LeBron James: NBA’s Biggest Cherry Picker?
LeBron James is a lot of things. Best Player on the Planet. Best Teammate. Best Recruiter. Most Important Player. Media Mogul. Controller. Triple Threat. Endorser. Leader. Power Player.
Of all the many things that the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar is, cherry picker is now being added to the list. At least by one person. According to Pete Newmann, LeBron had the most points on leak outs in the entire league:
So @KingJames was the biggest cherry picker in the #NBA. Scored 63 points on transition leak outs, most in league
— Pete Newmann (@petenewmann) September 2, 2015
It is an interesting thing to note. Obviously LeBron leaks out quite often but a bit surprising that he led the entire league. With a player like Corey Brewer, who seems to leak out on every possession, LeBron has some tight competition. However none are as talented as him in the open floor, which could explain this stat.
However, we wanted to look a little deeper into what could have led to this number last year.
Rebounders
With Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love all year, along with Anderson Varejao and Timofey Mozgov for part of the year, LeBron didn’t have to stay in to rebound. All four of them do a very good job of rebounding, giving James the confidence to leak out without causing issues with offensive rebounds.
Kevin Love
In particular, Love and his ability to throw long outlet passes, made LeBron’s decision to leak out a positive one. Love’s ability to pull down a rebound and shoot it down the floor to the gazelle like LBJ, is smart basketball. Love to LeBron might be the best passing combo in the city of Cleveland. (Browns fans, like me, just felt that one a little bit.)
Kyrie Irving‘s Impact
Not only did having Love throw outlets help, but having Kyrie Irving to bring the ball up court allowed LeBron a lot of freedom. Unlike in years past, or in the NBA Finals, LeBron wasn’t responsible to always initiate the offense. With Irving on the court, LeBron could take off without any concern that he would have to come back to get the ball. The Big 3 really do compliment each other in a ton of ways.
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So while LeBron James may have led the NBA in “leak outs” it would be a little strong to call him a cherry picker. The negative connotation of a cherry picker is a player who puts their defense at a disadvantage to try to gain easy buckets. There may be times that LeBron did that but overwhelmingly, James is a smart player.
Given the rebounders on the team, Love’s outlet passes and Irving’s ability to initiate the offense, maybe LeBron should leak out even more. Seems to have worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers last year.
What do you think of this report of LeBron James being a cherry picker?