There is nothing scarier than the best player in basketball deciding to get better, especially when he takes aim at improving the one part of his game that could, once and for all, make him utterly indefensible.
But is it really so simple for LeBron James that all he needs is a few sessions with Hakeem Olajuwon and poof, he’ll have the low-post, back-to-the-basket game that has eluded him throughout his career and thus a clear path to the NBA championships he so desperately craves?
By working out with, learning from and picking the brain of one of the most uniquely skilled big men the game has ever seen, as was reported by ESPN.com, James will move one step closer to becoming the ultimate mismatch. But it bears noting: he already was. He does own a pair of MVPs, right?
The difference between James and the career-lengthening post-up epiphanies of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant is a previous proof of concept. MJ and Kobe won titles with and without. Perimeter-anchored James hasn’t exactly worked out.
But what LeBron lacked in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks wasn’t a killer post or perimeter move, but a killer presence — not the ability to do, but when and how to do it, particularly in the fourth quarter.
Unless he also adds willingness to his offseason curriculum, adding a post-up game will just give him a bigger arsenal that isn’t realized to its fullest potential.
