Secret Scouting Report for Guarding LeBron James Leaked!

Have you ever thought about what would you think or what would you do as a defender if the opponent on the other team was LeBron James and he was your primary assignment that night? What would you do? I think this is a question that eludes a lot of people, especially when you talk about the LeBron James haters, how they are able to criticize him, how they're able to try to slander him, how they try to make up narratives, how they try to bring up things that aren't even basketball related just to attack this man, LeBron James. But I pose this question to a lot of people, fans or haters alike, how would you guard LeBron James? And you know what? This question actually was answered to some degree as former NBA player, Lucas Neguera. He actually leaked a photo. He actually linked a photo of a game plan that was used by the Toronto Raptors in 2018 to guard LeBron James in the NBA playoffs. And you know, we talk about scouting reports. We go a little deeper than what most casuals go. When we talk about the game, when we do our game breakdowns, our film study, we try to analyze them in a more technical way. When we talk about how scouts look at games, coaches look at games, how players view game film, that's the type of analysis we try to give you as opposed to just taking that casual approach, which I just don't know how to do it. I don't know how to watch the game of basketball and just dumb it down to he missed a shot and I just have to run with that narrative. I have to be a bit more intricate because if you played the game on any serious level, you will respect, you will have a respect for, especially star players, you will have a respect for what they have to go through on a night in and night out basis. Because scouting reports are crucial. I mean, when teams, especially now with so much video, teams are able to build and create scouting reports, your weaknesses, your strengths, they can break your game down to a tee and then they can build a scouting report based around that. It's extremely hard to be a star in the NBA today. I know a lot of people say it's soft and you can just score whenever you want. I mean, if that was the case, then scouting reports like what I'm about to show you, what Now, the one thing that we do know with this scouting report, and let's go ahead and pull it up right here. So the one thing that we do know is that it wasn't extremely successful to a certain degree because you can come up with the best scouting report that you want. You still have to have players that can go out there and execute it. We know that Toronto Raptor team cost Dwayne O'Casey his job, even though he was coach of the year. I mean, he just struggled to solve the LeBron James equation. It just seemed like it didn't matter what he tried or how good his team was during the regular season. None of those things matter because ultimately it boiled down to executing and stopping this man. And I don't know if he just had the personnel to do it. But when you look at this scouting report, I want to see if you guys kind of agree because Dwayne O'Casey is looked at as one of the better defensive coaches in the NBA. I mean, I've actually referenced some of the things that he does in practice to help improve my team, the team that I coach defensively. But if we kind of look at this right here, we look at LeBron James on offense. Look at some of the things that he talks about. Okay. He says good as a ball handler in the pick and roll 1.3 points per game out of the pick and roll. He says LeBron James surprisingly excellent as a screener in the pick and roll 1.21 points per game. I've never looked at, you know, and again, this is crazy because when you start breaking these things down to a science, these are some of the things we could miss because when we just watching highlights, we miss these experts of their game. But Dwayne O'Casey has highlight. LeBron James is excellent as a screener in the pick and roll. He said he pops twice as much as he rolls. So LeBron James does pop a lot. But again, that's also understanding when do I pop to create space? When do I roll to occupy space? It says he gets the ball out of pick and roll at a high volume. So teams generally are probably pressed up on him playing some aggressive defense. He's needs those pick and rolls to get the ball. So he said he gets the balls in the pick and roll that high ball and he said at an elite efficiency. Once he gets the ball out of a pick and roll, he has an elite efficiency at 1.33 points per game. These are the things that not me. This is not things that as a fan. This is what Dwayne O'Casey and his scouting staff came up with. We're talking about Dwayne O'Casey, one of the best defensive coaches in the NBA. These are the things that he's identified that he needs to focus on. He needs his players to be aware of this. They have LeBron James as an elite finisher at the rim with a 77% true shooting percentage at the rim. And he says he's averaged from the mid-range at 43% true percentage. So LeBron James, I know a lot of people talk about LeBron James' efficiency and they like to compare that to Jordan and some of these other players. Remember, what Jordan makes up for, Jordan makes up for a lot with regards to mid-range inefficiency. And previously in his career, he struggled at the three-point line. He's gotten better now, but he made up for a lot of that by being extremely efficient at the rim. And it also says, has taken twice as many three-pointers off the dribble than catch and shoot threes. He said he has a good three-point attempts off the dribble and he shoots a 56% true shooting percentage. He said he's averaged on catch and shoot three-point attempts at 57% true shooting percentage. So again, I tell people, catch and shoot threes, when we look at some of these players and we see guys miss open shot, catch and shoot threes in the NBA is one of the harder skill sets to acclimate to. Catch and shoot threes is not easy. I mean, just imagine yourself walking into a gym and just go to a spot, go to a spot and just catch and shoot, pass, catch and shoot. A lot of times you'll probably miss the first two to three until you find your rhythm. In the NBA, imagine being a catch and shoot player, a player that doesn't even touch the ball as much as LeBron, and you're asked to be a catch and shoot three-point shooter. It's an extremely difficult skill to acquire and to maintain. So again, they've identified he struggles as a catch and shoot three-point shooter, but off the dribble, he considers him to be a good three-point shooter when he's coming off the dribble. So we've seen LeBron James do that dribble size up move and go into a step back three, much more so this past season where he was really, really good at making that shot. But he has struggled in the catch and shoot scenario. They also, I think Dwayne Casey and his staff also identify, he says he has taken 69 three-pointers going to his left and has been very good shooting at a 67% true shooting percentage as compared to just seven, seven three-point attempts going to the right. I talked to my players about this as well. Even I look at myself, the one thing that was scouted about me in high school was when I'm, a lot of teams, because I'm a left-hander, a lot of teams would force me right. But teams started to quickly find out that I shot my highest percentage pulling up off of my right-hand dribble going to my left hand. So I know a lot of times people say, oh, if he's left-handed, force him right, force him right. That's generally, that's sometimes not always the best strategy because once you start doing your scouting report on different players, a player like me was, I wasn't necessarily a driver. I was much more of a shooter. I'm always seeking out ways to get my shot off. I felt more comfortable gathering into my shot coming from off the right-hand dribble as opposed to the left hand where I am stronger with my left hand on the dribble. I'm probably going to drive more with my left. But that pull-up jumper, which is what teams really scouted out of me, wasn't really my strong suit when I was dribbling with my left. And so I think you have to be mindful of that. So again, I think he's done a good job of identifying some things. He says high volume of drives. This is excellent when he takes the shot at a 1.39 points per game, but he says he's near average when he passes 1.06 points per game. So he talks about when LeBron drives, and I think this is something that was missing out of LeBron James' game this year because LeBron James was so focused and intent on scoring for the Lakers. But he says when LeBron drives and takes shots, he's scoring at a 1.39 points per game, but when he passes the ball, right, when he passes the ball, not just off the drive, but when he's just passing the ball around, not just his points per game suffer, but his team's points per game suffer. So he is a much better drive and kick player than people even give him credit for. I think that's where he's really made great strides. I think that's what he really came into the league doing, that drive and kick surrounded him with shooters. At least when he came into the league, it was much easier as opposed to now when shooters are at a premium and you can't get them cheap anymore. So it says catch and shoot on closeouts at a low volume. Remember, LeBron James is a higher IQ player. This is something that a lot of people don't give him credit for. LeBron James is not going to shoot bad shots. He's not going to shoot shots that he's not comfortable shooting, and he's not going to allow you to force him into a bad shot. We see a lot of players do this. They shoot, they catch and shoot the ball even on tough closeouts. Dwayne Casey has noticed on tough closeouts, you're not going to get LeBron James to shoot. Remember, he's not a great catch and shoot player. So you may, understanding that, on any swing pass of LeBron, you may want to stop short. You may want to stop short and play the catch and shoot. You want to play the shot and maybe defend the drive if he attacks. So again, it also is about having personnel that can consistently do this. So obviously, Dwayne Casey, at least in 2018, was able to identify that LeBron James struggles with catch and shoots, but at the same time, LeBron James also understands that he struggles with catch and shoots, and he shoots the ball off catch and shoots at a low volume. So that tells you right there, you're dealing with a high IQ player, and you're going to always have to be thinking when you're defending LeBron James. And he says he gets the ball off of cuts at a high volume, at an elite efficiency of 1.58 points per game. And so this is something that you might hear casuals say, because casuals, a lot of these casual fans will run around saying, LeBron James can't play off the ball. He can't move without the ball. That's the complete opposite of what NBA head coach Dwayne Casey said about LeBron James. He says LeBron James gets the ball off of cuts at a high volume, at an elite efficiency of 1.58 points per game. Off of cuts. That's moving without the ball. Without the ball, LeBron James is one of the most high IQ players in the NBA. For all the idiots out there that say he needs to not bring the ball up to court, he needs to allow other people to be point guards, you guys sound stupid saying that stuff. Because real head coaches, real scouts that actually analyze the game from a true perspective and they're not just saying things because it sounds good to say some of these things on a live stream when really no one knows how to fact check you or will actually go fact check you. You guys say the complete opposite takes when you're talking about LeBron James, especially the LeBron James haters. He can't play off the ball. Where does this narrative come from? Where does that narrative come from? It comes from casuals just saying stuff because it sounds good and because you believe. Because he brings the ball up to court. Because he's always playmaking to facilitate. He can't do anything other than that. Dwayne Casey says otherwise. And then Lucas Nogueira also said, he also released this, and I wish he would have released the full defensive scope. I wish he would have just turned that page and gave us that second page. But the first thing it says right here, it says defensive wise. It says LeBron James is below average defending the ball handler, which is quite surprising. It says below average defending the ball handler at 1.11 points per, at a 1.11 PPP or screener at a 1.10 PPP in the pick and roll and he does a high volume of switches. So this is one of the negatives. So again, if you are one of those LeBron James haters, maybe you want to potentially attack his defense. Dwayne Casey was able to identify LeBron James as an average defender when guarding the ball. And then when he gets screened, he will switch before he stays with the tough assignment. Now we've seen LeBron James fight through screens and stay. We've seen that on occasion. We saw that in 2020 in the bubble when he successfully guarded Kawhi Leonard and then Paul George successfully in one play. I mean, he can defend at a high volume. Now I think you can go with two potential narratives of this. You can say that he's lackluster on the defensive end or one might say, well, high usage offensive players, it's tough for those guys to also be elite on the defensive side of the ball as well. Especially when you're looking at a player like LeBron James, that's not just asked to score. We've seen great scores in this league, like the Kobe's and the Jordan's, but none of those guys were also asked to facilitate to the level that LeBron James facilitates on the offensive side of the ball. And I think that's where a lot of people miss the ball with LeBron James. When they go to elevate Jordan or Kobe and some of the great scores over LeBron, those guys only role was to score. LeBron's role is not only to score 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 points per game, but he also needs to be the best facilitator on the team. Now is that by design? Probably so. Could these teams go out and seek other point guards, but why would you want a less superior point guard when you have LeBron James on your team? More than likely, I want the highest IQ player with the ball at all times. But you look, you guys, this was just a glimpse into how NBA teams truly analyze players and truly try to break down the game. It's not going to be, you know, it's no easy task. It's no easy task when you, you know, when you have to guard LeBron James. We just saw that in the Drew League. You know, a guy that had some, you know, he was throwing shade at LeBron James a few years ago on Twitter. Now he's in the Drew League and you're sitting there having to guard a 37-year-old LeBron James and you don't know what to do with this man. He's cooking you every which way. And this, this was a guy that played D1 basketball and was a pro overseas, couldn't do anything with a 37-year-old LeBron James. After talking all that talk on the internet, again, similar to some of the people that I see in the comments, similar to some of the people that I see on these panels that want to attack LeBron James relentlessly over and over and over again, but you say things that make no sense. Again, when Luke, when Lucas Nogara released this, it just really exposed how great he is because even with scouting reports, this detail out on LeBron James, he still found a way to be an elite scorer, to be an elite playmaker, even, even be an elite defender at times, even though his effort defensively is spotty. I mean, and I think that's the difficulty of being a superstar in this league that no one gives any of these guys credit for. There's more video footage, there's more scouting reports, right? There's more ways to break down and analyze your games from weaknesses to strengths than ever before. And these players have to go in on a night in and night out basis and deal with teams that are able to receive all this data and then execute those plans against you. Now, are those plans generally successful? Sometimes they are. We've seen teams successfully defend the Giannis'. We saw the Warriors successfully defend an MVP in Joker. We've seen teams successfully defend Paul George and Kawhi Leonard on the same team. We saw that in Denver when they ran them down from a 3-1 deficit. But it also requires you having the personnel to execute. I mean, when you look at the Clippers and how they faltered in the bubble, Jeremy Grant and some of those defenders that they had on that team played a key role in executing that. It takes guys like the Draymond Greens in this league, like the PJ Tuckers and players of that elk to help you go out there and execute these types of game plans against the great players. So, again, I think it's time where we just have to stop crying about players of this era acting as if things are all peaches and cream and so easy for all these guys. Because when you see scouting reports like this, like what we just saw with LeBron James, it tells you that when they step on that court, they're dealing with so many different things. They're dealing with so many forces that are just solely identified to stop them, that they have to be inhumanly great just to get their numbers. So I think it's just time to start appreciating. Look, you know, Bill Russell. Bill Russell just passed. And a lot of people were messaging me saying, are you going to do a Bill Russell tribute? And I said, no, no, no, I don't need to do a Bill Russell tribute. I gave Bill Russell his flowers when he was here, here on FYF Sports. We talked about how, why are some people so quick to discredit what Bill Russell did because of his era? Because so many people just say those things. I was one of the few people actually willing to give him credit. I was one of the few people willing to label him the greatest rebounder of all time, arguably one of the best defenders of all time, even though some people to elevate Michael Jordan want to claim he was playing mailmen and plumbers. Some of these guys, look, again, I gave the man Bill Russell his flowers before he passed. I don't have to run around calling him the GOAT now like some people are trying to do because you ran around ragging on the 60s and 70s and then the man passes and now you have to make up for all the nonsense that you were saying by over glorifying him right now. We saw the same thing happen with Kobe and ultimately, I believe the same thing will happen with LeBron James. The sad reality of LeBron James, the saddest reality is that most people, especially the masses of the haters out there, are not going to truly appreciate who he was on the basketball court until it's too late. That's the saddest reality about this. Again, that's why I wanted to show you guys that scouting report. These scouting reports are real. These scouting reports are a lot more detailed than you would think and when you got players on a night-in-night-out basis really focused in on your weaknesses and strengths and you're still able to go out there. We talk about a player like LeBron going on 20 years in the NBA, dealing with this. They has 20 years of footage on LeBron James and teams still struggle to slow him down at the age of 37. It's just time we just start appreciating before it's too late, just like some of the clowns out here did with Bill Russell. People on TicketTV and some of these other channels, Carcino for Life, so quick to disrespect a Bill Russell. Let's not try to backtrack now. I want all the people that was ragging on Bill Russell in his era, why don't you keep that same energy? Don't try to act brand new because he passed, just like y'all acted brand new with Kobe. Kobe's one of the most hated players in the NBA. All of a sudden, everybody's a Kobe fan calling him top three all time simply because he passed. Let's not make the same mistake with LeBron James. How about you just give appreciation for what you see right now, understanding that we will probably never see what we're seeing now from a player ever again. Appreciate the greatness, criticize what fairly needs to be criticized, and stop crying every time this man does something that some player in your era couldn't do, like switch teams. People lie about that all the time. Oh, these players of the 90s were so loyal. No, they were not loyal. They were stuck. There's a difference between being loyal and stuck. Patrick Ewing wanted to leave the Knicks. He couldn't. No player's going to leave his team and take a 70% pay cut the way the CBA was designed, which is what he would have had to take to leave the Knicks. Why would he do that? He was stuck. Pippen wanted out of Chicago. He was stuck. Hakeem Olajuwon demanded trades out of Houston twice. He was stuck. The first true restricted free agent was Tom Chambers, but see, nobody wants to talk about that. The first truly unrestricted free agent was Tom Chambers. Can you guys think about that? It just didn't happen often, and that didn't happen until Tom Chambers was deep into his NBA career. So again, it's time to dispel the myths, man. Crack people in the head when they get caught capping, and as I always say, when we go live, if you want to contest or contend anything that I say, just please make sure you bring your facts so I don't have you looking crazy on the live panel. All I ask is you bring facts and not just say a whole bunch of things or take common stats out of context. Don't come to me with slogans from other channels, stats, no, no, no, I don't want to hear that. I want you to come with real stats and an explanation as to why you brought those stats if you want to make a counterargument to anything that I say. I've yet to see anybody challenge me directly on anything. I've yet to see anybody pull up to FYF Sports and challenge me on anything. I'm waiting on that day, and with so many people who run their mouths in the comments, why do you guys not pull up? We will be going live this weekend. It's a prime opportunity for you guys to take advantage. I welcome the challenge. It's called FYF Sports Debates. We are here to debate. We want all the smoke. FYF Sports, man, another great podcast episode, man. Make sure you guys subscribe, hit that notification bell if you haven't done so, man. The road to 50K is here, man. We will be there sooner than later, man. Salute to you guys for engaging in all the content, helping this channel grow faster than ever. 10 million views chalked up on the board now, man, so again, unbelievable year so far for FYF Sports. Hey, this is FYF Sports, another great podcast episode. We will be back with more sports news, but until then, this is FYF Sports, and we out.