true, but i think we can agree that there are always possessions in a game where things don't go perfectly and someone has to take a subpar shot. i get the impression lebron is more willing this year and last to pass those types of things off and let somebody else try to create with the shotclock running down. certainly not the best thing from maximizing that particular possession, but ultimately meaningless against overmatched opponents if it happens once or twice a game. and he also seems to cruise more on offense and wait for easy opportunities but otherwise just let the play happen with the other 4 players. you could easily argue that if he was more engaged on that possession that it would maximize miami's point total, but again it's ultimately meaningless if he cruises a little here or there against utah or milwaukee. this isn't an all or none kind of thing. he still takes shots to beat the shotclock, he still scores a lot. he's not exactly not trying. and certainly against good teams he does what he has to. he's doing what needs to be done from a long term perspective, and that includes not wearing himself out against weaker teams. there's a reason his fg% keeps climbing and his points per minute doesn't. because his fga per minute continues to decline as he gets more and more selective. it's better than having a teammate who just wants to "get his" even against bad teams, but i do think it has increased his fg% disproportionately vs how much better he's actually gotten at shooting or generating easy shots. maybe it would have gone up the last few years but only been around 54 or 55 right now. that would still be ridiculous, just not as ridiculous. i think it's pretty obvious from the last few years that i'm not anti-lebron. but watching as many heat games as i have the last 3+ years, i'm just reporting what i feel i'm observing.
Or maybe you're just too dumb to do analysis on your own. Russell was dominant because he played against small white dudes, the dude was so far ahead he was able to coach and play at the same time, so while he definitely would have been even better with today's training, the fact that he played with really weak competition was a much better handicap than playing in today's NBA. I find your "we can't know" argument particularly irritating because why you even posting in a bball forum if your argument is we will never know anything? I would have thought it was obvious we can't really know the answer to these questions in a b-ball forum, however this is the first time I've seen someone not even try on the basis he can't positively prove beyond all doubt who the GOAT is. By your own logic, how do you even know LBJ is the best player today? It might be Demarcus Cousins except he didn't give his all last year. It might be Greg Oden except he was injured. It might be some dude in Africa who doesn't even know he was born to play bball...we can't know
But I guess the question here is it so bad to be selective with your shot? I think one of LBJ's weaknesses is he's not exactly what I'd call an ice-old killer, he doesn't want the burden of taking the last shot against the opponent. However, IMHO it doesn't really matter though if his FG% is skyrocketing and he's still scoring 20+ pts a game...lol being selective with your shot is supposed to be a good thing, it makes you efficient and you waste less possessions. You yourself said it's meaningless, so why bother nitpick?
The level of competition in today's NBA is definitely top-notch. Before you had to play against white dudes, now you have to play against asian, african argentinian, turk, french, brazilian, puerto rican, israeli, spanish, russian, slovenian, serbian, german, etc. The NBA competition today is you're playing against the best in the world.
You're right - if LeBron forced the action more like mid 80's Jordan or mid 00's Kobe his fg% would decline. Of course, those guys played on fringe playoff 1 and dones. What would the point of emulating this be?
There are two reasons. 1) Spo introduced James to Morey like data and he has been focusing on more efficient shots. 2) James actually works on getting better each summer, which allows him to get those easier shots. It isn't because he is stat protecting.
I think this is what makes LBJ so amazing, usually when people are born with great gifts they either develop an ego or become lazy. LBJ though doesn't rest on his laurels and is always open to suggestions which make him better. Not everyone would be willing to taking advice from "stat heads" that give him data on how to score better, hell you have casual fans and even NBA coaches like Rick Adelman taking offense to analytics data.
Lbj plays team ball. He's not focused on putting up big numbers or going ing hero mode. What's he's doing is amazing.
Spoelstra is actually an excellent coach. Also taught James to manage his emotions which led to him being clutch and more selective. His Basketball IQ under Eric Spoelstra has been outstanding.
Not saying Spo isn't a great coach, but LeBron has always had an outstanding basketball IQ and he's always been "clutch" (whatever that means.. he hit tons of big shots for the Cavs). The difference is that when he went to Miami, he had good teammates for the first time in his career.
Well to me, they both needed each other kinda' like MJ and Phil Jackson. Spo is a brilliant coach (just compare his first year to JKidd's or Mike Brown's). however not superstar would have accepted his suggestions like LBJ does, for example CP3 wanted a big name and Shaq didn't respect SVG because he didn't have any rings. On the other hand, LBJ needed a coach who wouldn't put him in a box and just let him do what he wants, Mike Brown's offense basically consisted of give LBJ the ball and watch the play, Spo emphasized ball movement and actively got on anyone who slacked on D or missed rotations, even if it was LBJ or Wade. Spo also realized that with both Battier, Bosh and Wade on the squad, he can basically forget about positions and move LBJ around where he can deal the most damage, hence you had highlight reels of LBJ guarding DRose the year before and then blocking Splitter last year. It sounds so obvious now but prior to Spo LBJ has basically been treated as an MJ clone and expected to play on the wing and dish out clutch daggers, instead of the totally different player he is now.
If you put wade or bosh on those cavs team they would have won it all. James was that good.You can't tell me any of the miami years was better than 09 james. He was pretty much unstoppable that year.
