if i give u that confusion, then my bad, simple explanation, watch how LBJ plays, then u get the idea
He's their best player, so shouldn't he get the most shots? He's their best finisher, so shouldn't he have the ball more during crunch time? He's their best scorer, so shouldn't he have the most points every game? He's their best passer, so shouldn't he have the best APG on that team? Padding stats is when the game is pretty much done with and you're out there trying to rack up points just to "meet your quota". You want to see padding stats? Watching a Phoenix game and observe Amare. How can LeBron pad his stats when he's not only their best facilitator (and he does a pretty good job at that with 7 apg playing as a SMALL FORWARD), he's their only consistent scorer, and the success of the Cavaliers is STILL dependent on what he does? For that matter, how can a player pad his stats while averaging that many assists per game? That's like saying Jason Kidd's 99 or so triple doubles was due to him going out there and WANTING those triple doubles even before tipoff.
You have to be kidding me. His teammates would never see an open shot if it wasn't for him, as none of them command double teams nor can create their own look. He passed the ball to open guys plenty tonight, they just missed them. What do you want him to do, take their shots too? You do not understand stat padding at all. LeBron is a stat stuffer, which you have correct, but it doesn't come at the expense of his teammates. He gets his while creating shots for the rest of the team. A stat padder is a me first chucker who racks up points in blowouts or doesn't pass to teammates while getting his 30.
I don't know where to post this... but here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yrzoWXq0ANY It's a Lupe Fiasco remix.
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You are so right. Lebron is only 8th in the league in assists...when you're the SF you should be like 1st or 2nd or something, not some lousy PG. Every scrub in league is 8th in assists.
LBJ deserves it this year because he is option 1, 2 & 3 in his team, the numbers prove it and his team has a winning record. I think when it gets too difficult for the voters to choose a clear-cut MVP, then they will look at W-L as a differentiator. Which is why, this year is Kobe's best chance to get the award.
LBJ is indeed option 1, 2 3 in his team, why? cause he hogs and pads his own stats, and it's true his team has a winning record..... not an amazing winning record, and in the crappy EAST
dude, uciraz !!!! Come on... I am a Kobe fan too and think he should be MVP. But you've got to be more reasonable. You don't have to reply to every pro-Lebron post. We all think you made your point a few pages back. BTW, go Anteaters. I have a lot of friends who go to UCI.
From lakersground, http://forums.lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t=57461 Stats wise, for crying out loud, yes, Lebron is a ballhog and he does make his teammates worse, Kobe is just the opposite. Below is part of the that post: Has Lebron really surpassed Kobe as the games best player? If you look at statistics, then a strong case can be made. Lebron outdoes Kobe in just about every statistical ranking at a glance. Lebron averages 2.3 more points, 2 more rebounds and 2.3 more assists per game than Kobe. He also shoots a better field goal percentage and has more blocks. Kobe has a higher free throw and three point percentage, as well as averaging more steals. He does play a couple more minutes per game than Kobe. On the surface it seems like an easy choice if the criteria is purely on who is the better player. Numbers can be deceiving though. The most important difference is defense. You know, the activity that occurs during the other half of the game. Kobe has been on the all-defensive team seven times in the past eight seasons, including five first team appearances. Lebron meanwhile is an average defender. The interesting thing is that some members of the media have attempted to do the jedi mind trick on us, and convince us that Lebron has turned into a good defensive player. While I agree that his defense has definitely improved, to call him a good defender would be a stretch. Effective Field Goal Percentage is a representation which takes three point baskets into the equation of field goal percentage. Opposing small forwards have shot a 50% eFG against Lebron this season. Meanwhile, Kobe has held opposing shooting guards to a mere 44.1% eFG against him. That's a huge difference. Next up is rebounding. Both players are good rebounders at their positions. The difference is the positions they play. Kobe plays 77% of his minutes as a shooting guard, and the remaining 23% as a small forward. Meanwhile Lebron plays 73% of his minutes as a small forward, and the remaining 27% as a power forward. Rebounding is primarily a responsibility of forwards, and not guards. Assists is a no brainer. Lebron is a better passer and more willing passer than Kobe. Kobe leads his team in assists year in and year out though. Over the past seven years Kobe has averaged 5.4 assists per game. His primary role though, is as a scorer. As a scorer, Kobe is second to none. Despite chasing Lebron for the scoring lead this season, Kobe is still the better scorer. His field goal percentage as a result of 74% of his shots being outside shots, as compared ot 61% of Lebron's shots. Kobe shoots 45.8% efG on his jump shots though, as compared to James' 39.3%, that's the difference of 6.5%. The big difference difference here is that Lebron is taking 22.3 shots per game, as compared to just 20.4 by Bryant. That is nearly 7 shots less per game than Bryant took two seasons ago. At the end of the day you can make a strong argument for either player as the games best. Do you value Lebron's passing or Kobe's defense? What you can not argue though is that Lebron makes his teammates better and that Kobe does not. This is an argument that gets used seemingly any time the two are compared. Apparently averaging more assists equals out to making your teammates better. Nevermind the fact that the triangle is not an assist-friendly offense. Let's just stick to the undeniable facts and compare the teammates of both players. The only player who has shown any significant improvement prior to being traded to play with Lebron are Drew Gooden and Carlos Boozer. Boozer was a rookie the year before Lebron came, and had a decent year with him before heading to Utah. His field goal percentage dropped with Lebron but his scoring average went from 10 to 15.5. They only played together one season. Drew Gooden saw his field goal percentage leap by 4.7% in his first season with Lebron, and his scoring average jumped by 2.8. His scoring would drop back down in later seasons. Ilgauskus was an all-star before playing with Lebron. He has not shown any improvement. In fact the only career high he can boast since the arrival of Lebron is in blocked shots. What has been most confusing about Lebron's game though is that they have brought in a number of guys who have played absolutely terribly with him. One would have to wonder why Kevin Ollie saw his shooting percentage drop from 45.1% the season before playing with Lebron to 37% in the season playing alongside of him. He was only 31 years of age. Ricky Davis was traded mid-season in Lebron's rookie season. He responded by lifting his shooting percentage by 5.7% and his three point percentage by 2.6%. Eric Snow had averaged 12.1, 12.9 and 10.3 points in his three previous seasons, while shooting 44..2%, 45.2% and 41.3%. He joined Lebron at age 31 and plummeting to 4 points per game on 38.2% shooting, despite playing a 22.8 minutes per game. The next season they made the moves that were supposed to move them into contention. They brought in Donyell Marshall, who had long been a deadly shooter. He had averaged 11.5 points on 41.6% from beyond the arc the season before, and had shot 40% or better from that range for the past two seasons and routinely averaged in the low teens. Yet in three seasons with the Cavs he never shot better than 35.1% from that range or averaged more than 9.3 points. Damon Jones was also brought in to space the floor. The 29 year old averaged 11.6 points on 43.2% shooting from beyond the arc and 45.6% from the field the season before in Miami. Those numebrs dropped to 37.7% shooting and 6.7 points playing under Lebron, however. The largest disappointment though was Larry Hughes. Hughes was an all-defensive player who was coming off a year in which he averaged 22 points on 43% shooting. He had averaged 18.8 points the season prior to that. Yet he never averaged more than 15.5 points or 40.9% shooting in three seasons with Lebron. He was recently traded to the Chicago Bulls and saw a 4.1 point and a 4% leap in his field goal percentage in the seven games since the trade. It's way too early too make any determination on the impact of his latest shooter, Wally Szczerbiak, but it should be noted that in the six games since joining the Cavs he has seen his fielg goal percentage plummet by 13.6% and his three point percentage drop by 4.9%. I don't want to hear how Lebron makes his teammates better ever again. There simply is no statistical analysis to support this. In fact, he seems to destroy the shooting stroke of the guys brought in to spread the floor for him. Oddly enough, the guy who for years the media has said does not make his teammates better, has indeed done a much better job. Perhaps the best indication is Smush Parker. Smush bounced around from team to team for a couple of years, never having averaged more than 6.2 points or shot better than 41.9%. The previous season he averaged 3 points per game. Yet he averaged 11.5 and 11.1 in two years with Kobe, having career best numbers in both shooting and three point shooting in each of those seasons. He left to the Miami Heat thsi season, where he saw his average drop by 6.3 points, his shooting percentage by 12.1% and his three point shooting by 11.5%. Chris Mihm was a 45% shooter on his career, with a career high 48.8% from the field. Not only did he have career highs in scoring average during each of his first two seasons with the Lakers but he also shot above 50% in each of those seasons prior to his injury. Kwame Brown had never shot above 49% in his career, yet he shot 52.6% and 59.1% as a Laker. He was traded mid-season this year and since that trade he has seen his field goal percentage drop from 50.3% to 35.3%. The other big man in that trade, Pau Gasol has seen his field goal percentage raise from 50.1% in Memphis to a whopping 59% alongside of Kobe, as well as raising his scoring average by 1.8 per game. Gasol is a 51.1% career shooter who had never shot better than 53.8%. The third piece of that trade, Javaris Crittenton, has sene his shooting percentage drop from 49.1% to 38% since it was made. Another mid-season acquisition in Didier Ilunga-Mbenga has seen a similar rise. He shot 31.3% from the field last season, and 39.1% in 16 games with Golden State this year. He has shot 45.5% in 14 games with the Lakers. Derek Fisher's three years away from L.A. saw him shoot 39.3%, 41% and 38.2% from the floor. Since returning to the Lakers he has shot 44%. Laron Profit suffered a career ending injury in his first season as a Laker. In the 25 games prior to his injury though he shot 47.6%, his previous career high was 43.8% with two seasons under 40%. Jumaine Jones shot 39.1% from beyond the arc and 43.2% from teh floor playing alongside Kobe, after shooting 34.4% from teh floor and 29.5% from beyond the arc the season before. Since leaving he has never shot better than 40.5% from teh floor or 34.3% from long range. Chucky Atkins also had arguably his best season alongside of Kobe, scoring 13.6 per game while shooting 38.7% from beyond the arc. He hasn't matched either number since. Lamar Odom has in the eyes of some struggled to co-exist with Kobe. In many ways this is true, as both guys like to have the ball in their hands. In reality though he had shot under 43.9% in each of his three previous seasons before joining Bryant, and never above 46% in his career. He has shot 47.3%, 48.1%, 46.8% and 50.4% in his four seasons with the Lakers. His scoring has dropped slightly, by a couple of points a game. The other odd case is Caron Butler. Caron became an all-star after being traded from the Lakers, and some might use that as justification that Kobe held him back. The reality though is that Caron averaged a career high in both points per game and in field goal percentage in his season with Kobe. His field goal percentage jumped 6.5% from the season before and was 2.9% higher than his previous career best.
According to this poster Lebron made Big Z, Marsall, Snow, ricky davis worse. I think all those guys are on the downside of their careers and he didn't make them worse.
How about Hughes? He's better in both Wizards and Bulls. Or the question should be, who did Lebron make better? At least we can get rid of this "because you have more assists, you make teammates better" crap.
Larry Hughes was a horrible fit next to lebron. They turned an athletic slasher into a spot up 3 pt shooter, which is why that pairing failed. Also, if you took lebron away from cleveland, that team would struggle to break 70 points most nights. They have no one to create shots for themselves or each other. So yes James makes teammates better in the same way t-mac is doing for guys like landry, scola, head, battier, novak, etc right now.
Cleveland went 0-6 without LeBron this year and averaged like 80 points per game. Don't tell me that LeBron doesn't make that team better. And as to why LeBron's teammates haven't had fantastic stats: Big Z is getting older, hence his stats are going down. He's 33 now, what do you expect? Eric Snow is old and washed up. Donyell Marshall is old and washed up. Ricky Davis was never as good as his stats, it's no wonder that when his stats go down, his team starts winning. Larry Hughes sucked with the Cavs, and he even admitted to jacking up shots to make sure he would get points. He was also injured half of the time with the Cavs and was never quite the same after his brother died. It's easy to just say that LeBron ruined the careers of these guys until you realize that there are other forces at work.
If you can only make promising rookies better, you are not opening up space for anyone. These guys are getting older, but dramatic difference in both points and % since traded to Cavs? Let's stop looking for excuse. Atkins got his career high in his one year playing for Lakers, it's not like he's not a wash up at that time. Isn't Wally supposed to be a sharp shooter benefit from Lebron's double team? And all of a sudden, he shot 13.6% less from the floor and 5% less from 3pts line after traded from a crap team to cavs. And this is due to Wally a wash up again?
