He's only 25. He's constantly averaged around 28 PPG, 7 REB, 7 AST. His passing has improved a lot while his jumpshot has continued to get better and better. Will he only decline once his athleticism diminishes? Do you think this is his peak or is he only going downhill from here?
In terms of his athleticism? It's getting better... and if not, then it's not going to get worse until he hits his 30's.
Since Magic are my fav team , so obviously Magic fans/ Cavs fans have a rivalry that is young but is quite "nasty" . Magic and Cavs will go H2H each year as long as Lebron is in a Cavs uniform. But w/o a doubt Lebron hasnt peaked yet , the guy can get better but not by a lot . There is a limit for everything , i feel he is close to limit . He is most skilled bball player we have in the league.
he still has a limited post game when compared to Melo, let alone Kobe he jumper has gotten better since he first came into the league but it can still improve. basically I think he has peaked in terms of his assists and rebounds, maybe his assists go up if he has better shooting teammates around him, but his scoring can go up. I think lebron could be the first maybe the only player in the modern era to average a triple double
If Lebron develops a post game, which he is more than capable, than one could begin discussing him as a top 5 player.
he has about 2 or 3 more years until he peaks imo. and yes, a post game would make him virtually unstoppable.
Well i live in Houston , most of my friends are Rockets fans. Well if you pay attention to East Conf , Magic defeated Cavs last year in the ECF . While the World wanted to see Lebron/ Kobe .... Magic said Hell no ! Even now my friends who are Lebron fans hate Magic , vice versa haha .
Fans need to realize it's more of a plateau than a peak. When they say he;s "peaked" many assume that means he's only going to decline from now on, but that's rarely the case. Most players plateau, meaning they reach their peak of how good they'll get, but stay there for more than a season, then eventually start to decline. But i wouldnt say that's Lebron's case. I think he's close though. i would say he'll plateau starting next year.
his shot is still not reliable enough, but it is so much better than it was, so he may not have much more to improve on, but that is a big part of the game. he has all the athletic moves down, and he is physically superior to generally everyone at his position, but teams dare him to shoot sometimes. sometimes he catches fire, i.e. 1st quarter of game 3 or 4 when he went off for 21?
What do mean his athelticism will go downhill from here? At age 25? Wing players generally reach their absolute peak at around age 28. I expect him to stay at his peak until around 31, then it'll rapidly fall until he's 35 and most of his quickness is gone. Of course the caveat in this timeline is that LBJ's genes are so amazing he hasn't suffered any leg, knee or hip injuries despite jumping and dunking all over the place every time. For all we he could he even surpass Nash, keeping his athleticism until well over 36...
in athleticism, sure, but in skills people pleateau only when they choose to be and stop learning new things. For example Kobe has been in the league 10+ years already and this year he actually became an even better post player. In Lebron's case it depends on whether he gets a good coach who exposes the flaws in his game. Mike Woodson has no idea how to develop a player's offensive skills so LBJ's pretty much left to work on his own on the offensive side of things. I think that as good as LBJ is their are still a lot of things he can realistically work on, namely fixing his shooting mechanics and improving his post play.
I think the best indicator for this would be all the High School Students who immediately jumped to the NBA after graduation, TMAC and Jermaine O'Neal could be perfect examples, as both players declined significantly even before reaching 30.... Oh the case of Lebron, I believe he is currently in his peak and would be declining once he reach 28 or 29...(we have to credit all the mileage he's body endured during his career, he's already a 7-8 year veteran BTW)..........
Only with certain skills, since athleticism enables some of them. His post game eventually will be hurt when his speed and jumping ability decline. There's a point when a player can't just keep improving, only mentally.