Is Lebron protecting his FG%?

[boobie miles]

Well there is no doubt that he is doing it.

As long as the Heat keep winning comfortably & running through dross like the Cavs, Magic & Bobcats it won't matter too much. It will only become an issue if he keeps being cute about his shot selection in tight encounters against other contenders(&/or in the playoffs). He will get called out for it if he's passing up shots to the likes of Battier/Cole/Chalmers down the stretch of games that matter.

[RatherUnique]

Against CLE, he passed up a few wide open threes to drive to the rim, which is exactly what you want him to do.

[Takingbaconback]

Not really protecting his FG%, he is just so much better than anyone else in the NBA that he can get whatever shot he wants, whenever he wants it.

[trakobe]

Not really protecting his FG%, he is just so much better than anyone else in the NBA that he can get whatever shot he wants, whenever he wants it.

Jumpshot says hi

[Tave]

Nope, just better than everyone else. He's in the zone.

Odd though the lengths that people will go to find something to criticize.


Lebron? That scrub. He'd be a lot better if he didn't make so many shots.

[MKG35]

Guy had 25/9/9 on 9-12 shooting. He knows his 3 pt shooting is off. He's only shooting 25% from 3 in December.

Makes sense he isn't willing to shoot 3s.

So when is he going to be willing to take those (wide open) 3's again? If you don't shoot, you won't get the confidence.

[bigboi]

First let's be clear: It's hard to imagine he's actually chasing FG%. If he's chasing %, it's going to be a number like TS% which factors everything in. There were players in the past (Wilt) who chased FG% and ignored other things (like FT%), but such behavior on a team with modern stat leanings wouldn't make sense.

Now, here's the question: When is it you think he started protecting his % ?

If the answer is any time in the past 3 years, that's weird because his scoring per minute is right in range where it's been his whole time in Miami.

If the answer is when he came to Miami, that's weird because he shot a lower % when he came to Miami.

See what I'm saying here: If the trend were glaring, we'd see something more clear in the data. We don't.

That doesn't mean his judgment is perfect by any means, but imperfect judgment is not chasing stats.

Let's be real here. I guarantee that Lebron doesn't know what TS is or even cares about what it is. It's clearly FG%

Gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are trolling.

How would that be trolling? NBA players don't care about advanced stats, that's a fact plain and simple

[semi-sentient]

Yeah, he is. It's obvious IMO. Only matters if happens in the playoffs though.

Agreed. It's not really hurting the team right now so it's not that big of a deal.

[Mars_Blackmon]

I like LeBron as a player and don't think this is true but any play concerned about his FG% is not someone I would want on my team

[sisibilio]

It's not just passing on open 3s, he also post up exclusively on the left side of the zone, to the detriment of the team.
What a horrible human being, I bet he's a communist.

[Massamba]

People are so used to see players witzh 0 bball IQ and ball mouvement in a team that we don't understand why LeBron passes the ball. He doesn't have the ball that much in his hands and everybody can participate to the game. It's a 5 on 5 game.
If LeBron takes any shots he won't be efficient because the heat share the ball. So, taking shots and missing them won't help his team. If he forces the shots to be efficient it will break the team offense and chemistry. Trying to be the most efficient is the only way he can still be dominant in this team.
Yes, he is protecting his gf% , but for basketball reasons.

[bushybrah_]

People are so used to see players witzh 0 bball IQ and ball mouvement in a team that we don't understand why LeBron passes the ball. He doesn't have the ball that much in his hands and everybody can participate to the game. It's a 5 on 5 game.
If LeBron takes any shots he won't be efficient because the heat share the ball. So, taking shots and missing them won't help his team. If he forces the shots to be efficient it will break the team offense and chemistry. Trying to be the most efficient is the only way he can still be dominant in this team.
Yes, he is protecting his gf% , but for basketball reasons.

He doesn't have the ball that much in his hands? Do you watch every Heat game Lol? BTW I'm not complaining, just saying.

[Massamba]

People are so used to see players witzh 0 bball IQ and ball mouvement in a team that we don't understand why LeBron passes the ball. He doesn't have the ball that much in his hands and everybody can participate to the game. It's a 5 on 5 game.
If LeBron takes any shots he won't be efficient because the heat share the ball. So, taking shots and missing them won't help his team. If he forces the shots to be efficient it will break the team offense and chemistry. Trying to be the most efficient is the only way he can still be dominant in this team.
Yes, he is protecting his gf% , but for basketball reasons.

He doesn't have the ball that much in his hands? Do you watch every Heat game Lol? BTW I'm not complaining, just saying.

Yes i do. He is a different player from what he was in Cleveland and had more the ball in his hands last year than today. Look at the heat offense, the only moment he has the ball that much much it's at the end of the 3rd quarters when Wade and Bosh are on the bench, and at the end of games in the money time. for the rest of the game the heat don't depend on LeBron.

[JonFromVA]

The Heat seem to be right on the verge of over-passing and it's not just James. Anyway, if they can win in the regular season that way, more power to them. It's definitely a lot less wear and tear than James or Wade playing hero ball for 48 minutes.

[RoyalWun]

This just in: the closer you are to the hoop the better chance you have of it going in.

[Torres]

Lebron will shoot it when it matters. Who gives if he passes up shots in the 3rd quarter to give his teammates better shots?

[Tim_Hardawayy]

I keep seeing people arguing that yes, LeBron is protecting his FG%, adding the caveat that at some point its going to come back to haunt his team. But yet, the team has the highest EFG% in the league by a comfortable 1.5% margin. So the "its going to hurt the team" argument makes no sense, as its actually lead to the best team offense in basketball.

Beyond that, when OP says he saw LeBron pass up several open 3's in last night's game, he forgot to mention that a few of those were early in the shot clock (within the first 10 seconds).

I dunno, to an extent I'd agree LeBron plays it safe with his shot selection, but I can't agree with those saying its to the detriment of his team. And its not as if he doesn't increase the amount he shoots when the situation calls for it, we've seen him do that in the playoffs, so the warning that he might not know when to flip the switch just sounds silly to me.

[reignfire]

Of course he is.


There's no way in hell a player without a low post game can average near 60% shooting. The only way you get there is with layups.

[RoyalWun]

Of course he is.


There's no way in hell a player without a low post game can average near 60% shooting. The only way you get there is with layups.

But if layups are winning basketball games then why go away from it?

[john248]

People are so used to see players witzh 0 bball IQ and ball mouvement in a team that we don't understand why LeBron passes the ball. He doesn't have the ball that much in his hands and everybody can participate to the game. It's a 5 on 5 game.
If LeBron takes any shots he won't be efficient because the heat share the ball. So, taking shots and missing them won't help his team. If he forces the shots to be efficient it will break the team offense and chemistry. Trying to be the most efficient is the only way he can still be dominant in this team.
Yes, he is protecting his gf% , but for basketball reasons.

You're such a Lebron apologist that when you're trying to make sense of something, it's complete garbage.

Lebron has the ball in his hands plenty. He initiates the offense and well as handles play making duties. The Heat can still have great ball movement too. You're making LBJ out to be an off-ball player for the sake of ball movement. You seem to think that in order to have good ball movement that you have to turn Lebron into a touch passer. Lebron is great. He's not the type who will receive the ball and stand there for a few seconds to stall the offense then procede to ISO. He'll do what he can with the ball to shift defenses to either make plays for his teammates or himself.

It's lame to say "if Lebron takes shots, he won't be efficient bc the Heat share the ball." It's obvious Lebron is taking shots. How else is he scoring points?