http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=899

-Brief synopsis from ESPN

"On Basketball Prospectus, Kevin Pelton digs deep into the idea that LeBron James is not called for enough fouls. After some smart analysis, he concludes: "I think the numbers suggest that to the extent that James is called for fewer fouls than we would expect, the magnitude of the effect is not extraordinary. As much as the overall numbers, the example that sold me was Luol Deng. Like James, Deng is an athletic small forward who occasionally plays at the four. Their block rates are identical and their rebound percentages are similar, and Deng is called for fouls as infrequently as James. So if you're going to argue that referees have decided not to call fouls on James, you have to be prepared to make a similar argument about Deng, who is a solid player but has never been an All-Star. Any takers?""

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/12809/wednesday-bullets-147

Don't get these Cavs fans started.

mallymal614 wrote: Don't get these Cavs fans started.

I take it you didn't read the article at all?

But nice brain dead post...

i was happy with the argument that james plays the best, cleanest defense in the league.

good article though. I just hate the nerdy "My formula calculates personal foul percentage" bs. It's sports, refereed by humans, nothing is scientific about that.

j_crazy wrote: i was happy with the argument that james plays the best, cleanest defense in the league.

good article though. I just hate the nerdy "My formula calculates personal foul percentage" bs. It's sports, refereed by humans, nothing is scientific about that.

It has nothing to do with science... it's about statistics. Originally people were just looking at basic numbers and saying "Oh no way, LeBron is favored heavily." Then someone actually looked into the numbers and showed that he really isn't.

People are stupid, so they won't read this. The reason they won't read this is because if refutes everything they claim.

LeBron just doesn't foul much. Pretty easy to SEE. It has almost everything to do with the person he is guarding doesn't shot the ball that much because it's hard to make a bucket on that boy.

Im not really surprised LBJ doesnt have many fouls. He usually doesnt guard the #1 option. Its probably not his choice but more Mike Browns choice to keep him fresh for offense? Only #1 option he guards all the time that i can think of of the top of my head is Pierce. I know i was disappointed when Denver and Cle played and i only got to see the LBJ vs Melo match up like 4 possesions

What's up jpake?? Believe it's been 5 years already?

Same shit, different day. Seems like it's been longer; another lifetime ago. That's just me though.

Not just you, me too, sadly.

Hb31187 wrote: Im not really surprised LBJ doesnt have many fouls. He usually doesnt guard the #1 option. Its probably not his choice but more Mike Browns choice to keep him fresh for offense? Only #1 option he guards all the time that i can think of of the top of my head is Pierce. I know i was disappointed when Denver and Cle played and i only got to see the LBJ vs Melo match up like 4 possesions

LeBron usually doesn't guard the #1 option until crunch time. PP is the exception because LeBron locks his ass down consistently.

I truly believe Lebron thinks he has NEVER committed a foul by the way he acts EVERYTIME he gets called for one.

Skyhook79 wrote: I truly believe Lebron thinks he has NEVER committed a foul by the way he acts EVERYTIME he gets called for one.

Same could be said for Kobe.

Skyhook79 wrote: I truly believe Lebron thinks he has NEVER committed a foul by the way he acts EVERYTIME he gets called for one.

Agreed.

But I do think there a lot of players like that.

He doesn't take the foul that is a shot easily contested but is easily called. How many times do you see him (especially underneath) pull back and allow the bucket to go and not add the and 1? The answer is a lot. He plays good/clean D and seems not to get caught in the emothion of a shot that is likely to be scored anyway.

LTrain23 wrote:

Hb31187 wrote: Im not really surprised LBJ doesnt have many fouls. He usually doesnt guard the #1 option. Its probably not his choice but more Mike Browns choice to keep him fresh for offense? Only #1 option he guards all the time that i can think of of the top of my head is Pierce. I know i was disappointed when Denver and Cle played and i only got to see the LBJ vs Melo match up like 4 possesions

LeBron usually doesn't guard the #1 option until crunch time. PP is the exception because LeBron locks his ass down consistently.

Danny Granger is the other guy that LeBron usually guards the whole game. Granger is usually shutdown in those games.

LBJ does complain quite a bit, but so does Kobe, and the entire Boston Celtics team.

Most NBA players complain when they commit a foul, so that is nothing new. The problem with fouls in the NBA is that certain players (Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Melo) get calls that other players (say a Mo Williams, Rodney Stuckey, or Rajon Rondo) don't get. That is what upsets me the most about NBA refs. That also leads to some guys never being in foul trouble because refs are afraid to take them out of a game, unless they have a vendetta against them. It won't change sadly, which is why college is much more pure than the NBA ever will be.