Lebron James passing to the corner when he gets in the paint

On a related note, If Arian Foster can average 5 yards per carry, why not just have him carry the ball 70 times a game?

You will never have to punt and he will break all of the rushing records.

 

based on last year's finals, i find it a lot more problematic when lebron gets in the corner after passing to the paint than the other way around.

 

Since a 3-point shot is worth 1.5 times more than a shot inside the 3-point line, I think that we can agree that the cumulative effect is 1.5 times greater. Multiply these percentages by 1.5 and they're all well over 50%. That's what makes it such a great basketball play. At the end of games where you have a very finite amount of time with which to score those last few buckets and you can't afford to miss -- now those might be different situations.

 

To a point. Won't Arian Foster get hurt if he's carrying the ball 50 times a game? Won't his yards per carry go down? Are you saying that they should never pass the ball and should only run the ball?

 

So I asked LeBron for a dollar the other day...

 

350 yards a game would not be a good offense.

 

I would argue that the efficiency of his 2 point shot in the paint would drastically decrease if the whole defense knew he was going to shoot it every single time. The entire defense scheme would change, knowing Lebron would never kick out, and the 3 pointer would become a more effecient shot.

 

It would be if you almost never had turnovers and were able to eat almost the whole clock every game .

 

LMAOOOO

 

^ I just tuned in and saw him do it twice, once for an open 3 that Battier hit, and once when he was really off balance and had to toss it back up to the top. An open corner 3 is probably about a 50% shot for a specialist in it like Battier. That means he has to convert on over 75% of his drives (either by making the basket, or being fouled or hitting 2 ft's) for it to be a superior option. That's a very demanding standard, and doesn't take into account the other benefits of keeping the defense honest (and not fatiguing himself into the ground).

I really don't think you can question LeBron's offensive decisionmaking; he has 3 of the top 10 highest PER seasons in history - the only other two names you find in the top 10 are Chamberlain and Jordan.

EDIT - then Battier just hit another one.

Looking at the stats on 82games.com - James has an effective FG% of 72% in close - irrespective of fouls, that's definitely not a superior option to an open corner 3 (if it's a 50% shot)

 

hoopdata has lebron at 75% but considering they have a "3-9 feet" section, that means the 72% is on 1 and 2 foot shots, i.e. layups and dunks, not even floaters or 3 foot runners or flip shots or anything else in the paint. and even those layups and dunks include all of his fastbreak and other assorted uncontested layups and dunks, meaning the actual percentage with any sort of defense in the vicinity in a halfcourt set is certainly much lower than 72%. and of course, even that percentage is with lebron passing to teammates and not taking the tougher shots that jopatmc wants him to take, which would again lower the percentage. considering his "3-9 feet" shooting is 47% (which is actually pretty good) and even that includes the more uncontested shots and not the ones lebron would be passing out of, it's hard to imagine he's even close to 60% on the heavily contested "at the rim" shots that this thread is about.

while i would think the open corner 3 is not a 50% shot, i could certainly see the 35% and 39% numbers durvasa quoted going up 5% to 40% and 44% on corner 3's where the D is drawn in and there's a kick out. so i'm thinking it's still significantly beneficial to pass out of a strong contest, even for lebron james in the paint, for an open 3, even if it's not to steve novak (which makes me think of the fact that lebron + 4 steve novak's would be the best offense ever).

 

In other simpler words

Lebron should not settle for facilitating, cuz thats a "complacent" style leaving some efficiency on the court. And when he needs

He should look to go hard to the rack every time he touches the paint cuz that maximizes his skill level. And he can GO to that ability when he NEEDS to do it the most, instead of going to his "passive" nature to distribute.

I've said years back in the basketball World Championships in '06 that Lebron could drive to the rack AT WILL whenever he REALLY wanted to. When defenses soften up and Lebron is driving hard, he can be Teen Wolf freakish.

But there's other aspects of the game too. He still has to play face up D, get steals, block shots from behind, grab boards, have energy to do an all-around game. As big and durable as Lebron is, bodying up every time like that could take its toll. But you can fairly say him NOT doing that is whats keeping him from being THE KING for sure

 

Yea you guys tell Lebron how to be a better player...

 

LeBron choked.
And not because he got into the paint and passed out.
Its because he never even drove it in.