RealGM

Hi guys,
Ive never played basketball in my life (we played baseball in cuba where i grew up) but i've been following the heat and the NBA in general since wade's rookie year(and ive been lurking the forums since 06). I have a question for the people that really know the sport:
On these forums there seems to be an opinion that a post game prolongs the career of players, however, Lebron has mentioned how playing power forward takes a toll on his body and that he doesn't "see a 33 year old lebron at the 4". Basically, my question is, which is it? Is playing power forward and spending more in the post more taxing on the body, or is the current driving game harder to keep as the body ages?

In the case of Lebron the perimeter is less taxing because he can't be leaned on and he is comfortable with facing the basket! When he is less the focus on offense he will be able to post without working so hard to get the ball. We need to decoy and run him to the post so that teams will have to react!

In the case of Lebron the perimeter is less taxing because he can't be leaned on and he is comfortable with facing the basket! When he is less the focus on offense he will be able to post without working so hard to get the ball. We need to decoy and run him to the post so that teams will have to react!

It's taxing when you are playing all positions.
If 33 year old bron was to predominantly play outta the post without having to also run the point, score from the wing drive to the lane, kick out to shooters, defend all 5 positions, chase jason terry around and run the Break he will be fine

Power forward is more taxing, especially if you are undersized and play aggressive ball denial defense like Lebron does.

On defense I'd like him to take pf off the dribble more since he's a lot faster than them.

Lebron's post game woul probably prolong his career if he didn't have to do all the other stuff like people mentioned. However, if he was also playing SF instead of PF, posting up SF's would most definitely be easier for him.

starvinmarvin17 wrote:It's taxing when you are playing all positions.
If 33 year old bron was to predominantly play outta the post without having to also run the point, score from the wing drive to the lane, kick out to shooters, defend all 5 positions, chase jason terry around and run the Break he will be fine

this. Whats taxing is playing the 4 ondefnse and the1 onoffense.

The versatility thing IS taxing, but that's not what Lebron was complaining about. He doesn't like playing the 4 because post defense wears on the body very differently than post offense does.

Posting a guy up saves the body in a lot of ways, and especially posting up guys the same size or smaller, will prolong the career because a good post game will get a guy a high percentage shot even if he's athletically overmatching (hard to imagine Lebron ever being athletically overmatched lol)

But guarding the post is something different, and when Lebron is at the 4, he's getting beat up on by players as big or bigger than he is.

That's doubly a problem when he's defending players bigger and heavier than he is in the post AND carrying a big load offensively. Smaller guys can definitely be tenacious post defenders (see: Haslem and Joel), but that's harder when you're also running the offense, which in itself takes a toll. Much easier to be the guy setting screens and flaring for an open J than the guy coming off the screen and diving into the lane.

he will prolong his career in the post from the 3 spot. oncew his athleticism declines he can use his strength in the post while still defending the perimeter

Yeah I mean if Spo decided to use Lebron at the 4 for a full season, you'd probably start to see back and knee problems from being leaned on so much by huge 4s and 5s on defense.

It's something Spo has to moderate. Fortunately we have Shane Battier who allows us to do just that. You saw that in the playoffs where Shane was playing as much 4 as Lebron was. Maybe even more by the end.

I do hope that the rebounding we saw in the playoffs, he can continue next year. There's not a huge reason why a guy his size CAN'T be getting 10 boards + a night.

EscapoTHB wrote:Yeah I mean if Spo decided to use Lebron at the 4 for a full season, you'd probably start to see back and knee problems from being leaned on so much by huge 4s and 5s on defense.

It's something Spo has to moderate. Fortunately we have Shane Battier who allows us to do just that. You saw that in the playoffs where Shane was playing as much 4 as Lebron was. Maybe even more by the end.

I do hope that the rebounding we saw in the playoffs, he can continue next year. There's not a huge reason why a guy his size CAN'T be getting 10 boards + a night.

that's why i love shane at the 4. he doesn't mind getting physical and on offense, he draws a big man outside of the paint because teams are not willing to put a big on bron. i could see him and rashard splitting the minutes at the 4.

Thanks for all the replies, the whole playing defense at the 4 plus doing everything else humanly possible taking more a toll on the body makes sense. I always heard around the boards that as lebron aged and athleticism declined he would have to shift more towards a power forward role. I guess thats gonna be unlikely if it means that it would decrease his versatility

Also, LBJ playing full time power forward would also mean he'd have to be at least 5 lbs heavier than he is now. He's probably sitting at a solid 260 right now, which is already a lot (you can see how much thicker he looks compared to his cleveland days) but adding all the wear and tear from playing at 265 if not 270 would take a large toll on his body.

Like mopper said, post offense is actually a lot less taxing than trying to drive from the perimeter. Especially posting up smaller guys when we draw switches on PnR's or run cross screens for Lebron to the left block like we've been consistently doing all season long. The added weight and fatigue from playing post defense is counteracted by the fact that operating from the post will extend his career simply because he won't have to rely on his diminishing explosiveness to get good looks. LBJ could be near the top of the league in FTA per game for years to come, and he'll have so many ways to get to the line as he expands his repertoire. We just need his jumper back to 2011 form.

It's a transformation that I honestly believe we're gonna see Wade make within the next year or two. I think this playoff run taught him that you can't expect to be even 90% healthy in the playoffs and he needs to get used to generating good looks without relying on his athleticism and explosiveness. Luckily Wade has absolutely monstrous lower body strength for someone his size and once he gets the mindset that he can get closer looks at the basket whenever he feels like it we're in for a real treat.

Also, I can't wait to see Wade punishing all those smaller PG's in the post as the years go on when Spo calls on him to defend lightning quick point guards like Rose and Westbrook in the playoffs.