Ethan Khoza’s YouTube video tests viewers on whether they can ‘read’ basketball situations like LeBron James by presenting game clips and offering post-clip breakdowns. The host frames LeBron as both physically exceptional and strategically elite, invites viewers to choose actions during scenarios, then explains why LeBron made his decisions (while noting alternative choices can also be justified).
LeBron James is not only one of the most physically talented players to ever play basketball, but he's also one of the smartest. And as he's gotten older, the combination of physical ability with his unmatched basketball IQ has allowed him to dominate the game in ways that we've not seen before. In this video, we'll go through a few situations that will allow you to try and read the same situation that LeBron does. After each situation, I'll give you an explanation of why LeBron did what he did. But understand that that doesn't necessarily mean that you're wrong. You pick a different option.
But.
But each clip can absolutely be justified based on LeBron's skill level and the situation that was laid out for him. Let's get into it.
For the first couple situations, we're going to look at LeBron using this ball screen and then facing a drop defender after. What does LeBron do right here? Anytime LeBron comes off a ball screen, has any sort of momentum going downhill, the read is very, very simple. If there's one defender in front of him and the paint is empty, he's going through the basket because there's not a single person in the NBA who can stop him from doing that. With the first clip, he attacks a very athletic defender in Michael Porter Jr. And in the second clip, he attacks Valenci Yunus, who's a bigger guy, showing that no matter who's down there, LeBron's going to attack this drop defender if he sees a one on one situation. What read should LeBron make in this ball screen situation? As we just talked about, LeBron puts a ton of pressure on that hedge defender. Every time he uses the ball screen right here, that hedge defender plays up a little bit higher, closer to that screen to stop LeBron from being able to get momentum going downhill, which opens up that pocket pass opportunity for Anthony Davis. This perfectly illustrates what allows LeBron to dominate a game of basketball in the same situation. No matter what option you take away, there's another option at his disposal that he's going to be able to exploit you with. In this situation, what does LeBron do right here? Foreign. As we move on throughout this video, you're going to start to see the incredible pressure that LeBron puts on not only his primary defender, but also the health defense. If there's a situation like this where LeBron's in the post against a smaller defender and they do not immediately bring help, then it's another situation where LeBron's just going to bury that guy and easily score one on one. The reason that the defense is unwilling to help in this clip is because they understand how willing and good of a passer LeBron is. Keep that in mind as the video continues. What's LeBron's read in this situation right here? So this situation is the opposite of what happened before. LeBron gets the ball in the post and Nurkic comes over to bring help so that LeBron isn't able to just drive and take his guy one on one. The problem with the defense doing this, that it forces them to have really, really good rotations in order to make up for that and take away that open lob. And Portland has terrible rotations right here. And as soon as Nurkin starts to go, you'll see Jabel McGee start to point up to signal to LeBron to throw this lob. Ultimately, there's nobody in the NBA who puts more pressure on the help defense than LeBron James. What should LeBron do in this situation here? LeBron is constantly manipulating to help defense because of his ability to drive to the basket. So that forces Horton Tucker's defender to play down low. And when LeBron drives right here, that defender steps in to take away that driving lane, leaving a wide open three point shot for LeBron to pass to. What should LeBron do in this situation here? When LeBron drives, Melo steps in to help right here, which lets LeBron know that his guy is going to be open, meaning there's going to be a swing to the opposite wing available. And even though LeBron makes this look like a very, very basic pass, he throws this ball before Anthony Davis is really even at the spot. He leads Anthony Davis to the spot, getting him a good look from three. And despite the miss, LeBron is right there to clean it up. If you guys want to improve your perimeter scoring abilities, make sure you guys click the top link in the description below to get my free lit perimeter score workout. Make sure you guys drop a like subscribe and comment what you want to see next. That's it guys. Peace.
