LeBron James has seen just about every defensive tackle imaginable throughout his career and has had his fair share of postseason battles with players. On the “Mind the Game” podcast with JJ Redick, James named Stanley Johnson as one of the most overlooked quarterbacks he faced in their 2018 playoff series: “I think it was my first year back in Cleveland when I came back and it was us. The first round opponent, I think we played Detroit, if I'm not mistaken. I think KCP was in that group, (Andre) Drummond was in that group, a couple of other guys were in that group, obviously Moose (Greg Monroe) was in that group, I believe. I think Stan (Van Gundy) was coaching, if I'm not mistaken. I think Stan was coaching that team. But back to your question, Stanley Johnson got my respect in that first round series. Stanley Johnson, he had lateral movement, he had body. You can tell the coaching staff 'Don't worry about schemes.' I feel like Dort, don't worry about the schemes yet. Everyone changes except you. You enter every screen. If you're a weakside lowman, you don't have responsibility, you don't pull. He plays box-and-one. There's a lot of guys, obviously, I can give credit to on defense but that's the one off the top of my head. Not recent memory, 10 years ago but recent enough. But Stanley had those skills in our league, for sure. ” -via Lakers Nation / May 20, 2024
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