He lets every single player who can dribble a basketball blow past him with nearly zero resistance. I could literally step into an NBA game right now, get the ball at the top of the key, and blow past Lebron with ease. Every time his man doesn't have the ball, Lebron just stands in one place, watches the ball, and allows his man the opportunity to blow to the rim for a wide open catch and finish. Every single time the other team is beginning a potential fast break, Lebron will use a lazy attempt at a steal he could never attain as an excuse to avoid running back on defense and making a legitimate effort at stopping the fast break. Every single time the other team shoots a jump shot, Lebron will start running down to the other end before the shot even hits the rim instead of boxing his man out and getting the defensive rebound. Every single time Lebron is pretending to guard a ball handler initiating the pick and roll, Lebron will jog in the direction of the roll man as an excuse not to fight through the pick, regardless of what the coaching scheme is. Every single time Lebron is pretending to guard the man who sets a pick in a pick and roll, Lebron will jump in the direction of the ball handler and forget about the pick man as an excuse not to spend the energy required to hedge and recover, regardless of what the coaching scheme is. Lebron is literally the laziest and most pathetic defender in the history of basketball.
What is even more pathetic is that Lebron's ego is so blinding that he is probably delusional enough to think that he is an elite defender. He yells at his teammates when they play poor defense or miss boxing out, two things that he does all game long. The Cavs could actually compete for a championship if Lebron considered the mere possibility of trying to spell at least two letters out of the phrase "defensive effort," but anyone with at least three neurons in their skull would realize that Lebron will never play another possession of defense for the rest of his career. He is nothing but an above average player. If he just stood at the offensive end of the floor and never crossed the half court line to the defensive side for the rest of his career, his defensive impact on the game would be exactly the same as it is now.
Lebron is the worst defender in the history of basketball
Re: Lebron is the worst defender in the history of basketbal
Yet, opponents scored 8 points more per 100 poss. against the Cavs when he's off the court...
Re: Lebron is the worst defender in the history of basketbal
He has played an incredible amount of minutes, leading to a small sample size of other lineups. The one game he sat entirely was a road game against OKC with a healthy R. Westbrook. Also, James has sat multiple times in the 4th quarters of blowout wins, and we know about the well-documented garbage-time catchup effect. Some of the defensive impact might also actually be due to the positive offensive impact that Lebron has made.
Last edited by Kathoro on Sat Dec 27, 2014 12:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Lebron is the worst defender in the history of basketbal
do you have any numbers/evidence to support this? your judgments on his ego and his laziness are meaningless
Re: Lebron is the worst defender in the history of basketbal
I don't believe that my judgements on his ego are meaningless. This should be a place where statistical analysis is emphasized much more than subjective arguments, but sometimes there are subjective arguments that seem so true and verifiable by the eye-test that they can be mentioned I think. When I see Lebron play putrid defense and then yell at his teammates in anger after they blow a coverage, I think his leadership and ego should be questioned.