Lebron at Power Forward

[Bankshot]

LeBron, at 6-foot-9 and somewhere around 260 pounds, brings the ball up court and starts the offense. The obvious counter is to send two and sometimes three defenders at him as he approaches the 3-point arc. He has the option to pass, but the Celtics have anticipated that and covered.

Cavs coach Mike Brown needs to adjust. Let point guard Delonte West bring the ball up while James takes a position close to the basket. Get the ball to him and let him attack Boston's skinny frontcourt.

Former NBA point guard Mark Jackson said LeBron should play power forward and the Cavs should use a smaller lineup.

In other words, put in the shooters such as Daniel Gibson, Wally Szczerbiak and West. With those guys in, LeBron can move to the hoop, pass to open shooters if double-teamed or take it to the hole if not. Should work.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/2008/05/10/ddn051008spaudible.html

What do you think about this article?  How will Lebron playing power forward effect the Celtics defense?  Will it make any difference?  If Lebron plays power forward, do we move PP and Posey to power forward?  How would it work from the Celtics end?

[jay_jay54]

I think this idea/plan would help our rebounding a lot.Where will the majority of the Cavs rebounds come from with this proposed lineup?... also open more  offensive possiblities for the C's.

[Vermont Green]

I think what he is saying is to put a shooter in to replace Ben Wallace instead of another big like Verajao (or however you spell that).  I think that would be great for the Celtics if they did because that mean LeBron would need to defend KG, Wally would defend Pierce, West on Ray Allen and Gibson on Rondo, all better match-ups for the Celtics.  I can't believe that Cle would try this but if they do, I think it favors the Celtics and the Celtics should stay big, not try to match small with small.

[TripleOT]

The real reason that Mike Brown would play LeBrick at PF would be to get the Cs to play with only one big.  The two bigs that have been helping on LeBron drives are the reason that he isn't converting a lot of his drives to the hoop.  The theory is that if KG had to hang out on the perimeter to guard Z and his deadly jumper, and if Posey was at PF to guard LBJ, there would be a ton more room for James to operate. 

The way the Cs handled this small line up in Game 2 was to play KG on Pavlovic.  It obviously takes Garnett away from the basket a bit.  When Veragao or Big Ben are on the floor, the Cs always have a free big man as a help defender.  The smart move for Brown would be to go small and try to do what the Wizards do to the Celtics.  I'm guessing that the Cs won't bite, except for playing Powe instead of Perk, and punishing the Cavs at the other end.

 

[BballTim]

  What if we don't go small? Leave Paul or KG on LeBron an the other on Wally. That means James has to cover KG or Perk and Wally guards Paul. James would be less effective if he gets the ball down low. Rondo would give Delonte fits if West brought the ball up every time.

[wdleehi]

Stay big.  Abuse Lebron (or whoever the small guy on the big guy on the other end of the floor)


If a three pointer gets hot, so be it.  The key is to not allow James to get hot. 

[Who]

Has Mike Brown said he's playing Bron at power forward?

Or is this just a suggestion from folk in the media?

I don't see it. I'd be suprised to see Mike Brown make such a large adjustment, he doesn't have it in him.