Những bài viết hay về chủ đề bóng rổ

Những bài viết hay về chủ đề bóng rổ

Anh em mình lâu nay toàn bàn tán về bóng rổ địa phương nhỉ, bàn tán về bóng rổ thế giới tí đi. Trong topic này tôi mong rằng mọi người chỉ post những bài viết về bóng rổ (đội, cầu thủ, bình luận trận đấu, sự kiện...)bằng tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt thôi nhé, tiếng Trung thì cho xin. Thêm một điều nữa, bài viết về bóng rổ tôi post lên đây sẽ phần lớn là bằng tiếng Anh và tôi sẽ không dịch những bài này vì lí do đơn giản là ... quá dài (coi như anh em luyện tiếng Anh luôn thể đi)

Bài đầu tiên là về lí do thất bại và các cách lựa chọn cầu thủ bất hợp lý của tuyển Mỹ tại kì Olympic Athen vừa rồi. Tác giả là The Sport Guy (một trong những thằng cha mà mình khoái nhất)
Last Saturday was just another gorgeous day in Southern California, one of those afternoons when you feel guilty if you aren''t doing something -- heading to the beach, taking a hike, playing some hoops, lounging by the pool, whatever. Of course, I stayed indoors for my first glimpse of our Olympic hoops team. I needed to know: Is there any reason to be excited about this team? Would LeBron thrive with quality teammates? Would Duncan try to sneak out like DC Dacey in "Fast Break" when he realized that Kidd, KG and T-Mac weren''t playing? Would these guys provide my much-needed basketball fix over the summer, or would I have to rely on re-runs of 20-year-old games on ESPN Classic again?
Well, they won by 25. Crushed Puerto Rico. Dismantled them. A few hours after the game, my buddy House called for a scouting report. Again, we won by 25. The outcome was never in doubt, especially once you saw Jose Ortiz''s slicked-back ''do, which made him look like he should be singing at 3 a.m. in a Univision telethon.
"So what happened?" House asked.
"We can''t win," I told him. I felt like I was standing atop a stairwell screaming at Rocky Balboa.
"Wait, I thought we killed ''em?"
"We did. We can''t win. We''re not going to medal."
And so I told him what I watched. How we didn''t learn the lessons from the World Championship Debacle two years ago. How we basically threw together another All-Star Team. How we ignored the three essentials for any successful international team ...
Đây là cách mà TSG nghĩ để cải tiến Dream Team:
1. A pure point guard who can penetrate, create shots for teammates, make open threes and make good decisions in the open floor.
2. At least two pure shooters, ideally three.
3. Big guys who can bang down low, set picks, shoot threes and run the floor.
... and trotted out 12 recognizable names, just so we could sell some jerseys and T-shirts.
"Jesus," House said. "How come we know these things and the guys who run USA Basketball have no idea?"
"I don''t know."
"This isn''t the Dream Team, it''s the Nightmare Team."
Believe me, I''m not jumping on the Blame Bandwagon because we lost by 20 to a bunch of Italians. That game was somewhat of a fluke -- between the seven travelling calls, all the moving picks by Italy and their unconscious three-point shooting (including one that actually BANKED IN from the top of the key), it was one of those freak games. It happens. Still, on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. Pacific Coast Time, I knew this column was coming. Hell, I wrote it two years ago. Read the one from back then. You can even chuckle at my shameless pimping for two Celtics in the starting five.
Maybe you don''t care. And I don''t really blame you. I can only explain why this matters to me so much. I love basketball. It''s my favorite sport, one of the few things in life that completely makes sense to me. In basketball, a team of not-so-talented guys can beat a team of talented guys just by playing well together. Doesn''t matter whether you''re playing in the Olympics, the NBA, college, high school or some court in a park. Just watch a game from the ''77 Finals some time -- Portland beating Philly with half the talent. That''s the essence of the game, how a collection of diverse talents mesh into a cohesive unit. Why were the ''86 Celtics my favorite team of all-time? They didn''t just have five future Hall of Famers ... they played well together. And you can''t ask for anything more than that.
* * * * *
So this isn''t even about the Olympics, or the fact that we''re about to get our asses kicked again. This is about a fundamental difference of opinion between two sides:
Side A: Me, House and every other true basketball fan.
Side B: David Stern, Russ Granik, Stu Jackson and every other person who picked the roster for our sixth-place Olympic team this summer.
Side A sees the Summer Olympics as a blank canvas. We see a chance to build a superior basketball team from scratch -- not an All-Star team, a basketball team. Choosing from 300 of the greatest players in the world, we would want one dominant big man; one quality point guard; one great scorer immediately designated for Alpha Dog Status, two other good shooters, two other rebounders, one athletic swingman who can defend the other player''s best shooter, a backup point guard, two energy guys, and a 12th man who will hustle in practice and just be happy to be on the team. If we pick the right guys, we know we''re winning the tournament and possibly ending up on ESPN Classic. It''s just a fact.
Side B sees the Summer Olympics as a vehicle to market the players. They want to sell jerseys and T-shirts. They want to promote current superstars (like Duncan and Iverson) and introduce the world to the next generation of younger studs. They don''t care if the team is fun to watch, or if they play well together. Deep down, they''re praying that the BMW (''Bron, ''Melo and Wade) makes a big splash. And if things go wrong, Side B has a built-in excuse -- they can just blame all the stars who refused to play (KG, Kidd, T-Mac, K-Mart, the O''Neals, Allen, even Bibby).
And that raises the question: Who would you rather have picking this team? Side A or Side B? Yeah, I thought so. You went with Side A. Of course you did. Because if House and I were in charge ...
1. We would play Michael Redd more.
Best dead-eye shooter in the league. Can''t miss from 22 feet. Needs about 0.00004 seconds to square up. If he was playing for any other country -- Argentina, Italy, Croatia, you name it -- they would revolve their offenses around him. And yet Team USA isn''t using Redd at all.
You know why?
BECAUSE HE''S NOT ON THE EFFING TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!
For months and months, I assumed he was one of the guys who rejected Team USA because of the whole "I''m afraid of spending two weeks in Athens for security reasons, yet I''m perfectly fine going to clubs frequented by gangbangers and drug dealers" logic that makes the NBA so oddly enjoyable. Nope. They never asked him. Instead, they doubled up at the "3" with Richard Jefferson and Shawn Marion, two guys who give you similar things. They''re both great athletes, good open-court players, solid defenders and above-average outside shooters. I like both of them. You only need one. If anything, you''re putting them in a situation where they''re competing against one another, almost like hiring Keanu Reeves and Paul Walker for the same movie. And if that''s not bad enough, ''Melo and ''Bron can both play the "3."
To recap: With the shorter three-point line and the collapsing zone, international rules are specifically designed to benefit small forwards who can reliably drain 20-footers. Other than maybe Carmelo -- and that''s a huge "maybe" -- none of our four guys qualifies. And we had over 300 players to pick from. Perfectly logical.
2. You would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER see someone like Stephon Marbury on our team.
Lemme see ...
With international rules, I need a point guard who can create shots for his teammates ... someone who always makes the right decision in the open floor ... someone who consistently makes 20-footers ... someone who doesn''t suck defensively ... someone who isn''t careless with the ball ... someone who''s a proven leader ... someone with a history of raising his game when it matters.
For God''s sake, how does Marbury even enter the discussion here? Didn''t anyone on the selection committee watch him play for the past eight years? Didn''t they learn their lesson from the Baron Davis Disaster two years ago? You need a certain type of point guard for international basketball -- he''s the exact opposite in EVERY POSSIBLE WAY!!!!!! Could someone send a memo to Stephon and tell him that the pilot turned off the "Please entertain the fans" sign? We don''t need to see alley-oops and pseudo no-looks when you''re actually looking. Just lead the team and help us win. Somebody should force him to watch 500 hours of game tapes from the ''80''s (Stockton, Price, Cheeks, Tiny and everyone else) before the tournament starts. Maybe he''d learn something.
(NOTE: I KEEP USING CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS BECAUSE WE''RE ON OUR SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK OF STEPHEN A. SMITH HOSTING "PARDON THE INTERRUPTION." I''M JUST TRYING TO GET MY POINT ACROSS HERE! THE ONLY REASON STEPHON MARBURY IS ON THIS TEAM IS BECAUSE HE''S THE BEST PLAYER ON THE KNICKS, THE MARQUEE FRANCHISE OF THE NBA!!! THAT''S IT!!! THERE IS NO OTHER REASON!!!!! MAYBE HE''S AN ALL-STAR IN THE NBA, BUT FOR INTERNATIONAL PURPOSES, HE''S A BORDERLINE TRAIN WRECK!!!!!)
What point guards would work in his place? Kidd would have been the best; and honestly, Congress should have passed legislation and forced Kidd to play for his country, just because. But he''s injured, so it''s a moot point. Steve Nash would have been perfect, but he''s Canadian. Mike Bibby would have been fine, but he turned us down either because he was afraid of the security in Athens, or because the Maloof Brothers asked him to judge a Wet T-shirt contest at the Palms on Aug. 22. Steve Francis would have been a bigger train wreck than Marbury. As much as I like Chauncey Billups, I''m not sure he''s the right fit with the international rules.
So you need to get creative. Screw it. Dwyane Wade should be playing point, anyway -- he''s one of the best three players on the team. Iverson could back him up. And as my third guy, I''m going with Kirk Hinrich -- superb defensive player, deadly shooter, probably the most underrated rookie in the league last year, and he wouldn''t care if he played five-to-10 minutes a game.
3. We would play Brad Miller more.
Certified banger. Comfortable playing at the top of the key. Nice range from 15 feet. Genuinely underrated passer. Sets the best moving picks in the league. Not afraid to whistle an elbow against someone''s temple. Every European and South American team has someone like him, and Miller has more talent than any of those guys. He''s also played on consecutive 50-win teams, which should count for something.
Oh, wait a second ... we didn''t ask him, either.
(I mean, you see why I''m going crazy, right? Just tell me you understand. Please. I''m begging you. Just nod. Nod at the computer screen right now. Give me a sign. Anything.)
4. We would play Rip Hamilton more.
He''s only the best scorer on a team that just won the NBA championship. You can run him off picks, he''s tireless, never takes bad shots, never goes beyond his means. He gets better when it matters. He''s been a winner at every level. And he''s a good guy.
By the way? He''s not on the team. Unfortunately, he turned down our invitation after we waited until the last minute to ask him.
(I will now peel the skin off my body.)
5. We would look for underrated players who contributed to winning teams.
In other words, Tayshaun Prince would be on my team. He''s the best defensive swingman in the league. So he''s in.
Now here''s where it gets really interesting ...
I''m the President of the Carmelo Fan Club. The Pistons should have taken him over Darko. I will always believe that. With that said, for this particular team, you can''t have Carmelo and LeBron. You just can''t. I want to win. I want guys who have proven themselves in big spots. You can''t ask kids to adjust to international rules and 11 new teammates in the matter of three weeks; the fact that someone as good as LeBron looked so lost in the Italy game should tell you something. I also think it''s dangerous to have two natural rivals competing for minutes on the same team -- I want my guys pulling for one another, not angling to be better than one another.
Anyway, I''m bumping Carmelo and keeping LeBron, for two reasons: A.) LeBron plays more positions; and B.) Even though Carmelo looked much better in the first two games, LeBron is too gifted a passer to be left out. We need him. Assuming his head is screwed on right. And I''m beginning to wonder after last Saturday.
(By the way, I just cut Carmelo from my team to keep Tayshaun Prince. You read that correctly. In the history of flip-flops by a sports columnist, this might be the greatest one yet. Remember, I''m a complete idiot. Don''t forget this. Not for a second.)
6. We would have two energy guys. Possibly three.
There''s an inherent flaw in the "Let''s just pick an All-Star Team" logic. In ''92, it worked because Larry was crippled; Laettner was happy to be there; Magic was happy to be alive; Pippen, Mullin and Stockton didn''t care about points; and everyone else rightfully deferred to MJ and Chuck. Now that''s a team. (You also had a number of guys who thrived on playing team basketball, but that''s a whole other story.) The ''96 and ''00 teams seemed chronically unhappy to me, like everyone was trying to be a good soldier, but deep down, everyone wanted to play more.
So let''s turn a negative into a positive. I don''t want guys sitting on my bench wondering why they''re not playing, ticked off because they can''t get in a rhythm. I want guys who know what it''s like to come off the bench, who know how to affect a game by diving for loose balls, tipping offensive rebounds and banging home momentum-turning threes. Those are the players that get everyone else going. That''s why I need Brian Cardinal and Shane Battier on my team. And if you don''t understand why ... I don''t know what to tell you.
* * * * *
Without further ado, here''s how my 2004 team would look. Obviously KG, K-Mart and Kidd would be involved if they were available. But they''re not. Anyway ...
STARTING FIVE
Duncan: Not only the best player on the team, he also unveiled a phenomenal "Shaved head, extended fu manchu" this summer for some extra ooomph. Gives him that little extra edge. It''s like he bought a Dennis Haysbert starter kit on eBay. Sadly, international rules (those collapsing zones) neutralize him a little bit -- he''s reduced to rebounding, blocking shots and getting garbage points. And just for the record, he mailed in that Italy game so egregiously, Michael Olowokandi sent him a congratulatory telegram after the game. If you''re afraid to get hurt, stay home.
Odom: Perfect game for this format. Not happy with the fact that he''s starting, though -- ideally, he''d be coming off the bench. And if you were wondering if I''m terrified that he''s playing in Germany right now, just a stone''s throw away from Amsterdam ... I mean, you know me too well.
Redd: (Shaking my head right now.)
Hamilton: Here''s why it''s short-sighted to name your entire Olympic Team months before the actual Olympics: If somebody breaks out in the playoffs, you can''t add him to the team. That''s like if US Weekly decided their next 25 covers ahead of time last March, then couldn''t adjust when Lindsay Lohan and her breasts had their breakout spring.
He turned down the spot because A.) they didn''t ask him until the Finals; and B.) he was probably insulted because 10 other people turned the team down before they got around to asking him. So why not just wait until the last possible moment to name the entire team? Or does that make too much sense.
Wade: With Kidd possibly on the other side of the mountain and no quality American point guards under the age of 25, you''re looking at the key guard for any USA Hoops team for the rest of the decade. There. I said it.
BENCH
Brad Miller: For the reasons mentioned above.
Prince: Put it this way: You wouldn''t see Italian guys getting wide-open looks for 40 straight minutes with Tayshaun around.
(Which reminds me: If we really wanted to win the gold, why wouldn''t we just send our defending NBA champions? Imagine the 2004 Pistons headed to Athens in 10 days, completely intact with their coach, only with Duncan sliding into Mehmet Okur''s spot and Corey Haim filling the role of Darko? Would anyone be against this? Seriously, anyone?)
Iverson: I can''t believe I''m saying this about someone who once averaged 30 points a game, but we need his defense.
LeBron: Plays four positions, fits in anywhere ... and, man, did he look dreadful in the Italy game. He even legitimately dogged it on one play (casually jogging back on D while the entire Italian team beat him down the floor for a layup). You could make the argument that nobody has more at stake this month than LeBron, since he''s supposed to be the Evolutionary Magic and all. Don''t be surprised if you''re down on him four weeks from now. And by the way, if you don''t think a 19-year-old Magic Johnson would have started for the 1980 Olympic Team, you''re insane.
(Just for the hell of it: Kareem at center; Doc and Bird at forwards; Magic and Gervin at guards; Moses, Gus Williams, Bobby Jones, Jamaal Wilkes as the bench guys; ML Carr and Mo Cheeks as my energy guys; and Dave Cowens as the retiring veteran. That''s my "Double What-If Team" -- what if we hadn''t boycotted the ''80 Olympics, and what if pros were allowed to play. By the way, I spent about 45 minutes looking this up. Just humor me.)
Amare Stoudemire: Insurance. Best athlete available at the "4."
(By the way, as soon as this column is over, I''m spending the next two hours figuring out which Dream Team would have been the best one -- ''84, ''88 or ''92. That has all the makings of a future column. I can''t be the only one who cares about this stuff, right? Um ... right?)
Cardinal: You bring him in when you need an energy boost -- namely, when you''re flat, when you''re getting out-hustled and you need someone to make a three and run back up the court screaming and pumping his arms.
Battier: Same with this guy. Although you could easily slide Hinrich or Fred Hoiberg into this spot as the "Steve Kerr Memorial 12th Man." In fact ... screw it. We don''t need another swingman. Battier out ... Hoiberg in.
To recap: Duncan, Odom, Redd, Hamilton, Wade (starters); Iverson, Prince, Miller, LeBron, Stoudemire (bench guys); Cardinal, Hoiberg (energy guys).
Now that''s a team. Repeat: Team. There''s a difference. Some day, we might even figure this out.

Source của bài này thì quên lâu rồi, chỉ lưu lại để đọc chơi chơi vì tôi thấy nó có rất nhiều điều đáng để học hỏi nếu muốn lập một độ bóng thật sự.

Bài này là về điều gì đem về chức vô địch cho một đội bóng, say it again bitch, DEFENSE
At first blush, it might look like Pistons coach Larry Brown and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich are running much the same stuff on defense. They''re both lifelong coaches, they have worked together -- including this summer when Popovich was an assistant to Brown on the U.S. Olympic team -- and both point to North Carolina guru Dean Smith as the inspiration for their teams'' styles of play. No wonder the Pistons and the Spurs were the two most dominating defenses in the league last season, each team allowing just 84.3 points per game.
That should not change much this season. Expect the Spurs and Pistons, once again, to be Nos. 1 and 2 in defense -- and because they are the best defensive teams, we expect them to meet in June for the NBA championship.
Much of the Spurs'' success comes from the consistency the team has developed under Popovich''s direction, despite a roster that fluctuates from year to year. But the Spurs return the same starting lineup this year and should avoid the early-season slump they have fallen into in the past. Similarly, it took the Pistons a while last season to adjust to Brown''s system, and the midseason ad***ion of Rasheed Wallace forced another adjustment. After winning the NBA title and having a full training camp together, this year''s Pistons should be well-versed in Brown''s ways.

Though Brown and Popovich share defensive roots -- and though the results are almost identical -- their defensive schemes don''t have much in common. Brown tries to push the offense into doing things it does not want to do by using ball pressure; Popovich tries to chew the 24-second clock by forcing the ball to the baseline. A close look at the assignments of the players on the floor shows that the defenses of these two close friends -- and probable NBA Finalists -- are quite different.
SPURS DEFENSE
Guards: Spurs guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have a straightforward assignment -- do not allow penetration into the middle. Popovich has been known to yank a guard from the game immediately after the guard allows a player into the paint. Spurs guards are taught that, to keep an opponent from the middle, they should always shade a half-step in that direction. That encourages opponents to drive away from the middle.
Small forward: Bruce Bowen might be the best chaser in the league. He grabs, fights through screens and is not afraid to be physical. He is a perfect fit for the Spurs because one of the tenets of Popovich''s defense is never to allow corner 3-pointers -- thanks to Bowen''s tenacity, the Spurs rarely do. For most teams, it is the job of the defender in the corner to step toward the middle and interrupt penetration. But the Spurs are so ardent about preventing corner 3s that Bowen is assigned to remain in the corner, with the big men rotating to stop players driving to the basket.
Power forward, center: When the Spurs'' defense is working, the power forward and center rack up blocked shots. The guards keep the ball out of the paint, forcing penetration to the baseline, where offensive players are trapped and vulnerable to having their shots blocked. Nesterovic averaged a career-high 2.0 blocks last season despite being slow-footed on help defense. Pick-and-rolls present a problem for the Spurs, though, because Ginobili and Parker are not strong enough to fight through screens and Tim Duncan and Nesterovic are not nimble enough to jump out to the ball and get back to their positions.
PISTONS DEFENSE
Guards: The goal of the Pistons'' backcourt is to play as tight on the ball as possible, forcing the ballhandlers to pass -- this disrupts the offense, gets the ball to less sure-handed players and, ideally, causes turnovers. Because they play tight on the perimeter, the Pistons are suffocating on 3-pointers but tend to give up more penetration. Still, Chauncey Billups is 6-3 and strong at the point, and Richard Hamilton is 6-7 at shooting guard; both defend pick-and-rolls well.
Small forward: Tayshaun Prince is a good fit for Brown''s system because he has a tremendous wingspan. When the guards pressure the ball and force quick passes, the Pistons try to read the passing lanes and get deflections -- Prince''s long arms help with that. He can cheat into passing lanes but still has the length and agility to bounce back to his man and put a hand in his face. Prince is very difficult to shoot over, as Kobe Bryant will attest.
Power forward, center: The tight play of the Pistons'' guards puts pressure on the team''s big men, but Detroit is fortunate to have two of the best help defenders in the league roaming the paint -- Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace. Rasheed averaged 2.0 blocks after he joined the Pistons last season, and Ben averaged 3.0 for the year. Teams can penetrate against Hamilton and Billups, but then they must deal with the Wallaces. The Wallaces also are very good at defending pick-and-rolls because each is athletic enough to flash onto the ballhandler and recover to guard his man.
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. Email him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.

vãi lúa thật,nhìn không dã thấy nản.chả muốn đọc nữa.anh hoàng tìm cách khác đê.như thế này khổ lém anh ui
Mịa cái thằng Quang tèo này, chú mày không muốn học tiếng Anh thì sau này cũng phải học thôi. Mà anh bảo nhé, dân bóng rổ mà không biết tiếng Anh thì xem bóng rổ mất đứt một nửa cái thú. Mà bị chửi cũng không biết là nó chửi mình thì hãm lắm . Cố gắng đê
Được Dread Knight sửa chữa / chuyển vào 14:46 ngày 14/12/2004

Còn bài này là viết về LeBron James, người kế thừa của Jordan, Magic, Bird...
Maybe LeBron James really can see into the future. There was a time, after he played in an all-star game as a high school senior two years ago, when James predicted he would play for his hometown Cavaliers. This was before the draft lottery determined the order of selection. "It''s just a feeling I have," he said. There was also the time, at the end of his disappointing stint with Team USA at the Olympics last summer, when James said he would go home and work on his jump shot and defense so that critics could not harp on those deficiencies in the future. And when the Cavaliers opened training camp, James told reporters in Cleveland that with a year under his belt and familiarity with his surroundings, "It''s going to be a breeze for me."
Check, check and check ... nice work, Nostradamus. Perhaps James even went too light on his soothsaying. He is not only playing for his beloved Cavaliers, he is the savior of the franchise in only his second NBA season, having nudged the Cavs above .500 for the first time in 46 months. He put in hours of post-Olympics work on his jumper and has improved his shooting accuracy from 41.7 percent last season to 49.9 percent; the defensive work has him third in the league in steals (2.4 per game). And James'' season has been no mere breeze so far -- it has been a gust. He is, arguably, the league''s early-season MVP, with averages of 24.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists.
"It''s like he is playing ahead of everyone else," says Cavaliers point guard Jeff McInnis. "He sees everything and knows what to do. It''s like, you play PlayStation against him on the plane, and he is the same way. He knows what is coming, and he beats you."
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James is learning to harness that extra sense he seems to have. On a simple isolation play in the first quarter of an early December game in Denver, he took a pass at the right side of the free throw line, and it was as if he knew what was coming. He waited for shooting guard Lucious Harris to go from the 3-point line behind James to the left corner. That set up four shooting options opposite James, who was being guarded by 33-year-old Bryon Russell. No way they''re leaving me one-on-one against Bryon Russell, he had to think. So James dribbled once, saw Nuggets guard Andre Miller move off Harris to help Russell and fired a pass to a wide-open Harris. Three points, Cavs.
"He is a great passer," says Bucks small forward Desmond Mason. "He really wants to pass and set up his teammates more than anything. Everyone knows he can dunk and score, but he is such a good passer, too. He is hard to guard one-on-one because he is so big and fast. But if you double-team him, he is still just as dangerous with the pass."
That whole package has bumped James into the league''s elite. He stunned the NBA coming out of high school last season by exceeding the lofty expectations set after his stellar prep career. He was the Rookie of the Year and averaged 20.9 points, mostly thanks to his athleticism. But he has been a different player this season. He is using his strength to make his step-back jumper, an impossible-to-guard shot. He has improved his range. He is a smarter team defender. He still has one of the league''s quickest first steps and unmatched leaping skills, but he is mixing the cerebral with the physical better than last season. James has left many jaws dropped at how far he has pushed his play with just five months of offseason practice -- and at the idea of how much further he can go before he is finished.
"I have never seen a player learn so much in one year," says Cavaliers coach Paul Silas. "He is further ahead than I thought he would be at this time. He is so much more aware, so much better than he was last year as a rookie. But experience is going to be the best teacher, so that is what LeBron is about now. He has experienced a lot in one short year, and picked up a lot, but not nearly as much as he is going to pick up in the next two or three years. He''s going to get smarter and even more mature."
His maturity was on display two nights after he took 22 shots and scored a career-high 43 points against the Pistons in late November. The Cavaliers were in Boston, where James has developed a rivalry with Paul Pierce. But the Celtics were double- and triple-teaming James. Rather than force his own offense, he took just 13 shots (making nine) and racked up eight assists, including one that set up Zydrunas Ilgauskas for the game-winner. As for the rivalry, James blocked Pierce''s last-second shot attempt that would have tied the game.
This seems a good time to remind ourselves: LeBron James is 19 years old. He''s barely finished growing, an astonishing notion for a guy who is 6-8, 240. Silas is right -- James has only begun to accumulate experience and knowledge, the kind of knowledge that will increase his ability to see what is happening before it happens, to really look into the future. "He has that," teammate Scott Williams says of James'' on-court foresight. "Michael used to have that, too. Great players do."
James resists comparisons, especially to Jordan. It was only a few years ago, after all, that James'' bedroom in Akron, Ohio, was decorated as if Mars Blackmon were the interior designer -- Jordan posters everywhere. James wears Jordan''s No. 23, but that''s more of a hero-worship thing than a statement of what James plans to become. "I appreciate it," James says of the tendency to link him to Jordan. "But I don''t really think that way. I have my own path I have to follow."
Still, connecting past and present is part of the allure of sports, and though he is not even two years into his career, considering where James will fit in NBA history seems more relevant than placing him into the current league hierarchy. Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff looks at James'' athleticism and sees ****** Erving (James threw down the best dunk of the season on a rafters-high alley-oop pass from McInnis against Bickerstaff''s Bobcats). TNT analyst Kenny Smith says he sees Magic Johnson in the way James passes and helps his teammates. Wizards coach Eddie Jordan agrees.
And there are the inevitable Jordan comparisons, based on James'' pure scoring and dunking ability, combined with his intangibles, on and off the court. He already has become the Cavaliers'' unquestioned leader because of his work ethic and his nonstop hustle. (Down 18 points in a blowout loss to the Bulls last week, James still went full bore, diving into a row of cameramen to block Kirk Hinrich''s breakaway layup from behind at the end of the third quarter.) He also has marketability, the key to Jordan''s career as a player and persona. James has avoided trouble, has intensely protected his private life and has, of course, the $90 million Jordanesque contract from Nike. On the opening night of the NBA season, when commissioner David Stern was asked about the league''s marketing priorities, James was the first name he mentioned.
James draws much of his production from his ability to look into the future -- so why not consider just what his future holds for the league? "He started when he was 18, so he could have a 16- or 17-year career and still be a good player at that point," says Warriors analyst and former NBA guard Jim Barnett. "For him to be that polished, that good and show that kind of leadership at 19, there is no telling how much better he can be. When all is said and done, we''ll be talking about him with Jordan and Magic, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain. That''s the class he is going to be in."
If he gets there, an underrated part of James'' success in these first few critical years will be Silas, a steady, straightforward coach who has earned a reputation as the NBA''s best at developing players (compare what Baron Davis, Robert Traylor and Jamal Mashburn have done for Silas with their performances under other coaches). Silas was instrumental in clearing out the Cavaliers'' roster early last season to get forward Eric Williams, a vocal leader who for one season took locker room pressure off James, and McInnis, so James could move out of the uncom-fortable point guard role and get back to playing on the wing. Getting to play at small forward, his best position, has been a big part of James'' surge this season.
"Young players, and young people in general, you have to be firm but fair and patient," Silas says. "They want guidelines; they want to know what is expected. Certainly, I have had to be patient with (James), but it has worked out, and more and more, he has found his own way. That''s what you want. You want to be there until they find their own way."
As promising as James'' way looks now, he is young, and his future has yet to be determined. The NBA has had too many next-big-things who turned disappointing, on or off the court -- Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant come to mind -- to raise James'' pedestal too high too early. James never has played in the postseason, and though the Cavaliers are getting better, they''re still a team lacking depth, consistency and outside shooting. Maybe James can see into the future, but the NBA''s future has a way of being about as clear as pea soup.
The Cavs do have the best young player in the game, though, and they''ve already begun letting him carry the load. "We''re just going to rally around him," Silas says. "He can take us to another level."
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. Email him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com