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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ilbag-does-lebron-james-make-teammates-betterIf we look at the new James teammates who have beaten expectations in Cleveland, it's almost exclusively players with low usage rates. Just one of the nine to match or beat their projections (Smith) was forecast for above-average usage, and their average projected usage rate was 15.8 percent.
To some extent, this is a natural outcome. Part of the metric calibration I mentioned above is valuing the tradeoff between usage and efficiency. This relies on measuring the average extent to which players get less efficient in smaller roles, but each individual has a different degree of sensitivity to how much they're being asked to do on offense. Star players are valuable precisely because they see less drop-off than role players in smaller roles. At the same time, they benefit less in terms of efficiency from playing alongside a high-usage teammate like LeBron.
Still, these results seem to offer an important takeaway for any team that signs James this summer (including the Cavaliers). While some additional shot creators are necessary, particularly in a playoff setting, any team with James must be careful not to invest too many resources on players who are best with the ball in their hands. Instead, the focus should be on finding role players whose games will mesh well with LeBron's.
Usg%
Zo 17.4
Kuz 22.5
Ingram 22.2
Randle 25.3
Kindly stay the **** away from my team Bron Bron. Thanks