LeBron James needs to reduce his turnovers
LeBron James needs to reduce his turnover numbers.
Watching LeBron James play this season has been a true privilege. The King is making a very impressive MVP case for himself. However, one thing that has been frustrating to watch are his turnovers.
In his 15th season, LeBron James is having arguably the best year of his career.
His 28.3 points per night are his most in eight years. His 8.7 assists per night are tied for his career-best, and his 8.3 rebounds per game are his second highest in his career. He’s shooting his third-best percentage from the free throw line at 76.8%.
In addition, James is shooting 57.6% from the field which the highest mark in his career. LeBron ranks 8th in the NBA in field goal percentage and is the only non-power forward or center in the top-20. To add on, LeBron is shooting a career high from the three-point line at 41.7%. To put that into perspective, James is shooting better from three than James Harden, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, JJ Redick, Kyrie Irving, and the list goes on and on.
However, The King is turning the ball over 4.1 times per contest, tied for the highest in his career.
LeBron has been the active point guard for the Cavaliers due to Isaiah Thomas and Derrick Rose still sidelined because of injuries. While James’ greatest attribute is his incredible passing skills, he has to reduce his turnover numbers.
When watching the Cavaliers play, it’s noticeable that many of LeBron’s turnovers come when the ball isn’t moving and everybody is just watching James. In other words, iso ball is not where the Cavaliers excel. When James puts himself in iso situations, the ball movement stops, the offense becomes stagnant, and the Cavs become easier to defend.
In this example, LeBron has the ball on one side of the court. The rest of the team stacks the opposite side and looks somewhat clueless. There is no movement up until Kevin Love decides to cut through the lane. Jae Crowder stays at the top of the arc, while Jose Calderon stays put in the corner. J.R. Smith looks to cut, and as he does, LeBron puts the ball over his head and out of bounds. Because there was no offensive movement, Tyreke Evans was able to provide help for Dillon Brooks, who was guarding LeBron.
I know this is practically sacrilegious, but the Golden State Warriors offense is a treat to watch. It’s not their incredible three-point shooting, or their ability to make such difficult shots look easy. It’s their offensive scheme. The Warriors always have moving parts cutting to the hole and setting screens. Nobody ever just sits back and watches the ball handler.
In this play, Zaza Pachulia has his man in the post with the ball in his hand when Stephen Curry cuts across the court. While that happens, Draymond Green then sets a screen for Klay Thompson who cuts through the lane. When Klay cuts, two people go with him thus leaving Draymond open to receive the pass from Pachulia. The instant Draymond receives the pass, Kevin Durant sets a pick on Goran Dragic, leaving Curry wide open beyond the three-point line. Green fires the ball to Curry, and Curry does what he’s known for.
If you compare those two plays, you can see how easy the Cavs’ offense is to defend. This sometimes makes it hard for LeBron to find open people to pass the ball to. When you can’t find people to pass it to, turnovers are likely to happen. While some of the turnovers aren’t LeBron’s fault, there are still many that are.
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In the play shown, LeBron could’ve avoided the turnover by simply moving the ball. Love did the right thing and cut through the lane. Once that happened, James should’ve whipped the ball to Crowder on top of the arc. Crowder then could’ve shot it, since Gasol was sagging off, or slung the ball to Smith. Even if J.R. would’ve continued his cut through the lane, Calderon would’ve been left wide open for a shot.
This is a perfect example of good movement off the ball. J.R. has the ball on the left wing and is looking to find LeBron on the post up. Calderon runs to the right wing creating space for the play to happen. Once J.R. lobs the ball to LeBron, instead of standing there watching, he moves and sets a screen on Andre Drummond, leaving Jae Crowder open at the top of the arc. LeBron fires a pass right into Crowder’s shooting pocket. Jae has plenty of space and time to fire his shot thanks to Smith’s screen.
The play, although simple, is beautifully executed.
Plays like this allow LeBron to do such a great job at playmaking for Cleveland. In order to reduce LeBron’s turnovers, for one LeBron has to be smarter with the ball. Secondly, the Cavaliers need to be more active on the offensive end of the court.
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The more people moving, the harder the offense becomes to defend. When the players and the ball are moving, the more the Cavs and LeBron succeed.