Some quotes:

"Our offense has grown over the years," James said. "We've all had to make sacrifices for our offense to become better. But as far as where we are today, I feel great. We're at a record pace, assists are high, efficiency is high, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, we're doing it all. So I'm feeling really good. But I'm always thinking about ways to improve."

"It becomes a matchup problem," James said. "Anytime you can bring one of the best defenders out of the paint — you know, like Roy Hibbert, Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, or any of these guys like Marc Gasol that protect the paint so well — that allows driving lanes for myself and D-Wade to come much easier."

"We figured out ways through the years to play without the ball. D-Wade makes great cuts into the lane," said James. "It definitely helps our team get paint points. Paint points are the easiest shots. The game has evolved over the years with the long ball, and you have to have that in your game because it definitely helps a lot, but paint points are still the easiest shots. We run a lot of spread offense, we run a lot of pick-and-rolls, but we do have paint guys, guys who get into the paint and score, guys like myself and D-Wade, who shoots 65 percent in the paint — that's huge for us."

"For me, the one-on-one guy I believe I can get around every time," James said. "But it's always the second or third guy that I'm paying attention to, and I'm seeing plays before they happen."

Really good article and you should read the whole thing (Grantland has some of the best NBA writing anywhere). It is interesting to compare Miami and Lebron offensive schemes and coaching to our own. He's talking about efficiency, ball movement vs iso, and dictating matchups and it's frustrating that we don't do any of that.

VCoug wrote:http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10080338/lebron-james-nba-most-highly-evolved-offense

Some quotes:

"Our offense has grown over the years," James said. "We've all had to make sacrifices for our offense to become better. But as far as where we are today, I feel great. We're at a record pace, assists are high, efficiency is high, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, we're doing it all. So I'm feeling really good. But I'm always thinking about ways to improve."

"It becomes a matchup problem," James said. "Anytime you can bring one of the best defenders out of the paint — you know, like Roy Hibbert, Dwight Howard, Tyson Chandler, or any of these guys like Marc Gasol that protect the paint so well — that allows driving lanes for myself and D-Wade to come much easier."

"We figured out ways through the years to play without the ball. D-Wade makes great cuts into the lane," said James. "It definitely helps our team get paint points. Paint points are the easiest shots. The game has evolved over the years with the long ball, and you have to have that in your game because it definitely helps a lot, but paint points are still the easiest shots. We run a lot of spread offense, we run a lot of pick-and-rolls, but we do have paint guys, guys who get into the paint and score, guys like myself and D-Wade, who shoots 65 percent in the paint — that's huge for us."

"For me, the one-on-one guy I believe I can get around every time," James said. "But it's always the second or third guy that I'm paying attention to, and I'm seeing plays before they happen."

Really good article and you should read the whole thing (Grantland has some of the best NBA writing anywhere). It is interesting to compare Miami and Lebron offensive schemes and coaching to our own. He's talking about efficiency, ball movement vs iso, and dictating matchups and it's frustrating that we don't do any of that.

Lebron is the best player on the planet and one of his skill set is to see the court like few can and facilitate. Im not bashing Melo or even Durant but after Lebron there is a big drop off. Melo is a scorer and he is just not the type of player who makes others around him better. He lead the league last year. That does not make him the best player. Lebron is.

Lebron makes his team much better. He is underappreciated in my opinion. Miami hype after the superfriends marriage raised expectations but really it was Lebrons asscention that was the biggest factor. The Jedi can now "see players before they happen".....This has been true for a few years but this cat is not only perhaps the worlds greatest athlete, he can now see the future!!!!

nyk4ever wrote:lebron understands basketball.. not just scoring, not just passing, not just defense... he understands the game of basketball. he understands how to make an offense work, he understands how to win. he'll get ragged on for never being able to do it by himself, but even as unselfish as he is, he's still one of the best, if not the best, scorer in the game. alot of guys could learn from him.

Yup, his playmaking skills for a big man are on another level, not quite Magic territory but he's up there.