What's the one biggest hole/weakness in LeBron's game?

[1987_Lakers]

When did MJ shoot below today's standard from three when he had today's volume?

[3ba11]

3-POINT EFFICIENCY FOR REGULAR SEASON GAMES WHERE MJ HAD 3+ ATTEMPTS:

1985..... 4-18
1986...... 3-6
1987...... 5-22
1988...... 1-3
1989...... 16-49
1990...... 75-187
1991...... 11-30
1992...... 13-39
1993...... 68-185
__________________________
total....... 196-539 (36.4%)



3-POINT EFFICIENCY FOR PLAYOFF SERIES WITH 3+ ATTEMPTS (HIGHLIGHTED BELOW):




53-135 (39.2%)






From 85-93', Jordan shot 36.4% on threes in games that he had 3+ attempts (539 attempts), and 39% in series with 3+ attempts (regular line only) - aka there's no record of MJ shooting poorly at today's volumes.

Since MJ always shot well at today's volumes despite no practice, he would be elite in today's game WITH practice... It's intuitive that 36-39% with no practice translates to over 40% WITH practice in today's game.
'
This is a clear demonstration that MJ would shoot well in today's game - he became the greatest 2-point jumpshooter ever due to goat form and practice, so he would do the same from threes and be one of the best shooters in today's game among high-producing players

[SouBeachTalents]

His 3 biggest weaknesses

1. Not an elite midrange shooter as OP indicated.

2. Never been a great FT shooter.

3. The one I think has been the costliest to him, his mentality/aggressiveness at the end of games. Even after he finally broke through in 2012 he was always wildly inconsistent on his approach to crunch time. There are times, like the Warriors game last week, where he's guns blazing, aggressive, attacks the basket, even calmly knocks down 2 FT's to win it. But there are far too many instances he is passive to the detriment of the team in those situations, and I think they all tie into the first 2 weaknesses that were listed. I think his lack of confidence in hitting the contested midrange or hitting FT's causes him to lose his assertiveness at the end of games.

I'm not an advocate of the Kobe style either, the hero ball jack up a long 2 over a double team and not even look to distribute the ball, but I would've liked to have seen LeBron be more assertive in 3 specific moments.

1. End of Game 3 2017 Finals. Iirc he didn't score over the final 3 minutes, and passed up what would have been a decent look over Dray at the rim with 5 fouls to Korver in the corner.

2. End of Game 1 2018 Finals. What kills me in this sequence is he was in the midst of one of the greatest games of his career, and he doesn't even attempt to score the basket, he just stands there with the ball above his head for several seconds against a much shorter defender in Curry before dumping it off to Hill.

3. End of Game 5 2020 Finals. He was on absolute fire in a duel with Butler, and instead of taking the last shot, possibly a midrange jumper, which he had been nailing all night, he drives to the basket and dumps it off to an ice cold Danny Green who misses it.

I want to clarify, I 100% support making the right basketball play, hitting the open man, playing team basketball, not playing hero ball, and you could absolutely argue he made the right play on all 3 decisions. But imo with the way he had been playing, I think it would have been in the teams best interest for him to take the final shot in those situations as opposed to role players.

One last interesting observation I've picked up on LeBron, when he has time to think about the decision at the end of games, he almost always passes it to a teammate. On the flipside, look up any of his playoff GW's, the vast majority of the time, if not literally every time, he was forced to shoot the ball with very little time left on the clock, so it seems like he can be susceptible to overthinking if given too much time.

[coin24]

Letiny has SDS

[3ba11]

.
Mental strength


Lebron has always needed a sure thing like $100 million before he ever dribbled a basketball (generational wealth before proving himself) and then he was allowed to hand-pick opposing franchise players to team up with (guaranteed resume).. Anything that wasn't a sure thing or anything that required struggle resulted in massive choke 2010 2nd Round quit-job, 2011 Finals, 2014 quit-job, 2009 historic upset loss (7 TO in critical 4th quarter and OT - this was the 1st big choke of his career) and many more...

He only shoots 37% on game-winners in the playoffs and 0% on game-winners in the Finals (0-10 on game-tying or go-ahead shots on the last possession of Finals game, so he's never scored on last possession of 1-possession game in Finals)

[Phoenix]

One last interesting observation I've picked up on LeBron, when he has time to think about the decision at the end of games, he almost always passes it to a teammate. On the flipside, look up any of his playoff GW's, the vast majority of the time, if not literally every time, he was forced to shoot the ball with very little time left on the clock, so it seems like he can be susceptible to overthinking if given too much time.

Good observation, I've thought the exact same. Most, if not all, of his notable game winners were basically when he had to react instinctively instead of having too much time to survey the floor where he's probably doing this:



That's why the 2018 playoff run up until game 1 of the finals was among his best, capped off by two gamewinners that both required he act quickly:




In both of those cases, if he had 5-10 extra seconds on the clock it wouldn't surprise me if he looked to pass first.

[3ba11]

Good observation, I've thought the exact same. Most, if not all, of his notable game winners were basically when he had to react instinctively instead of having too much time to survey the floor where he's probably doing this:



That's why the 2018 playoff run up until game 1 of the finals was among his best, capped off by two gamewinners that both required he act quickly:




In both of those cases, if he had 5-10 extra seconds on the clock it wouldn't surprise me if he looked to pass first.

Indeed, and the gap between Lebron's regular efficiency in the playoffs (50%) and his efficiency on game-winners (37%) represents his choke factor, which is about 13 percentage points.. However, his Finals efficiency on game-winners is 0%, so this is a 50 percentage points of choke factor.. His clutch-time efficiency in the playoffs (last 5 within 5) is 40%, so that's 10 points of choke factor.

Otoh, Jordan's choke factor was virtually zero because his regular efficiency compared to his efficiency on game-winners or clutch-time efficiency are all the same at 50%, while his Finals efficiency on game-winners is also 50%.

This is a remarkable contrast - it's like we're comparing the goat clutch player to one of the historic chokers of our time

[FilmyCogTurner]

His 3 biggest weaknesses

1. Not an elite midrange shooter as OP indicated.

2. Never been a great FT shooter.

3. The one I think has been the costliest to him, his mentality/aggressiveness at the end of games. Even after he finally broke through in 2012 he was always wildly inconsistent on his approach to crunch time. There are times, like the Warriors game last week, where he's guns blazing, aggressive, attacks the basket, even calmly knocks down 2 FT's to win it. But there are far too many instances he is passive to the detriment of the team in those situations, and I think they all tie into the first 2 weaknesses that were listed. I think his lack of confidence in hitting the contested midrange or hitting FT's causes him to lose his assertiveness at the end of games.

I think the reason he was able to ice those two free throws was because he hit that fadeaway on the left side of the court a few moments befire. Kudos for making the shot, it actually looked fluid for once but if it wasn't for that he would have been his usual clunky self.

And his biggest weakness which is at the same time his greatest strength is his physique. Which leads to OPs point of no midrange game. The lack of footwork and agility prevents Bron from being a successful midrange player. Jordan/Kobe could bend, twist, lean, hang, double pump.. you name it and still knock down the contested jumper. Bron looks like a dude with wooden shoes on his feet. Not ideal for your supposed "closer".

[999Guy]

Being a 6'8 260 pound average shooter that needs to dribble the ball to be most effective.

Not ideal.

Amazing player but I think you can build superior teams around inferior players. But only slightly inferior. I'm not talking Paul George here.

[Axe]

lol this troll...

he's a stat padder, reminds me of chris paul but a way more annoying version of him. That particular flaw is a poison to a team in different ways

mechanically I would say that he never reformed his jump shot worth a shit. He's always had that retarded looking shot. Jordan's jumper in the 80s was pretty ugly, by the early 90s he had the smoothest looking mid range shot ever.

his obsession to want to be compared to jordan doesn't help him either. He's much closer to magic than jordan in his style of play and he refuses to accept it.

LOL @ comparing him to Magic. He had no jumper at all and didn't play defense worth a shit.

Yes, LeBron isn't comparable to MJ. He didn't quit the league 2x to rest.

Two buffoons from the alt right mafia arguing who's a better goat over the other.

[Full Court]

The biggest hole/weakness in Axe's posting is his abysmally low IQ.

[Axe]

Imagine being a redneck mongoloid who can't stop feeling sorely butthurt about whatever i say, even though it's not even related to him at all.

[StrongLurk]

Lebron's biggest weakness is still perimeter shooting/free throw shooting. It's the same problem he's had his whole career. He's pretty much an average at best shooter and a below average free throw shooter.

With that being said, Bron is still clearly the GOAT and best player of all time.

[FKAri]

Bron is still clearly the GOAT and best player of all time.

Arguably? Sure. Clearly?

[Airupthere]

Aside from perimeter and FT shooting, and inconsistent aggressiveness at the end of games. I think it is his being too conscious of whatever narrative he is trying to come up with rather than just having pure desire to compete. I think he considers public opinion or his image too much that he does not have pure disregard for noise and just focus on the game. MJ, Kobe, even Rodman, I think they just plainly wanted to compete and win.