Breaking Down Facets of LeBron James' 2012-13 Game

It isn't easy to maintain modesty when the basketball world is engaged in endless obsession about your attributes and exploits, dishing out accolades with even greater frequency than you dish out assists.

Still, after winning the 2012 NBA championship and the Olympic gold medal, LeBron James at least paused for an instant when asked if there's ever anything he attempts to add to his repertoire that he finds to be beyond his reach. 

"Uh, well," James said. "I mean, anything that I’ve kind of said I wanted to work on, I’ve been able to maybe not be great at it, but I’ve been able to implement it into my game. When I said I wanted to shoot better, I started working on my shot, I’m a better shooter than I was when I came into the league. I wanted to handle the ball a lot better, I’ve become a better ball-handler. But I still have room for both of those. Continue to handle the ball a lot better, and continue to shoot the ball better." 

Through 20 games, here's what has been slightly better than it was during 2011-12, a season in which he won his third NBA MVP:

His overall play. 

No, it's not necessarily reflected in his team's performance; Miami, while 14-6, has been shaky at times, especially defensively—struggling with shorthanded Cleveland and San Antonio squads, losing to woeful Washington and getting beaten soundly by the Knicks (twice), the Grizzlies and the Clippers. 

Still, it would be a stretch to say that James has slipped in any significant way. 

Here's a breakdown of a superstar still on the rise:

(All quotes featured in this piece were collected during the course of the author's coverage of the Miami Heat for The Palm Beach Post. All statistics are accurate as of Thursday afternoon.)

Passing: As Good as It Gets

LeBron James dominates one sport, while calling to mind another.

The term "hockey assist" refers to the pass prior to the pass that led to the basket. In hockey, that passer gets credit. In basketball, he does not. 

Well, not on the official statsheet, anyway.

He does inside the Heat organization.

After a rout of the Nets in early November, Erik Spoelstra marveled at James' giving nature in this regard, even if it meant sacrificing a chance at a triple-double. 

"He could have had more assists if he was thinking ego during the course of the game, if he was hunting down his own pass,'' Spoelstra said.

"But again, I think he probably had three or four or five hockey assists, where he knew that it was going to be a rotation, that the next guy would be open. That's how fast his mind is going, thinking of the play after the play after the play."

Regular observers can think of play after play after play in which James has made a pass that didn't seem possible, whether it's a pocket pass to Chris Bosh for a dunk or a skip pass—without looking—to Ray Allen.

Sometimes, he can get a little overambitious, which leads to turnovers. Still, his turnover average is actually the lowest of his career, at 2.7, a remarkable number considering how much Miami's point guard troubles make it imperative for him to handle the ball. 

His assists? That average is up from 6.2 last season to 6.8 in this one.

Not counting the hockey assists, of course.

Perimeter Play: More Dangerous from Deep

It remains the best of a bunch of awful options. 

Still, few would still say that it's a safe strategy to dare LeBron James to beat you with his jumper.

He's simply delivered that beating too many times by now, whether it was in Boston in Game 6 of the conference finals or in Houston this November. In that rout of the Celtics, he scored 45 on a bevy of long-range bombs and, if he'd caught the beer cup that was spilled on his head, he probably would have tossed that into the opposite basket too.

In that tight win against the Rockets, he scored 32 points in the second half, 15 of them on three-pointers. 

His teammates, who tend to be a bit particular about such matters, are loathe to label him a "shooter," preferring the term "shotmaker," meaning that James connects when it counts, but it's not up to the shooting standard of the likes of Ray Allen, Mike Miller, James Jones or even Shane Battier. 

Still, his numbers this season are suggesting something else. 

James leads all Heat regulars in field-goal percentage, and those aren't all dunks and layups. He's ripping the nets at a .444 rate from behind the arc, easily a career best, which is actually better than Miller and not far off Allen or Battier.

According to HoopData.com, he's down a bit from his 2010-11 accuracy from 16 to 23 feet, but that's still a tick better than last season and much better than earlier in his career.

Again, his mastery in other areas means he should resort to "casting," as he calls it, in moderation, only when everything else becomes available. But, considering he once was mediocre, it's probably the area in which he's improved the most.

Attacking: Drive, Dunk, Repeat

When LeBron James is on his offensive game, the dots on his shooting chart all tend to congregate in one place, one on top of the other, as if a smudge on the sheet. 

He has become even more creative in terms of finishing with either hand, on either side, and his slams are more vicious than ever—especially when the situation demands that, when the energy of the Heat or home crowd is down.

He has also become even more adept at creating over-the-rim chances as the Heat's transition opportunities have declined due to sometimes-suspect defense, such as with a one-handed putback flush of a Mike Miller three-pointer—an almost impossible carom to time.

This season, James is shooting 78.5 percent at the rim—and, like his three-point percentage, that represents the best work of his career.

Naturally, anyone that efficient in an area would want to get there as often as possible, and James has picked that pace up as well; even while taking slightly fewer shots per game than the past two seasons, he's getting more rim attempts.

It is odd, then, that he is averaging just 5.8 free-throw attempts per game, the lowest since averaging that exact number as a rookie, and well below his career average of 8.7.

Of course, as we'll note on a later slide, perhaps that's for the best.

Rebounding: Making the Leap

Want to annoy LeBron James?

Tell him the Heat are too small.

James got tired of hearing that early in the season, insisting that the team was only so if measured in typical NBA height. 

The reality, of course, is that Miami lacks a traditional power player inside, with Chris Bosh possessing more of a finesse game, Shane Battier historically a wing, Udonis Haslem gritty but undersized and Joel Anthony skilled at swatting the ball on its way up, not after it ricochets off the rim or glass. 

So, for the Heat to survive, James needed to amplify his efforts in this area, and he has. 

His current averages, in terms of defensive and total rebounds, would be a career high, and he's been hitting the offensive glass more of late also. 

These numbers in the latter area may elevate—with tips and putbacks—provided that he continues to make it a priority to play as close as possible to the basket. That will depend on whether he falls too madly in love with his improved jumper, and whether he continues to improve in the post. 

His post-up attempts are roughly the same as they were last season, after the Heat hoped he might increase them somewhat. Before the season, he indicated his understanding of the importance of providing a post, as well as a rebounding, presence. 

"When you’re closer to the basket, it just puts more pressure on the defense, and with my size and my ability to score, I attract a lot of attention, and that automatically benefits my teammates," James said.

"That’s all I want to create, I want to create opportunities for my teammates to be able to have a mismatch or have numbers when I don’t have the ball, when I’m creating that for them. So it’s a good thing for my team."

Just as, after a defensive possession, it's a great thing for his team when he grabs and goes.

Defense: Still Dominant When Determined

So, how much is him?

The question needs to be asked, when he's the cornerstone player on both ends for a team that has slipped from the top five in most defensive categories down to the middle or the bottom of the pack. 

And there have been times this season when LeBron James has appeared to not be taking a sequence or situation or opponent especially seriously, with the player he's covering flashing free at the three-point line.

Even James, following a personal workout that followed a 20-point loss to the Knicks, acknowledged "I need to be better" and "we've got work to do." 

“We’re not defending,” James added a day later. “It’s that simple. It is a cloud for our team because we’re not defending like we are capable of doing. We have some room for improvement. The good thing is we can be great. But right now, we’re not good.” 

The next night, against New Orleans, they were much better—and even better in a second-half shutdown of the hot Hawks. 

What of James specifically?

The feeling here, which is backed up by the large majority of metrics, is that he's the least of the Heat's defensive problems. Mario Chalmers isn't stopping the ball, which is why Norris Cole is playing more. Rashard Lewis was a step slow as a sub, which is why Joel Anthony is playing more. And when it comes to inconsistent effort, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are more culpable than James.

James is still the only guy in the league trusted to guard five positions and, for the most part, he has still guarded them quite well.

The Line: Proof He's Not Perfect

So, here's another question: Why, if LeBron James is shooting a higher percentage from the three-point line, and a higher percentage around the rim, is he averaging fewer points than last season?

It's not because he is taking fewer of those shots. As noted earlier, he is averaging almost an identical number of attempts from the field as he has the past two seasons.

No, the issue is at the stripe.

James is getting there less often; odd, because his other attack numbers are up.

And then he's getting worse results once there. 

A recent semi-hot streak has raised his free-throw percentage to 67.8, which would still be the worst of his career, and is well below his annual seasonal goal of 80. 

He is making fewer free throws (3.9) per game than in any other season, and the drop from last season's 6.2 accounts for more than the dip in his scoring average from 27.1 to 25.5. 

"I just need to step and make them," James said.

Right now, it's the only place that makes him mortal.