10 Harsh realities about LeBron James

#3 He hasn't defended well since his return to Cleveland

Durant dunks over LeBron James this January

LeBron James, a former 6-time All-Defensive team selection, became a league-average defender during his first season with Cleveland for the regular season. Since then, every year he is exerting less and less effort on defense, till the point when this year he had the worst Defensive Real Plus-Minus of any player during a 19-game spell from Christmas Day.

The eye test also says the same thing. LeBron is barely exerting any effort at all, instead choosing to stand as a weak-side defender while letting the rest of the players guard the perimeter. He does ramp up the intensity in the postseason, but even there his effectiveness has been reducing every year.

Last year, Kevin Durant torched LeBron James to the tune of 35.4 points per game on 55.6/47.4/92.7 shooting in the Finals series. A number of times, James was caught napping on defense, and it was this lethargy that granted Durant an open, game-winning 3-pointer in game 3 - the series could've been tied 2-2 after 4 games if LeBron had exerted the requisite effort.

This lethargic attitude rubs off badly on his teammates as well, as the Cavaliers have finished progressively lower in defensive efficiency for the 4 years that he's been back in Cleveland, and are currently 28th in defensive efficiency. Defense wins championships, and needs players to buy into a defensive mindset fully. LeBron's Cavaliers teams in his second go-around have embraced a defense-first mentality mainly due to his lethargy on the less glamorous end of the floor.