Taking LeBron James number one overall in H2H leagues this year can be likened to the lure of the siren's song. If you pass on him for the safe pick and take Chris Paul, you are setting yourself up for an easy and enjoyable draft in which you have the freedom and the luxury to go after whomever catches your eye, whatever kind of stats you like most to build your team around; similar to drafting Shawn Marion in years past.
The man sitting just below Paul on the draft list, is King James, the air apparent to the throne vacated by Michael Jordan—the messiah of basketball, if you will. He is the counter-strategy to the more traditional Paul selection because of arising questions like will this be the year he becomes the best player to ever play the game? The type of year you have to go to stat databases like basketballreference.com to find? 35 points per game, 8 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks. The type of numbers you see from old Jordan stat drawers.
If this were to be that type of year, would you want to say you missed out on owning him because you hedged your money on the safe bet and took Chris Paul?
That's what called me to LeBron in a draft I did recently. Then I chewed on it a bit, then I thought and thought some more. And the reason all this thinking was necessary, the reason why there is a debate raging in the minds of many an owner in the first place is because LeBron shoots over 10 free throws a game at a 72 percent clip, secreting one of the worst free throw impacts a player can have on a fantasy team.
In LeBron's second game of the season against the Charlotte Bobcats in which he shot 8 - 12 from the line, I noticed something that had slipped my mind: LeBron doesn't look at the basket until he has actually started his shooting motion, which is something most kids playing organized ball learn to avoid before high school. I mean look at 95 percent of good free throw shooters in the NBA and you will notice before the ball is even in their hands they are getting their feet set and focusing on the rim, while they dribble or hatch whatever sort of bizarre ritual they do before they shoot they are always at least periodically checking the rim. Steve Nash, one of the best free throwers in NBA history, has his eyes constantly fixed on the rim. The only time he looks away is when the ref bounces him the ball.
James on the other hand will look at the hoop briefly when the ball first gets in his hands and then he'll
sort of zone out (or in) and peer slightly downward before looking up right as he is winding up to release. My
guess for why he does this is that it's replicating what he does when the game is in action because usually a player won't be able to focus on the rim the whole time he's preparing to shoot. It's look then fire.
So the first thing you could say that is off about LeBron's free throwing is he is treating it like a regular shot instead of what it really is: a free shot. When you're about to be given something free do you still make yourself work to produce that item or do you just take it? It's a head trick. He's not experiencing reality or being honest with himself. Instead he feels he has to trick himself to have success at the line.
Looking back I cannot remember a time when I did not see him shoot free throws like this, which makes me wonder how long he's been using this flawed technique and if he's ever tried to correct it.
Maybe I should shut my mouth though because as I am writing this LeBron is on a bit of a free throw shooting tear. After shooting 63 percent from the line in his first three games, in his last two James has missed just three out of 31 attempts. If he shot like this all the time he'd be the number one player in fantasy bar none. I haven't seen either of these two games so I don't know if he's changed his technique but I do know if he hasn't this bit of momentary success will be short-lived.
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