LeBron James. 3x NBA Champion. 3x NBA Finals MVP. 4x NBA MVP. 5x All-Defensive First Team. 1x All-Defensive Second Team. Runner up to the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2013. Those are all the important stats about LeBron regarding his defense. He’s a force on the defensive end when engaged, even at 31. He finished 13th in Defensive Win Shares this year (ahead of guys like Tim Duncan, Rudy Gobert, Pau Gasol and Kyle Lowry). He’s become more of a last line of defense type player, as opposed to getting out in front of guys on the perimeter, but it’s still mightily effective for the Cavaliers, as evidenced by their winning an NBA Championship against the historically good (from a regular season standpoint) Golden State Warriors.
Something that has remained consistent about LeBron is his ability to make reads. That much is clear when he’s able to anticipate when to jump to block shots, or even time things out when he’s trying to do one of his signature chasedowns. What sometimes will go unnoticed is his ability to strip the ball clean. I’m not talking about his getting in the passing lanes (which he is also very good at), I’m talking about his ability to see a player coming down the lane and turning his body so he has the right angle to swipe at the ball. Poking the ball lose isn’t something that’s going to register as a steal or a block all the time (especially not HIS steal or block), but deflections disrupt rhythm and defenses thrive on that.
This is obviously a video about his regular season exploits. Yes, of course, I will have his playoff defense in a separate video.
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26 авг 2024
