Looking At LeBron James’ Position Among Active Leaders In Major Statistical Categories Is Enlightening

Looking at LeBron James’ position on the active leaderboard for basketball’s major statistical categories begs the question, is James becoming too passive?

LeBron James could very well be the most highly decorated player in the league. Soon, he’ll be the NBA’s active leader in points, two-point field goal made and attempted, field goals made and missed, and free throws made and attempted.

Looking at his position of seventh on the active list for most three-point attempts and his inability to make the cut of active leaders in three-point conversions, it’s easy to see why it’s almost a cringing sight to see James shoot a three instead of drive to the paint. It also shows just how much he’s taken it upon himself to score while trying to take over a game.

James will also be the active leader in turnovers. A fact juxtaposed by his ability to be one of the top two active leaders in steals and assists behind only Chris Paul. James is the best passing forward of all-time and has a magical passing ability. He’s also pretty good at jumping the passing lanes. However, if there’s one drawback of James as a ball-handler it’s his unforced turnovers.

These are turnovers that happen simply because he loses control of the ball on the drive or threw the ball away trying to make a difficult pass. Some of the passing mishaps are going to happen. Yet it also shows, like James’ tendency to shoot pull-up threes outside the flow of the offense, James’ passivity at times. While James picked up his dribble, he could have drove and got to the line.

Instead of using his court vision and passing ability as one of his weapons, he makes it his biggest weapon.

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Yet, there’s at least a weapon as great as his point guard abilities. His physique. Even if he lost an iota of explosiveness in his first step, he’s still big, strong and faster than most players in the NBA.

At a time in his career, James was shooting more than 700 free throws per season. Now, nearly a quarter of the way through the season, that number is projected to be around 450 this season. Last year, he shot 491 free throws. The year before? 528. That’s not a great trend for a player who’s most dominant when he’s going inside.

James isn’t shooting much less than years past despite the scoring increases from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, whose statistical boosts could be attributed to the increased pace of the offense and certainty of how to get to their doors within it. J.R. Smith is also shooting less while Irving is playing more.

So it should suffice to say, James’ lack of plays where doesn’t attack has less to do with the other members of the Big Three and more to do with James being passive. How many times has James been seen literally passing up on shots at the rim to make a more difficult pass to a shooter rather than taking the easy two and at least getting a point on the possession?

James would probably say that it’s because he’s the primary facilitator on the team and he’d be right about that being his role. He wouldn’t be right to use that role as excuse. While he’s the team’s leader in assists, the team also need James to attack more consistently inside so teams aren’t simply waiting for a pass. It doesn’t always have to be more dribble-drives from the perimeter or attack in transition. It could be a few post-ups inside the paint. One way or the other, James needs to go inside the paint more and pass up open shots less.

Sure, his assist numbers may take a slight dip. However, if Irving is there to make up the differential there’s no reason all players can’t thrive. Irving is already playing 34.8 minutes per game but as the best pure scorer on the team it’s necessary for him to be on the court as much as possible. An uptick in his minutes will allow him to have the opportunity he needs to be both a facilitator and attack.

The Cavs, who are playing without a backup point guard, may find it best to alternate Irving and James in that role throughout the game. That’s a way to keep James’ assist numbers and Irving’s scoring average up while boosting Irving’s assist number’s and James’ free-throw rate. Giving the ball to Irving more could also get James’ turnover rate down. Irving is the better ball-handler and can set up James as an off-ball scorer, on pick-and-rolls or just pass the ball to him in the post for a score.

Basically, Irving can get the ball to James in great position to get the hoop or the harm and he can do it consistently. All James’ career, he’s used two-point field goals and free throws to overwhelm teams. Why stop now? To pass to teammates to the point of predictability, resulting in a bad pass?

Out of 3,387 turnovers James has had in his career, 1,743 have been bad passes. That’s nearly half of all of his turnovers. Out of James’ 9,833 career field goals, 8,464 came in two-point territory.

A lot of those two-point field goals are long two’s which James has cut down on in favor of more pull-up threes. Those are an effect of James not having space to shoot in the midrange with a non-shooting center in the starting lineup, a fact not likely to change anytime soon. He will, however, have the space to attack the lane while the rest of the starting unit spaces the floor.

If he’s to continue to be the dominant force inside that he’s been his whole career, he’ll need to be.

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Do you think LeBron James needs to focus on scoring in the paint more? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.