Hollinger: Lebron James

2008-09 season: You know you're good when they invent a new stat for you. For Magic Johnson, it was the triple-double. For LeBron James, it's the "chase-down." James has become so proficient at running down players in transition and rejecting their shots that the Cavs started keeping track of his "chase-down blocks." He accumulated 22 of them last season, most of the spectacular variety, and they accounted for nearly a quarter of his season rejection total.

Top PER seasons since 1973-74
Player Year PPG RPG APG MPG PER
Michael Jordan 1987-88 35.0 5.5 5.9 40.4 31.89
Michael Jordan 1990-91 31.5 6.0 5.5 37.0 31.79
LeBron James 2008-09 28.4 7.6 7.2 37.7 31.76
Michael Jordan 1989-90 33.6 6.9 6.3 39.0 31.31
Michael Jordan 1988-89 32.5 8.0 8.0 40.2 31.29

That was just one plank in an epic campaign that culminated in his first MVP award. In the 36 seasons since the league began tracking individual turnovers, only Michael Jordan has put up a PER mark higher than LeBron's 31.76 of last season (see chart).
James ranked among the top seven small forwards in 12 of the 16 categories I track, and nearly pulled off the rare feat of posting the highest pure point rating at his position while leading the league in scoring (he ended up second behind Dwyane Wade in the latter category). It was the third time in the past four years he's led the league in PER, and at this point the evidence is overwhelming that he's the best player in the league.
Even in defeat he was great. James averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists in the conference finals against Orlando -- the best defensive team in the league in regular season -- and made a miraculous shot at the buzzer to win Game 2.

James has one Achilles' heel: his outside shooting. While he improved to a respectable 34.4 percent on 3s last season, he made only 39 percent of his long 2s. Those accounted for half his shots, so keeping him from the rim was the object of the game for opposing defenses. But that's easier said than done. James shot a phenomenal 68.5 percent in the immediate basket area, the second-best mark in the league among players with at least 200 attempts (see Andre Igoudala comment). When he didn't convert, he usually went to the line -- he ranked fourth at his position in free-throw rate.

Scouting report: James is an overwhelming physical force at 6-9, 260 pounds, with blazing straight-line speed that makes him a freight train in transition. The scary thing is that he doesn't take full advantage of his size, as he doesn't have a great feel for post play and thus isn't as effective as he could be taking smaller players to the block.

Not that it matters much. James devastates opponents with his penetration from the top of the key, and with his size and feel for the game, he can deliver pinpoint passes once defenses collapse on him. He can be guilty of waiting too long for plays to develop, and his instinctive retreats toward half court can be clock-killers. However, he limits the damage with his ability to get a decent shot off at virtually any moment, since he's always bigger than his defender and usually a better leaper.

Getting him to shoot jumpers is the game within a game, because he isn't terribly accurate from outside. But he's good enough that opponents need to make an effort to challenge his jumpers, and in the meantime he scores or gets to the line virtually every time he gets in the paint.

James has made notable improvement at the defensive end as well. His knowledge at that end caught up to his physical skills, resulting in an All-Defense selection for the first time. He managed to finish in the top six at his position in both blocks and steals with relatively little gambling. He doesn't guard opponents' top scorers early in games because he has so many responsibilities offensively, but in crunch time he's a lockdown one-on-one defender.

LeBron James Stats, News, Photos - Cleveland Cavaliers - ESPN

His PER is actually 31.9 this season, if he keeps it up he'll beat Jordan's top score by .1