James has always struck me as more Magic than Bird.
agreed.
has the ball most of the time like Magic. Bird touched the ball a lot on offense but wasn't the one bringing it up or initiating plays unlike Lebron and Magic.
Definitely can't shoot like Bird. Doesn't pass like him either. Bird was able to find and make the exceptional pass where he caught the opposition napping. Lebron, though a very gifted athlete and a good passer in his own right, doesn't make those same types of passes. His passes are more like a PGs type of passes where he draws attention on a drive and lays it off to someone that becomes open due to a double team.
In Bird's first five seasons he was below 29% from 3 point range four times and never shot more then 1.7 per game and was only at 1 or better twice. In his last seven seasons (not counting the 6 game season) Bird was above 40% five times and never below 33.3% and was above 2 three pointers a game every time.
Lebron in his seven seasons (including this one) has only been below 30% once (his rookie year) and has only been below 3.9 attempts his rookie year when he was at 2.7.
Lebron and Larry have almost identical TS% and eFG% for their careers and Lebron, like Larry, is improving his shooting every season. Sure Lebron likes to dunk, but his outside shooting is underappreciated especially given just how much more frequently he has the ball in his hand.
His outside shooting is appreciated just fine, given how bad it is. TS% doesn't tell you how good his jumper is.
And you can't really compare his 3pt% with Bird's early career since most teams didn't run plays for 3 point shots back then. The seasons when Bird shot less than 29% from 3 were seasons when he averaged less than 1 3pt attempt per game, and those were mostly unplanned and uncalled. Just look at it: Bird's worst season from the 3pt line was 83-84, when he shot around 24%. But the league average that year was 25% and no team shot more than 4 a game. Now, teams have game plans centered around the 3pt shot, and Lebron is shootin 34.7 in a year the league average is 35.2.
Look at hoopdata's breakdown of Lebron's shooting by distance: 29% between 10-15 feet, 39% between 16-23, 35% beyond 23. Kobe, meanwhile, hits 49% from 10-15 feet, 42 from 16-23, and 32 from beyond 23 feet.
Topic: Wall Street Journal compares LeBron to Bird (Read 31202 times)