re: Is Lebron's defense overrated?

The minutes and miles are piling up, and the Heat ask him to do too much, to expect him to consistently play at his top end on the defensive end of the court. When he plays hard, there's little question he's one of the four or five guys in the league that no one wants to face-- but the ability to go hard at both ends for 38 minutes per game is going to fade even more as he ages.

I think his off-ball defense is more overrated than his on-ball defense, and he gets a number of his blocks on 'chase plays', that are more a lack of player awareness of LeBron helping late and behind.

Still, its picking nits. The guy is as good a defender as you'll find at the 2 or 3, and can credibly defend most 1s and 4s, within team defensive concepts.