Posts Tagged ‘Lebron James’

Don’t ever forget that you’re never alone …

Monday, December 26th, 2011

Welcome back NBA. :-)

Main reason Kobe Bryant should still be considered, “The best basketball player on earth today.”

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Unfortunately, every once in awhile, someone in the on-line hoops community will attempt to assert that the best basketball player on the planet earth today is someone other than Kobe Bean Bryant, based on some type of logical, or statistical-based, evidence.

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When “counting the rings” goes wrong

At this point in time, there is no clear-cut way to determine if Player X is better than Player Y. Some may rely on PER, others will rely on the eye test, and the vast majority will count the rings.

As with any argument, though, there is a golden rule that should be followed to a tee: if you’re going to use it in debate, at least be consistent.

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Main reason average basketball observers cannot properly evaluate who the best players actually are, at a given point in time, however, is because they are incapable of making an accurate assessment of the array of inter-related basketball skills [i.e. both, "hard" and "soft"] that actually need to be considered when making a judgment about the quality of a specific player in relation to the abilities of his/her peers.

What you see below is a brief sample of the myriad “basketball skills” which SHOULD be used to develop an accurate appraisal of a specific player’s actual ability, relative to his peers:

BASKETBALL PLAYER, PHASE SPECIFIC SKILL-SET EVALUATION, BY POSITION
No. OFFENSIVE 1-5 DEFENSIVE 1-5 REBOUNDING 1-5
01 Fills transition lane quickly   Gets back in transition   Boxes out check  
02 Transition drives, R   Denies check ball   Goes to get ball  
03 Transition drives, L   Defends vs cutter   Reads ball coming off rim  
04 Half-court drives, R   Defends vs ball w/out a pick   Energy & will to retrieve misses  
05 Half-court drives, L   Hedges vs Pick   Consistent awareness and effort  
06 Perimeter catch & shoots   Switches vs Pick   SUB-TOTAL  
07 Perimeter shot fake & drives, R   Traps vs Pick      
08 Perimeter shot fake & drives L   Vs post-ups      
09 Mid-range catch & shoots   Rotates to help      
10 Mid-range shot fake & drives, R   Rotates to help-the-helper      
11 Mid-range shot fake & drives, L   Rotates to block a shot      
12 Pull-up jump-shot, right   Rotates to draw a charge      
13 Pull-up jump-shot, left   Blocks shots from off ball      
14 Consistent finish at the rim   Blocks shot, on ball      
15 Draws fouls   Vs ball in switch mismatches      
16 Free throw scorer   Deflections      
17 Post-up scorer   Steals      
18 Perimeter passer   Recovers loose balls      
19 Interior passer   Checks 1.5 positions off ball      
20 Lay-off passer   Physically tough      
21 Drive and kick passer   Mentally tough      
22 Passer out of post   Emotionally tough      
23 Creates shot for teammate   SUB-TOTAL      
24 Drives off pick, right          
25 Drives off pick, left          
26 Screener          
27 Picker          
28 Cutter          
29 Uses screen[s] to get open          
30 Gets open without screen[s]          
SUB-TOTAL          
SUMMARY
OFFENSIVE SUB-TOTAL   Out of 150   X .33  
DEFENSIVE SUB-TOTAL   Out of 110   X .33  
REBOUNDING SUB-TOTAL   Out of 25   X .33  
TOTAL  

If you complete this simple evaluation form for any current player in the NBA … using whatever specific measuring tools you prefer for each individual category … according to the position he plays, and then compare his overall score to the same evaluation form you also complete for Mr. Bryant, you should be able to see for yourself that the LA Lakers’ No. 24 is still, actually, “The best basketball player on this planet.”

ROI: Mike Bianchi cuts to the chase …

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Unemployed workers could not care less if NBA cancels Season

Go ahead, NBA, and cancel the first few weeks of the regular season.

Better yet, go ahead and cancel the whole damn thing.

Knock yourselves out.

Lock yourselves out.

Do us a favor.

Do yourselves a favor.

Take the year off so you will comprehend what everyone on God’s green earth should comprehend at one time or another: That in the grand scheme of things, we just aren’t that important.

David Stern and LeBron James and the rest of the smug, arrogant, rich, pampered, greedy, spoiled, self-indulgent NBA needs to learn its lesson. And the lesson is this: America has had it with sports leagues and their so-called fiscal problems.

In this economic climate, the NBA labor dispute is a disgusting affront to those who have real jobs or, worse, have lost real jobs.

Wages of Wins Journal makes ‘wrong’ comparison

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Instead of trying to ‘put down’ the dynamic duo of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade [Miami Heat, 2010-2011], by comparing them to the perceived to be ‘less-than’ dynamic pairing of Jack Sikma and Gus Williams [Seattle Supersonics, 1978-1979] …

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Bringing it all together

So why were two good players able to team up and win it all when some of the all time greats (Wade and LeBron, Stockton and Malone, Drexler and Porter) have failed to do so? The answer is that they had perfect timing. They were in the league when the requirement to be a top team was much lower and the competitive advantage of a top team wasn’t as high. Additionally the playoffs were easier if you were a top team. Putting this all together let team work prevail! Of course as I’ve chronicled, this is not  the way things are any more. And that’s why modern superteams can still fail and why teamwork is no longer enough to win it all.

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… what ‘Mr. Dre’ SHOULD really be doing is asking the following question:

“How do the Dallas Mavericks/2010-2011 compare favourably with the same TEAM of Seattle Supersonics?”


No.
2010-2011
Dallas Mavericks
1978-1979
Seattle Supersonics
STARTERS
1 PG Jason Kidd OG Dennis Johnson
2 PG JJ Barea PG Gus Williams
3 SF/PF Shawn Marion SF John Johnson
4 PF/C Dirk Nowitzki PF/C Jack Sikma
5 C Tyson Chandler PF/C Lonnie Shelton
KEY SUBS
6 G Jason Terry G Fred Brown
7 SF Peja Stojakovic G/F Wally Walker
8 C Brendon Haywood PF Paul Silas
RESERVES
9 G DeShawn Stevenson G Joe Hassett
10 F Corey Brewer G/F Dick Snyder
11 PF Brian Cardinal PF/C Tom LaGarde
12 PF Ian Mahinmi C Dennis Awtrey
EXTRAS/OUTS
13 G Rodrigue Beaubois F Jackie Robinson
14 G Dominique Jones C Lars Hansen
15 G/F Caron Butler
COACHING
16 HC Rick Carlisle HC Lenny Wilkens

The answer, on a person-to-person basis, might actually surprise him … when it comes to understanding the construction of a championship-winning TEAM. :-)

YOU MAKE THE CALL … LeBron James or Scottie Pippen?

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

As a follow-up to the blog entry below …

If you could pick only one of the following two players, at the SF position, for your "all-time" 5-man team, which one would you choose?

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You’re invited to expand on your answer more fully in the comments sections. :-)

Top 10 Small Forwards of the last 30 years …

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

According to Dennis Velasco:

The 10 best small forwards of the past three decades

According to yours truly …

An accurate ranking of the 10 players listed by Mr. Velasco [#] should actually look like the following:

1 Larry Bird [1] … a legitimate GOAT contender

2 Scottie Pippen [2] … the best other “all-around” player on this list

3 LeBron James [2] … in every situation on the court, an inferior player compared to Scottie Pippen

4 Paul Pierce [6] … under-rated, in general, by non-basketball experts

5 Dominique Wilkens [4] … over-rated, in general, by non-basketball experts

6 Bernard King [10] … THE best interior scorer on this list, career unfortunately curtailed by injury

7 Adrian Dantley [5] … an old school scorer, in the true sense

8 Alex English [7] … as a mid-range shooter, could fill it up with the best of them

9 Chris Mullin [9] … most questionable member of this list, however, was a fine [e.g. multi-dimensional] offensive player

10 James Worthy [8] *

NOTE: * – Does not belong on this list, at all, since he actually played the Power Forward [PF] position.

Will the road to winning the NBA Championship become more difficult, or easier, for the Miami Heat … with Wade, Bosh and James?

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

FYI …

According to what was written by David Friedman, on Thu-Jul-07-2011, in an article about the Cavaliers:

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Analyzing the collapse of the 2010-2011 Cleveland Cavaliers

… it will likely only become more difficult for Miami to win a championship, particularly if the lockout wipes out an entire season of James/Wade/Bosh in the prime of their careers.

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According to what was written by yours truly, on Sun-Jul-10-2011 [published by the host at 11:56 PM], in a comment on David’s blog:

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Comments for “Analyzing the collapse of the 2010-2011 Cleveland Cavaliers”

David:

If someone was inclined to make you the following wager:

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During the course of the next 10 seasons, I say that the Miami Heat will, in fact, win at least 1 NBA Championship with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James on their team.

In contrast, you say that this will not happen.

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might you be inclined to accept it?

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According to what was written by David Friedman, on Mon-Jul-11-2011 [published by the host at 11:56 PM], in a reply comment on David’s blog:

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Comments for “Analyzing the collapse of the 2010-2011 Cleveland Cavaliers”

Khandor:

I said exactly what I intended to say on the subject and I am not foolish enough to wager about hypothetical happenings 10 years from now. We don’t even know if there will be a 2012 season, let alone what the salary cap/financial structure will look like when the NBA lockout eventually ends: there could even be a scenario in which the Heat have to break up the “Big Three” to get under the salary cap, so it is possible that the Heat may never win a championship with the nucleus that they had last season.

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According to what was then written by yours truly, on Mon-Jul-11-2011 [sometime after 5:05 AM], in a 2nd reply comment submitted to David’s blog:

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David:

re: “I said exactly what I intended to say on the subject and I am not foolish enough to wager about hypothetical happenings 10 years from now. We don’t even know if there will be a 2012 season, let alone what the salary cap/financial structure will look like when the NBA lockout eventually ends: there could even be a scenario in which the Heat have to break up the “Big Three” to get under the salary cap, so it is possible that the Heat may never win a championship with the nucleus that they had last season.”

1. Which is all the more reason someone who holds the opinion that you do – re: the supposedly increased difficulty Miami will have winning the NBA Championship during the next several seasons, with a core of Wade, Bosh and James, than they had this year – might actually be inclined to accept the wagering opportunity I outlined for you in my original comment, that was a follow-up question to the quote from your original article.

2. I asked you a simple question based on the quote from your original article. “What you’ve said” in the original article leads in the direction of the question I asked you and some might consider it disingenuous on your part not to answer it with a straight-forward, A. “Yes,” or, B. “No.”

3. Personally, I think your answer to the question asked might actually be, B. “No” … in which case, the extent to which you actually believe the original observation made in this quotation might be called into question by a thoughtful reader concerned with your own motivation for making it in the first place.

4. The British bookmakers who accepted the wager made by Gerry McIlroy and friends several years ago … i.e. that his young son Rory would actually win the British Open by a specified age, years in the future [somewhere in his mid-20s, IIRC] … were, in fact, MORE committed to their belief than you seem to be to your own observation about the difficulty Miami is likely to have winning the NBA championship with a core of Wade, Bosh and James.

PS. FWIW, at this point, I would not be prepared to bet my own hard-earned money on the threesome of Wade, Bosh and James winning the NBA title together, either, even though I believe that this will actually become EASIER for them to accomplish as each year goes by prior to them moving beyond their prime.

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which – interestingly enough – has not yet been published by the host … even though other, more recently submitted comments from other contributors do seem to have been published on his blog.

As each day goes by, it will certainly be intriguing to note, if and when David actually chooses to publish this comment on his blog … with a suitable reply, or not.

Will the road to winning the NBA Championship become more difficult, or easier, for the Miami Heat ... with Wade, Bosh and James?

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PS. FWIW, please be aware that yours truly also happens to believe David Friedman is, in fact, one of the best and most accomplished NBA writers working in the business today.

ROI: It’s a team game

Monday, June 20th, 2011

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on youth, LeBron

What was your reaction to the Finals?
I think it was a triumph of great teamwork over great individual play. The Miami team really is not. They weren’t ready to play the team game the way the Mavericks were, and that’s why the Mavericks came out on top.

What about how people react to LeBron James?
I think people just did not like his style, in self-promoting and aggrandizement of himself that ESPN was part of, and the event on ESPN turned a lot of people off. All these things to say about him as an individual. It’s a team game. People seem to lose sight of that pretty quickly.

How does he proceed from here?
That burden, really, is going to fall on the franchise, to get the right players that comprise a good team. He’s always going to be, for his whole career, a dominant and outstanding player. The way that they put the team together and promoted the team really did not do the team any good, and it didn’t do the game any good. It’s a team game and they should promote it as such.

ROI: TrueHoop gets one right, re: summer homework for LeBron James

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

After being in a prolonged ‘slump’, Henry Abbott finally nails one:

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The post is not the priority

James has fairly consistently made about a third of his NBA 3-pointers. Somewhere around that percentage is the point where you’re bad enough that defenses want you to shoot 3s.

As you improve from 33 percent, however, every opportunity you get to take an open 3 is likely to improve your whole team’s offensive efficiency. Open 3s for 40 percent 3-point shooters win games, and defenses know that and go to great lengths to prevent shots like that. Making more 3s would give James a way to move defenders away from the rim — which has the potential to vastly improve the entire team’s offense.

In addition to helping the whole offense, it would simply gift the Heat important points even if you changed nothing else. Had James shot 40 percent from downtown this season the team would have had scored a dozen more points over their 21 playoff games. It’s hard to imagine any other way the Heat could improve results like that without changing anything else.

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clear out of the park.

ROI: What some sports fans dislike of King James is really all about

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Enjoy!

[Courtesy of Jay Smooth]

Pure … internet … gold!