LeBron James is picking defenses apart like never before
One of the many reasons LeBron James will go down as an all-time great is his ability to turn just about any team into a title contender. He did it with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008-09, when he carried the franchise to 66 regular season wins with Mo Williams and Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the second and third best players. He did it more recently against the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 Finals by single handedly winning two games with both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love sidelined with injuries
That’s why it’s scary how the Cavaliers have surrounded James with the pieces he needs to play to his strengths at this stage in his career. James is one of the greatest scorers the NBA has ever seen — he’s on pace to finish ahead of Shaquille O’Neal, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain in career scoring — but he’s always been more comfortable operating as a facilitator. With a roster chock-full of cutters and shooters at every position, he’s now picking defense apart in ways we’ve never seen before.
James has obviously overwhelmed teams with his passing in the past, just not at this volume. It’s gotten to a point where he doesn’t even look like he wants to score on certain possessions with the ball in his hands. He simply uses the threat of him being able to score — the joys of him averaging an efficient 27.1 points per game for his career — to bend defenses in ways that open up passing lanes. It’s why his scoring (23.9) and shot attempts (17.7) are hovering around career-lows while his assists (9.2) have jumped to career-highs.
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For example, notice how James draws Jonas Valanciunas away from Tristan Thompson below following a post-up against DeMar DeRozan. By jumping in the air as though he’s going to attempt a layup, he forces Kyle Lowry to cover for Valanciunas by dropping down to defend Thompson. Norman Powell also has to get involved by leaving Richard Jefferson in the corner to prevent Thompson from getting rebounding position.
Once James has all of their attention, he finds Jefferson perfectly for a corner 3-pointer.
Here’s another example. James doesn’t change his pace in this pick-and-pop with Love. Instead, he keeps dribbling until Mason Plumlee has no choice but to double team him in order to prevent a layup or deep post position. Once Plumlee fully commits to helping Moe Harkless contain James, he whips a pass out to Love on the perimeter for an open 3-pointer. Not once does James look like a real threat to score, but the Portland Trail Blazers have to respect his scoring ability.
It’s a similar situation in the following videos. The Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics are more aggressive than the Blazers in their pick-and-roll coverage by having their bigs step up higher to contain the ball handler. Knowing this, James focuses on what’s happening on the weak side rather than the big man in front of him. If the guard or forward doesn’t slide over to protect the rim — keep your eye on Evan Fournier — James can throw an alley-oop or slick pocket pass to Tristan Thompson diving to the rim.
However, if the player on the weak side does slide over to take away the lob option — focus on Elfrid Payton — James will launch a cross-court pass to a 3-point shooter.
James often seems a step ahead of the defense, too. Based on this image alone, you’d think the best pass for James to make would be to Thompson underneath the basket for a dunk, right?
Wrong. James launches a bullet to Love in the corner when he notices Ed Davis turn his back to Love.
The window for James to pull off the pass is minuscule, and yet he knows he can get away with it because Davis lunges towards Thompson in the paint. It’s the perfect example of giving up an easy 2-pointer for a potential 3-pointer.
James makes those passes look like a piece of cake, but they’re incredibly difficult to execute with the precision he does. He can basically facilitate like Chris Paul, only he combines it with the height and strength of a traditional power forward. It allows him to sling passes over and around the tallest defenders from one side of the court to the other even when he gets caught in the air in ways most players are taught not to.
It helps that James is usually paired with one of the best roll finishers in the league and three spot-up shooters. The Cavaliers can even surround him with four 3-point shooters by playing Love or Channing Frye at center. While James is no longer the jump shooter he once was, he basically becomes a point-center in those situations by posting-up smaller players, rolling to the basket in pick-and-rolls and orchestrating the offense from the top of the key.
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Just watch James isolate himself against Robert Covington 16-feet away from the basket in the closing minutes of a close game against the Philadelphia 76ers. He waits for everyone to get into position so he knows what he’s going up against before putting the ball on the floor. He then forces Joel Embiid to make a tough decision between protecting the rim and preventing Frye from getting an open jumper.
Embiid goes with option No. 1, and the Cavaliers get the shot they want.
By the way, just because James isn’t scoring as much as he used to doesn’t mean he suddenly can’t. He still ranks in the 66.7 percentile in pick-and-roll scoring, 61.8 percentile in isolation scoring and 85.6 percentile in transition scoring, which are his three most used play types this season. He’s even shooting a better percentage from 3-point range than last season. The difference is the Cavaliers don’t need his scoring as much as they have in the past with Irving and Love scoring over 20 points per game and everyone else spacing the floor at a high rate.
That development should scare the rest of the league to its core. Even the new-look Warriors.