LeBron James obviously has all of the physical tools to be a great basketball player, but his mind might just be what makes him one of the NBA’s all-time greats. LeBron is a student of the game of basketball and has used his knowledge of the sport to transform himself into a G.O.A.T. candidate. He is so much smarter than the average NBA player, and the way he dissects defenses and picks up on subtle nuances on the court is a thing of beauty.
With that in mind, you would think that LeBron might have a future in the NBA as a coach. When he eventually retirees, he could easily pick up a clipboard and carve out of a head coaching career in the league, right? Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale provided a one-word answer to that question this week when he was asked about the idea of LeBron coaching one day: "No."
Fizdale wasn’t taking a cheap shot at LeBron, either. He knows LeBron well from his time with him in Miami, where Fizdale served as an assistant coach under Erik Spoelstra during the "Big 3" years. So he understands just how smart LeBron is and considers him to be "a one-percentile guy when it comes to basketball intelligence." But Fizdale also knows that LeBron holds himself to a ridiculously high standard, and as he told ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin, it would make it almost impossible for LeBron to last as a coach.
"He would kill somebody," Fizdale said. "Perfection is like [his standard]. He wants perfection. I could see him actually owning his own team and doing something like that, but I think [as a coach], he would end up killing a player at some point because they wouldn’t live up to the expectations that he would set forth."
Fizdale went on to say that he has never "been around a guy like that who sees a game that clearly."
To his credit, LeBron actually agreed with him. You won’t hear LeBron admit that he wouldn’t be able to do something very often, but as far as coaching goes, he sounds like he’s comfortable admitting that it wouldn’t be a good fit for him. "He’s a little right," he said when he was told about Fizdale’s comments. "I don’t have, my patience is not—you’ve got to be very patient as a coach. I don’t think I have that much patience. Not that much."
Fortunately for LeBron, he doesn’t have his sights set on coaching after he retires. As Fizdale mentioned, his "dream" is to own an NBA team one day. And if he keeps making the kind of money he’s reportedly making right now on and off the court, that shouldn’t be a problem at all.
