponent once the game begins. This will not be Olympic teams asking the Dream Team for autographs. But the young Rockets do not deny they are playing against celebrities. The game will very much pit the league’s oldest team against the Rockets’ teens.
“I’m on the court, I’m focused,” Porter said. “But that’s Bron. That’s Russ. You just want to pick their brains and kind of analyze what they’re doing. You want to learn from your opponents.”
Though with some hiccups in the early-season games with the revamped roster, with Westbrook playing for his fourth team in four seasons among 12 players new to the Lakers, the Lakers remain among the championship favorites.
James, on the 18th anniversary of his NBA debut Friday, had 26 points against his former team while Anthony had 24. With the future Hall of Famers filling the floor, Silas will offer a few words about not getting caught up in the experience.
“Say a little something about it, but the ultimate teacher is experience,” he said of the two games in Staples and the road trip as a whole. “Going through it will hopefully help them for the future.
“It is a big part of the growth of our team and understanding how serious the NBA is and how hard it can be but how rewarding it can be if we go out there and do the right things and win a game.”