The Lebron Thread (Pt. 2)

[Mutnt]

For me, it's not a question if he's ABLE to pull it off, the question is whether he'll feel the need to play the whole season with the same effort. He always seems to play in 4th gear and then goes on a stretch or two where he's completely unstoppable and then comes back to earth. He also takes far to many games lightly, as long as his team is doing well and winning, he'll took the foot of the pedal and be content with being passive.

That can't happened in large portions if you want to have the GOAT season.

[ronnymac2]

For me, it's not a question if he's ABLE to pull it off, the question is whether he'll feel the need to play the whole season with the same effort. He always seems to play in 4th gear and then goes on a stretch or two where he's completely unstoppable and then comes back to earth. He also takes far to many games lightly, as long as his team is doing well and winning, he'll took the foot of the pedal and be content with being passive.

That can't happened in large portions if you want to have the GOAT season.

No, that's the most important aspect of being the GOAT. If everything is going well and the team is winning the way you are playing, why **** that up? Who gives a **** about stats? I don't.

If LeBron understands so perfectly that it's not about him, then that is an admirable and constructive quality, not a negative quality.

[ThatsWhatIShved]

For me, it's not a question if he's ABLE to pull it off, the question is whether he'll feel the need to play the whole season with the same effort. He always seems to play in 4th gear and then goes on a stretch or two where he's completely unstoppable and then comes back to earth. He also takes far to many games lightly, as long as his team is doing well and winning, he'll took the foot of the pedal and be content with being passive.

That can't happened in large portions if you want to have the GOAT season.

No, that's the most important aspect of being the GOAT. If everything is going well and the team is winning the way you are playing, why **** that up? Who gives a **** about stats? I don't.

If LeBron understands so perfectly that it's not about him, then that is an admirable and constructive quality, not a negative quality.

Great post, and this is exactly why Lebron has no place in the GOAT discussion. He cares too much about his stats and always puts himself above the team. When he wants to statpad his FG%, he refuses to shoot jumpers and plays little D, waiting for cherry picking opportunities to arise. Now he's trying to pad his assists, only passing if he thinks it will get him an assist, yelling "SHOOT IT" everytime he passes. Compare that to Dirk or Duncan, two guys who care little about personal glory, who make the passes that lead to the assist. You never see Lebron set a screen or make strong cuts to draw attention, because where is the personal gain in that? Instead you see him dribble 20+ seconds off the clock, looking to get a bail out call or spot someone for a desperation heave that may land him an assist.

And don't even get me started on him stealing rebounds from teammates or leading the league in rebounds after missed FTs for the 5th consecutive year. After Lebron proves he's the best player on his own team, then maybe he can be discussion of GOATs from the last few years.

[MaliBrah]

I'm sorry but thatiswhatischved everything you said is wrong I don't even know where to start... And Lebron hasn't proved he's the best on the heat to you yet?

[IG2]

LeBron really needs to stop taking 3's from the right side of the court. I haven't seen him make one from there since the AS break.

[WinisKing]

I'm sorry but thatiswhatischved everything you said is wrong I don't even know where to start... And Lebron hasn't proved he's the best on the heat to you yet?

He's trolling , he also said the ASG was the second most important game in the NBA other than the game 7 of a final

[Mutnt]

I thought we could use some visuals for this amazing season:)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upaljU69Qc4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtXPmkR_5P4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGOOOWgzu3M&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Some nice passes

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9WPpc86o1w[/youtube]

Unbelievable talent.

[MaliBrah]

I'm sorry but thatiswhatischved everything you said is wrong I don't even know where to start... And Lebron hasn't proved he's the best on the heat to you yet?

He's trolling , he also said the ASG was the second most important game in the NBA other than the game 7 of a final

oh wow lol

[C0bR]

LeBron really needs to stop taking 3's from the right side of the court. I haven't seen him make one from there since the AS break.

He shoots 48% from the right side. Compared to the 39% from the left side, I would rather have him bricking it from the right side

He should stop taking 3s from the top.

[PCProductions]

The weird thing about the highlights of this season is that they underrate it because the headline of what makes this season so legendary isn't in the makes but in the lack of misses.

[SideshowBob]

Last 31 Games (Lebron rebounds from ankle injury)

Miami Record: 28-3

116.3 ORTG (+10.7), 104.2 DRTG (-1.4)

11.2 SRS (adjusted for HCA)

With Lebron ON the floor

120.1 ORTG
102.6 DRTG

+17.5 Net

[SideshowBob]

Lineup data update (Full Season)

James + Wade (No Bosh)

ORTG: 126.8
DRTG: 102.6
Net: +25.1 in 291.0 minutes

James + Bosh (No Wade)

ORTG: 121.6
DRTG: 106.1
Net: +15.5 in 290.0 minutes

Wade + Bosh (No James)

ORTG: 108.6
DRTG: 111.6
Net: -3.0 in 152.3 minutes

Bosh + James + Wade

ORTG: 115.9
DRTG: 102.8
Net: +13.1 in 1445.0 minutes

[SideshowBob]

Now, throwing Battier into the mix.

Battier + Bosh + James + Wade

ORTG: 120.3
DRTG: 99.3
Net: +21.0 in 426.6 minutes

Battier + James + Wade

ORTG: 122.9
DRTG: 99.3
Net: +23.5 in 609.7 minutes

Battier + Bosh + James

ORTG: 120.1
DRTG: 100.9
Net: +19.2 in 610.3 minutes

Battier + Wade + James (no Bosh)

ORTG: 129.0
DRTG: 99.5
Net: +29.6 in 183.1 minutes

Battier + Bosh + James (no Wade)

ORTG: 119.5
DRTG: 104.7
Net: +14.8 in 183.7 minutes

Again, these are for the full season. I can't even imagine how these combos look in the 2nd half of the season, considering Miami's jumped from a +5 offense team to a +11.

[SideshowBob]

Last 31 Games

James + Wade + Battier

ORTG: 137.8
DRTG: 102.6
Net: +35.2 in 258.4 minutes

James + Wade + Battier + Bosh

ORTG: 134.6
DRTG: 95.0
Net: +39.7 in 170.6 minutes

James + Wade + Battier (no Bosh)

ORTG: 143.9
DRTG: 116.6
Net: +27.3 in 87.8 minutes

James + Wade + Battier (no Bosh)

ORTG: 143.9
DRTG: 116.6
Net: +27.3 in 87.8 minutes

James + Wade (No Bosh)

ORTG: 134.5
DRTG: 108.0
Net: +26.5 in 126.0 minutes

James + Bosh (No Wade)

ORTG: 113.3
DRTG: 111.5
Net: +8.7 in 91.5 minutes

Wade + Bosh (No James)

ORTG: 113.3
DRTG: 107.7
Net: 5.6 in 94.5 minutes

Bosh + James + Wade

ORTG: 120.3
DRTG: 99.6
Net: +20.7 in 728.9 minutes

[mopper8]

Its pretty unbelievable how great Battier makes them.

I can't wait for the postseason, when James and Wade play 40mpg, Bosh 38, Battier 30+, and Cole only gets like 8 mpg lol. Its going to be glorious.

[SideshowBob]

There should be no talk whatsoever of redundancy between Wade and James any further. Any combination of those two this season produces historic offensive results, and if we're talking about the 2nd half of the season, they're historic by quite a margin, and pushing past Nash levels.

Also, Battier may be the 3rd best player on this team this season, he's a more impactful 3rd option than Bosh is.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

There should be no talk whatsoever of redundancy between Wade and James any further. Any combination of those two this season produces historic offensive results, and if we're talking about the 2nd half of the season, they're historic by quite a margin, and pushing past Nash levels.

Also, Battier may be the 3rd best player on this team this season, he's a more impactful 3rd option than Bosh is.

I think the answer to all of this is LeBron finally embracing his role as a small forward SLASH power forward, instead of trying to be the small forward slash point guard slash shooting guard like in years past. He's setting tremendous screens, posting up, playing down low, setting teammates up from the block, making hard cuts and dives to set up deep post position... he's been like a mixture of a more athletic Larry Bird with some Karl Malone and just a dash of Magic sprinkled in, and its a joy to watch.

Wade's improved somewhat in his effort level when off the ball as well, but I have to give most of the credit to this revelation to LeBron, who has truly transformed the way he plays basketball. It also helps to explain why Battier helps more than Bosh, LeBron already fills the role of power forward pretty effectively, and Bosh ends up being little more than a bailout option for jumpshots in the offense (usually 2's, whereas Battier takes more efficient 3's). That's not necessarily a bad thing, but Bosh's value would raise by quite a bit if he crashed the boards a bit harder and made up for the difference between his long 2's and Battier's 3's there.

[ronnymac2]

How important is Bosh's defense though? Who do you guys think is a better defensive player in Miami's system at this point: Bosh or Battier?

[mopper8]

Well, Battier can't play C, so I don't know that you can compare them to be honest.

[SideshowBob]

I think the answer to all of this is LeBron finally embracing his role as a small forward SLASH power forward, instead of trying to be the small forward slash point guard slash shooting guard like in years past. He's setting tremendous screens, posting up, playing down low, setting teammates up from the block, making hard cuts and dives to set up deep post position... he's been like a mixture of a more athletic Larry Bird with some Karl Malone and just a dash of Magic sprinkled in, and its a joy to watch.

Wade's improved somewhat in his effort level when off the ball as well, but I have to give most of the credit to this revelation to LeBron, who has truly transformed the way he plays basketball. It also helps to explain why Battier helps more than Bosh, LeBron already fills the role of power forward pretty effectively, and Bosh ends up being little more than a bailout option for jumpshots in the offense (usually 2's, whereas Battier takes more efficient 3's). That's not necessarily a bad thing, but Bosh's value would raise by quite a bit if he crashed the boards a bit harder and made up for the difference between his long 2's and Battier's 3's there.

That about sums it up. I expected a dramatic improvement from Lebron after watching the Olympics because he very clearly looked much better physically than he had in the two prior seasons. I figured he'd just become a more skilled/experienced version of his old Cleveland self. What I didn't expect was for him to turn into a completely different player. Not only did he improve (in literally every aspect of the game), he just fits the team much better than he did before.

Wade didn't get enough credit for adapting back in 2010-11 to begin with. He was inconsistent to start off the season, he had monster games and he had some stinkers, but for most of the season, I was far more impressed with him than I was with James (who to his credit, made the most of it from about December onwards, and started to look really impressive after the All-star break himself). He incorporated a large amount of off-ball play into his game rather quickly, and I was astonished to see how seasoned he looked with it for a guy that spent all of his career being a ball dominant lead guard. Not to mention turning into the best rebounding guard in the league. Since then, the only issue that returned last season, and lingered into the 1st half of this season was game-to-game consistency, and I think anyone that was reasonable knew that it was largely due to injury and then recovery.

And yeah, I didn't mean that as an indictment on Bosh. It's just the way the team is set up right now, he's become the relatively redundant player. The onus is on him to fill in the gaps though; he's not necessarily doing anything wrong per se, but that doesn't mean he can't do more.