So what’s wrong with LeBron James? As he prepares for his 22nd birthday Saturday, are his best years behind him? His scoring, rebounding and assist averages are down this season, and his team is behind the pace of last season’s 50 wins without having taken a Western Conference trip yet.
But we’ll have some wonderful memories of James when he was in his prime.
OK, he’s not quite done yet. James is seventh in the NBA in scoring, averaging 27 points, along with 6.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
James and the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Bulls on Saturday night at the United Center, and though the Cavs are tied with the Bulls, it is the Bulls who have been the more active, wide-open, high-scoring team of the two. And it’s the Cavs, despite the presence of one of the league’s most dangerous weapons, slogging along as one of poorest offensive teams, stagnant, a poor road team that has played a less-than-taxing schedule.
Which raises the question, as it would with any team led by a superstar, if something is wrong with James.
“I still think he’s the same player,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown told Cleveland reporters. “We’re not putting the ball in his hand as much.”
James’ shot attempts are down about three per game this season, to 19.8,which is low for a player with his abilities.
Brown says the team is running fewer plays for James, perhaps half compared with maybe 85 percent last season, to get others involved.
One theory is James is tired, worn down by the playoff run through two rounds last season, his regular playing load of at least 40 minutes per game and playing for USA Basketball last summer.
Not so, James insists. “I’m not tired,” he told reporters last week. “It’s always good to have rest. But as far as me being exhausted, no.”
Another is the supporting-cast theory.
Steve Kerr, now a TNT broadcaster who also writes a column for Yahoo Sports, likened it to James’ clever TV commercials in which James plays all the roles.
As he does for the Cavs?
“Other than James, most of the Cavaliers resemble the `old man LeBron’ in the commercials, slow and gray,” Kerr wrote. “Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Donyell Marshall, Eric Snow and David Wesley are all well past their prime. Damon Jones is a shooter, not a playmaker. Drew Gooden and Anderson Varejao are Cleveland’s energy players, but neither is particularly skilled. And the man the Cavaliers signed to be James’ main sidekick–Larry Hughes–can’t seem to stay healthy.
“The game has changed a lot,” Kerr added in an interview from snowy Denver after broadcasting a Nuggets-Sonics game. “Teams have gone smaller and are faster. I’m not sure those guys are as effective as they hoped. They counted on Hughes to be their Scottie Pippen to Michael Jordan, Robin to Batman. But he’s missed half the games. Also, he’s not a very good shooter, which is important in Cleveland because everyone surrounds LeBron. I’m not sure he has enough around him to be a great team. They are going to be good, but I don’t know if they can be great.”
The challenge facing the Cavs became obvious when they played a good Detroit team last week.
The Pistons went into matchup zone coverages to thwart James and collapsed in the lane, daring the Cavs to shoot them out of it. They never could and stumbled to a bad loss, one that has become shockingly common in a season in which many believed they could take over a weak East with the conference’s best player.
James, to his credit, is a willing passer, but one wonders if he will get tired of that. As Jordan used to say, “You want me to throw it to Brad Sellers and Sam Vincent? I’ll shoot.”
The Cavaliers clearly need a player to run the offense as the Bulls finally got with Pippen, which freed Jordan to attack in the half-court.
Perhaps no team ever–certainly no team today–is wasting a talent as great as James’ with a conservative game plan that seems so out of step with the way the game is changing.
The Bulls don’t have a single offensive player in the top 10 in any category of All-Star voting. They have no post scorer and had no player averaging 20 points until Ben Gordon crept over by scoring 40 against Miami on Wednesday. Yet they’re averaging more than 100 points per game, six more per game than the Cavaliers. The Cavs had scored more than 90 once in the five games before Friday’s 109-99 win over Milwaukee.
The big reason appears to be the coaching and management philosophy of Brown and general manager Danny Ferry, who were groomed in San Antonio along with Cavs assistant Hank Egan.
It’s what you might call the Kyle Orton basketball philosophy.
It states you don’t let your offense beat you. Be conservative, don’t turn the ball over, don’t give up fast breaks that speed the game and your defense will eventually make enough plays to win the game. The Cavs’ defense has improved, though defense usually does in a slower style.
They’ve got LeBron James and they’re using the Mike Fratello coaching handbook?
Coaches have had success that way. Gregg Popovich, certainly, though he had David Robinson and Tim Duncan. But when he got Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, he adjusted for their talent, which is why Popovich is one of the best.
Rick Carlisle and Jeff Van Gundy have had success that way.
But they didn’t have LeBron James.
If you match the Bulls and Cavs at every position, it’s hard to see where the Bulls have much edge, especially on offense. The Cavs have a 7-footer who can score in the post, a true power forward, a big shooting guard and James. Yet they seem to stand around watching James with little action to move the defense or get James in open-court situations in which he may be the best the game has ever seen.
According to the statistical Web site 82games.com, James this season takes two-thirds of his shots from the perimeter.
It’s still early, but the Cavs spend much of January on the road. They are a poor road team and they go west for the first time. It’s also early in James’ career, though so much is expected. He was smart to sign a short extension and give himself an out as a free agent after the 2009-10 season. It’s also the season Ben Wallace’s contract comes off the books for the Bulls, who then should have the ability to bid for a great player who may be unsatisfied with his team and looking to move to a major market for more exposure.
What’s driving James’ decline?
LeBron’s numbers are down this season, in part because his team’s style of play is getting in the way.
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2005-06 2006-07
31.4 AVERAGE 27.1
7.0 POINTS 6.7
6.6 REBOUNDS 6.3
23.1 SHOTS 19.8
20-8 RECORD THRU 28 17-11
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sasmith@tribune.com
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