At 33, James shows super-human ability to stay on court, & Cavs need it
LeBron James, who never misses an opportunity to engage in self-praise, said last week “I’m like fine wine, I get better with age.” He’s not wrong, of course. LeBron defies both logic and physics. He is still dominating the NBA even after turning 33 in December. He is having an MVP caliber season — again — but the trophy appears to be James Harden’s to win for the first time.
That may be a bitter pill for LeBron to swallow considering that LeBron has played in all 69 of Cleveland’s games. In his previous three seasons James played 69, 76 and 74 games. So much for the theory that if LeBron played in 80 games it would be difficult to beat him out for MVP honors.
Well, LeBron is on pace for all 82 but the trophy is Harden’s to lose.
What’s interesting about this season for James, besides the roster turnover in Cleveland, is that he’s logging big minutes after spending the previous five years earning a Ph.D in body maintenance.
Maybe fans and the league office didn’t like it but there were very good reasons why LeBron, who has played into June for the last seven years, missed select regular-season games. If any player deserved the benefit of the doubt, it’s LeBron.
So why is he an Ironman this season? Perhaps this is the positive effect of the league’s new player friendly 82-game schedule. More built-in rest days means fewer missed games.
James has other motivations as well. For one, he loves to play. That’s obvious. But he also knew that without Kyrie Irving the Cavs would need him more than ever.
So now LeBron’s on pace to play more games and minutes since his first season in Miami back in 2010-11. It’s impressive but the extra workload could take its toll in the playoffs. I get it. James is super human and indestructible. But he’s also about to enter the playoffs with the weakest supporting cast he’s had since signing as a free agent with Miami.
The Cavs have already lost 29 games, two shy of the most losses a LeBron-led team has had in eight years.
Also, Cleveland likely won’t win 50 games. In non-lockout seasons, LeBron last failed to win at least 50 games 10 years ago.
The Cavs are currently in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
And LeBron has played every game.
“Listen, it doesn’t matter to me if I’m a six seed or a three seed or a two seed, eight seed,” James said following a win over Denver. “If I come into your building for a Game 1, I can be very challenging.”
Again, he’s not wrong. Good luck to any team trying to take out James four times in a seven-game series. No Eastern Conference team has been able to do that this decade.
But this year feels different. Kevin Love is sidelined with a wrist injury. J.R. Smith has struggled. Newcomers Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. have never appeared in a postseason game. With Irving gone, the Cavs don’t have a second superstar.
“It’s been a long time since I haven’t played with another AllStar on my team,” James said. “So, having Kev out has been very challenging for all of us. Kev has a big usage rate on our team. He’ll get the ball when things get tight, chaotic; we can throw it to him in the low post and get some things going.”
The Cavs need Love’s experience and outside shooting; the belief is that come playoff time the Cavs will make multiple efforts defensively as opposed to occasionally sleepwalking through the regular season.
And they still have LeBron, who has played a lot of games and has a lot of mileage on his 33-year-old tires.
BEING FRANK
The Knicks front office is sincere about making things right (finally) in New York. That’s great. But until they taste a little success they may want to tone down the rhetoric about reinventing the wheel when it comes to player development. The Spurs have earned the right to talk that way. And they don’t. The Knicks? Just lay low for a while. The results will speak for themselves.
Just because television decided in November that University of Oklahoma guard Trae Young was college basketball’s new Steph Curry doesn’t mean he can be Curry in the NBA. The Trail Blazers’ Shabazz Napier was an outstanding college player at UConn. Same with Jimmer Fredette at BYU.
Isaiah Thomas went from being an MVP candidate last year to playing for three teams over nine months. He’ll be a free agent this summer and several NBA teams are not convinced that Thomas, who has a bum hip, is close to 100 percent.
Where will he end up? Orlando needs a point guard. And don’t ever rule out the Knicks.
Portland is one of the NBA’s best stories but unfortunately they play in a conference with the Rockets and Warriors. FYI: Neil Olshey, the Blazers GM, grew up in Flushing, Queens.
At least someone from Flushing wins consistently.