When comparing LeBron James to the greatest players of all time, and the conversation inevitably turns to Michael Jordan, the comment that usually made is James is more Magic Johnson that MJ.
That has never been more true than this year, because James has been the point guard of the Cleveland Cavaliers all this season.
Derrick Rose started the season at the point, but when Rose went down with an ankle injury, Tyronn Lue went with a big lineup using James at the point.
When that didn’t work, he put Jose Calderon in the starting lineup. Because Calderon is 36 years old, and couldn’t play a lot of minutes, James spent a lot of time running the offense.
James is averaging a career high 8.9 assists per game this season, following last season’s 8.7 average, when he played the spot a year ago while Kyrie Irving was resting, or used in sets where Irving was basically playing the shooting guard spot.
This season, James had just three games with five assists or less in the first 36 games of the year. Why did we pick that point in the season? The next game on the schedule was Isaiah Thomas’ first game with the wine and gold.
In the next 16 games, prior to the 140-138 overtime win against Minnesota last Wednesday, James had four games of five assists or less. He also had seven games of five or more turnovers in that span.
This isn’t to pile on Thomas, who wasn’t 100%, and was in a free agent year, so perhaps he was trying to hard on the court, but it does point out that James seemed to be deferring to Thomas, trying to get him going.
Besides the fact that the since dealt guard was shooting at 36% during his tenure with the Cavs, and that he was shooting with more frequency than anyone else besides James, it was also taking the ball out of the team’s best playmaker’s hands.
That could be why James seemed to be very frustrated during the month of January. Not only was he giving up the opportunity to make plays for his teammates, the man he was trying to get going wasn’t making his shots.
Have you ever played hoops with someone who not only monopolizes the basketball, but can’t hit a shot or throws the ball away? It doesn’t give you a decent chance to win and it’s not a lot of fun.
That’s what James was watching for the last 30 or so days.
And we aren’t even talking about Thomas’ issues on the defensive end of the floor.
Watching the games, it’s obvious that James is setting up the offense on most possessions. Lue is having someone dribble the ball up past halfcourt, and then find James to initiate the attack.
That’s when the team has played its best for the most part.
Newcomer George Hill, the new starter at point guard, is really here because of his ability to knock down open three point shots. Sure, he will initiate the offense during some sets to give James a blow, but his main role is to spread the floor and hit threes, and right now he leads the league.
With Thomas moved on to Los Angeles, there is no question who is the distributor on offense. LeBron James is the man. He will draw the defense, and you better be ready when he finds you.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 