The Year Of Lebron's Revenge

The Year Of Lebron’s Revenge

By: Jason Timpf

Quick Author Introduction: I grew up in Tucson, Arizona and I am 26 years old. I played basketball in college at the NAIA level, and now play professionally in India. Whenever I decide to finally hang up the shoes, I hope to transition into covering the NBA full time. You can follow me on twitter @jason_timpf.

This will be the year of Lebron’s revenge.

Okay, I know that sounds a little melodramatic, but this hasn’t exactly been your run-of-the-mill offseason.

And, no, I’m not talking about player movement. Although, that’s an equally interesting—and equally absurd—element of this summer. It has been like Cyber Monday for NBA stars. Everything must go. The price? Oladipo. Pun intended.

What I’m talking about is the random, rampant and repeated disrespect of Lebron James. I’m talking about the slander and the pettiness. Not from the pawns, mind you, but from legends and peers.

First, Paul Pierce proclaimed Kevin Durant better than Lebron before the Finals. Then Kevin addressed Lebron’s use of bully ball as a backhanded compliment on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," before waxing eloquent about Kyrie Irving’s immaculate, gym-developed skillset. He also placed himself above Lebron in a YouTube comment, lest we forget.

Even the great Michael Jordan has slighted Lebron. In August, he made it clear he ranked Kobe over Lebron saying, "There’s something about five that beats three."

But these are rivals, right? Paul Pierce has always beefed with Lebron. This pettiness is expected. Durant is the only player in the league who can even enter a conversation as maybe Lebron’s current foil. And Jordan? His legacy as the greatest to ever play is threatened—however slightly—by the durability and consistency of a Mr. Lebron James. So how credible is this heel turn?

Then I remembered Greg Popovich—the man Lebron outwardly reveres over all coaches, including his own—calling Kawhi Leonard the best two-way player in the league. And what about Kyrie? The Irving saga has been nothing short of peculiar, culminating with his glaring indifference toward Lebron during an interview with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman on "First Take."

This has come hand in hand with a stark change in the media’s reverence for Lebron James. The 2017 Finals showed his blood. The sharks are now circling.

I’m not here to argue against the undefeated record of father time. I’m aware of the immense mileage on Lebron’s body, and I’m aware of the lack of a track record for players peaking in their 15th season. But there has been no track record for anything that Lebron has accomplished.

My argument for the inevitable revenge of Lebron James can be articulated with a simple path of logic:

1- Lebron James is—at the very least—the second best non-center to ever play the game of basketball.

2- Lebron has shown no signs of slowing down or loss of ability.

3- Lebron hasn't consistently tried during the regular season since the spring of 2013.

4- Lebron has been thoroughly disrespected this summer by both peers and idols.

5- Due to Golden State’s massive talent advantage, Lebron actually has reason to focus on more than just the NBA Finals.

Therefore, Lebron will approach this regular season with a ferocity we haven't seen in nearly half of a decade.

Simple enough, but let’s break this down a bit.

Point one is non-negotiable. No player in the history of basketball has controlled each facet of the game the way Lebron has—especially when factoring in consistency, longevity and durability. It is only the killer instinct and winning pedigree of Jordan that puts him ahead. For now. We already covered point four, and the Vegas odds will tell you all about point five.

Let’s talk about point two.

Basketball fans have a way of allowing results to distract them from the entirety of a product. If I had told you a year ago that the Warriors would win the title in five games and that Durant would win Finals MVP, the vast majority of you would have agreed with me. They won 73 games during the prior season, then added one of the top three small forwards of all time, (This statement has somehow lost its punch do to overuse, but it is still the only logical position to take). Instead we allowed a hesi-pullup-jimbo from Durant over an exhausted James in game three to become some sort of lasting image and microcosm of the season. Because of that shot, Durant has become an equal—or to some folks, a superior—to Lebron.

But the unavoidable loss in the finals to Golden State does not change what you may find to be a surprising three year trend for Lebron. He’s getting better. Somehow Lebron is improving statistically across the board. His scoring average has risen each successive year in Cleveland. He’s increased his rebounding average each year in Cleveland. He just averaged a career high in assists. Field Goal Percentage? Up 3 percent in 2016, and up 3 percent again in 2017. True Shooting and Effective Field Goal Percentage? Up each year. Oh, and all of this while his usage rate has dropped each year. I know, it doesn't make any sense. But the man entering his 15th season is doing the exact opposite of slowing down.

That’s just the regular season numbers. Lebron just averaged 33 points on 57% shooting for an entire postseason. Then he averaged a 34 point triple double on 56% in the finals.

The important question to ask yourself about point two is this: How can the second greatest basketball player of all time—who is still trending upward in production—not still be far and away the best and most dangerous player in the NBA?

And now you’ve gone ahead and pissed him off.

Which brings me to the final point.

In March of 2013, led by Lebron, the Miami Heat won 27 consecutive games. Miami ended up posting an NBA-best record of 66-16. Lebron played the best regular season of his career, averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, with efficiency metrics that rivaled the best seasons of Larry Bird’s career, (57% field goals and 41% three-point field goals). Lebron would have been the first unanimous MVP in NBA history had Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe not inexplicably voted for Carmelo Anthony. Miami won the championship that June as James was awarded his second-consecutive Finals MVP.

That 2013 season is relevant here for one reason: It was the last time Lebron James gave his best effort for an entire regular season.

Miami defeated San Antonio in a grueling seven game series that had come on the heels of an almost-as-grueling seven game series against the Indiana Pacers. The story became that Miami had expended too much energy in the regular season to pursue a meaningless win streak, and that exhaustion had hampered them in the late rounds of the playoffs. Seemingly in direct response, James radically changed his approach to the regular season.

Lebron opened 2014 with a noticeable dip in production and activity. It took him 20 games to record ten rebounds in one contest. At the same point in the previous season, he had already done so nine times.

His defensive effort suffered markedly. It took him 46 games to record multiple blocked shots in a contest. By the 46th game in 2013, he had done so 11 times. 2014 would end up being the first time in five seasons that Lebron James failed to make the All-NBA Defensive First Team.

In each year since, Lebron has been on cruise control during the NBA regular season. And for good reason! Why waste a bunch of energy and wear and tear on the Milwaukee Bucks on a Tuesday in March?

But things have changed. He knows it will take a Herculean effort on his part to keep the 2018 NBA Finals close. And his team will still probably come up short. Couple that with the raging disrespect, and you have a recipe for a dedicated season from Lebron James.

Maybe it will be an MVP, maybe it will be jaw-dropping stats, maybe it will be a plethora of incredible performances on national television, maybe all of the above, who knows. But one thing is for sure, Lebron is going to send an important and undisputed message this year—you danced on my grave too soon.