Building the perfect LeBron stopper

The Torso

In this year’s playoffs, LeBron James has made it clear no one can stop him from getting to the rim. He can get there by using a quick two dribble move powering his way inside by slashing, or he has been turning his back to the basket and posting up smaller defenders who have no shot at holding their ground.

LeBron’s strategy of getting to the basket revolves around who is guarding him. He looks to make the defense switch via pick-and-roll so he can exploit mismatches whether that be too big or too small of a defender. He has taken 67 shots around the rim this playoffs and has made 46 of them (68.7%).

I’m extracting Nene’s torso and putting it on our LeBron stopper. Nene is 6-foot-11, 260 lbs and his torso is 60 percent of that. This massive mass of an upper body insures that James can no longer play bully ball and back down this LeBron stopper on the low block. A lot of LeBron’s playmaking also comes from passing out of the low block.

However, this Nene torso is no mouse in the house. LeBron won’t be able to get to his desired spot at will like he would being guarded by Marcus Smart or Jae Crowder. This eliminates one of many weapons King James has in his arsenal.