I saw LeBron James play Saturday night

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I know opinions varied on LeBron after the ESPN2 game. Let me just say that
the national TV audience must have spurred him to play hard (sarcasm font
on), because he was even more lackluster Saturday night.

I'll get the stats out of the way: He finished with 26 points and 10
rebounds. His team beat Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven in overtime after a
Brookhaven kid missed two free throws at the end of regulation. Brookhaven
is a very good team, the defending big-school state champs in Ohio, and
their best player is a 5-foot-7 point guard who is going to Oklahoma on
scholarship next year.

Anyway, LeBron again was in "putting on a show" mode. Every shot was a
step-back fadeaway-even his 3-point attempts-despite the fact that he was
far and away the biggest player on the court. He spent most of his time on
offense standing around waiting for the ball to come to him-one time he
actually stood in the corner, motionless, with his hands on his hips, as his
teammates ran what amounted to an offense. Most of the time he just drifted
around the perimeter waiting for the ball to come his way. He ended up
shooting well under 50 percent from the field against high school defenders.
He had the ball as the clock was winding down to end regulation and was
stripped by the 5-7 point guard, who raced the other way and was fouled
(he's the one who missed the free throws).

Defensively, he rarely made it down the court. He loafed to halfcourt and
lingered there hoping for a chance at a cherry-picking dunk. He stood
straight up, feet together, much of the time he was playing defense, and had
trouble staying in front of the man he was guarding.

Now the good... He's clearly a monster talent. He's big, strong, athletic
and has great ball skills. He's a good passer. He's usually too willing to
pass, though, when the pass isn't creating any kind of advantage. It's one
thing to draw attention and find a high school teammate for a layup. It's
another to throw a couple of hip fakes at your man and then throw a
cross-court pass to a teammate when you don't have an open lane for a dunk.

All of LeBron's faults are effort things. He doesn't work hard at any part
of the game. He doesn't run the floor, he doesn't move without the ball, he
doesn't play defense, he doesn't rebound (remember, he's 6-8 and 240 pounds
going against high-schoolers). The sellout crowd at Ohio State's
Schottenstein Center (about 17,000) started the game ready to ooh and aah at
LeBron, but quickly turned against him when he so clearly wasn't putting out
much effort. I'm sure LeBron is bored much of the time-after all, the kid
plays with Jordan in the summer-but there's something to be said for a
natural work ethic and competitiveness. I just can't imagine Jordan, Magic,
Bird, etc., slacking like that. They cared too much about winning. 

It's a shame he doesn't have a coach who will force him to bring out the
best in himself. I'm hoping he ends up with Pat Riley in Miami. He needs
that kind of influence. If he goes NY, Denver, Cleveland or Golden State,
he's just going to steamroll those coaches. As much as I despise Riley, he'd
get the best out of the kid and force him to work hard.

Anyway, I promised my scouting report. In a nutshell, incredible talent with
no real flaws in his game-other than an appalling lack of effort in all
phases. If he combines effort with that skill level and athleticism, the
potential is through the roof. Ironically, he reminds me in a lot of ways of
a young Antoine. Antoine's skill set was incredible as a young player. He
didn't have James' athleticism, but Antoine had all the skills. But like
Antoine used to do, James tends to worry too much about putting on a show
and not enough about actually doing the things needed to win the game. It
took Antoine years to learn the importance of hard work, and Antoine still
has a lot of rough spots in his game. Hopefully it won't take James as long.

Mark