LeBron James

[Pioneer10]

Looked really off tonight. Seemed to lack burst on his drives (threw up some up weak layups instead of trying to hammer it or draw the AND1). Chalk it up to pre-season and him not trying too hard.

This being Cleveland, need to suppress we got any nagging thought we got back an old James

 

[Flight479]

Yeah I'll chuck it up to preseason as well but LeBron has not looked good in transition. Also he's trying to hard making sure others are in rhythm. You can tell all game he wanted Kyrie to take over. Lol he just wanted to chill and watch

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

He still looks very stiff out on the court. You can see the lack of explosion on his drives. He tries to avoid a lot of contact by just shooting jumpers. But it's ok, I know he just wants to come out of the preseason healthy.

I agree. I think his back might be bothering him more than he is letting on. Either that or he just wants to avoid flaring it up / risking injury so is just going to coast through these games.

 

[shoes22]

I don't think I've ever seen LeBron look as lazy during a game as he did last night. It was very off-putting.

 

[Mdog1]

His game is gonna age incredibly gracefully, just like Duncan and Malone.

Either that, or he will fall off a cliff. I've always been curious how he will age. I kind of just always assumed he would transition into a 4 as he got older, but with Love, maybe not.

Historically speaking, most players of LeBron's stature age well, Jordan, Shaq, Duncan, Malone, Kobe (obviously injuries have likely taken their toll though). Here's to hoping he has a good 6 years left at least.

I suppose the biggest difference would be the minutes played. He likely has the most minutes ever played by a 29 year old. He has spent half his career deep in the playoffs.

 

[Mr. Orange]

He doesn't want to get hurt or pressure his body in meaningless preseason games. I am fine w this. It's preseason, let's chill on it. It's been a challenging past week for the cavs w all the games and travel. The big takeaway is that we need to work on our interior D. Also we need some time to gel. Will be some growing pains. Patience is key.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

He's trying to see the spots where his teammates are most comfortable in on the court at taking their shots and he's trying his best to get them involved as much as possible so that he'll know where to get them good open looks in the regular season. It's definitely frustrating to watch when he's in passive mode.

 

[Cavatt]

He might be done. His BBiq will keep him in the game a long time, but his days of dominance are probably over. The miles on his tires will prevent that.

Glad we got Love.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

He might be done. His BBiq will keep him in the game a long time, but his days of dominance are probably over. The miles on his tires will prevent that.

Glad we got Love.

I hope this was sarcasm. The only reason LeBron doesn't want to dominate on the offensive end is because he's trying to pace himself for the playoffs. I just wish he'd be a bit more selfish sometimes. When you're shooting over 50% from the field as a perimeter player, you have to take more shots. He's the best passer on the team, but he needs to understand that he's the more efficient scorer as well and the more he gets involved with the offense, the better the offense will be.

I have a feeling he's going to coast through the season just like he did last year. I wouldn't be surprised if he's third in FGA by the time the season is over. It's all about building habits. If he sits back and play in passive mode for the majority of the season, then he'll take games off and defer way too much in the playoffs too. This is the year where he'll break Kobe's milestone[youngest player to reach 25k points], so he better not fuck around and play in super passive mode in a lot of games this year.

 

[Kizzle]

Yeah hes obviously saving himself

 

[blazenmp]

Yeah I'll chuck it up to preseason as well but LeBron has not looked good in transition. Also he's trying to hard making sure others are in rhythm. You can tell all game he wanted Kyrie to take over. Lol he just wanted to chill and watch

I think you hit the nail on the head, he's playing like he's in it for the long haul and seems to want to ride someone else's coattail at times. Seems like a team oriented move to me, I have no problem with it. The alternative is to always be the go to person like he has been the last few years. We can't forget that is why he left there.

 

[tn819]

Whenever he turned on the jets or went in on a fast break, we saw what we needed that he will deliver when called upon. I did appreciate his defensive effort and communication. He has a long year ahead of him. He knows that.

Let's table this and revisit in January

 

[bobcat22]

There's a big difference between LeBron not trying and not trying to win. He wasn't trying to win this game.

LeBron doesn't give a shit if they win or lose in the preseason. He's like a coach on the floor right now. His job in his assessment is to be a point-forward and make sure the offense flows. Wednesday night he made sure to show the fans he could score in the offense. Last night he wanted to make the offense flow more. That's why you saw him get to the middle of the zone and facilitate.

He did make a few sloppy passes and he had a few weak lay ups in transition I'm not used to seeing from him, but there should be no concern at all. He's much more focused on making Blatt's offense work than trying to win right now.

 

[Damien O'Connel]

Either that, or he will fall off a cliff. I've always been curious how he will age. I kind of just always assumed he would transition into a 4 as he got older, but with Love, maybe not.

Historically speaking, most players of LeBron's stature age well, Jordan, Shaq, Duncan, Malone, Kobe (obviously injuries have likely taken their toll though). Here's to hoping he has a good 6 years left at least.

I suppose the biggest difference would be the minutes played. He likely has the most minutes ever played by a 29 year old. He has spent half his career deep in the playoffs.

Shaq absolutely did not age well. When he hit 34 it was a complete nose dive.

I attribute this to him being the laziest of the group with his conditioning though.

 

[Mdog1]

Shaq absolutely did not age well. When he hit 34 it was a complete nose dive.

I attribute this to him being the laziest of the group with his conditioning though.

He played pretty well in Phx, his last two or three years were a shame though.