LeBron James has had a career filled with some incredible highs, but as is the case when you play for as long as he has, there are bound to be some lows as well. Every great player has had that moment when they failed to deliver, and for the King, it was the 2011 NBA Finals.
LeBron was public enemy No. 1 after leaving the Cavaliers to form the Big 3 in Miami, and when he melted down in the Finals against the Mavericks, he was subjected to intense criticism, as you might expect. Instead of moping around though, he realized that he needed to improve his game, and one area that needed some work was his post game.
With that in mind, the King decided that during the offseason, he would train with one of the best ever in that aspect, the great Hakeem Olajuwon. One of the finest big men to have ever played the game, Hakeem had previously worked with Kobe Bryant to great success, and LeBron’s decision paid off too, as Olajuwon greatly helped him in improving that aspect of his game. A video recently started doing rounds on social media of Hakeem training James and how LeBron successfully implemented all of that into his game.
https://twitter.com/JamesEdrick3/status/1563915168953819146
NBA fans were highly impressed by it as they saw shades of Olajuwon in LeBron’s game and also remarked that this was a turning point in his career.
“That’s exactly how Lebron shoots his fadeaways right now… Hakeem the Dream really helped Lebron develop that fadeaway”
“This has always been one of my favorite Lebron video which shows how he is a student of game&his Love/respect always to OGs of the game!”
“Student of the game… learn from the guys that came before you, use them as a resource and improve yourself.”
“It’s crazy to think that Kobe was one of the first players to work out with Hakeem on post game — and he was a guard. The bigs should’ve been reaching out to the OGs.”
“Man, what a gem. I never knew there was footage of that!”
“Hakeem’s footwork was a thing of beauty, best on a No. 5 ive ever seen”
“I can see where he got his signature fadeaway shot from!”
“He and Kobe improved their footwork working with Hakeem.”
“Oh so he got the face up post moves from “the Dream””
“That offseason was a huge turning point in lebrons career”
“Thing of beauty”
“Post bron is my favorite bron”
“One of the pivotal moments in Bron’s career.”
“This is why you work with legends”
“Fact that he uses these moves till date and COOKS with em still is >>>>>>>>>>>”
“Was already best player in the league but just lost a finals to Dallas. Then bucked Unc Olajuwon to up his post game. Next season wins first chip. Never stop learning!”
“Crazy. I see bron use this moves almost every game”
“Top 2. Did the same for Kobe and he won back to back. Bron went on to win back to back as well”
“I can’t believe this was as long ago as it is.. people tend to forget how dominant this man has been.”
“Dude mastered his signature fade away by being a student of the game. Love to see it”
James has never looked back from that point, and he made amends for that disastrous showing in 2011 by winning back-to-back championships and Finals MVPs in 2012 and 2013.
LeBron’s willingness to learn helped elevate his game to another level, and players of today need to follow in his footsteps by taking guidance from some of the greats who came before them. There is always some room for improvement, and if LeBron felt that after everything he had accomplished up to that point, everyone else should feel as much as well.
