From Sam Smith of Bulls.com:
We always joke about stars getting all the calls, and we heard plenty of this in Chicago in Michael Jordan’s era. Now, I’m not saying there’s some sort of conspiracy. But James may well be the most protected star we’ve ever seen.
Do the referees consciously protect James knowing he is perhaps the league’s top marketing figure and he is featured more than any player on the nightly sports highlights? I always doubt that knowing the integrity of the refereeing corps as a group and believe NBA officiating is the best in sports.
Still, we’ve never seen anything like this. Especially at a time when it is generally agreed with rules changes it is the most difficult time to defend on the perimeter without committing fouls.
James is averaging 1.72 fouls per game in an average of 37.9 minutes per game. James hasn’t even been in foul trouble one game this season. He never has had more than four fouls called on him in a game, and since March 1 is being called for fewer than 1.3 fouls per game.
In 12 of the 20 games since then, James has been called for one or zero fouls in a game. James had a stretch of five straight games to conclude March averaging 36.8 minutes per game without being called for one foul. Not one in five games! In the last nine games, James has been called for three personal fouls. It’s really amazing given the involvement James has in the action of the game.
“It’s impossible,” said one team executive.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I can’t speak about preferential treatment, but I will say that LeBron rarely gets himself in bad position on defense, and people don’t try to drive on him all that often. However, once someone gets a step on him, rather than reaching in, LeBron has a bad habit of just letting them go. That’s partially why he doesn’t foul that often. Who knows how many fouls LeBron has gotten away with compared to everyone else in the league. All I know is that it’s unfair to imply it’s just the officiating. LeBron has become an incredibly gifted defender.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Rock:
There’s no doubt in my mind that LeBron receives preferential treatment. All stars get the benefit of the doubt. I probably should have titled this differently.
As far as LeBron being “protected,” I don’t know if I believe that. I rarely see James foul players in the act of shooting (which is fairly easy to detect) and he’s done an excellent job of moving his feet on defense this season.
Still, it’s hard to believe that he went five games without committing a foul.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’ve never ever seen Lebron foul someone hard. LeBron will give up a layup or swat a ball into the 5th row before he will lay a guy out. when he plays defense he moves his feet as well as anyone and doesn’t overplay – which is why he never gets called for reach in fouls.
I don’t believe that Lebron gets Preferential treatment at all – simply because refs allow other teams so much body contact on LeBron at the other end. I watch guys like Gilbert Arenas, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, and Chauncey billups run into defenders 30 feet from the hoop and flail their head back or fall to one knee (while keeping their dribble) and the refs blow the whistle. LeBron gets body contact from 2 to 3 defenders every time he makes a move with the ball and the refs swallow their whistles. LeBron tries to sell fouls by yelling and giving mad stares after a play. But he doesn’t flop. I keep waiting for him to do it to. Everytime I see him grab his eye and wince in pain, I think…he’s faking. Then they show the replay and sure enough, he got wacked in the face.
Also, watch the end of the Cavs loss against the Pacers and tell me that Lebron gets love from the refs. what about the crab dribble? The NBA has taken away two games from the Cavs this season in end game situations by calling LeBron for questionable stuff.
I think LeBron staying out of foul trouble is more of his penchant for not fouling than referees swallowing their whistles BECAUSE it’s LeBron.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
LeBron’s length and footspeed, (and penchant for humiliating blocks) encourages offensive players to shoot over him instead of trying to drive by him.
Watch his defense on Tony Parker yesterday. Tony kept jacking up shots over him.
I really hate articles like this. The numbers are great, it’s an interesting read, and yet he has to make statements like “LeBron is the most protected player of all time.”
Really?? 99% of people’s hatred towards LeBron has nothing to do with LeBron, it has to do with “he’s overhyped”, “he’s overrated”, “he hasn’t done anything yet” “he’s just the NBA’s poster boy”
Obviously I’m a homer here, but when I watch the Cavs I simply cannot understand how Lebron drives to the hoop and gets bodied by 3 or 4 guys and hangs in the air and gets hit again and yells out loud and his headband is knocked off his head and there’s no call. It happens…A LOT. A poster child would get a whistle. Lebron doesn’t. It’s like hack a shaq with him, yet enough writers and annoying fans write enough stuff about lebron getting away with murder that it becomes universally accepted….
April 6th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Tsunami:
The crab dribble was a travel. That Pacers game was officiated correctly. I’ll never understand how Brown and James protested that last foul when they got the EXACT same call on the other end.
Smith’s article focused on LeBron’s defense, not offense. I don’t see a lot of favoritism toward LeBron’s defense. He doesn’t reach and he very rarely contests shots head on. He likes to contest shots from behind, and he avoids a lot of fouls that way.
Offensively, I’m sure it’s tough to officiate LeBron. He’s similar to Shaq in the sense that it takes a lot to knock him off course or stop him from finishing at the rim.
But LeBron gets away with some stuff too. He initiates contact by lowering his shoulder to create separation before finishing. He does that A LOT and he very rarely gets whistled for the offensive foul.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:36 am
You can hardly accuse LeBron of receiving preferential treatment when you consider the entire career of Tayshaun Prince. Widely regarded as one of the premier defenders in the NBA today, Prince has only averaged 2.00 fouls per 48 minutes in his entire career. LeBron, on the other hand, has averaged 2.38 fouls. Dwyane Wade as well, is only averaging 2.77 fouls despite actually averaging more combined blocks and steals per 48 minutes (4.50 Wade, and 3.67 LeBron).
It is an interesting idea to bring up for argument, but in the end if you watch more of his games you will see that the way he plays defense it does not make him likely to get called for any fouls. He does pick up a fair share of offensive fouls himself (23.5% of his fouls are offensive, compared to 10.1% for Wade), which shows how this all relates to his defensive positioning. LeBron is a sneaky player, and usually only pokes his hand on defense when it is a low-risk, high-reward gamble that could possibly lead to a fast break. In addition, the vast majority of his 91 blocks (60 to be exact) have come from right in close to the basket, mostly on fast break situations as well.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
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