LeBron James forced to improve by Spurs

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LeBron James knows he must improve for Cleveland to win

It is not often that LeBron James is humbled.

It is even less often that the King is shown to be at a deficit with his hoop skills.

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised a lot of teams last year, but unless LeBron and the team improve, they will fall behind the Pistons, Celtics, and probably the Magic.

And right now LeBron is behind Kobe in his ability to finish a game.

In last year’s Championship, the San Antonio Spurs took LeBron and basically punished him.

So the Spurs took LeBron out behind the woodshed?

Well, not exactly, but something like that.

The San Antonio Spurs prevented LeBron James from dominating in last year’s NBA Championship series.

The Spurs, given more than enough time to game plan, took advantage of his shortcomings during the Finals. Bruce Bowen chased him wherever he went, and when James did penetrate, he usually found a four-man wall waiting for him.

The Spurs’ goal: If James wanted to drive, he was going to have to plow through a crowd of them to do so. Instead, they dared James to fire pick-and-roll jumpers, and he didn’t make nearly enough, shooting just 32 percent in the four-game sweep. source

The King was not going to side idly by and let this public humiliation escape away without rectifying some soft spots in his game.

So, LeBron James went to work this past summer.

So James brought Cleveland’s shooting coach, Chris Jent, with him nearly everywhere he went last summer. Jent was in Las Vegas working with James as he trained with Team USA. He accompanied him to Los Angeles for the ESPYs. To New England for a working vacation.

The results aren’t hard to see. Just ask the Memphis Grizzlies, whom James hung 51 points on Tuesday. He’s leading the league in scoring, averaging 29.8 points per game while shooting a career-best 48.7 percent. James’ three-point percentage has dropped slightly, but his midrange game has never been better.

Now that the King has improved, LeBron would like to see the team improve. One area of definite improvement would be more talent.

“They have to get LeBron more help,” one scout said recently.

The GM, Danny Ferry, has twice tried to get Mike Bibby, asked about Andre Miller of the Sixers, tried to put together a package for Jason Kidd of the Nets. So far no luck.

Geez, LeBron takes the team all the way to the finals without talent. How scary would the Cav’s be with talent?

One thing is for sure, LeBron will be working on his game in the meantime to get better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Is LeBron the best player in the NBA?

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