BV touched on this topic in his most recent N!U!T20! but it deserves a more in-depth look. To put it bluntly – LeBron, what the fuck?! Coming into the season almost everyone agreed that he was the #1 overall pick, even though statistical evidence didn’t necessarily support this. Shawn Marion and Kevin Garnett were perennially at the top of the player rater, but LeBron almost caught up to them last year, and here’s a 21 year-old ready to kick it into super high gear. There was no real weakness in his game, save for a bit of trouble at the free throw line, and he showed the ability to dominate in just about every category. But then…

After last night’s game in which LeBron notched his season high 39 – although he would have been under 25 if not for a pair of overtimes – he sits at a respectable 11/16 on the player rater, but that’s not counting turnovers and not at all what those of you who drafted him #1 overall last year were expecting. Some people were disappointed with his output last year, so I can only imagine how those people feel if King James ended up on their team again and he’s ranked slightly below Caron Butler. LeBron’s numbers are down in every single category, except for turnovers. That’s really hard to do. Granted, some of the drops aren’t too drastic – 6.7 boards instead of 7.0, 47.6% from the field instead of 48% – but he hasn’t improved in a single category.

So what’s wrong with him? Well, not to let him off easy, but I think a lot of the blame falls on those around him. The Cavs just don’t have a very good supporting cast, and too much of the burden is falling on LeBron. It would be great for LeBron if he could serve as a finisher more often. Carmelo Anthony is flourishing in Denver this season because people get him the ball in situations where he can score. Granted, that’s his main strength where LeBron is just as good as a playmaker. But having the ball as much as LeBron does takes its toll, and it doesn’t even result in improved assist numbers since the Cavs don’t really have any other finishers. The team misses plenty of jump shots, Zydrunas Ilgauskas scores many of his baskets on offensive putbacks and Larry Hughes is a slashing scorer. After averaging 7.2 apg in his sophomore season, LeBron is down to 6.1 this year, even though he’s seen a boost in turnovers. Eric Snow isn’t a bad guy to have around, but he’d be much better off in an Antonio Daniels-type role, coming off the bench as a steadying force. It’s hard to figure out why the Cavs didn’t go after Steve Blake, who is flourishing in Denver (did you see those back-to-back 3s last night and the ensuing chest bumps from ‘Melo and AI?) and could have surely taken a bit of the burden off of LBJ while getting him at least a few easy hoops per game.

The free throw issue is a full-fledged problem now, too. Personally, I’m enjoying the hell out of it after what transpired between him and Gilbert Arenas during the playoffs last year. After last night’s 8-for-13 outing, he’s just under 70% for the year. Not crippling, but you can deal with that number a lot more if it’s coming from your center and you have other players to make up for it. Getting that from your SF leaves you at a great competitive disadvantage. Of the top 50 SF listed on ESPN’s player rater, LeBron has the least value in FT%. He’s never shot above 75% from the line in a season, and four years is a pretty good sample size. There have been games this year when he just can’t hit anything from the line – a pair of 6-for-13s in the past week, 5-for-11, 4-for-10, etc.

I’m most disappointed in LeBron’s lack of steals. In the 04-05 season he grabbed 2.2 spg, and I thought this would set the stage for him to become one of the league’s top defenders on an annual basis. It’s dominance in this category that can really make a difference between being a stud and one of the top fantasy players in the league. Instead he’s stagnated and is averaging a merely decent 1.6 spg, although he’s been swiping the ball more of late. It may have been unreasonable to expect a 30/8/8 season, but getting back to those 2.2 spg he averaged a couple years ago would almost make up for it.

So is LeBron just saving himself for the playoffs? Has he grown bored with the regular season? I don’t think it’s fair to say that, but as BV said, he may be just 21 but he has logged an insane amount of minutes in his first few years in the league. It’s not to say that he’s worn down, but perhaps he realizes that he’ll be playing 40+ minutes in 100 games for each of the next 10 years, at least, and going all out every night might not be the way to go. I don’t see a lack of effort out there, he’s still a great competitor, but that might explain some of the small things, like the drops in boards and steals. During his second season you could see that killer instinct where he wanted to prove to the world that he justified the hype. Now, he’s been anointed King and doesn’t necessarily feel the need to show it off every night, like, say, our boy Gilbert. LeBron’s got Nike, he’s got Microsoft, a few extra points or steals won’t really make that much difference to him. I still say that he has a huge second-half surge in him as we head toward the playoffs, but more and more a statement like that is based on speculation than evidence.