MIAMI -- Are we taking LeBron James for granted?
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is making sure he doesn't. Just the other day, Spoelstra was strolling around the offices at the Heat's AmericanAirlines Arena and noticed a highlight being played on one of the televisions hanging from the ceiling. It was a play from the Heat's miserable 15-win season back in 2007-08.
The pre-LeBron days in Miami.
And the coach got an idea.
"We should probably just play that on loop in our office," Spoelstra said at Thursday's Heat practice. "I don't think anybody here is taking it for granted, that talent. We know what it's like to be on the other side."
Spoelstra, like many of us, might need a little reminder from time to time. Just a little nudge not to take James for granted, to realize that an NBA player like him comes around only once in a generation, if that.
Currently James is playing some of the best ball of his 10-year career, a decorated one with three MVP trophies, two Olympic gold medals and a championship ring. And historical marks are already popping up. Consider that he has already scored more points than Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas did in their entire careers. Not only that, James ranks in the top 10 in assists per game among active players, ahead of Hall of Fame candidate point guards Tony Parker and Chauncey Billups.
And James just celebrated his 28th birthday last Saturday.
Are we simply bored by his greatness? Has the fact that he was so good so fast, now a full 10 seasons ago, diminished where he is now? When he won his first title, we couldn't even stop to appreciate his accomplishments before he reached age 28. Instead, our impulse was to shift the conversation immediately to How many can he win? And when he joked about winning more, the sound bite further pushed that conversation forward.
James' remarkable consistency and endurance -- he hasn't missed a game in 2012-13 and has played in a staggering 137 games since the start of last season, including Olympic play -- have driven us into LeBron Boredom.
At this point, it seems we're almost making up reasons not to consider him the favorite for MVP.
Making history
Currently, James is in the midst of a historic streak, something that hasn't been done in more than 40 years. James has scored at least 20 points in the first 30 games of a season, the first to do so since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar back in 1970-71, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
When you ask James about that streak, he claims he does not pay any attention to it. That's the politically correct thing to say. But it also might be mostly true.
"I've done it without even caring about or worrying about it," said James. "I'm not going into each and every game saying I gotta get this 20 to keep my streak alive. I really don't care about it. I just go out and play basketball."
At least 20 points in 30 games. Let's step back for a second. What does it mean for someone to score 20-plus every game for 30 consecutive games? If the Abdul-Jabbar statistic doesn't drive James' remarkable consistency home, maybe these numbers will:
The New York Knicks are the only team to beat James' 20-plus scoring streak this season. As in, the Knicks have had a 20-point scorer in each of their 31 games this season. No other entity -- team or player -- aside from the Knicks and James have had a streak longer than 23 games this season.
There's more. The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently riding a 16-game streak with at least one 20-plus scorer, thanks to the collective efforts of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin. That's their longest streak of the season. The Memphis Grizzlies' longest streak? Seven games. The Los Angeles Clippers'? Six games.
Combine the Thunder's, the Grizzlies' and the Clippers' longest streaks and it still wouldn't be longer than James' streak, which he has compiled all by himself. Combined, they're still one game short of James' 30-game mark.
And the crazy thing is this: There's no real evidence that James is actually gunning for that record.
He has topped 25 field goal attempts just once all season, which is the same total as Luis Scola and 11 fewer than Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony combined. James is accomplishing the scoring streak as an efficiency monster, not as a team-killing chucker.
"If it goes away one day -- which it will -- I won't be down about it," James said. "If it happens, I hope it happens and we win. If it happens in a loss, I'll probably be a little upset because I'll probably think if I had a couple more baskets, maybe we could win."
James is shooting a career-high 54.4 percent from the floor on 562 field goal attempts. That's 54.4 percent. Pretty good, but factor in that most of his shots have come outside 10 feet. To put into perspective how good James' field goal percentage has been this season, consider that Bryant could make his next 97 shots and he still wouldn't have a better field goal percentage than James.
Or for that matter, Westbrook could shoot a perfect 12-for-12 in every single one of the Thunder's remaining 13 games in January ... and yes, James would still have a better shooting percentage.
Let's frame it another way. James could go 0-for-25 in his next game and the next game and the next game after that, and he'd still look down on Anthony in the field goal percentage ranks. James would have to miss his next 76 shots in order to "plunge" to Melo's level.
No, Spoelstra is not taking this streak or James' gifts for granted.
"The consistency is a true mark of greatness, in any field or in any profession. And LeBron has proven that every year," Spoelstra said. "But what also he's proving is that he's raising that bar each year."
That's the scariest thing about it: James is still getting better? He has somehow improved his field goal percentage in every single season since he was 22. Look it up. Back in 2006-07, he made 47.6 percent of his shots, then 48.4 percent in 2007-08, then 48.9 percent in 2008-09 before eclipsing the 50 percent plateau in 2009-10 and then...you get the idea. Seven straight seasons of improvement.
"I don't any of us should put a ceiling on him, because I know he's not [done improving]," Spoelstra said.
Is it possible that he's only getting better as a shooter?
"If he continues taking makeable shots. He's improving as a 3-point shooter, but he's taking less walk-up dribble 3s," Spoelstra said. "He's being more patient, putting a lot more pressure on the defense rather than bailing them out."
The next 3-pointer that James takes will be his 100th of the season, and he has made a career-high 41.4 percent of them, which is the exact same conversion rate as Jimmer Fredette this season. There are 78 players who have taken as many 3s as James has this season and he ranks 14th in 3-point field goal percentage. Though he's taken fewer attempts, his conversion rate is better than J.J. Redikk, Joe Johnson and Bryant.
And yet, James is somehow second in the NBA in points in the paint with 12.9 per game, only behind the 7-foot Brook Lopez.
Offensive excellence
Let's compare two players' stat lines this season:
Player A averages 26.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.1 assists on 54.4 percent shooting.
Player B averages 30.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 8.0 assists on 56.3 percent shooting.
Similar players, right?
Player A, you might have guessed, is LeBron James.
But who is Player B? Trick question. Player B is a combination of Bryant's scoring, Pau Gasol's rebounding, Steve Nash's assists and Dwight Howard's field goal percentage.
James blends scoring and passing better than any player in the game. He ranks in the top five in scoring and the top 10 in assists. If you account for the 3-pointers that result from his assists and combine that point total with his scoring, he is "accounting" for 43.5 points per game, more than any player in the game. (Bryant comes in second with 41.1 points).
Spoelstra said last week that he believed James could "realistically" score 37 points per game if he wasn't so gifted as a passer. But he can't help himself.
"I've always had that ability to see plays before they happen," James said. "You learn every year in the league and you continue to grow and you try to figure out new ways to improve. I've been able to improve each and every year to help myself and help my team."
James was asked at Thursday's practice whether he believes he's reached his ceiling. He struggled to answer.
"Well ... I'm ... I'm playing good basketball," James said. "Am I at the highest peak? I don't know. I don't know if I can continue to improve, but I want to. I'm going to keep studying the game and I'm going to continue not taking anything for granted."
But are we taking James for granted?
No player in the history of the game has ever matched James averages in points, rebounds and assists while also shooting 54.4 percent from the floor.
Someone in today's game is more valuable than that? Really?
Before James walked out of Monday's practice, someone asked him whether he realized as a kid when Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan reached their prime.
"Growing up, you didn't know what their prime was," James said.
"You just watched them for their greatness."
shyt.
