Player of the Month

Yesterday, the NBA announced that the Eastern Conference player of the month for January 2012 was LeBron James.  In this time period, LeBron averaged about 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists per game.  For the season, James is averaging about 20 points 8 rebounds, and 8 assists per game.  During the month of January, his scoring as brought to a higher level with the absence of Dwayne Wade.  Even without Wade, James led the Heat to a 16-5 record.   Some people have argued that the Heat are better off without Dwayne Wade, and the statistics may lead someone to think that way, but logically it just doesn’t seem like that can be true.  The workload that LeBron would face every night is not one that he needs to keep up for the entire season.  He could continue putting up statistics like he did in the month of January, but in this shortened season, he could wear down by the time the playoffs come around.  This would especially be a problem late in the season if the standings in the Eastern Conference are tight.  The battle for a number one or number two seed could be extremely intense, and every game would count.  Having LeBron and Dwayne playing at the same time creates a threat that not many teams in the league have.  Opposing teams must choose who to put their best defender on, and they are at the mercy of the Heat’s game plan.  Having Dwayne wade creates many more obstacles for the other team, and those benefits outweigh the cons of LeBron not putting up the statistics that he could be putting up by himself.  Shout out to NBA.com for LeBron’s monthly averages and season long stats.