LeBron James mentality

[Milbuck]

I keep hearing "he's so physically gifted"...but right now, he really doesn't look like it. His body is wearing down, he's still a better athlete than just about anyone else in the league, but he's nowhere near the athlete he was a few years ago. And it doesn't help that he HAS to carry them to have a chance every night. The dude legitimately looks exhausted every other game. Over the years he's been so far above everyone else on a physical level, there was essentially no one who could stop him. He's grown accustomed to being physically unguardable. Because of that he's just never had to develop the footwork, offensive fundamentals, and overall scoring arsenal that guys like MJ, Kobe, Melo, etc had. We talk about Kobe/MJ's work ethics and attribute their games to that, but that didn't start in the NBA. They were working on those scoring arsenals since a young age...Lebron, being the physical monster he is, literally never had to develop that because he was always on another level physically. Now with fatigue, less lateral quickness, and less overall speed, he's just not at that absurd level of dominance anymore. Defenses are now capable of staying with him. Kawhi is strong, athletic, and mentally unbreakable. The Spurs defense is so well organized and disciplined, they just will not collapse the way other defenses will. It takes Lebron at or close to his absolute physical peak to consistently perform against this team. He'll have a few great games against them, just like he did last year's finals, but he's just not physically capable of destroying them for every single game of the series.