Not having his Heat brothers around him with a well practiced offense, and lots of talent probably explains most of it. He has to create a lot more on this team. An analysts was saying that LeBron has been getting a lot more of his baskets by creating his own shots, and less off of the pass because his Cav teammates don't pass back to him, and that has led to him passing even less.
Just a thought on this. According to this, Jeremias Engelmann's (RPM) site: (http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/pics/infl.png), LeBron should be performing at 30 about the same as at 24, but he is performing at 30 about as he did at 20. The average NBA player peak range, as an overall measure, is from about 23 - 32, with an absolute peak at 29, but with LeBron it appears his peak range was 24 - 28, but with twin peaks was at 24 and 28. _________________ "A metronome keeps time by using a Ringo"
It's weird that the Grantland article, and this thread, have arrived right after Lebron hit the winning shot in one game and then almost single-handedly took Game 5 for the Cavs. Obviously with increasing age and a different, less experienced coach and roster, there has been some deterioration in his overall game, but when it comes down to it, he's still the best player in the league, and I wouldn't put it past him to win another ring this year, which would surely be his greatest achievement yet. If he gets to the Finals, whether he plays the Warriors or Clippers, two teams that on paper are significantly better than the Cavs, neither of them have his experience, toughness, or determination. If he pulls it off, then the focus of these articles will once again change from "deterioration" to "OMG best player ever," neither of which are exactly true.
Incidentally, shooting as "low" as 49% for the season -- which seems here to be considered borderline disastrous for LeBron -- is something that Kobe has never come close to matching even once in his entire career.
The interesting thing will be to see if Lebron simply migrates closer to the rim, and therefore will retain bulk to battle in the post (which adds further wear/tear on knees as he gets older).
His outside game has def taken a dip. _________________ From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 35853 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 12:33 pm Post subject:
Mike@LG wrote:
Athletic decline. Doesn't have the supreme ball-handling that he used to have in HS/first two years in the NBA.
Wasn't as well-conditioned entering the season either.
How do you lose ball-handling abilities? Along with free throw shooting and court vision, that seems like one of the three skills you would keep over time. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
Change the scale on the Y-axis for dramatic effect?
Use range 30% - 70% (or 0-100 even), add the average FG% for SFs as a horizontal line, and then re-plot. Then it won't look as bad.
That "what happened" fall off is from shooting 57%. That is just unsustainable. Most centers can't maintain that let alone a guy who routinely hits 25% or more of his shots from beyond the arc.
Anything between 47% and 52% is normal for Lebron.
Joined: 10 Apr 2001 Posts: 65135 Location: Orange County, CA
Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 1:22 pm Post subject:
CandyCanes wrote:
Mike@LG wrote:
Athletic decline. Doesn't have the supreme ball-handling that he used to have in HS/first two years in the NBA.
Wasn't as well-conditioned entering the season either.
How do you lose ball-handling abilities? Along with free throw shooting and court vision, that seems like one of the three skills you would keep over time.
Stop using it during game time. _________________ Resident Car Nut.
Athletic decline. Doesn't have the supreme ball-handling that he used to have in HS/first two years in the NBA.
Wasn't as well-conditioned entering the season either.
How do you lose ball-handling abilities? Along with free throw shooting and court vision, that seems like one of the three skills you would keep over time.
5 conference finals in 5 straight seasons with 2 different teams. It's the East, but impressive nonetheless.
That said, go Rockets and Warriors I guess.
Nope that bolded part negates the accomplishment by 75%. If he made 3 straight in the West then that would be mighty impressive. Leastern conf has been a joke for over 2 decades. They need better GMs. Theres a reason he stayed east and never even considered a western team in his free agent summers. _________________ Alltime lineup: Magic | Kobe | MJ | Hakeem | KAJ
"James has been the defining NBA player of the post–Michael Jordan era. He has been so good for so long that it’s hard to contemplate his basketball mortality."
"James has been the defining NBA player of the post–Michael Jordan era. He has been so good for so long that it’s hard to contemplate his basketball mortality."
(bleep) clowns act like Kobe didn't exist.
Yeah, I noticed that. Like I said earlier. Ask NBA players who THAT person is and we all know who it would be. Kobe and it wouldn't even be close. _________________ “It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.”
― James Baldwin, Collected Essays
5 conference finals in 5 straight seasons with 2 different teams. It's the East, but impressive nonetheless.
That said, go Rockets and Warriors I guess.
Nope that bolded part negates the accomplishment by 75%. If he made 3 straight in the West then that would be mighty impressive. Leastern conf has been a joke for over 2 decades. They need better GMs. Theres a reason he stayed east and never even considered a western team in his free agent summers.
His percentages went down as a result of playing on a new team with a different offense and new teammates. He's playing iso ball more than I think anyone would be happy with (kind of a necessity right now with Love out and Kyrie hobbled, but in the regular season it got annoying at times), but I'd expect that to change going into next season as the team continues to gel, adds a bit of depth, and LeBron gives Blatt a bit more leash to coach him.
Joined: 10 Apr 2001 Posts: 65135 Location: Orange County, CA
Posted: Fri May 15, 2015 10:21 am Post subject:
improper wrote:
His percentages went down as a result of playing on a new team with a different offense and new teammates. He's playing iso ball more than I think anyone would be happy with (kind of a necessity right now with Love out and Kyrie hobbled, but in the regular season it got annoying at times), but I'd expect that to change going into next season as the team continues to gel, adds a bit of depth, and LeBron gives Blatt a bit more leash to coach him.
That's not any different from playing in Miami his first year.
If anything, the offense changed dramatically after the first couple months into the system, catering to LeBron. _________________ Resident Car Nut.
Not having his Heat brothers around him with a well practiced offense, and lots of talent probably explains most of it. He has to create a lot more on this team. An analysts was saying that LeBron has been getting a lot more of his baskets by creating his own shots, and less off of the pass because his Cav teammates don't pass back to him, and that has led to him passing even less.
agreed. He's only in the ECF by default. Every team in that conference is a joke. Had he been in the west, he would've been out already.
5 conference finals in 5 straight seasons with 2 different teams. It's the East, but impressive nonetheless.
That said, go Rockets and Warriors I guess.
Nope that bolded part negates the accomplishment by 75%. If he made 3 straight in the West then that would be mighty impressive. Leastern conf has been a joke for over 2 decades. They need better GMs. Theres a reason he stayed east and never even considered a western team in his free agent summers.
Eh. For most of the Lakers history, we got to the finals going through a weak western conference, and Lakers fans never seemed to mind. At the end of the day, you can only play the team that's on the court with you, and all that matters is how you do against the team on the court. A win is a win is a win.
5 conference finals in 5 straight seasons with 2 different teams. It's the East, but impressive nonetheless.
That said, go Rockets and Warriors I guess.
Nope that bolded part negates the accomplishment by 75%. If he made 3 straight in the West then that would be mighty impressive. Leastern conf has been a joke for over 2 decades. They need better GMs. Theres a reason he stayed east and never even considered a western team in his free agent summers.
Eh. For most of the Lakers history, we got to the finals going through a weak western conference, and Lakers fans never seemed to mind. At the end of the day, you can only play the team that's on the court with you, and all that matters is how you do against the team on the court. A win is a win is a win.
You should see the thread in the Lounge that posts the playoff teams Kobe and Lebron had to face.
Nothing can be more inaccurate. The Spurs, Kings, Sonics, Jazz, Suns, Trailblazers were hardly weak teams.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
