The LeBron James PROBLEM (Ft. A Lot of NBA Teams)

LeBron James is a great player who’s now on the Lakers, but LeBron has a problem.

LeBron’s great, he’s in the GOAT conversation, he’s been the greatest player in the NBA for some time now and I’m not taking anything away from that. But there’s just something about LeBron that is a problem. He holds his teams back.

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LeBron James makes bad players good and great players good. It’s a concept that I had a hard time seeing myself, but after seeing LeBron with multiple different teammates and teams and seeing all the results, that’s what I concluded and it’s a problem only LeBron can have. Lemme explain.

What do these 4 teams have in common? All 4 went to the NBA finals and all 4 have LeBron. I actually find that quite impressive, but also concerning. What does that say about LeBron’s teams? That these teams are essentially the same. Well I think it’s important to break down that statement.

So looking at usage rate, LeBron’s has always be fairly consistent, but how? He’s been on very different teams. Kobe’s was that high in those dark Lakers years with Smush Parker but it dropped off when Kobe got some help as he moved the ball around more. The interesting thing is LeBron’s usage rate NEVER dropped. Even when he was on superstar teams, it just never dropped. And for those stats people out there, his usage rate only has a variance of 1.8 which is crazy since he has essentially been on 3 completely different teams. Kobe for reference has a variance of 7. Playoff LeBron is the same situation. LeBron just doesn’t move the ball around to get players in rhythm. He makes incredible passes, he gets all these assists, but THEY AREN’T DOING ANYTHING TO MAKE THESE PLAYERS BETTER. To actually get everyone involved, you have to give the ball around, move off-ball, let everyone sort of get a feel and ease into the offense. Passing to open players is great, but if you’re just holding onto the ball and then making the play, that isn’t getting others involved.

That’s why when you look at the Heat, look at what Wade and Bosh were reduced to. This was the first big 3 with these caliber stars coming together in their primes (sorry Boston). And at the time we all thought that the 3 would have to sacrifice their numbers. But LeBron’s usage actually increased! WHATTT? Why did Bosh have to sacrifice is usage rate? People forget Bosh was a 24 and 10 guy, an MVP candidate.

Kyrie Irving. LeBron actually let Kyrie take more shots than him, but that was the only difference and now this team was just run by two people that made plays, kinda like how the Rockets are right now. LeBron still didn’t really get the ball moving and once again role players got open shots, but couldn’t get into a rhythm. On a side note, I like watching the Rockets play, I just don’t know if heavy iso and relying on 2 players to generate all the offense instead of moving the ball around is the way to win.

We all thought that 3 offensive superstars had to sacrifice stats when coming together, but then we saw the Warriors who integrated Kevin Durant into a free flowing offense. In fact, the Warriors were worse when KD tried to do too much hero ball instead of flow with the offense. That team still has 3 players that average 20 or more points a game and has Dre doing the dirty work. But of course the Warriors are an outlier so let’s look at another team. You have a team like Boston right now that sure players might drop numbers, but you can see everyone getting involved and becoming more efficient. I think Kyrie is underrated in this aspect, but he is very well aware of when he needs to get everyone involved and when he needs to flat out take over.

Players like Michael Jordan and Kobe did move the ball around no matter how much people think they ball hogged. They benefitted from the triangle and were always aware of getting their teammates in rhythm and taking over when need be. LeBron kinda doesn’t do that. He’s always been more aware of what people think of him. When triple doubles started getting popular with Westbrook, LeBron immediately got more triple doubles. Was there anything stopping him before from getting triple doubles?

The crazy thing is that he’s so talented that it can work to a certain extent. No matter what I’m saying in this video, I still respect LeBron and understand that he’s in a predicament that only he could be in. The Lakers are going to have a great season with LeBron because LeBron is that special of a player. I just hope LeBron can make his team better than the sum of its parts. But what do you think? Does LeBron have this problem? How far can the Lakers go?

Видео The LeBron James PROBLEM (Ft. A Lot of NBA Teams) канала MJ2KALLDAY