With his unparalleled longevity and dominance, every single fan of basketball got various preferences on what has been the peakest form of LeBron James. But for Iman Shumpert, the post-2011 Finals collapse form of the superstar is plainly the supreme and most terrifying one.
In the teaser of the latest episode of “All The Smoke” podcast of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Shumpert went on to detail why the 2011-12 version of James – in courtesy of Dwyane Wade – has been the absolute best form of the future hall of famer in his viewpoint.
“I think the best version I saw of Bron was, you remember the year when Dirk (Nowitzki) won? That next year they came back when he and [Dwyane] Wade vowed to not shoot, not settle for threes,” Shumpert said. “And they played their whole first season and they wasn’t shooting no threes; they was just attacking. It was vicious. I was like ‘Bro, what the f— are we supposed to do with that?’ …”
“They’re running fast, they’re big as sh—. I’m like D-Wade and ‘Bron literally passing it back and forth and just (attacking) downhill, downhill, downhill. I feel like that was the scariest ‘Bron to deal with.”
The 2011-12 season is truly a do-or-die year for James and the Miami Heat in their hopes to win that championship upon forming their superteam squad. After a humiliating title defeat at the hands of Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks and the amount of public mockery they received afterward, the star forward fully assumed that he is on an important mission to finally secure that elusive ring once and for all.
Per Basketball Reference, it is worth noting that the 2011-12 season is the lowest for James in terms of his three-point attempts (2.4) and three-point makes (0.9). Nevertheless, these numbers didn’t hinder him to feast for a redeeming year as he still went on to capture his third league MVP by posting averages of 27.1 points, 7.9 boards and 6.2 assists for 53.1 percent shooting.
Amid injuries from both Wade and Chris Bosh, James boldly took the lead role for Miami to get over the hump. When they were on the verge of another disappointing exit against the Boston Celtics in the Conference Finals, James stamped in what could be the greatest game of his life by dropping a godly 47 points in 73.1 percent shooting to go with 15 boards and five assists in the Game 6 win to force a Game 7 that gave them another trip to the NBA Finals.
Together with the Heat, James went on to win his first official title by outlasting the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games of their championship duel. From that moment, James can only get relieved that he finally got rid of the monkey on his back after the amount of focus and seriousness he poured into himself that year.
Looking back, the Miami Heat version of James is truly one of the most complete and unstoppable forces the game has ever seen. And while his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers has a case given its offensive mastery and maturity, James may even fully pick that his South Beach form is the best individual arc of his career both physically and performance-wise.
