The LeBron James Thread

[The 24th Letter]

Well I'll concede Miller....but this isn't THAT Miller anymore...I know y'all have seen dude drive to the basket LOL..

Mo Williams pretty much had a green light to do whatever in CLE, so I'm not sure about that one

I COMPLETELY disagree that MIAs offense consists of a bunch of bailout 3s after withering down the shot clock though....the "3 point specialists" get a shooters dream worth of open looks

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

I dont think Mo and Miller have ever been the focal point of anybody's offense. Or Battier.

Mo was the main guy on the Bucks... Miller was always a main scorer for ORL and MEM

Battier has always been a role player I didn't mention his name

Like I said I don't necessarily agree with Wwharton, but I see his point. It's like people saying how Steve Nash wouldn't fit in with Miami because Nash needs the ball in his hands. Well guys like Jamison, Mo, Mike Miller are sort of the same way, or have been earlier in their careers.

Mo Williams thrived with LBJ.. it all depends on the individual player.. I think Nash would work just fine in Miami.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

Well I'll concede Miller....but this isn't THAT Miller anymore...I know y'all have seen dude drive to the basket LOL..

Mo Williams pretty much had a green light to do whatever in CLE, so I'm not sure about that one

I COMPLETELY disagree that MIAs offense consists of a bunch of bailout 3s after withering down the shot clock though....the "3 point specialists" get a shooters dream worth of open looks

That's the thing though, yeah they get open looks but you basically ask them to shoot cold the entire game. Usually if a guy struggles to find his shot from range, you wanna get him in position to knock down a few shots from inside the three point line to get them going and let them find they're strokes. Miami's offense primarly consists of getting Wade, Bosh and Bron whatever looks they want, driving in then kicking back out to one of those guys for an open three and if they aren't knocking it down then Spo just plops them on the bench for somebody else to do the same thing. I understand you have three of the best players in the league so the majority of the shots should come from them, but it's understandable how you can run into trouble just expecting guys who aren't strictly catch and shoot guys to just come in the game and shoot lights out when called upon in the biggest spots of these games.

[23]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

All Battier did was shoot 3s and if that didnt work he was worthless on offense, and as you can see in Miami, he's still the same player, he just can't hit 3s now because he's declining.

Miller is just a scrub now, sorry. Dude just looks bad.

Same for James Jones, he was a spot up 3 shooter in Miami also, but the thing is, the coach is too inept to instill a ton of ball movement and cuts off screens... he needs to go anyway

Just MO

[The 24th Letter]

I don't know too many 3 point specialists that require all that man, we ask Danny Green, Matt Bonner, and Gary Neal to it on a regular basis....they just all shoot at a high clip...

It's simply about making shots IMO..

[King_B_Mack]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

I don't know, maybe it's different for everybody. I know Kyle Korver is like that. Some games he'll come in and shoot the lights out. Some games he'll come in and miss every damn thing he throws up. Other games he'll miss from three, so he starts looking for the shorter stuff to get his stroke going and then eventually works his way back outside.

[23]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

When was the last time you saw him make or even remember seeing Battier take a mid range jumpshot?

[The 24th Letter]

Korvers a little different....he has a decent mid range/ catch and shoot game....but your D Cooks and Morrows are expected to come in and knock shots down....

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

Mo was the main guy on the Bucks... Miller was always a main scorer for ORL and MEM

Battier has always been a role player I didn't mention his name

Like I said I don't necessarily agree with Wwharton, but I see his point. It's like people saying how Steve Nash wouldn't fit in with Miami because Nash needs the ball in his hands. Well guys like Jamison, Mo, Mike Miller are sort of the same way, or have been earlier in their careers.

Mo Williams thrived with LBJ.. it all depends on the individual player.. I think Nash would work just fine in Miami.

Just for the record, Mo Williams was "a" guy on the Bucks. Michael Redd was still "the" guy at that point.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

Just for the record, Mo Williams was "a" guy on the Bucks. Michael Redd was still "the" guy at that point.

Mo Williams was more than "a" guy but you're right about Redd

[wwharton]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

i'm not sure what you mean...are you saying that Battier/Miller are shooting poorly because they only take jumpshots (since the inside ones go to Wade/James)?

Im a little confused myself.....that's exactly what Jones, Miller, Battier, Haslem have been doing for forever....spot up 3's, jumpers...

EDIT: If I'm not mistaken, Miller, Chalmers, and Jones have all had career years from 3 between the last couple of years...

They just aren't converting on what a lot of the time are wide open opportunities lately...

Not quite, that simple. In fact, I understand exactly why these players were chosen to build this team in the same way I understood some of the choices with the Cavs. Sorry it took me so long to come back for an explanation, but good conversation around it anyway. King B Mack explained what I was "trying" to say the best. Ex too, but I don't think the guys have to be "the man" so much as they thrived having more expanded roles. And Mo thrived overall on that team, but in the playoffs when it became more super-iso, Mo either picked up some serious slack or disappeared... not really any in between. Not much chemistry.

The half court sets of the Heat seem lacking in a similar way. Their defense is insane, transition insane also, and the 3 best players are so good that it should be enough to win it all (when they're all healthy). But I wonder how many players really can "fit" with James and Wade.

23's right, Battier should be expected to do just this no matter what team he's on. Jones too.

BTW, I'm not completely sold on this theory for the Heat (fully behind it for the Cavs... those guys were castrated). Their offense is light years ahead of the Cavs. Just heard them talking about it, saw the correlation and thought it'd be interesting to throw at the wall.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

Mo Williams was more than "a" guy but you're right about Redd

Yeah that didn't come off right. He wasn't THE guy, but he was like the next notch down. It was basically
1. Michael Redd
------------------
2a. Mo
2b. Bogut
------------------
Everybody else

[HMcCoy]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

Some offenses are made to create those spot up opportunities, like the Magic or Spurs offenses. When a set is called those shooters know there's a good chance the rotation will find them, and can see the play developing.

Having a great ad lib player makes the kickout game more of a "just in case" proposition, and if a main guy gets hot, those shooters may not see a good ball rotation fall their way for 10-15 real time minutes. IMO, its got to be alot tougher to perform like that, with no rhythm at all.

[BlastX21]

Re: The LeBron James Thread

The half court sets of the Heat seem lacking in a similar way. Their defense is insane, transition insane also, and the 3 best players are so good that it should be enough to win it all (when they're all healthy). But I wonder how many players really can "fit" with James and Wade.

I don't see how anyone can fit better than Battier/Haslem without going into the Star category. They're good defenders and shooters. The type of player you want to compliment James/wade's inside game is a good defender and shooter. So yeah.

I mean I guess I see what you two are saying, I just think that there's something else out there in addition to this. For instance, people like Matt Bonner, Aaron Affalo, and DeQuan Cook are there literally just to hit the three ball, and do just fine. Better than the Heat's have been recently, anyway.

Honestly I think it would help just to rest LeBron more. This would work wonders because not only does it keep him fresh for the 4th quarter (Spoelstra did a horrible job managing his minutes game 2) but also gets more shots for the teammates, getting them a chance to get in rhythm.

But mostly, I just get tired of seeing LeBron having all these 42+ minute playoff games with 1 minute rest in the 4th quarter, then people expecting him to make clutch shots when he's exhausted. I'd be interested to see how LeBron and the Heat shooters in general would do if he only were to play 37 minutes in a game. I think we'd be surprised.

[The 24th Letter]

Like I said, IMO it's just taking/making shots

If Haslem is hitting anywhere near his normal % from mid range... the offense is a more productive.

I think they should play Jones a lot more...he's he most accurate out of anyone...and I think they would LOVE for Miller to return to his normal game...that was the plan when they signed him lol