LeBron James. LeBron. Bron Bron. King James. The GOAT (lol).
No matter what nickname you prefer to call him, there’s no denying that LeBron James is one of the best NBA players to ever play the game. The numbers speak for themselves. The man led perhaps the greatest NBA Finals victory in recent memory, coming back down from 3-1 to beat the 73 win Warriors team, led by the first Unanimous MVP Stephen Curry.
LeBron is a 4x MVP. 3x NBA Champion. 14x All-Star. 14x All-NBA player. He has a lot of records that I’d rather not spend time trying to compile, because that would be a waste of time; I get it, you get it, he is a very accomplished player, with numerous accolades, and a better basketball resume than most who have ever played the game. It has been a blessing to be able to watch him play.
And despite all this, you can argue that LeBron James isn’t that good.
Yeah yeah, I know. That sounds very inflammatory and click-baity. But it’s true when you think about it. When you discuss how good a basketball player is, you can either discuss career success, or pure skill. As was already stated, LeBron’s career success is quite remarkable. The only other players with accolades that compare are probably Jordan and Kareem. But we’re not talking about that. We’re talking how good LeBron is at basketball – how good he is at playing the game. And quite frankly, LeBron James, despite how great he is, still has significant skill gaps and deficiencies in his game. Let’s break it down step by step.
LeBron James ability to cross-over and take players off the dribble is lacking compared to legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and contemporaries like Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.
LeBron’s post-game and post footwork is incredibly stiff compared to Kobe and Jordan, and obviously Hakeem (who I don’t even need to bother showing in this compilation), and even contemporaries like Kyrie.
Now this doesn’t mean that LeBron doesn’t have a post game at all. He’s developed a reasonably reliable post fadeaway – and we saw it last year in the playoffs especially.
But you can just tell by watching these clips at how jerky LeBron’s movements are. In both clips, LeBron has the same predictable pattern; he starts with his back to the basket all the way from the high post (which signifies lack of creativity and elusiveness with his ball handling – essentially, he has to enter his post stance very early). He uses his size and frame to penetrate and get close enough to the mid-post, uses the same turnaround motion to fire off the fadeaway jumper. He lacks the fluidness and creativity that the above mentioned players have. This compilation video on YouTube demonstrates this quite well.
Credit goes to Cat Pocari in YouTube
And why is all of this important? Well, because having limited ball handling skills and footwork limits your ability to be successful and making shots in exceptional situations – these include late game moments (which, to be fair, LeBron has improved at, thanks to him having a developed fadeaway shown above), or moments when going up against elite defenders. Take at look at him going up against Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant going up against Kawhi Leonard below.
Look at Kevin going up against Leonard. We see him make a hesitation move which puts Kawhi in a lower stance, and then he does a hesi pullup jimbo (Real Hooper language for “Hesitation Pull-up Jumper”).
Now look at the LeBron James example. LeBron gets the ball from about 35 feet out, well behind the perimeter. Almost immediately, he turns his back to the basket, and then exits this as Kawhi locks him down. He then proceeds to dribble out the ball endlessly, as a pick comes. Just right there, much of LeBron’s problems and deficiencies are displayed immediately. LeBron’s ball handling skills are limited – which effect his ability to get past tight defense without having to rely on brute strength or a quick first step. His crossover is non-existant, so he is unable to break free effectively (hence why he couldn’t escape Kawhi). These two factors caused him to try and uselessly back down on Kawhi from the three-point line, and then give up. As where, in the example up above, Durant is able to handle the ball and create just enough space with the hesitation pull up. It helps to have a great jump shot, and also great shot-creation/making abilities – that is something that LeBron also sometimes struggles with.
Remember those fadeaways from LeBron you saw earlier? Well that, and his stepback open threes are about the only real jump shots LeBron has and is able to pull off. You see how this effects him late in games. He is unable to maneuver the ball to gain seperation naturally. This is why his go to clutch shots are to either drive in the rim, or just step back threes when the defense is playing very lax coverage.
Don’t believe me? There’s a reason why the Spurs gameplan in 2007 was to play off of LeBron and let him shoot. LeBron at the time was not a consistent jump shooter. He’s better now, but it still becomes an issue in the playoffs every now and then (again, to be fair, he’s improved to a point where you can’t just leave him open all the time). Take for instance the 2015 Finals. Yes, Kyrie and Love were out. I don’t fault LeBron for not winning the series. But his inability to reliably jump shoot or handle the ball well definitely made it easier than it had to be for the Iguodala and the Warriors to beat him, given LeBron’s other gifts.
We said LeBron isn’t that good. That doesn’t mean he’s not still an all-time great basketball player. As stated in the Stat players vs Impact players article, LeBron’s greatest attribute is probably his ability to to control the tempo of the game and pace himself in this era of high pace, fast-ball movement (albeit at the cost of his defense), and that alone is invaluable. He almost stole game 1 against the Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals almost single-handedly (51/8/8), until the JR Smith inside job happened.
It goes without saying that LeBron James is an athletic freak of nature. He can finish at the rim almost automatically. You shouldn’t want to rely on leaving him open from three, because he can get those. His basketball IQ is extraordinary; mentally speaking, he’s the Peyton Manning of the NFL. But for a player as physically and mentally gifted as LeBron is, he still has major faults in his game that one could argue has held him back. As disadvantaged as LeBron was these last two Finals, one could argue that having a better jump shot and better post footwork could have let him steal an extra game or two. Even LeBron’s miraculous game 1 in the 2018 Finals – do you really think it was wise for him to look for George Hill and put the game in his hands? I would have rather LeBron tried to do something more creative with the ball.
At the end of the day, not every player is perfect. If LeBron had Kyrie-like handles, Curry-like shooting, and Hakeem-like post moves, he’d literally be the perfect player. It would be too good to be true. Perfect doesn’t exist. So perhaps it’s not fair to say that LeBron “isn’t that good”. But given how many people try to compare him to Jordan and say he’s better than Jordan, despite having more flaws and less successes, it’s hard not to make LeBron out to be worse than he is.
