by Metsis on Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:21 pm
I'm more on the lines of magius here... You now see that LeBron has more able help and thus doesn't get that many touches as he did last season. I think you guys are wrong... I think LeBron will get more of everything... Now that he does have the help that he's never had.
LeBron has been the guy to beat the first two seasons and Cleveland has never really had anyone that can spread the floor and make the defenses play more honestly. Hughes is a very tricky guy to guard as he's a great slasher and thus he needs to be guarded and Jones can hit the three with Marshall... I see LeBron having more space to make his own plays and score actually more than last season and when defense adjusts, he can just give it up to a guy playing against a mis-match and get the assist out of that. It's going to be more easy for LeBron this season than ever before... His points will probably stay the same, but I expect his rebounds and assists to soar through the roof... Why, well assists due to the fact that when he attracts double and triple teams, he can find the open team mate and they can finally knock it down... Rebounds, well if you are not shooting the ball 70% of the time anymore, you are in a better situation of getting a board...
Hughes is probably going to take the toughest defensive guard duties and thus leaving LeBron with an easier job and the ability to get more boards on the defensive end too.
For LeBron, I predict pretty much the same scoring, with higher percentages, higher rebounds and a lot higher assists. Maybe a slight drop on the defensive stats steals and blocks...
Garnett on the other hand will most likely face double teams all season long... Szerbiak and Hudson really need to stay healthy for KG to get his numbers going... There's basically no one else who can force the defenses to play more honest.
It's a tough call... I have to fantasy teams going, in one I've got LeBron and in the other I've got KG... But as someone wrote, you can't go wrong with either one, so that much is guarranteed... You get great stats no matter which you pick at number 1.