Along with being the leading scorer in NBA history, LeBron James has built a reputation as an elite playmaker. Using his IQ and size, the King has wowed audiences with his pinpoint passes. But not all of his teammates were fans of his passing.
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Shane Battier, during his appearance on Draymond Green’s podcast, revealed that James wasn’t always the accurate passer he is today. In fact, the two-time All Defensive team member insisted that Tracy McGrady was a better passer than LeBron.
“He’s the best passer I ever played with,” Battier said about T-Mac. “People don’t give him credit for his passing. He was an amazing scorer, he was explosive and all that but man, he always put it, you know, on time and on target.”
“T-Mac never missed a pass, never. That’s the one part of T-Mac that I always say like, you have to give him his flowers. He’s one of the best passers of our generation,” the 2001 NCAA champion added.
Battier was a premier 3-and-D forward whose offense relied primarily on shooting off the catch. That should have made him an ideal perimeter threat next to the drive-and-kick game of LeBron and Dwyane Wade, but that wasn’t his experience.
“LeBron used to throw the ball to my ankles and you know, take me off my shot. Like, LeBron you want triple doubles? Hit me in the chest, I’ll make a shot,” Battier explained.
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T-Mac benefited from the space shooters like Shane created and he hadn’t experienced that during his prior seasons in Orlando. The two-time scoring champion was likely a more enthusiastic passer because he was coming from a situation that didn’t present him with the same options.
Furthermore, Houston’s roster during the McGrady-Ming era lacked a dedicated playmaking guard. This likely forced T-Mac to step up as a creator. Though he might have dropped more pinpoint passes to Battier than James did, McGrady also averaged his career-high in turnovers as a Houston Rocket.
McGrady averaged 4.4 assists for his career while James currently boasts an average of 7.4 assists per game.
T-Mac averaged a career-high 6.5 assists in Houston during his first full season with Battier. However, Bron has surpassed the 6.5 assist mark 16 times in his career, averaging as many as 10.2 assists per game through a full season.
On a pure numerical basis, it’s hard to argue that any wing player was a better playmaker than the King. But Battier’s argument was not as much about volume as it was about accuracy.
As a catch and shoot scorer, Battier clearly held accuracy in high regard. Pinpoint passes made it easier for him to quickly get into his shooting motion, and McGrady helped him the most in that regard.
