LeBron’s Immaculate Season

Look at this man. He’s the MVP. In fact, forget those pathetic mortal awards. This man is the best basketball player on the planet and every other planet in every parallel universe within ever dimension conceivable.

Look at these highlights and tell me you know of a better player today, not just in basketball, but in any sport. His explosiveness off the dribble in a half court set is like nothing the mortal world has ever seen before.

LeBron’s having a monster season and the Heat are off to a franchise best start with a record of 27 and 7. That’s a 79.4% winning percentage, which in a regular season would project out to be 65+ wins. In a shortened season, with back-to-back games, it’s even more impressive. And then you have LeBron’s stats.

Let me make this clear off the bat, LeBron’s only playing 36.7 minutes a game, the lowest of his career, and in the last 10 games, he’s seeing even less action at just 34.8 minutes a game. This hurts his numbers a little but it means great news for his team. The Heat have won 8 games in a row, 9 of the last 10 and 19 of the last 22 all of which came after their ONLY losing streak of the season, a 3 game skid back in January.

As for LeBron’s numbers? They’re probably the best of his career. He’s putting up 27.4 points a game, which is right around his career average, but he’s doing it on a career low 18.1 shots a game. That’s because LeBron can’t miss this year, from anywhere on the court. He started out the season refusing to shoot any threes, and was looking to attack every single game and it’s paid off. He’s shooting a blazing 54.7% from the field, 41.7% from 3 on a career low 1.9 attempts a night and 77.3% from the line. His free throw rate is still lower than most would like, but those free throw numbers are going to keep improving. Since his embarrassing 9 of 17 night from the line vs. the Clippers, LeBron has shot over 80% from the stripe in 15 of the following 22 games. In fact, in January he’s averaging 82.8% and in the last 5 games, he’s averaging 92.3% from the line. Yikes.

The rest of his game hasn’t suffered either. He’s handing out 6.8 dimes a night, 2.5 steals & blocks combined and a career high 8.1 rebounds per contest. Based on his advanced stats, LeBron’s having the best season of his career. His PER of 32.4 isn’t just the best of his career, it’s the highest mark in the history of the NBA. Let me repeat that, the one metric that many consider the best single statistic by which to measure an individual players impact and greatness is better than anyone, ever, to have played basketball. His Win Shares, Win Shares per 48, Offensive Win Shares, TS%, eFG%, all of them are off the charts. In fact he leads the NBA in WS, OWS and WS/48 as well as PER this year, just like he had for the previous 3 years.

Still, people find excuses to try and wedge others not just into but above LeBron in the MVP conversation. Listen, I love Durant and he might be a savant of scoring but his overall game doesn’t touch LeBron’s. LeBron’s one of, if not the best, perimeter defenders in the NBA. He’s a 6’9” monster who can defend all five positions. Don’t believe me, ask the man who robbed him of an MVP last year, Derrick Rose. Look at LeBron’s +/- stats at every position. Look at his production and his defense at every position.

The Devil would sell his own soul to LeBron for a season like this one.

@Suga_Shane