LeBron James scored 37 points on an incredibly efficient 15-of-22 shooting night against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. In years past, while we’d still marvel at the performance, we wouldn’t bat an eye at that field goal percentage, because it was a hallmark of James’ game. That hasn’t been the case this season, however. In fact, at one point, James was the worst shooter in the NBA outside of the painted area, which John Schuhmann of NBA.com made known when he tweeted out this graphic.
The worst high-volume shooters from outside the paint, a list topped by LeBron James & Kobe Bryant. pic.twitter.com/Sn4CW6C9O7
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) December 29, 2015
Schuhmann’s chart found its way to LeBron’s Instagram feed, and spurred the King to action, as Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reports:
“I actually saw [it] on my Instagram feed that I was the worst-shooting player in the NBA,” James said. “I actually saw that when I woke up from a nap. I remember exactly when that was. Denver. Right before the Denver game, so I answered the call.”
From the beginning of the season, to the Denver game, LeBron was shooting a respectable –for any guard or guard-forward hybrid but LeBron — 48.6 percent from the field overall, but his percentage from deep, 24.8, was easily the lowest in his career. In the six games since seeing the graphic, LeBron is shooting 57.8 percent from the field and 43.3 percent on five 3-point attempts per game. His true shooting percentage jumped from 55.2 to 66.4 afterwards, too.
Journalists and analysts share stats all the time; it’s part of their job. Normally, those facts and figures float out into the ether, never really reaching the eyeballs of the players involved. This was an exception, and while the rest of the NBA probably isn’t happy that LeBron rediscovered his shot, we can only assume LeBron is overjoyed.
When asked if the graphic was a problem, LeBron proved that was actually a strength. “It doesn’t bother me. It puts me back in the gym.”
