No one can compete with the old man of time, 3 years ago we thought that LeBron James will never grow old, he will always be the god of war on the court, he will always have unparalleled dominance on the court, but today we have to admit that as strong as The King of Zhan also had to kneel under time, this season James Although the superficial data still does not seem to have a cliff-like decline, but the fans who have watched the game know that james who can turn the situation on his own can never come back, James, who used to be a background board for many stars, is difficult to appear, James's points, rebounds, assists have not changed significantly, but there are some data that truly reflect the physical state of James who is about to turn 37, and you really need to admit that James is old.
In fact, the topic of how long James's peak can last has been mentioned, in the James 16-17 season and 17-18 season when the fans think that James is older and his dominance is not as good as before, but James responded to the question with a strong performance, especially in the 17-18 playoffs, James almost single-handedly carried the team on his shoulders, facing the Celtics James staged a classic back to Morris Jr. to score the key 2+1, facing the Raptors' easy-going board kill, Directly break up the combination of DeRozan and Lowry, face the Pacers and Oladipo to fight seven games, grab seven final moments to stage a kill, although that year James faced the Warriors Durant + Curry + Thompson + Green's luxurious lineup defeated, but it was the most impressive playoff in James's career, that year was really James's peak moment, but also that year James conquered a lot of people with his performance, the entire playoff James averaged 34 + 9 + 9 quasi-triple-doubles, really breathtaking.
At that time, James was really the best period of combining technology and experience, there was really no one in the league who could completely limit him, but this season James's performance on the court was really unsatisfactory, James had appeared 15 times so far, averaging 26 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game, shooting 50% from the field, shooting 34.7% from the field, looking at the data James is still an all-Star level, and the data does not really represent the performance on the court. From these two figures, you will know why James is really down today. First, James' average of 7.9 three-point shots per game this season set a new career high, but the three-point shooting rate refreshed a new low after 2016; second, James's average number of shots per game in the restricted area hit a new career low this season, and the shooting percentage refreshed a new low after 2015. In addition, injuries have also begun to slowly find James, according to statistics, James has missed a total of 71 games in the first 15 seasons of his career, and has missed 71 games in the last 4 seasons.
Especially at the beginning of this season, James has been absent from 12 games, of which James has missed 2 or 8 games due to sore right ankle and abdominal strain, triggering safety regulations and being suspended, you can see that James has missed more than half of the games due to injury, that is to say, James's physical functions have deteriorated, if the injury can not explain the problem, then there is also a data NBA official website tracking statistics, in this season's playing time is greater than 100 minutes of players, Among the slowest players on the offensive end, James ranks sixth from the bottom of the league, 3.97 mph, and among the players with the slowest average rate on the defensive end, James ranks third to last in the league, 3.30 mph, and James ranks second among the slowest players with the slowest average game rate.
Many people will remember James's good play is the fast attack dunk and the chase, but these scenes have been difficult to see this season, we see more is James in the low position with the ball to turn over the jump shot to end, it can be said that James reduced the breakthrough because of the Lakers space problem, but do not forget that when the Cavaliers also stood in the inner line TT, how did James use the breakthrough to tear through the opponent's defense line at that time? James has begun to intentionally change his dafa, now more is the use of projection, he himself knows that the current breakthrough can not rely on speed to pass the defender, James's current breakthrough is more dependent on body shape and strength to push the opponent apart, these are james in the game because of the decline in athleticism to make adjustments and changes.
In addition, James's offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency this season are not ideal, the two data are the 35th in the league and the 191st in the league, the offensive end James can rely on three points to maintain efficiency, but this year James's defense is really not good, fans have been ridiculing James forked waist defense, at least those years one-on-one defense when few people can eat James, his fork waist is more is not to help teammates to assist in defense, this season James single defense is really a bit difficult, Especially in the face of young player James showed a state of inability to keep up, the current defense relies more on experience and prediction. And this year James gives people the feeling that he can still accept the game, can still show his dominance, but this can not continue to maintain, after the age of high-intensity confrontation so that James's physical strength has declined to a certain extent, which is why James this year on the defensive end will have such a hot eye, now James's physical strength can not support his attack and defense two hands.
Recently, ESPN conducted a mock vote on the MVP of this season, and in the end, Curry won 94 of the 100 first votes, ranking first without suspense, and no players on the Lakers side got the votes. According to statistics, ESPN has been doing MVP simulation voting since the 2016-17 season, which is the first time that James has not received any votes. Of course, you can say that it is because James does not play enough or the team's performance is not good, but these problems are ultimately James's decline, and the current data is maintained by James's increase of three points, if James has a bad three-point feeling in a game, it is difficult for him to get 25+ data.
Cherish the time when James, Paul, Anthony and others play, these veterans are likely to leave the league in 2 or 3 years, how much more can you ask them to do? People have always thought that James can play for a long time, but they do not know that James has gradually reached the end of his career, less complaints, more praise, and when you look back at these veterans' collections, you will lament their greatness, and their names will remain in history like Jordan and Bird.