The midrange and post-up have always been the criticisms of LeBron’s game.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James will join Vince Carter as the only player in NBA history to play more than 21 seasons. But while Vince looked like he was running on fumes at that stage of his career, LeBron will enter his Year 22 campaign coming off an Olympic campaign where he won MVP honors and still looked elite.
Despite King James still playing at superstar level at the age of 39, former Washington Wizards No.1 pick Kwame Brown says that Bron’s game has not evolved after playing two decades in the NBA.
“That’s the same way he’s been playing,” said Kwame. “He’s a cutter, slasher, and he’s developed a bit of the three, but the problem is, when he plays teams like Chicago or Boston, who have real solid principles, he has trouble. And so the old-school players wouldn’t have any trouble with LeBron because, at 39, he should have developed a mid-range and a post-game, and he still hasn’t yet.”
LeBron still has elite athleticism
Brown and the co-hosts of the Role Player podcast talked about how LeBron remains unstoppable when he attacks the basket, just as he did during the Paris Olympics. LeBron averaged 14.2 PPG while leading the team in FG% at 66.0% and efficiency at 23.5.
Although James averaged 2.2 three-pointers per game in that tournament, most of his baskets came from the transition, where he went downhill or drove to the basket from the halfcourt offense. According to Kwame, that might work at the international level and to some degree in the NBA, but not against the top teams in the association, who have very good defensive schemes.
“He still has the athletic ability to just go 94 feet — which, I don’t know how, but he still has it,” added Brown. “But if he didn’t have this athleticism, his game really hasn’t evolved outside of a three and putting his head down and going to the basket. He doesn’t go like Paul Pierce, getting to a spot, pulling up. Those are the things you normally see out of a superstar player.”
No skill detected
The lack of midrange and post-up games are just two of the many weaknesses that his detractors have always mentioned. LeBron usually doesn’t pay attention to people bashing him, but just recently,he took to social media to fire back at his critics who continue to dismiss his skillset.
“Pure brute strength and just running over people my whole career! No skill detected,” LeBron wrote sarcastically with a facepalm emoji over a video showing his career highlights.
Kwame is correct. LeBron doesn’t usually pull up like Paul Pierce does. But it doesn’t mean he can’t. It’s not that his game’s not evolved. LeBron has his strengths. And if you can get the job done with what you’re good at, why make things more difficult? He won’t settle for that pull-up as long as no one can stop his downhill.