The myth about Lebron making everyone better

[Walk on Water]

I used to be one of those people that thought Lebron never has any help and does it all on his own. Remember when he took Cleveland to the Finals with Larry Hughes? So when he went to the Heat, I made a bet with my friend that Lebron would really win 8 years in a row like he claimed. And it looked good after going up against Dallas and taunting Dirk, but once he choked, that was the moment I realized that Lebron wasn't all that. He was mentally weak and lacked go2 moves.

It was pretty pathetic how at the time Lebron and Wade had no go2 moves after being in the league so long. They were shut down by an old Dallas squad. Jason Terry outscored Lebron and Lebron didn't do anything about it, he didn't respond. He just said that everyone else has to go back to their boring lives.

In my mind, I thought that the Heat would win at least 70 games and sweep the playoffs. Because you have Lebron who I thought was a one man team and just takes any team of bums to the finals right? Then he was joining Dwayne Wade who had already won a championship and was averaging 25-30 points a game with great defense. And then adding Chris Bosh to the mix? I thought Bosh was a superstar at the time. So I didn't think any team would have a shot.

And though the years, the narrative still continued. At one point, everyone said Cleveland would be so good because he had Rose, Crawder, Thomas, and Love all on the same team. They did nothing. Then they traded everyone for Rodney Hood and some other guy. Everyone acted like this was the solution to beat the Warriors and KD. And when they got swept, they blamed the team for not having enough help and Lebron got the pass.

We see it this year too. But what happens is all the fans say he has enough help now and when they lose, everyone gets the blame and gets called a bust. This has happened every single year that Lebron doesn't win. Everyone gets blamed and he has to make trades or jump ship.

Lebron doesn't elevate his teammates. There are times where teammates follow his commands and elevate him. People don't like to play with Lebron. Lebron will always be a one man team no matter if he's playing with 5 hall of famers or a team full of rookies. Lebron dominates and beats his own team. Like Shannon Sharpe said, ''They losing, but Lebron is winning.'' What is he winning?

[Johnny32]

I wonder what Larry Bird thinks.

[Spurs m8]

Hes winning disrespect

[MadDog]

The degree he makes them better is overrated. Offensively, LeBron's skills are better suited with off-ball catch & shoot players. Most stars however don't mesh with LeBron and need to sacrifice their games in order to appease him. AD is the ONE star I think is a perfect match for LeBron.

[Shogon]

Unless I am dead the day will come where I will buy this board and expose every single sick in the head poster that is posting AT THE SAME TIME FROM MULTIPLE alternate accounts on this board.

It will happen.

[3ba11]

Without the super-team formation, the East would've been won by a bunch of 1-star teams from 2011-2018 (DeRozan or PG3 would've been winning it), just like numerous 1-star teams had won before (Iverson, Dwight, Kidd and 07' Lebron).

So everyone won that conference - Lebron wasn't carrying anyone - he averaged 25 on 45% in the Eastern Playoffs to make the 07' Finals, and otherwise couldn't win the weak East with homecourt in 09/10 - that's why he formed super-teams - it was because he COULDN'T win the East with homecourt in 09/10

[3ba11]

For Lebron to score a lot, the game must devolve into a beginner format with him dominating the ball and 4 shooters around him.. Ball-dominators like Lebron, Luka or Harden seemingly have well-rounded stats but are infact limited to playing 1 way (ball-dominance) - these ball-dominant skillsets tie a coach's hands and forces them to employ a simpleton, low-team-assist brand where 1 guy hogs the team's assists.. The coach is forced to replace normal ball movement and system offense with the talent of Lebron or Luka making all the plays - it's a paper tiger that requires ridiculous supporting talent to win.

Lebron's skillset is big man ball-dominance - he starts in the frontcourt but then becomes a 2nd point guard on the floor (2nd player with a point guard hold-time) - these 2 point guard lineups give teammates less hold-time and assists than they get in traditional 1 point guard lineups, so the TEAM has low assists and struggles on the championship level.. Indeed, the common thread in Lebron's Finals losses is massive deficits in team assists..

So when Lebron scores a lot, it's too ball-dominant to beat good teams (weak brand of ball) and also lacks the elite jumpshooting skill to defeat maximum defensive attention (carry scoring load) - Lebron never carried the scoring load in the playoffs and Finals while winning title.. He also never defeated a top 5 SRS opponent with poor scoring and efficiency from a sidekick, aka no carry-jobs against good teams in 2 decades.

To summarize - Lebron actually isn't a good scorer because his high scoring is too ball-dominant to beat good teams, while also lacking the elite jumpshooting skill to defeat maximum defensive attention (carry scoring load)... Since he can't beat good teams with high scoring or carry the scoring load in the Finals, he needs elite 1st options to play sidekick like Wade, Kyrie or AD.. These sidekicks actually outplayed league MVP's or FMVP's - that's the most help possible - Bosh outplayed Rose in the 11' ECF, while Kyrie outplayed Curry in the 16' FInals and AD outplayed Jokic in 20'.. Wade significantly outproduced FMVP Dirk in the 11' Finals..

Every team has a ball-dominator, but Lebron's ball-dominance is abnormal for a frontcourt player, so Lebron's teams are the most ball-dominant in the league.. This matters because ball-dominance lets a defense rest, so they have more capacity to go off offensively - the story is always how opponents "get hot" on Lebron's teams - see the 09' ECF, 11' FInals, 14' Finals, 17' Finals, 18' Finals, or 21' 1st Round.. Ultimately, Lebron's teams are have the highest defensive requirements because they're always facing fresh offenses that aren't worn down by a good brand of ball.

A tenet of all competition is that the best defense is a good offense - unfortunately, Lebron-ball (aka "big man ball-dominance") applies less pressure and wears down opponents less than the ball movement it faces - it loses the attrition battle inherent in any competition.. The inferior brand of ball yields perennial Finals underdogs regardless of cast and barely meets the underdog expectation (4/10 including 2 teammate bailouts).. It also underachieves the expectation - Lebron's teams were the preseason favorite from 2011-2016 but fell to Finals underdog or loser every year (6 straight years), aside from the Ray Allen miracle.. The Ray Allen miracle is the only thing that stopped Lebron's preseason favorite from falling to Finals underdog or loser for 6 straight years.

[GimmeThat]

could have sworn you were talking about Bill Walton instead of Lebron there. A ferrari is a ferrari, can't blame the ferrari just because you don't know how to drive one. is that being fair? if he ain't quitting, what isn't he winning?

[RogueBorg]

Unless I am dead the day will come where I will buy this board and expose every single sick in the head poster that is posting AT THE SAME TIME FROM MULTIPLE alternate accounts on this board.

It will happen.

LOLing at you, no it won't.