For a long time through the 1990s and 2000s, the NBA was dominated by iso-ball players. From Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden and many more, most teams around the league just gave their top player the ball and let them go to work. But things have changed over the past few years with more teams prioritizing movement and pick-and-roll to create offense and James and his Los Angeles Lakers teammate Luka Doncic are masters when it comes to that.
Some teams like the San Antonio Spurs have always been movement-based offenses and the Golden State Warriors took that to a new level with Stephen Curry. And in the latest episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast, LeBron spoke about his belief that the days of iso-ball in the NBA are over:
“We didn’t have this many defenses and nuances of how to play defense vs. iso, isolated players back, I would say 5-to-7 years ago. Now there’s so many different ways to get the ball out of a guy’s hands. If he’s just sitting there isoing on the wing, you can flood the whole side and bring another guy to the elbow. You could literally run a guy and just go trap him and now you got three defenders. You got the guy that’s guarding the ball, the guy that came over to trap him and you have the sideline. There’s so many different ways, and in our game of pace-and-space and rhythm, you’re out of rhythm. You kinda want the ball popping or you want the trigger to happen, either by the pass or by pick-and-roll. You have a dynamic pick-and-roll player that can attract two on the ball, now you playing the 4-on-3 game, you’re playing the numbers game. That’s the game right now, it’s the numbers game. How can you start the blender. Is the Blender being started with the pass and cut. Is it what the Miami Heat are doing? Or is it what the Lakers are doing where we start a lot of our plays with pick-and-roll because we have such a dynamic pick-and-roll player in Luka. The trigger, how do you create the blender? How do you create the trigger? Creating the trigger used to be where guys catch the ball at the elbow in the Karl Malone-area and catch it, face-up and jab and jab. You need it a little bit, but it’s definitely on the lower side of that pie chart now. It is not a big piece of the demographic of winning basketball, in my case. I don’t see it.”
Sports are always cyclical and while offenses will dominate for a time period, eventually defenses adjust and catch up, which is what LeBron believes has happened in the NBA. If you allow the defense to get set and lock in on one singular player, it becomes easier to defend, even against the top scorers in the game.
It is one of the things that has made the Lakers offense so devastating when things are clicking as James, Doncic and Austin Reaves can move around and operate at different areas on the court and must be accounted for as scorers and playmakers. The game is always changing and LeBron has always been able to adjust to whatever is thrown at him.
LeBron James believes being a ‘complete’ player has helped stay effective
For James to still be performing at this high of a level at the age of 41 and in his 23rd NBA season remains mind-boggling. And the Lakers superstar believes that his growth as a “complete” basketball player is what has allowed him to still be this good.
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