LeBron's Team

I think I've probably made mention of this somewhere before, but, honestly, LeBron still needs help on his team. Firstly, let me make note that this is purely my own analysis and opinion, and therefore, feel free to make any sort of disagreement here, I will agree to disagree with you on any point where we can't meet eye to eye. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to what we're talking about. I believe that the Cavaliers have yet to be as successful a team as possible is simply this: we're misinterpreting the kind of player that LeBron James is. Let me let that sink in for you a little more and reiterate my point: the Cleveland Cavaliers as currently constructed is a bad fit for LeBron James.

I'm not really going to go into the whole Kobe vs LeBron thing, but the fact remains, that LeBron, for all extensive purposes, is more of a facilitator than someone who takes over games. Before everyone starts hounding me, and looking to bash in what little NBA credibility I have, I ask that you first hear me out. I'm not saying LeBron cannot take over games, as shown over and over through the regular season, and more importantly, via the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron obviously has the talent and the ability to not only take over games, but entire series. It appeared this year was LeBron's year, given the Cavaliers' strong regular season performance and quick romp through the first two rounds of the playoffs. However, if 2007 showed us anything, it is that regular season success is not indicative of post season success (see Dallas Mavericks). Furthermore, if we look at the matchups that LeBron and co had through the playoffs, it's not surprising that they swept a Pistons squad that stopped caring and a Hawks squad that had been depleted of its top defenders (Marvin Williams and Al Horford). However, now faced with an Orlando team that has traditionally matched-up well against Cleveland, the top team of the regular season looks mortal, in fact, they look like their done. After last night's loss, the Cavs now return to Cleveland facing the dreaded 3-1 deficit, and while these games are tight, a LeBron James buzzer beating fallaway three is more likely to clank off the rim than go through the net (he's a respectable 35% from beyond the arc, but even that's more misses than makes, it's simple math).

Here's three times that LeBron has led the Cavs to at least the Eastern Conference Finals and each time the Cavs have fallen short. First was an embarassing Finals sweep at the hands of the Spurs, then a 7-game series loss to the revamped Boston Celtics, and now (ok, I may be getting ahead of myself) they head into the next game facing a 3-1 series deficit to the Orlando Magic, meaning, they have to win three in a row, including one in Orlando, where they have yet to win a game this season. In fact, they haven't been close. In their four contests in Orlando, only the most recent overtime loss was decided by less than 10 points (the last playoff game in Orlando they lost by 10, then in the regular season they lost their two contests in Orlando by 29 and 11).

As much as I hate these championship Bulls comparisons, I'm going to use it to illustrate my point, since it's something that everyone is fairly familiar with. Firstly though, I want to point out, that like any analogy, the comparison isn't perfect, so in no way are the current Cleveland Cavaliers anywhere near being analogous with the say 1996 Chicago Bulls. Now I know that somewhere buried in previous posts that I don't want to dig up, that I've said that Mo Williams is not somebody I want as a second option on my team. Sure, he's better than Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Drew Gooden or Larry Hughes as a second option, but still... even then. Everyone says Mo Williams was supposed to be the Scottie Pippen to LeBron's Jordan, he was supposed to ease the offensive pressure, give the Cavs another ball handler, and that is where everyone got it wrong. Again let me state my disdain of these classic Bulls comparisons, and Michael Jordan comparisons and all that, but I will use this analogy so that people get a clear idea, here's what it really boils down to: Mo Williams is no Scottie Pippen, in fact, he's closer to probably a Toni Kukoc than anything else, and here's the kicker: LeBron James is much closer to Scottie Pippen than he is to Michael Jordan. So there is the basic premise under which I believe the Cavs are unsuccessful.

I'm not saying that the Cavs should move LeBron James to second fiddle or anything, I'd still loev to have LeBron as my primary scoring option, but I'm asking that Mike Brown and the Cavs recognize that LeBron is more of a facilitator than he is a scorer. I'm not saying that Danny Ferry has to find a "Michael Jordan" type player to play next to LeBron, this is why I think the whole Bulls analogy is stupid. I believe that all the flak that LeBron received in Game 2 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals for passing the las shot to Donyell Marshall instead of taking it himself, really changed how everyone looks at LeBron. Everyone wants him to be the go-to guy, and sure, he subsequently carried the Cavs in 4 straight wins to the Finals. However, I believe that that play is very telling of the kind of player that LeBron is.

Quite frankly, you can't really construct a team around LeBron like the 76ers did in 2001 with Allen Iverson. You can't just surround LeBron with role players and have him dominate the ball, and after about 4 years I think Mike Brown is starting to figure that out. Mo Williams is the first step, but I don't think it's necessarily the be-all-end-all. While it's nice to have another point of origin for the offense to run through, it's also not the greatest need of the Cavaliers. What I believe the Cavaliers need is, well, in short, a second-option. I don't know that that's very clear, as that's what Mo Williams was supposed to be, but let me try to explain this a little better.

As LeBron James is more of a facilitator than anything else, I believe that what the Cavaliers need is a scorer. Someone that LeBron James can consistently pass the ball to and rely on to score. Probably someone that can create his own offense, but regardless, someone that LeBron can facilitate for. In usage of another bad '90s basketball analogy, LeBron needs something of a Karl Malone to his John Stockton. I think ideally that type of player would be something akin to a post scorer, but the point remains the same. Jason Kidd not only had Vince Carter, but also Richard Jefferson on the Nets. When playing together, Jefferson then became the 6th leading scorer in the league for that season (I forget which). Likewise, I believe that LeBron is the kind of player that can draw out that sort of improvement or production from his fellow teammates, additionally, he's also blessed with the talent and ability to get his own as well.

Wherever LeBron ends up, I hope that the GMs realize this one thing, before LeBron needs a solid supporting cast, he needs someone he can pass the ball to, someone he can rely on to score. It sounds arbitrary, and arguably Mo Williams meets that need, but it's hard to exactly articulate what specifically I mean. Let me try one last way of explaining this. Should we go back to the Bulls analogy (as a note Pippen could take over games too), should Pippen and Jordan have switched roles (where Pippen was the go-to guy), the Bulls still would have needed the scoring that came from Jordan, and in that sense, that player is what the Cavs need. LeBron has aspects of both Pippen and Jordan, but he doesn't make up for the both of them, the Cavs, or rather, whatever team LeBron is on, needs a player to help make up for that difference. I really have to stop doing these comparisons and come up with better examples, but hey, I think it gets the picture across, sort of. In short, LeBron needs someone to pass the ball to that can score, he needs a go-to option that's not himself.