NBA: LeBron James Is (Too) Good
Yes, LeBron James is good at basketball but honestly he might be too good. I understand that’s a very outlandish statement but I honestly feel it has some truth to it. James is without a doubt the rarest combination of strength, speed, skill, and intelligence unlike anything we have ever seen or may even see again on the hardwood. No other player can impact the game so much by being on or off the court. LeBron is so good, in fact, he makes a roster full of talented players literally pale in comparison. It’s not that he doesn’t have a competent team around him, it’s the fact that he is the team, almost the same way Jay-Z is a business … man.
And since he has yet to show a considerable sign of slowing down he might be the “team” for a few more years to come. For the first time in his career, LeBron started and played in all 82 games all while logging a league high 36.9 minutes per game in his 15th season. For him to be able to do that in this stage of his career is a testament to how great the man is and at this point I’m not even sure he’s human. Speaking of meta-humans, Giannis Antentokounmpo, who is significantly younger than LeBron, ranked second overall in minutes per with 36.8. Even before the Cavs entered the playoffs, where the games really matter, LeBron had logged more minutes than necessary.
These are some very eye-opening stats and he is no spring chicken; he’s more like a seasoned chicken in the heat of summer equipped with heavy artillery and a rugged beard due to being in battle for eight straight years. And battle LeBron did, he played in all 22 games this post season while again, averaging a playoff high 41.9 minutes per. Now it would make sense for LeBron to play as long as possible during the playoffs, due to his ability to impact the game in virtually all aspects, since it could potentially result in a championship, but during the regular season surely there were ways to limit his minutes.
Anyway, just to understand how valuable James is to his ball club there’s an “evil” analytical stat called “Value Over Replacement Player” or VORP, which is basically an estimate of points per 100 possessions that a player contributes for his team compared to an average replacement player on an average team. No one is going to go around and say “you know player X has a VORP of Y so he’s clearly better than blah blah blah,” that’s bull and not actual basketball but it does put in context things that may not pass the eye test. I’m not going to get into the intricacies of VORP because it's honestly boring and to truly understand that statistic one must understand “box score plus minus” (BPM) and ain’t nobody got time for that.
So just know that out the 13 times James made the playoffs so far, he has led the postseason in VORP a total of 10 times. Simply put, it is almost impossible to replace the value of James which gives credence to what I stated earlier: LeBron James might be too good at basketball. It's honestly just all adding up. Thanks to basketball-reference.com we can all channel our inner Daryl Morey, but with that power comes great responsibility because these numbers can get really dark. It's like being in the Matrix and seeing how far the rabbit hole goes and let me tell you, it's deep. Cleveland versus Golden State might have been the biggest underdog matchup in NBA Finals history and the numbers certainly back up that claim.
Throughout the 2018 postseason, James netted a VORP of 3.7 while the sum of the rest of the Cavaliers literally came out to 0.0 due to the fact some players netted a negative VORP. So that would mean as a team Cleveland’s VORP added up to only 3.7, literally because of James by his lonesome. Just to compare, the Warriors had an overall VORP of 7.5, so if LeBron James cloned LeBron James the series may have actually gone seven games since math works and all (3.7 x 2 = 7.4). That's not even the scariest part of this journey down the rabbit hole; James is so good that all he needed was 11 replacement level players to make the NBA Finals. If there was ever a time to use a wtf.gif, right now would be the time.
Now that we got the nerd stuff out the way, time to get to the premiere hot take of 2018: James might actually be a detriment to his team. I know that sounds absolutely bizarre because it's not his fault but just hear me out. James accounted for 46.4 percent of assists with a usage rate of 35 percent while he was on the floor. I'm not sure if those numbers should be added together but in any event that they can be Cleveland might have to change their name to the LeBrons in the foreseeable future. The offense started and began with James because “LeBron, duh” but it may have overshadowed his teammates as a result. George Hill is a fantastic starting point guard, who looked rather pedestrian next to James.
He ranked second (11.7 percent) in assist percentage for the Cavs. During his tenure with Indiana, Hill's highest assist percentage came in the 2013 playoffs at 20.6 percent. That statistic tells us that Hill was a primary playmaker who was more than capable of running an offense and yet he didn't get a chance in Cleveland. Why you might ask? Because James is really good at basketball. That's the only logical answer. The journey doesn't stop there since it gets much worse when James is off the floor. While on court during the playoffs the Cavs hosted an offensive rating of 111.5 compared to 98.5 when James takes a breather, that's a differential of a whole 13 points.
Let's not forget that James averaged 41.9 minutes so he only sat about six minutes and Cleveland would lose its talent a la Space Jam in a matter of minutes. That’s not to say LeBron is somehow responsible for his teammates ability, or lack thereof, but it does speak to how much the Cavs lean on him to secure wins. For further proof just look at Cleveland when he left, before he brought his talents to Miami, while James was in South Beach, and how Cleveland looked when he returned. Granted Dwyane Wade missed 20 games and Chris Bosh also missed 40 games James but there’s no guarantee they’d make the playoffs without James.
Kyrie Irving was relatively young with no veteran guidance so not much was expected of the team before The King returned. However, if we all lived by “what if” we’d all be rich. James is this generation’s greatest basketball player and quite possibly without even realizing it his talents are a gift and a curse. It’s a reason why every team will try to pitch their bid in to get the summer's most coveted free agent. July 1st is the beginning of free agency but no one is making a move until James decides where he wants to go. Here's to hoping that his destination knows what they're getting themselves into, for better or for worse.
Photo Credit: Business Insider.
