LeBron James Doesn't Look The Same, And No One Can Figure Out Why

LeBron James isn't looking like LeBron James right now.

This may not mean anything. The Cleveland Cavaliers - who added LeBron, Kevin Love, Shawn Marion, and Mike Miller in the offseason - are in the embryonic stage of their development. Also, 80% of LeBron is better than pretty much every other player in the NBA.

But LeBron is definitely off. He hasn't been the overpowering physical force he was in Miami early in his second stint with the Cavaliers.

There are a wide variety of theories for why - age? weight loss? injury? master plan? - but no single explanation that the NBA world can agree on.

The Evidence:

1. LeBron is getting to the basket less, and he's less effective once he gets there. He took 49% of his shots at the rim last year and made 79.2% of those shots. This year he's taking 35% of his shots at the rim and making 53.8% of them. 

2. 11.6% of his shots last year were dunks. This year 4% of his shots are dunks.

3. He got chased down by Gordon Hayward in the open court, somehow:

4. He's taking possessions off on defense:

The NBA world is noticing.

We are just not used to seeing LeBron get stonewalled by Gordon Hayward at the rim in one-on-one situations: 

What Is Happening?

Bill Simmons went on ESPN Radio on Wednesday and threw out a couple of possible explanations (via Big Lead):

Anyone who thinks LeBron looks the same is fooling themselves. He doesn't have the same impulsiveness. He looks 20 pounds lighter physically. Just his general force-of-natureness capacity - whatever you want to say - it's not there. And he's driving to the basket, and he's under the rim now, and I don't know what that means. I don't know if he's hurt, I don't know if the big weight loss has affected his game or whatever. This is not a jump-to-conclusion thing. I have been watching this Cavs team since the preseason games started, and he does not look the same.

LeBron lost significant weight this offseason by cutting out sugar, carbs, and dairy for 67 straight days. He said before the season that the weight loss was a mental challenge, and it had "nothing to do with basketball." A bunch of NBA players have gone on similar paleo-style diets - most notably Ray Allen in Miami before the 2013-2014 season. There are no real examples of paleo guys coming out sluggish the next season.

There's also a theory that LeBron is hurt. He sat out a few preseason games because of a back injury.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst shot down that rumor after the Trail Blazers game. In doing so, Windhorst presented another theory that would explain LeBron's lackluster start: he's purposely letting his team fail to teach his teammates a lesson.

Here's Windhorst on whether LeBron is hiding an injury:

"That is not the case at all.

"This is a conscious decision on how he plans to operate in a passive-aggressive mission to yank some teammates toward his way of thinking. Let some of them fail at their way so they will be open to new ideas, is what it looks and sounds like."

LeBron scored 11 points on 12 shots against Portland. In the second half he pulled a 2006 Kobe, refusing to shoot and letting his teammates bury themselves. After the game he reportedly got into a tiff with Kyrie Irving before telling the media that Kyrie and others had "bad habits."

The idea here is this: LeBron isn't going to just take over for these guys when the offense isn't working. He's going to force them to play team basketball.

One of the dominant narratives of the preseason was LeBron's newfound interest in being a leader. He spent the summer reading books about leadership styles, and right before the team's first practice he called a players-only meeting in which he went around and told each player what he expected of him. He's fashioning himself the wise old man of the Cavs, here to show the unlearn'd youth the path to a title.

That's fine ... but where does it leave new head coach David Blatt?

Blatt has decades of international coaching experience, and he is widely regarded as a basketball genius. But he has never coached an NBA team, much less an NBA team with a player who has amassed more power and influence than anyone since Michael Jordan.

After the Cavs' opening-night loss to the Knicks, Blatt reportedly held a fiery team meeting in which he called out various players.

A few nights later, LeBron told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal that he didn't believe in pep talks:

Also of note, James seemed to dismiss Blatt's fire and brimstone speech he brought after the Cavs lost the opener to the Knicks. The Cavs beat the Bulls hours after Blatt laid into them. 'I think pep talks and things of that nature get overblown,' James said. 'There's a lot of pep talks when you lose, too. They just don't come up.' Be prepared: it sounds like another blistering speech is coming Wednesday before the Cavs play the Jazz. Blatt said he didn't deliver a message after Tuesday's game because he was saving it for Wednesday.

The Cavaliers are struggling with Blatt's offense. Some smart analysts expected this to be one of the best offensive teams ever. Instead, the Cavs are dead last in the NBA in assists per game.

How do you explain the greatest player in the world suddenly looking human?

Is LeBron getting old? Is he weaker now that he lost 20 pounds? Is he hurt? Does he want to take a backseat and let his teammates figure out how to play together? Is it just a four-game sample and he'll be fine?

LeBron has been so good for so long that seeing him take a small step back, even for a week, is jarring. The Cavaliers are 1-3. They can't get anywhere near their lofty expectations without a fully charged LeBron.