LeBron James: Could he survive Dennis Rodman and the Bad Boys?

LeBron James’ tendencies have been well-known for years. These guys exposed them at the All-Star game in 2013!

Does anyone remember LeBron’s first two baskets?  The Lakers were on the road on the second night of the season last year against Portland and he dunked the ball on back to back possessions. At that time, the crowd was going nuts for him. Unbelievable. Did we fail to mention that it was a road game?

Cleveland Cavaliers’ announcer Austin Carr used to call LeBron James the L-train because no one can stop him on the break when he gets a head of steam. As the NBA has witnessed this season, when the man cares, he is on a different level from anyone on the planet.

That’s the strengths, now let’s talk weaknesses.

LeBron James rarely posts up anymore. Sure he did up the ante this year, but now that he is the primary ball-handler, good luck seeing it in the playoffs. Wasn’t that was part of the plan when the roster was constructed last year? About 20 games in, LeBron reneged and went back to running the point. When he did, the roster got exposed and Magic Johnson got thrown under the bus for it.

LeBron’s game can be easily be discerned.

• He always wants to go right to finish.
• His left hand is improved but still average.
• On the left side of the floor, he wants to shoot the jumper.
• If he is forced to drive to his left going deep, he wants to shoot the bank shot. If you are a smart defender, well this can happen for you.

Notice this is happening in the All-Star game. Anyone shocked about this? You shouldn’t.

This is nothing new. Back in 2013, Michael Jordan laid out LeBron’s tendencies in an interview. Kobe Bryant just happened to be taking notes and gave perfect illustrations of what Jordan was talking about during the All-Star game. Bryant blocked LeBron’s shot during the game. Twice.

These are one-on-one matchups in games that don’t matter. Think about how rough the “Bad Boys” were just in the regular season. Think about how brutal they were in the playoffs? Lake Show Life’s Jason Reed did a piece about LeBron James playing in that era. He’s right LeBron could.

But stop looking at the LeBron’s pictures lifting weights saying he could endure what Michael Jordan did back then. It’s not the same thing.

Those weights don’t hit back. Dennis Rodman and the “Bad Boys” did.