Pluto-Windhorst Book Details LeBron's Formative Years
In LeBron James: The Making of an MVP (Gray & Company Publishers, 156 pages, $15.95), co-authors Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst explain how both LeBron James' playing style and his overall personality traits were powerfully shaped by the timely mentoring that LeBron received during his youth from his mother Gloria, his de facto stepparents Frank and Pam Walker and several of his basketball and football coaches. Gloria James has been rightfully praised for how well she raised LeBron but Pluto and Windhorst point out that she had a good support system to help her when times were tough.
LeBron's Formative Years
Gloria James was 16 years old when she had LeBron; she and LeBron lived with her mother Freda until Freda died of a heart attack just before LeBron turned three. In the next five years, Gloria James moved approximately 10 different times according to Pluto and Windhorst. During that difficult period, Frank Walker--the coach of LeBron's peewee football team--offered to give LeBron a place to stay to ease the burden on Gloria. For the next few years, LeBron lived with the Walkers during the week and stayed with Gloria on weekends. That arrangement lasted until Gloria settled into an apartment just prior to LeBron entering the sixth grade; after that, LeBron lived with Gloria during the week but still spent some weekends with the Walkers. Thus, during a crucial stage in LeBron's development Frank Walker served as a positive adult male role model--and, just as significantly, the Walker household provided LeBron with a glimpse of a different kind of life than he otherwise would have seen, a stable environment where the kids (the Walkers had three children of their own) expected to go to college. Pluto and Windhorst note that LeBron and the Walkers speak delicately about LeBron's early years because they don't even want to appear to be saying anything negative about Gloria, who by all accounts did a tremendous job raising LeBron in very tough circumstances (the identity of LeBron's biological father has never been publicly revealed and he played no role in LeBron's upbringing).
LeBron James is certainly a highly competitive and highly driven individual but he seems to have a fundamentally different psychological makeup than Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, two NBA greats whose personalities have sharp edges and who appear to derive a lot of motivation from real or imagined slights; in contrast, LeBron has always been someone who, in the words of the Walkers, "likes to please." The Walkers provided LeBron with a steady daily routine that included chores and he willingly complied with their house rules. Frank Walker said, "LeBron has the knack of fitting in anywhere. He liked the routine of our house. He learns things quick." LeBron thrived in the classroom once he had stability in his home life, graduating from high school with a solid B average; Pluto and Windhorst write (p. 8, LeBron James: The Making of an MVP) that LeBron "was a real student athlete, one who was recruited by universities such as Duke, North Carolina and Stanford." Of course, as LeBron blossomed into the top basketball prospect in the nation it rapidly became apparent that he would forgo college to jump straight to the NBA, a decision that LeBron and Gloria made as early as when LeBron was 16, according to Pluto and Windhorst.
LeBron not only values his relationships with his mother, the Walkers and his coaches but he also treasures the bonds that he formed with teammates Sian Cotton, Dru Joyce III, Willie McGee and Romeo Travis; that quintet dubbed themselves the Fab 5 and after playing summer basketball together for several years on a team called the Shooting Stars they decided to attend the same high school together. It seemed likely that the then-5-2 Joyce would not receive much playing time at Buchtel High--the public high school in Akron--so the Fab 5 arrived as a package deal at private Catholic School St. Vincent-St. Mary. LeBron led the school to three state championships in basketball while also becoming a First Team All-State performer at wide receiver. LeBron feels such a loyalty to St. Vincent-St. Mary that he requested that his 2009 NBA regular season MVP award ceremony be held at the school instead of at a facility owned by the Cavs or the league.
LeBron Exceeds the Hype
I'll never forget the first time that I heard about LeBron James; one of my recreational basketball league teammates was raving about LeBron--he had just seen LeBron play in person in a high school game--but I was skeptical: my default position about high school phenoms in any sport is that it is one thing to excel versus future accountants, lawyers and businessmen but quite another thing entirely to perform at a high level against grown men who are professional athletes. There are countless examples of athletes who have failed to live up to the hype but LeBron is unique because his high school career generated almost unprecedented expectations that he has not only met but exceeded; if anyone had been set up to fail by the grinding media machine it was LeBron and yet every step of the way he has performed at a very high level on the court while conducting himself with remarkable poise off of the court. It did not take long after LeBron entered the NBA for him to erase any doubts that I had about him; after he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007 I wrote about The Accelerated Growth Curve of LeBron James, asserting, "LeBron James is on a fast track to greatness that is unparalleled in NBA history."
Keith Dambrot, LeBron's first high school coach, offers an interesting insight about why LeBron has been so successful; it is easy to see that LeBron has an abundance of physical gifts but Dambrot says (p.61), "LeBron is a freak of nature mentally...as good as LeBron is physically, he's even better mentally. He has unbelievable knowledge of the game and instincts for the game. He would throw balls behind his head because he knew where a teammate was. He didn't have to see the guy. He knew where every kid on every play was supposed to be on the court. When he played football one year, he was the scout team quarterback in practice, running the offense for the team that his team would play that week--because LeBron could learn their offense in football so fast. When it comes to this stuff, he's just a genius."
Although LeBron won the 2005 Rookie of the Year award after joining Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan as just the third first year player to average at least 20 ppg, five apg and five rpg, LeBron had to face some challenges that season; even though he helped the Cavs to more than double their win total (jumping from 17 wins to 35), he had to learn to deal with more losing than he had ever experienced before in his life: the Cavs started the season 0-5, which was quite a jolt for LeBron because, as Pluto and Windhorst explain (p. 77), "LeBron had never lost five games in a row in his life, not even in summer basketball or peewee football." At the start of the season, Coach Paul Silas shifted LeBron from small forward to point guard simply because the Cavs did not have a starting quality point guard on the roster; many players in LeBron's situation would chafe at such a move and/or struggle to adapt but Silas notes (p. 76) that LeBron "never complained. He listened. He learned the plays. He kept saying he just wanted to win."
Initially, several of the veteran players on the team gave LeBron the cold shoulder because they were jealous of his fame and concerned that his presence on the team would lessen their opportunities to pad their scoring averages. Silas and General Manager Jim Paxson realized that they had to get rid of some of the team's knuckleheads as quickly as possible in order to provide the best possible environment to nourish LeBron's talent and ultimately build a winning program. Early in the season, Paxson dumped Ricky Davis, Darius Miles, Chris Mihm and Michael Stewart in order to acquire solid, no nonsense veteran frontcourt players Eric Williams and Tony Battie plus point guard Jeff McInnis. Williams and Battie vastly increased the maturity level of the team, while McInnis took over the starting point guard spot, enabling Silas to put LeBron at shooting guard in place of the departed Davis.
LeBron did not make the All-Star team as a rookie but his rapid ascent to the NBA's elite since that time has been well documented, so Pluto and Windhorst do not provide in depth recaps of each season; they instead focus on some key situations, moments and accomplishments--including LeBron's two All-Star Game MVPs, LeBron's stunning 48 point game versus the Pistons in the 2007 playoffs and the Cavs' 4-0 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals. LeBron's reaction to leading a team to the NBA Finals at just 22 years of age speaks volumes about his character and work ethic: LeBron declared, "I have to be 10 times better. Our team has to be 10 times better. We have to be better...I think it starts with me first and then it will trickle down to everybody else." Far from being satisfied, LeBron understood that the Spurs had exposed weaknesses and deficiencies in his game, most importantly his lack of a dependable outside shot; in the Finals LeBron shot just shot .356 from the field (including .200 from three point range) and committed 5.8 turnovers per game as the Spurs collapsed into the paint defensively, resulting in LeBron either missing open jumpers or forcing passes into traffic. LeBron was already one of the top five players in the NBA and yet he knew better than anyone that to reach his maximum potential--and ultimately lead the Cavs to a championship--he had a lot of work to do.
Pluto and Windhorst do an excellent job of explaining how LeBron's Team USA experiences helped him mature as a player. Coach Larry Brown hardly played LeBron and several other young players during the 2004 Olympics; LeBron considered not joining Team USA again but when Jerry Colangelo took charge of USA Basketball he convinced LeBron that things would be a lot different moving forward: each player would sign on for a three year commitment and Mike Krzyzewski would be the coach. LeBron had a much larger role on the team this time and Team USA cruised through their first six games in the 2006 FIBA World Championship before everything fell apart versus Greece. That loss relegated Team USA to the bronze medal game but Coach Krzyzewski implored James and the other players to win that contest as a building block for future success. LeBron volunteered to play point guard and he produced 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Team USA beat Argentina--the reigning Olympic champions--96-81. Failing to capture gold in the World Championship meant that Team USA would have to compete in the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship in order to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Colangelo added Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd to the roster. Bryant and Kidd provided exactly what Team USA had been missing: veteran leadership, a professional attitude and a defensive-minded focus. With Bryant and Kidd as the starting guards, Team USA swept through the FIBA Americas Championship before winning the Olympic gold medal in 2008. Pluto and Windhorst write (p. 132) that Bryant and Kidd had "a significant impact on LeBron." Colangelo explains (p.132), "Kobe served as an impetus for LeBron, whether LeBron knew that or not. Just by him being there, Kobe raised the bar for everyone--but especially LeBron. Over the last 40 years I've spent working in the NBA, I learned that sometimes players aren't totally aware of what they have left to give. LeBron had a lot more to give and Kobe helped bring that out in him. When Kidd and Kobe got there, it helped considerably." I fervently believe that the best thing that happened to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh since they entered the NBA was playing with--and practicing with--Kobe Bryant on Team USA. Bryant set an example about what it takes to maximize your potential as an NBA superstar and it is obvious that each of those players has markedly improved as a result of that experience.
Pluto and Windhorst devote an entire chapter to LeBron's ups and downs at the free throw line. LeBron shot .797 from the free throw line as a high school freshman but that number plunged to .593 by his junior year before bouncing up to .678 when he was a senior. Similarly, LeBron shot .754 from the free throw line as an NBA rookie but that percentage steadily dropped to .698 in his fourth season before improving to .712 in 2007-08 and .780 in 2008-09. Pluto and Windhorst suggest that LeBron's ambidexterity--he is left handed but plays basketball right handed--contributed to his free throw line inconsistency in previous years but that is a weak excuse; Larry Bird writes with his left hand and shoots with his right hand just like LeBron does and Bird ranks as one of the greatest free throw shooters of all-time. Pluto and Windhorst get a lot closer to the truth when they note that LeBron has "cleaned up" his shot since he started working intensively with Cavs assistant coach Chris Jent; LeBron has developed a consistent, simple free throw routine, something that he did not have at first, and as a result he has made progress toward his goal of becoming an .800 free throw shooter.
Comparing LeBron to his Great Predecessors
Ironically for a book about the reigning NBA regular season MVP, the weakest chapter is the one in which Pluto and Windhorst compare LeBron to other great NBA players past and present. Pluto and Windhorst suggest that LeBron is a cross between Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan; Johnson is the archetypal pass first player, while Jordan is the greatest scoring machine in the history of the sport other than Wilt Chamberlain. Pluto and Windhorst are not the first people to say that LeBron is similar to Magic but I don't find this comparison to be particularly convincing.
During his NBA career, LeBron has averaged 20.8 field goal attempts per regular season game, so it simply makes no sense to call him a pass first player. Magic Johnson averaged 13.2 field goal attempts per game; even in the 1986-87 season--when he scored a career-high 23.9 ppg and replaced a declining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the focal point of the Lakers' offense--Johnson averaged just 16.4 field goal attempts per game, a career high for him that would easily be a career low for James. It is true that LeBron is an unselfish player, a willing passer who has great court vision, but he is a shoot first player because of the simple fact that he shoots a lot more frequently than he passes. LeBron ranks third in career regular season scoring average, trailing only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. LeBron is also third in career playoff scoring average behind Jordan and Allen Iverson; LeBron's 35.3 ppg average in the 2009 playoffs is the 11th best single season mark in NBA playoff history (it ranks 13th if ABA statistics are included). LeBron has the highest career scoring average in All-Star Game history, besting Oscar Robertson by nearly three ppg.
Not only is LeBron's game vastly different from Magic's game statistically, it is also different stylistically; LeBron is a powerfully built athletic marvel who bulls his way to the hoop. The defensive-minded Cavs do not emphasize the fast break, so a lot of LeBron's assists come in the half court set after he draws double teams and then kicks the ball to open shooters. LeBron has already won one scoring title and after averaging 20.9 ppg in his rookie season he has never scored less than 27.2 ppg. In contrast, Magic is slightly taller than LeBron but during Magic's prime he was at least 30 pounds lighter than LeBron and thus Magic relied on finesse and deft ballhandling to orchestrate a deadly fastbreak attack. For nine straight years Magic averaged between 10.5 and 13.1 apg but he only scored more than 20 ppg three times.
While we are discussing assists, it is important to note that the assist could be termed a "semi-factual" statistic; points scored is a tangible number but assists are extremely subjective and are, at best, a very rough indicator of passing ability/unselfishness. Stephon Marbury ranks 15th in NBA history in apg (7.6) but no one would suggest that he is a model point guard or a paragon of unselfishness. LeBron is a great passer not merely because of his assist totals but because his combination of court vision, strength and touch enable him to dissect defenses with a variety of passes, including cross court lasers to open three point shooters, deft bounce passes in tight quarters and on time/on target feeds to post players. You don't need to look at assist numbers to appreciate LeBron's passing skills, nor should passers be ranked purely on the basis of their assist averages. Case in point: Pluto and Windhorst bluntly say about Kobe Bryant (p. 138) "the guy doesn't pass--a career average of 4.6 assists." There are two problems with Pluto and Windhorst's characterization of Bryant: (1) Bryant did not become a full-time starter until his third season, so his career averages are dragged down by by the games when he was a reserve; (2) Bryant has spent most of his career playing in the Triangle Offense, a system in which the playmaking duties are spread around. Bryant's career apg average jumps to over 5.1--just slightly less than Jordan's--if you take out Bryant's first two seasons. More significantly, Bryant was the leading playmaker on each of his four championship teams; in fact, during most of his career Bryant has been forced to perform both the Michael Jordan scoring role and the Scottie Pippen playmaking role in the Triangle--and the fact that Bryant has filled the Pippen "push" role (i.e., bringing the ball up the court to initiate the offense) is a vastly more important consideration than his assist totals, though it is worth mentioning that Bryant has already amassed six "25-5-5" seasons, the third most all-time behind Oscar Robertson (nine) and Michael Jordan (seven). LeBron already has posted five such seasons, is a lock to accomplish the feat for a sixth time in 2009-10 and will likely break Robertson's record.
Comparing LeBron to Jordan makes a lot more sense than comparing LeBron to Magic but--as noted above--Jordan had both a different personality and a different role on his team than LeBron. As Sam Smith famously noted in The Jordan Rules, Jordan was very tough on his teammates--he challenged them mentally and physically because he felt that if they could not survive such ordeals in practice then he could not trust them to perform in games; whether by accident or design, Jordan was the "bad cop" while Pippen was the "good cop" for the Bulls. Like all great players, LeBron certainly has high expectations for his teammates but all indications are that he is much more easygoing in his interactions with them than Jordan was. After Pippen arrived on the scene and emerged as an elite player, Jordan was free to be a pure scorer--Jordan could race down court and establish offensive position while Pippen played the "push" role, putting pressure on the defense and surveying the court before deciding how to attack. Although Mo Williams and Delonte West can assume some of the ballhandling duties, LeBron is generally his team's dominant ballhandler; he averages more assists than Jordan did not necessarily because LeBron is a better passer but simply because LeBron has a different role (don't forget that Jordan ran off an impressive string of triple doubles in the latter part of the 1989 season when Coach Doug Collins shifted Jordan to point guard).
The player whose role most closely matches LeBron's is Oscar Robertson; Robertson not only averaged a triple double for an entire season (1961-62) but he averaged an aggregate triple double for the first five seasons of his NBA career! Moreover, Robertson averaged at least 30 ppg in six of his first seven NBA seasons: he was a top notch scorer who also did most of his team's ballhandling. That said, LeBron and Robertson put up their somewhat similar numbers in vastly different ways: LeBron's game is based on exploding to the hoop; Robertson was certainly capable of powerful drives but in general he played a more methodical game: if he had a 15 foot shot then he would back his defender down to 12 feet, 10 feet, eight feet before either finally shooting his trademark one hand shot or else passing to an open teammate if the opposing team trapped him.
In many ways, the most natural comparison with LeBron is Julius Erving; as I noted two years ago, there are many similarities between the Larry Bird-Julius Erving rivalry and the Kobe Bryant-LeBron James rivalry. Robertson is brought up because of his impressive triple double feats, while Johnson and Jordan live on through their highlights from the 1980s and 1990s but Erving's career exists in a kind of twilight, dreamlike state: he spent his first five years in the ABA (which did not have a national TV contract) and by the time the NBA's TV deals really took off he was no longer the top player in the game. However, the ABA Dr. J--particularly during his three years as a New York Net--is an intriguing match with LeBron both in terms of role and style: Erving won scoring titles in 1974 and 1976 while ranking sixth and seventh respectively in assists (in 1975 he ranked second in scoring and seventh in assists), much like LeBron has often ranked in the top ten in scoring and assists. While Robertson, Johnson and Jordan played guard, Erving--like LeBron--operated from the forward position and his best play was very similar to the "nail" play that LeBron hammered the Orlando Magic with in game five of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.
Here are some other similarities between Erving and LeBron:
1) LeBron shares Erving's easygoing personality. Erving is almost universally liked and respected by teammates and opponents alike. As Bobby Jones once told me about Erving, "He was a great teammate, was a great encourager of his teammates. He never put anybody down because they couldn’t rise to his level. He would always just encourage everybody to do what they could do and wouldn’t get on them because they couldn’t do what he could do. I remember that at the end of games guys might throw the ball away or miss the last shot or whatever and feel like they lost the game. He would be the first one in the locker room to put an arm around a guy and say, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get them next time.’ I always really appreciated that about him." Erving carries himself with a certain grace, dignity and poise, qualities that LeBron displayed very early in his NBA career; I remember one of the first times I encountered James in the Cavs' locker room during his rookie season: his media availability session had just ended but a late arriving writer had a question, so as the media horde dispersed LeBron made a welcoming hand gesture to that person, listened to his question and answered it. I was just standing around observing at that point but LeBron gestured to me as well, indicating that he was not leaving me out.
It just seems like there is a certain "goodness" to LeBron, much like there is to Erving. Let's be clear about this, though: I am not for one second suggesting that Erving or LeBron are perfect, because no person is without flaws, but I see similarities in the way that they interact with people.
2) Although Erving was much more slightly built in his playing days (6-7, 210) than LeBron is (6-8, 250-plus), if you made silhouettes of Erving's dunks and LeBron's dunks the images would be very similar: Erving soared high above the hoop and delivered an assortment of one handed jams with his arm fully extended, buggywhipping the ball over hapless defenders, much like James does now. The full extension of Erving's arm--made possible by the fact that his hands are so huge that he palmed the ball effortlessly--during his driving dunks is quite distinctive but James does something very similar.
3) LeBron has received a lot of attention during the past couple years for his "chase down blocks" but that was actually first a trademark play for Erving more than three decades ago, though at that time no one came up with a catchy name for it and ESPN did not exist to provide countless replays from various angles. I wish there were some way to go back and figure out exactly how many "chase down blocks" Erving executed; if you don't remember or know about this aspect of Erving's game, check out this video around the 42 second mark and see if it does not remind you of LeBron's "chase down blocks":
After a 37 year old Erving chased down Ricky Pierce and swatted his shot during the 1987 playoffs, CBS analyst Billy Cunningham exclaimed that such a play made one wonder why Erving was retiring after that season. Erving did that kind of thing frequently throughout his entire career; although there may not be a specific record of how many "chase down blocks" he registered, Erving blocked at least 100 shots in 12 of the 15 seasons of his career during which that statistic was officially tracked--and he had 97 blocks in just 60 games in his final NBA season at the age of 37! Oddly, despite how much James' "chase down blocks" are mentioned James' career-high for blocked shots in a season is just 93, five fewer than Larry Bird's career high in that category (I suspect that one could win a lot of bar bets with that statistical nugget).
Errata
The book makes an excellent impression aesthetically with a large, easy to read typeface and numerous attractive, full color photographs. Unfortunately, there are several typographical and/or statistical errors:
1) On page 81 the text states that LeBron won his first All-Star MVP in 2005, breaking Kobe Bryant's record for being the youngest player to win that award--but on page 83 it is said that Oscar Robertson had held that record; in fact, James won his first All-Star MVP in 2006 (not 2005) at the age of 21, while Robertson was 22 when he won his first All-Star MVP in 1961 and Bryant was 23 when he won his first All-Star MVP in 2002. There are two other 22 year old All-Star MVPs not mentioned in the book: Ed Macauley (1951, the first year that the award was presented) and Isiah Thomas (1984).
2) On page 127 LeBron's point total versus Argentina in the 2006 FIBA World Championship is incorrectly listed as 22 (he scored 20 points).
3) On page 137 it is asserted that Magic Johnson had "a few" games in which he grabbed at least 20 rebounds; Johnson's NBA regular season career high for rebounds is 18, matching his playoff career high in that category.
Final Thoughts
Pluto has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and his engaging storytelling style is on display in the many sports books that he has written on subjects ranging from the NBA to the NFL to Major League Baseball. Windhorst is a well respected NBA beat writer who has covered the Cavaliers throughout LeBron's career, first for the Akron Beacon Journal and currently for the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (Pluto, a mentor figure for Windhorst, also wrote for the Akron Beacon Journal before being hired by the Plain Dealer in 2007). I own copies of several of Pluto's books and have found them all to be entertaining and informative, though in the interests of full disclosure I must mention that several ABA players who I interviewed told me that they disagree with how certain players and events were described in Pluto's popular oral history of the ABA titled Loose Balls.
While it is understandable why the publisher touts this book as the "definitive" LeBron James biography, it should be evident that the "definitive" LeBron James biography cannot be written until his NBA career is over. That said, LeBron James: The Making of an MVP provides an interesting and detailed account of James' formative years and an insider's viewpoint of how he developed from a high school phenom to an NBA MVP.
Labels: Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Cavaliers, Julius Erving, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Terry Pluto
posted by David Friedman @ 9:12 AM
24 Comments:
No other blog will give you such a thorough review of a basketball book. Good work, David.
David,
Very informative article as usual. I think when comparing Lebron and Magic you could at least look at who magic was passing to compared to lebron. Imo if Lebron was playing with a finisher like Shaq in his prime and knockdown shooters like Horry and Fisher, I believe he would have averaged double digit assist.
I agree with you that there is a natural comparison between LeBron James and Julius Erving. In fact, I think I made that same comparison a few times on this blog. In addition to the similarities you noted, I think LeBron is a lot like Dr. J in how quickly and economically he gets to the basket and finishes. It's difficult to describe, so let me note an example. I was watching an old game where Dr. J takes one dribble along the baseline, blows by Jamaal Wilkes, and throws down a dunk over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bill Russell then commented on how Dr. J had deceptive speed: he took one dribble and before you knew it, he was flying to the basket throwing down a dunk. I see the same quality in LeBron.
The dunk I referred to in the previous paragraph is number 9 in this video (it was even more striking when I saw it in the context of the game): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpTfb9SkKaQ
A big difference between Dr. J and LeBron (which is also a difference between LeBron and Magic, as you noted) is that, with the exception of Dr. J's ABA years, LeBron attempts a lot more shots.
I disagree with you that LeBron is stylistically more of a power player than Magic was. It is true that LeBron is 30 pounds heavier than Magic was. But it is also true that players today are in general much heavier than they were 20-30 years ago. When you consider the era he played in, and the fact that he was often guarded by point guards rather than small forwards, overpowering opponents was as much a stylistic aspect of Magic's game as it is of LeBron's game.
It's interesting that you point out LeBron's easygoing personality. As you know, I disagree with your earlier assertion that the best athletes (or best people in various other fields) are usually wired like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. There are plenty of great performers who are more like LeBron in terms of personality. And I don't think LeBron's personality has inhibited his game in any way.
David:
great post as usual.
I am also left handed but play basketball right handed. It is fantastic to be in same company as Bird and LeBron. And I am a very good free throw shooter.
How did coaches use Dr. J, Magic during the end game? Mike Brown always uses "LeISO" and almost always from the top of the 3 point line.
While LeBron is improving every year, he also seems to do the dribble-dribble-dribble-the-ball-to-death-pull-up-3 more often.
It's puzzling especially because guys like Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and Dirk Nowitzki who are vastly superior shooters never do this.
The only guy who seems to be successful at this is Nash.
Jordan being a mediocre three point shooter actually worked to his advantage here.
Z
Free Cash Flow:
Thank you.
Mike:
As I mentioned, assists are a somewhat bogus statistic. Maybe LeBron would average more assists if he had different teammates but Shaq and Varejao are good finishers in the paint and the Cavs have several of the leaders in three point shooting percentage.
One could flip around your statement and suggest that if Magic played today with the looser scorekeeping standards then he would average 15 apg or more.
Vednam:
I agree with you that the Dr. J dunk that you cited is very similar to the way that LeBron drives/finishes.
LeBron's high FGA numbers are why I think that a comparison with Oscar and/or Jordan makes much more sense than a comparison with Magic. LeBron's similarity with Erving has more to do with playing style than numbers, though ABA Doc was a scoring champion who ranked in the top ten in assists (like LeBron and unlike Oscar or Magic; Jordan had one year in which he led the league in scoring while ranking in the top ten in assists).
Magic certainly enjoyed a size advantage over most of his defenders but in general he played a finesse game based on ballhandling, spin moves and feints; LeBron explodes to the hoop and finishes with power, much like Dr. J did. Magic rarely went over or through people like Dr. J did and LeBron does.
Regarding whether or not LeBron's personality will hinder his quest to win championships/move up the basketball pantheon, a cynic could say that he has yet to win a championship. I don't really think that LeBron's personality is the reason that he has not won a title but it remains to be seen what his final place in basketball history will be. Certainly he has already had a remarkable career but Jordan elevated himself from great player to icon by winning six championships. Kobe Bryant undoubtedly elevated his historical status by winning a Finals MVP last year and he could possibly add more championships to his resume.
I think that the easygoing personalities of Erving and LeBron are exceptions rather than the norm for "alpha male" leaders in any particular field; that is why Erving is so warmly regarded decades after he retired and why LeBron seems destined to enjoy a similar status. I cannot think of too many superstars of whom it would be accurate to say--as the Walkers did of LeBron--that they "like to please."
Z:
The iso game has become more and more prevalent in the NBA because the rules prohibit defenders from touching perimeter players; also, most teams do not have a postup player who can reliably score quickly in clutch situations AND can dependably make free throws if he is fouled.
When Dr. J was in the ABA--particularly with the Nets--he often operated out of a 1-4 set, which is pretty much like the "nail" play that the Cavs used versus Orlando in the playoffs: Dr. J would receive the ball at the top of the key, while his four teammates would be spread out on the wings; he would drive hard to the hoop and create a scoring opportunity for himself or a teammate. The difference between Dr. J (and Jordan) and many of today's stars is that once the clock reached whatever the coach decided the magic number was (in order to get a shot off but not leave enough time for the other team to score in the event of a miss) Dr. J would go straight to the hoop; I cannot recall seeing him dance around and dance around the way that LeBron and so many other players do now. If you read my article about Roger Brown then you know that Brown was devastatingly effective in a 1-4 set and part of the reason is that, as George Gervin told me, Brown knew how to manipulate defenders without taking extra dribbles. The key is for the offensive player to get his hip past the defender and force the defender into a recovery position.
In the NBA, the Sixers sometimes used Erving in a 1-4 set but he also could operate from the wing, either driving to the hoop or using his little bank shot that steadily improved during his career. We see so many highlights of Dr. J dunking that it is easy to forget that the left box (low post area) was considered his "office" for many years with the Sixers; in fact, part of the adjustment that Erving made when the Sixers acquired Moses Malone was to largely cede that "office" space to Malone and rely more heavily on his midrange jumper.
As for Magic, in a half court set he would operate from either the wing or the top of the key, usually using a right hand dribble with the left side of his body turned toward the defender; this way, Magic could see over the defender but the defender could not steal the ball. Magic would either feed Kareem in the post (early 80s), look for Worthy/Wilkes popping open on the wing or else back his defender down to try to draw a double team. Sometimes the Lakers would run back door lob plays for Michael Cooper or Byron Scott. Magic usually looked to pass instead of shoot, but he hit some game winners even early in his career and he became more aggressive about looking for his shot in 1986-87 once Kareem's role/effectiveness decreased. Rarely if ever did Magic operate out of a true 1-4 set the way that LeBron does or Dr. J did because Magic's game was not based on using athleticism to power his way past a defender, though of course Magic was very effective at going by defenders when he had built up a head of steam in an open court situation.
I still think Magic was more of a power player than you describe, but his power showed in different ways than LeBron's does. Magic didn't throw down powerful dunks, but he did back down defenders and abuse them in the low post.
Other than their similar numbers, I've never really understood the LeBron/Oscar comparisons. As you pointed out, Oscar was much more methodical. His style was very different from LeBron's.
I doesn't even make sense to debate whether LeBron's personality will hinder his quest to win a title. We already know that his personality hasn't hindered his ability to perform as an individual. He played as well in last year's playoffs as I've ever seen anyone play. Any knowledgeable basketball fan would know that the reason the Cavs haven't won a title is not due to any shortcoming of LeBron's.
If LeBron fails to win a championship it will be because basketball is a team game and there are dozens of variables which affect the outcome of a game which are completely out of the control of any single player. I don't know why everyone continues to equate individual and team performance. As far as I'm concerned, Kobe Bryant's 2005-06 season did as much for his legacy as his 2009-10 season, even though most people would disagree simply based on his team's finish. But was Kobe a better player in 2010 than in 2006? No. He just had more capable teammates.
I disagree that easygoing personalities like LeBron's or Dr. J's are the exception rather than the norm for great performers. Look at your own pantheon of basketball greats. At least half of them (Erving, Baylor, Chamberlain, Kareem, Magic) do not fit the MJ/Kobe mold. Look at recent players likely to join the pantheon. Yes, you have Kobe on one hand. But on the other hand you have Duncan and LeBron.
Vednam:
Magic certainly took advantage of his height, whether in the open court to see over defenders or in the post to shoot his "junior, junior skyhook," but it would not be accurate to describe him as a power player. Kareem "abused" (to use your word) defenders in the post for two decades but he did so with length, finesse and footwork, not power. Magic was often guarded by 6-1 players like Maurice Cheeks and Isiah Thomas; how often did Magic simply back them down and bull them over in the post? Sure, Magic posted them sometimes--and he posted up more often after Kareem declined--but Magic's game was not a power game per se, even on those occasions when he went to the block. Barkley was a power player (and an explosive leaper in his prime). LeBron is a power player and a power finisher; Erving was not a power player overall but he certainly was a power finisher when he dunked over seven footers.
I agree with you that Kobe was as good--or even better--in 2005-06 as he was last year but the reality is that he elevated himself in many people's eyes by winning a fourth title; whether or not that should be the case, it is indisputable that this is the reality, just as it is indisputable that LeBron will be elevated in many people's eyes if/when he wins a title. Just because LeBron's personality was not the deciding factor in last year's playoffs does not mean that it could not be an important factor in other seasons. For instance, when MJ faced Drexler in the 1992 Finals MJ clearly wanted not only to win the championship but to make it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the best shooting guard in the league; Drexler later acknowledged that he probably should have taken that man to man challenge more seriously. I think that the dynamic of a Kobe-LeBron showdown on the biggest stage--assuming that both players and their "supporting casts" are reasonably healthy--would be fascinating to watch on many levels.
where is dr blocking ricky pierces shot? do you have that clip?
pluto does a good job with his books. i didnt know that about loose balls.
David,
Are you saying that Shaq in 2010 and Varejo is the equal of Shaq in the 90's and earl 00's?
I understand that you think Kobe is the best player in the game but it seems you have to denigrate others to make Kobe shine. Lebron's lack of a complete skill set was the reason the Cavs lost to the Spurs in 07 but what was the reason that the Lakers lost to Spurs in 03 and the Pistons in 04 (let me guess.. it was Shaqs fault).
Your blog is one of the first that I go to in the mornings. You are usually spot on such as your Team USA predictions but your gushing love for all things Kobe is annoying and I now skim through your Kobe threads.
I'm still wondering what you think of my contention that at least half of the players in your pantheon of basketball greats do not fit the MJ/Kobe mold in terms of personality.
As for the MJ/Drexler thing, I'm not denying that there can be benefits to playing with a chip on your shoulder and taking everything very personally. However, it goes both ways. The downside to having such a personality should not be overlooked. To use an example involving your favorite player, what if Dr. J had not vacated his "office" when Moses Malone arrived? What if he insisted on being "the man" in every key situation in 1982-83 and leading the team in scoring? Would the 76ers have been as successful? Maybe not. Likewise, I'd say that being wired like LeBron or Dr. J can also have benefits and drawbacks.
The point I'm trying to make is that great performers have a variety of different personalities. Any personality will naturally help or hurt in certain situations. Whether a player is great or not is something that can be assessed by his performance, without knowing anything about his personality.
You are right that Magic did not use his power as much as he could have (especially when Kareem was still the first option on offense). There were many things he could do offensively that he did somewhat infrequently simply because he was not attempting a whole lot of shots. I think him not bullying smaller guards very much had more to do with his role on offense (being a pass-first player, and letting Kareem or Worthy operate in the paint) than his abilities.
Madnice:
Dr. J blocked Pierce's breakaway layup attempt during the 1987 Philadelphia-Milwaukee playoff series. Pierce seemed to have a clear path to the hoop but Dr. J swooped in from behind and blocked his shot; Dr. J tumbled out of bounds but he kept the ball in play and the Sixers controlled the rebound.
I am not sure if that clip is available online.
Mike:
I have no idea what you are talking about:
1) I have never written anything suggesting that Varejao and/or the 2010 version of Shaq are equal to the Shaq from 10 years ago.
2) I have never "denigrate(d) others to make Kobe shine." Providing an objective skill set evaluation of players is not "denigration."
3) I never said that the Cavs lost to the Spurs in the 2007 Finals because LeBron lacked a complete skill set; I said that LeBron's low field goal percentage and high turnover rates in the playoffs versus elite defensive teams (Spurs in 2007, Celtics in 2008) indicated that he had not yet surpassed Kobe as an all-around player. Since that time, LeBron has improved his perimeter and free throw shooting, he has performed more efficiently against elite defensive teams and I have adjusted my evaluation of him vis a vis Kobe accordingly, as indicated in several posts that I have made addressing that subject within the past year or so. Perhaps if you had not skimmed over these posts you would know this.
4) Three years ago I wrote that LeBron's "accelerated growth curve" is unparalleled in basketball history. I have also written that Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward of all time. Why do you not say that I am "gushing" about those players? Your comment does not have much to do with my published analysis but tells us a lot about your biases and/or ability to understand how to evaluate basketball players objectively.
Vednam:
The bulk of the championships won by the Pantheon players were won by Russell (11)/MJ (six)/Kobe (four)--that is more than a third of the championships in NBA history! I realize that Russell had HoF caliber help, that MJ played with Pip et. al and that Kobe played with Shaq for three of his titles but that is still a lot of hardware in the hands of just three people.
We have each said our piece regarding the psychological makeup of high achievers and I don't think that either of us is going to convince the other one to change his mind. The only thing I would add is that while Erving and LeBron appear to be easygoing in all facets, some players (like Magic) can be easygoing in some regards but much more vocal/demanding in other settings, so I am not sure that your characterization of the personalities in my Pantheon is necessarily correct.
I still don't buy the idea of Magic as a power player. Barkley used force in the post, not finesse. LeBron bulls his way through players. Dr. J was a finesse player in general but a powerful finisher like LeBron when dunking over seven footers. Magic played a finesse game; I don't mean that as a criticism, just a statement of fact: when Magic went to the low post he used his length and his guile, perhaps because he modeled a good portion of his post game after his teammate Kareem.
I agree that it's problematic to characterize people into one of two distinct personality types. I can see how you might say Magic was more demanding of his teammates than Dr. J. One player who we are including in the MJ/Kobe group of intense perfectionists never bothered to raise his free throw percentage to a respectable level or develop a polished offensive game. Another player who were are including in the easygoing group has worked diligently to perfect his game throughout his career and is still improving.
I think this supports the point I'm trying to make. Personalities are complicated, and high achievers naturally come in many different types of personalities. Maybe Kobe and MJ are wired very similarly. I'll buy that. But a lot of other great players fall somewhere between Dr. J and MJ on our simplistic scale.
In pointing out how many championships Russell, MJ and Kobe have won, are you suggesting that the other members of your pantheon won fewer titles because they weren't wired like the three you mentioned? There are too many factors that go into winning a championship to assert that the personality of a team's top player can make that big a difference.
Anyway, even if you want to reduce the discussion to counting championships, I could just point out that MJ and Kareem both have six, Kobe and Duncan both have four, and Russell's Celtics are an outlier in many ways (the stars aligned perfectly for that team).
Yes, we'll probably have to agree to disagree here. I don't mean any offense in making these arguments. As you know, I'm a big fan of your work. This is just one topic where I think you ought to consider a different point of view more carefully.
Vednam:
I am just not sure how to carry this particular discussion any further--LeBron James and Julius Erving pretty clearly fall into Walker's "like to please" category while MJ and Kobe probably have never been described that way but beyond those sharp and obvious differences there are so many nuances that I could literally write a book about this subject; after all, I just wrote a 4000-plus word article about a book that probably did not top 30,000 words! In general, I think that intellectual geniuses tend to have a prickly/contentious/stubborn aspect to their personalities (that is the issue that we originally debated way back when); perhaps you are correct that the situation is more nuanced/complex regarding athletic geniuses but I also think that there is a slight disconnect between the personality trait that I am describing--or trying to describe--and the personality trait that you are describing. Basically, I am not sure that we are even talking about exactly the same thing.
In any case, I am concerned that this thread is slipping further and further from the main point of the post, which was primarily to review the Pluto-Windhorst book but also to talk about LeBron's formative years and to indicate why it makes more sense to compare LeBron to Oscar (stats), MJ (scoring dominance) and Dr. J (playing style/scoring title winner ranking in top ten in assists) than to compare LeBron to Magic.
to add to vednam's comment earlier about alpha males not necessarily possessing ultra competitive natures, one more player adding to that list of lebron and dr. j is roger federer. he's also very well liked amongst his peers, hence winning the stefan edberg sportsmanship award several times, and obviously, one can't question his successe
ST:
Your comment is an illustration of precisely what I meant when I said that I think that Vednam and I are talking about two different things. Dr. J was as competitive as anyone and LeBron is very competitive as well; I never suggested that either player is not competitive. In an earlier post, I remarked that intellectual geniuses can have difficult personalities and Vednam countered that he knows a lot of eminent mathematicians who do not have such personalities; getting back to basketball, Dr. J and LeBron seem to be more easygoing than MJ and Kobe in terms of how they relate to other people.
FROM TERRY PLUTO
DAVID,
Thanks for the review. You put a tremendous amount of work and thought into it.
I don't see the Doctor J comparison as strongly as you do -- he was not the playmaker in the LBJ model.
But you make a lot of excellent points overall.
THANKS AGAIN!
terry pluto
Terry:
Thank you for receiving my review in the spirit in which I wrote it--namely, that I put a lot of thought into my analysis.
Regarding comparisons between LeBron and other great NBA players, I would summarize my perspective by saying that statistically LeBron most resembles Oscar Robertson--a 30 ppg scorer averaging over 7 rpg and 7 apg. However, stylistically LeBron and the Big O are not very similar, because the Big O was a methodical player while LeBron is a more explosive, dynamic player. LeBron and MJ have some similarities as scorers but except for very early in his career--particularly the brief time that Doug Collins put MJ at point guard--MJ was not his team's primary playmaker; Scottie Pippen filled that role.
Aesthetically, I think that LeBron most resembles Dr. J--they have similar dunking styles, they do the "chase down" blocks, they often operate out of the 1-4 (or "nail," as Coach Brown calls it) set. LeBron has spent the early portion of his career improving his perimeter shot and his free throw percentage, adjustments that Dr. J also made at a similar stage in his development (the three point shot was not used as frequently during Dr. J's time as it is now but he improved his three point percentage from .188 as a rookie to .395 as a third year pro). Also, I think that Dr. J's ability/productivity as a playmaker--particularly in the ABA--tends to be overlooked. Scorekeeping standards have evolved--or devolved--in the past few decades, so I am not sure how meaningful it is to simply compare LeBron's apg averages with Dr. J's; it is more significant to note that in each of Dr. J's final three ABA seasons--when he won two scoring titles while leading the Nets to two ABA championships--he ranked in the top ten in the league in assists. Dr. J was not just his team's primary playmaker but also one of the top half dozen playmakers in the entire league. In the NBA, Dr. J was not usually his team's primary playmaker, though when the injury bug hit the 76ers' backcourt during the 1979 playoffs he averaged 5.9 apg. Also, it is worth noting that LeBron and Dr. J are both forwards, while Oscar, MJ and Magic are all guards. I think that if more footage of the ABA Dr. J were available then the comparison of LeBron with Dr. J would be more frequently mentioned.
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