In his 21st NBA season, LeBron James has a gripe with the younger generation of players coming through.
LeBron aired his frustrations about the younger generation’s obsession with trying to turn mismatches into one-on-one play during the latest episode of his podcast, Mind the Game, with JJ Redick.
Reddick posed the question, “So if I go switch on you, you’ve now got it a favorable matchup “Part of it is not just so that you can get a shot, part of it like… basketball boils down to: Can you put two on the ball?”
To which LeBron answered, “And now you create the four-on-three on the backside. I don’t think many people know that. You know why? Because everyone now has a narrative of this thing called, ‘I have a bag.’ Or, ‘He doesn’t have a bag.’ It bothers the f*** out of me.
“Everyone thinks just because you get a favorable matchup that it means it’s one-on-one time. ‘Let’s play ones’ — that’s all you hear the kids talk about now. ‘Wanna play ones?’ ‘Wanna play ones?’ But what the f*** is this? This is not Jordan versus Bird Nintendo. It’s five on five. And yes, if you have an opportunity to have a favorable matchup and you can beat your man, boom. But realize something — most great teams are going to send help, and can you make the right reads? Can you make the right reads? Can you instill confidence in your teammates to when you’ve scored twice on a favorable matchup. You know that the double is coming, and you have to see it either coming from the tilt on the baseline or from the fire from the nail. You have to be ready for that. Like and it takes time for guys — and some guys don’t want to learn and won’t learn because they just want to play ones.”
LeBron has been a natural playmaker from very early on in his career.
So let’s hope the new generation of players follow suit.