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LeBron's season start best of his career
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Sunday, Nov 18, 2007
The record might not look great, and he might not be getting a great deal of attention for it, but LeBron James is off to the best start of his career.
It has been only 10 games, a rather small slice of the season, but James' preseason predictions about his physical shape and intentions are proving to be true.
He has been hot in the early going before. In fact, twice in his first four years in the NBA, he was named Player of the Month in November. With other teams in the Eastern Conference off to great starts, he might not earn that honor this time, but that very well could be reduced to semantics.
Looking at the sheer numbers, James is averaging more points, shooting a better percentage overall and on 3-pointers, rebounding better and
averaging two more assists per game than last season. His blocks and steals are up, too.
Last season, he had just one 40-point game, and that happened in overtime. This season, he has had two, neither in overtime.
And he's putting up all those numbers in slightly less court time than last year's average.
He's far and away the NBA leader in combined points, assists and rebounds per game: 45.
In his two triple-doubles — he had only one last year — he has put up numbers not seen in the NBA since the late 1960s.
Even those statistics don't tell the whole story, and they certainly are subject to change. It's the style James is playing that has been so impressive to not only observers, but also his teammates and coaches.
There was plenty of talk about his jump shot improving after a summer of hard work, and it has looked more trusty. More important, though, he has tripled his post-up plays. That's partly because the Cavs' new offense has more plays for him down low. But it's also because James has devoted himself to improving in that area and is more comfortable because he has developed post moves.
Overall, the offense isn't exactly flawless, but the increased drive-and-kick action has gotten the team moving more. There has been much less standing around, with James just dribbling, although it still happens sometimes.
The direct benefactor has been Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who seems to be settling into an effective two-man game with James that is more dynamic than their repetitive side pick-and-rolls from a season ago.
There is no doubt that a correlation exists between the increase in Ilgauskas' scoring average by more than four points per game and the increase in James' assists. One of the Cavs' go-to plays in close games recently has James sucking in the defense and throwing the ball back out to Ilgauskas for a jumper.
It has been a quality alternative to the standard Cavs ''need a basket'' offense from last season, when James would try to drive into the lane and hope to find a crease or kick the ball out to a 3-point shooter . . . even when 3s weren't needed.
On the other end of the court, James' impact has been seen in his help defense, especially defending the basket from the weak side. Without Anderson Varejao, who defended the basket with the threat of taking a charge, the Cavs have tried to pick up the slack by blocking more shots. Led by James, their blocks are up 25 percent from last season's first 10 games.
Whether James can keep all this up is yet to be seen. Last year, he had problems maintaining his energy flow. But he also seemed to coast through the first half of last season before getting interesting in February and playing great down the stretch and into the playoffs.
But this season he is indeed playing like a Most Valuable Player.
Dribbles
Spanish newspaper Marca last week quoted a source close to Varejao as saying he is close to ''giving up'' signing with the Cavs this season. What that means isn't clear — whether he'll follow through with threats to sit out the season or sign to play in Europe. Either way, the Cavs maintain his rights next summer.
Varejao's decision to delay signing could end up costing him lots of money even if he eventually comes to terms with the Cavs. The team could pro-rate the contract and dock him pay for missing games. If he were to sign for the roughly $6 million the Cavs are believed to have on the table for this season, he technically would already be out about $920,000, which is about what he made all last season. Of course, that's all negotiable.
The NBA has listed San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan as a center on the All-Star ballot after years of putting him at forward. That has upset some, because chances are he will not get voted in as a starter ahead of the Chinese-backed Yao Ming, who gets millions of votes from the Far East. This has been a long-term issue for the versatile Duncan. Last season, the NBA accepted first-team All-NBA votes for Duncan at both forward and center, which helped keep James from a starting spot.
By the way, for the sixth consecutive season, the Cavs did not have a point guard make the All-Star ballot. The most recent time was Andre Miller in 2001-02.
Another example of how remarkable it is that the Cavs have been able to post a .500 record in the first 10 games is that they have yet to lead a game heading into the fourth quarter. All five of their victories have featured late comebacks.
Heading into the weekend, Ilgauskas was third in the NBA in double-doubles with seven and first in offensive rebounds with 4.9 per game.
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
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