In case you’ve never heard of basketball, there’s this guy named LeBron James. He plays basketball, and he’s pretty damn good at what he does. At this stage in his career, there’s really no point into even looking at his numbers, because he gets more and more solid as the seasons go by, and he has the physical makings of someone who can play until he’s 50.
But, we love sports, we love stats and all that nonsense, so we are going to look at his numbers, and ask the question that stemmed from his amazing run of putting together at least 30 points and 60 percent shooting in six straight games last season, as well as having a 21-game stretch in which he shot 63.2 percent from the floor. Will LeBron shoot 60% from the field in a single season?
A look at his stats show an upward trend of field goal shooting in every season except for two, so he’s got a decent shot right off the bat. By the way, I know I said it’s pointless, but let’s take a moment to look at how unreal King James’ numbers are.
Not only has his field goal percentage gone up every single year, but it has jumped 148 points since first coming into the league. Last year, he took less shots than ever, meaning James is getting smarter and more selective with his field goal attempts in addition to taking more shots in the paint.
Back to the question at hand. Will he shoot 60?
The answer is yes, but probably not until 2015. While the numbers have gone up since playing in Miami, his biggest jump in field goal percentage from one season to another was his rookie to sophomore year, in which he improved by 55 points. On the other hand, his biggest improvement since then was last season, in which he improved by 34. So, if LeBron were to improve by another 34 points this year, that’d put him at .599, one point shy of shooting what seems to be the goal of everyone else more so than him.
But it is doable, however unlikely, that LeBron once again makes such an improvement on his improvement. After all it is LeBron we’re talking about here, not some Joe schmoe from the D-League. And LeBron is aware of it himself as are his teammates.
Shane Batter said for the Miami Herald:
Nothing surprises me about that guy. As long as he’s willing to take the punishment of trying to shoot 60 percent, which means a few more rim attacks a game, it’s possible. I don’t know if he’s willing to take the punishment, because that takes a tremendous amount of punishment to shoot that high of a percentage. But if anyone can do it, he can do it.
Shane nailed it right there. LeBron’s health could be an issue with his increased age, but see above for the aforementioned proper attitude when talking about LeBron. He’s not just any old guy, he’s something special.
And according to the King, he’s ready for the challenge:
I don’t really set out goals as far as what I want to shoot from the field. I know I want to take good shots and I know I want to be in attack and if that results in [60 percent] then it will be great, but I want to get the best shot for myself and for our team every possession.
We say he’ll shoot .599. Will LeBron prove us wrong?
