Coach K on Lebron

Coach K, interviewed in the NY Post, talks about Lebron James:

Q: What’s your assessment of LeBron?

A: LeBron is brilliant. Brilliant. He’s not smart, he’s brilliant. His recall, I compare him to somebody who can play [an instrument] by feel.

I can show him and the team five things that Argentina does in a team meeting, offensively. And by the time we get to the court and walk through, he knows them already. And he’s already thought of ways of defending. So when you ask him well what do you think about this, he can give you input. A lot of times his input, that’s what we do.   

After London I told a lot of people, he’s what I call, ‘Mastering it.’ He and the game are one. It’s not just about X’s and O’s. He’s 28, I think right now, and it’s all hit in the last couple of years. He’s one of the greatest ever.
 

The Regular Son and I have talked in the past about how smart the really top level NBA players have to be to make decisions on the fly in games that are that much better than the decisions of the players around them, all of whom are also NBA players, i.e., world-class athletes.   Not "street smart" not "basketball IQ smart."   Just smart, high-IQ smart.    Really really smart.   Interesting to see Coach K, who also is really really smart, see the same thing in Lebron.