Random NBA Observations 2017 - 2018

ISO

ISO

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Did y’all hear about LeBron tweaking his shooting form?
CLEVELAND -- An offseason elbow injury prompted LeBron James to adjust his shooting form and the tweak is paying dividends for the Cleveland Cavaliers star thus far.

James told ESPN that his right (shooting) elbow mysteriously swelled to the size of a tennis ball a few weeks after the conclusion of the NBA Finals. It was concerning enough for James to have his elbow medically examined: X-rays came back negative and an MRI showed no structural damage.

James was quick to point out two things about the elbow injury: one, it was not bothering him during the playoffs and had no impact on the Cavs' 4-1 loss to the Golden State Warriors and two; it was nothing like the elbow injury that plagued him in the 2010 postseason, which ended in disappointment for Cleveland before James bolted for the Miami Heat.

"That was different. That was so different. I would get to here," James said forming his arm in an L-shape, "and get right here and it would just lock."

It bothered James to the point where he had to wear a compression sleeve on his right arm even when he wasn't working out -- making for an odd fashion accessory as he watched his son's AAU tournament games over the summer. Rather than interrupt his offseason training regimen, James chose to work around the injury. He changed his shooting motion to end with a higher release point in order to minimize discomfort in his elbow when going through his daily shooting drills. While he's consulted shooting coaches in the past, James did this on his own.

"I shoot it higher," James said. "When the swelling went down I just continued to do the same motion, the same motion. My free throws, my 3s, my pull-ups, all that."

Through the first four games of the Cavs' season, James is shooting it as well as he ever has. James is 35-for-52 on 2-point field goals (67.3 percent), 8-for-18 on 3-pointers (44.4 percent) and 15-for-17 on free throws (88.2 percent).

"He's just more compact," Korver told ESPN. "I always tell him he's the strongest man in the game, he needs to shoot a strong shot. And he says it all the time when he's shooting, 'Think strong, strong, strong.' His hand is real strong on the ball and his form is more compact than it's ever been before and I think that he's a worker, man. He shoots a lot. And you can tell he worked on it a lot this summer. So it's just much more compact and strong than I've seen from him on a consistent basis."
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