Steve Kerr believes LeBron 'way better' now than he was in Miami

[moderndarwin]

I agree.

He’s so insanely physically gifted that even a 90% physical Lebron is still arguably the best athlete in the league. Yes still moreso than Giannis and Zion when you account for ability to not get hurt while being athletic + insane body control at full speed compared to them.

What that leaves is mental side of it. He’s finally learned how to be both dominant and be a part of a great team approach. In the past he did so much that his team got overtly reliant on him. And then his teams, be it super or not, struggled against well coached ball movement teams. Even with his greatness a really good team approach sometimes was too much for him.

What he’s learned is truly how to step back and let’s others shine while being unstoppable when he needs to. He did this against Denver. Close out game he knows that it’s best not to pass early and to give his team confidence. Just attacked and made layup after layup to get the game going. Everyone else rode that wave. And he was able to conserve energy and just chill and reserve it in case he needed it at the end.

He’s really mentally strong at the game now. Before he was not. He was okay or maybe decent. His mediocrity there was hidden by his absolute physical dominance. Lots of people were mentally stronger in my opinion. He knows how to mold the game now instead of just trying to do everything.

[Baronious]

His athletic decline is way more than the mental gain.

He still gets his stats but you don't see him dominate the game from start to finish like he used to. The decline in his stamina is quite obvious this year. He is probably 75-80% of the player he was during his prime.

Yet he is still clearly the best player in the league, and second in MVP voting

It's not that crazy, his peak is in the conversation for GOAT. I wouldn't say he's 80%, probably more like 90%, but I do think 2013 Lebron was superior.

The decline in stamina is why I said 80%. Up until his first year with the Lakers, he was capable of playing 45 mins in the playoffs without being gassed. I've seen him tired and gassed more this season than I've ever seen him like that his whole career. I don't think he is capable of dominating the whole game on both ends of the floor like he was capable of doing before. He knows exactly when he has to dominate and conserves his energy for those moments in the game.

His ability to blow by defenders in half court settings also got noticeably worse this year which is the reason why you see bulldozing players and using a lot more strength to get into the paint game after game. He is almost 36 at this point and the athletic decline is pretty normal, but just watching him play, I don't get the feeling of total domination that I used to get from him.

[Optms]

Only a few meager humans in existence have endured the trenches needed to reach such a plain of awareness where Lebron's mind currently sits. I just hope that when he kicks the bucket that he donate his brain for science so we unworthy peasants can better help the rest of our peasant brothers and sisters by infiltrating the inner secrets of this fleshly machine.

[Frank Dux]

Miami Lebron was probably the best overall version of him. That was his defensive and athletic peak. He also started getting more confident playing as a big in Miami, that’s when he started backing guys down and playing more PF. But i think his offensive peak was when he went back to Cleveland. His defense slipped a little bit, but the rest of his game was unbelievably refined. It seemed like he could score 40 in any playoff game at will.

[Up-And-Coming]

He picks his spots better and has extended his range. His athleticism has only marginally declined and his defense is seemingly as good as ever. It makes sense when looking at how good he’s been this entire season plus the playoffs in just his career lows in minutes. Last season was a rough year by his standards but he really picked it up since

[rand]

LeBron runs an offense better now than in Miami and he's much more confident. Defensively he was more active back then and obviously more explosive. On a squad with really strong team defense like the Lakers but perhaps a dearth of skilled scorers (besides AD of course), I'd rather have this LeBron but I think those Miami teams needed the energy he brought defensively.

[Capn'O]

LeBron picks his spots to dominate much better now. He can completely own an end game situation in ways that he struggled with earlier in his career by pacing himself and involving his teammates earlier. His teams are now less predictable and he can exercise better conservation of energy. The way he put away the Nuggets the other night was unbelievable.

[ClutchUp]

Defensively he's not but his outside shooting is on another level from his days in Miami.

[zimpy27]

His game is so different. Hard to tell who was better.

[FinNasty]

Nope

[Dupp]

Loss of physical strength

Improvement of mental strength

I can see it

Yup. Since he went back to Cleveland he got way stronger mentally and way better offensively.

[GregOden]

LeBron's more skilled and has a complete mental mastery of the game today. No way would a meme tactic like the defense Pop played on him in '13 work today.

He's more skilled at reading the defense but his actual skills are way worse. He used to be a good FT and 3PT shooter, and actually had ok midrange game. Now he's a terrible scorer outside of the paint.

[infinite11285]

2013 > 2009 > 2020

This version of LeBron reminds me a lot of Tim Duncan and Kobe at the end of their careers. Although he’s lost some athletic prowess, he’s still a grizzled vet that will embarrass you if you don’t come correctly. He’s the NBA’s grandmaster with the long white beard; the game is primarily mental for him right now.

His ambassadorship for the game shouldn’t be understated either. Neither should his impact off of the court. He’s grooming several younger players, even those not on his team, to carry the torch. It’s that point that I believe resonates with Kerr the most.

[Jazz9]

He was better in Miami and his second stint with the Cavs
There's been a noticeable physical decline since he left Cleveland (overall athleticism, stamina, motor)
If you want to talk about a mix of athleticism/bball IQ/mental toughness/skills then 16-18 LeBron > 20 LeBron

[picko]

Despite how dominant LeBron was during his Miami tenure, the playoffs were always a bit of a struggle. Teams regularly pushed LeBron and the Heat to their absolute limits.

Post Heat: Outside of the Warriors - who lets face it were an absurdly talented team - LeBron has been able to dissect opposition defences in a manner he just couldn't in Miami. He seems in control of every encounter. The only way to beat LeBron today is with overwhelming talent - nobody in the league has that right now.

So his mastery of the game - having seen every possible defensive scheme - has made him and his teams more effective in the post-season. Even if LeBron himself cannot individually dominate a game from beginning-to-end as he did earlier in his career.

I think what we are seeing with LeBron is similar to what we saw with Jordan during his second threepeat. Jordan, like LeBron, isn't quite what he was but he understands the game so well that he can offset that physical decline by picking his spots and understanding when he has to dominate.

[Beffiosa]

Defensively he's not but his outside shooting is on another level from his days in Miami.

Lebron's outside shooting was much better in Miami.

[TRik]

2013 > 2009 > 2020

This version of LeBron reminds me a lot of Tim Duncan and Kobe at the end of their careers. Although he’s lost some athletic prowess, he’s still a grizzled vet that will embarrass you if you don’t come correctly. He’s the NBA’s grandmaster with the long white beard; the game is primarily mental for him right now.

His ambassadorship for the game shouldn’t be understated either. Neither should his impact off of the court. He’s grooming many younger players, even those not on his team, to carry the torch. It’s that point that I believe resonates with Kerr the most.

Dude will soon be 36 and still doing this....

Read on Twitter

[Da ThRONe]

Miami LeBron was the best player in the league on both ends. This LeBron is one of the best offensive players.

[infinite11285]

2013 > 2009 > 2020

This version of LeBron reminds me a lot of Tim Duncan and Kobe at the end of their careers. Although he’s lost some athletic prowess, he’s still a grizzled vet that will embarrass you if you don’t come correctly. He’s the NBA’s grandmaster with the long white beard; the game is primarily mental for him right now.

His ambassadorship for the game shouldn’t be understated either. Neither should his impact off of the court. He’s grooming many younger players, even those not on his team, to carry the torch. It’s that point that I believe resonates with Kerr the most.

Dude will soon be 36 and still doing this....

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Man, just look at this...

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...and yet, some people still question his ability to perform. Smh.

[Heej]

I think either 2014 or 2018 was his true peak. With what we know about what LeBron has left in the tank on defense from his defensive output on the Lakers these last 2 years I'm gonna go with 2018. Never seen someone that completely in control of the game of basketball.

Every players career arc has 2 graphs. One is their athleticism over time, and the other is their basketball IQ over time. Your raw athleticism trends up from when you enter the league and then peaks around 24 I'd say because you've had a few years of legit weight training under your belt by that point and you're getting early grown man strength. After that the graph starts to decline.

Your basketball IQ only increases every season, but I think by the time you get to your 40s it starts to decline because you can't think as fast anymore. Pretty sure most great mathematicians and physicists are doing their best work in their late 30s. .

Your peak usually occurs at age 27 on average and that's where the ultimate intersection exists of where your athleticism is still high and your bball IQ has grown the most rapidly. The thing with LeBron is, he managed to stave off his peak for 2 reasons:

1) Hes a master at taking care of his body, his athleticism decline curve is muuuuuch slower than anyone else's because of that. Also hes built different genetically, all the pantheon freaks of nature (Doc, Nique, MJ, Vince, Wilt, Russell, Shaq, Westbrook, etc) not only have a higher base athleticism they also decay more slowly for some reason. Their fast twitch fiber retention is just crazy. So Bron is the best example of that as a 90th percentile athlete at age 35. And his durability is godlike. No major injuries to sap his athleticism all at once except for last year which took a lot from him.

2) LeBron's mental growth rate is the highest out of any player ever. He has access to better tools, natural genius IQ (dude has eidetic memory and was tapped to run the scout team QB in HS cuz he could memorize all the opposing teams plays to run in practice), and the most important thing is just the sheer experience and raw minutes he's played in high leverage situations vs high level competition. He's had to evolve the most because of all the runs he went through so because of that he's just studied more and gotten smarter about the game than anyone that's ever lived at this point.

So because of that the intersection points of those graphs is much later than it is for normal players. I can see why Kerr said that. Hes over the hill now but he'll never really go that far down the hill provided he stays this durable.