Sometimes, I wonder whether I should even do this anymore. No one takes him seriously; do they? Still, though, I couldn't resist. It's back to the well: mocking Bill Livingston!

When the Cavaliers were awful and LeBron James was even younger, the gone but not forgotten Darius Miles hoisted a wild 3-pointer one night. Apoplexy ensued at the broadcast table.

I don't doubt that members of the press suffered cerebral hemorrhages from a Darius Miles three-pointer.

This season, one NBA player is shooting 30.5 percent on 3-pointers yet has tried the second-most on his team. Of the 281 players who have made 3s this season, he ranks 195th.

I'm going to ruin the surprise now. It's LeBron James.

Suppose, furthermore, that the player who is the answer (no, it is not Allen Iverson, despite his tattoo averring that he is just that) is shooting 70.9 percent at the line, nearly a career-worst, and that he ranks 256th in foul shooting while taking by far the most free throws on his team.

LeBron's "70.9 percent," which is actually "71.0" for those who know how to round properly, is nearly a career-worst. It's also nearly a career-best. In His rookie year, LeBron hit 75.4% of his free throws. To reach that magic number, He'd need to swap twenty-two misses for makes. And at the rate LeBron gets to the line (10.3 FTA per game), that's swapping one miss every two games. That's not too hard to imagine.

First of all, statistics can be misleading.

Benjamin Disraeli, who was a British prime minister and not a D-League player, lumped them with "lies and damned lies" in a famous quote.

At first, I thought Livingston was talking about Benjamin Disraeli, the D-League player. You know, this guy. Glad he cleared that up. Also, you're wrong.

Meanwhile, volume shooting at the foul line is a fine thing, unless the shooter is Shaquille O'Neal or Dwight Howard. Sending guys like that to the line is like forcing a turnover.

Actually, no. (If you have a rudimentary understanding of basketball, feel free to skip this section.) Forcing a turnover guarantees that your opponent gets no points that possession. Putting O'Neal or Howard on the line gives your opponent two uncontested opportunities for points. And as long as neither O'Neal or Howard shoots 0% from the line (which they don't), it's not like forcing a turnover. In fact, I'd call it the opposite of a turnover.

The worst 3-point shooter among the top 10 scorers? Stoudemire, with a small sample of only 20 attempts, shoots just 20 percent. Wade is a grim 26.4 percent, showing how much the losing has worn him down in Miami.

Here are Dwyane Wade's three-point shooting percentages, by season: 30.2, 28.9, 17.1, 26.6, 26.4. Clearly, the losing ways of the Heat this season are dragging down his shooting. (Seriously though, that took ten seconds to find. Bill Livingston doesn't have that kind of time?)

Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki is at 29.1 percent, which leads one to ask what in the world was he doing in the 3-point shootout? James is fourth-worst.

So, among the top-ten scorers—who should be pretty good shooters as a group—LeBron is sixth seventh? Is that really so awful?

Of course LeBron's outside shooting could stand improvement. Who wouldn't be excited to see Him add three-pointers to His offensive arsenal? The same goes for His free-throw shooting. But, as it stands now, LeBron makes enough threes to keep His defender honest and enough free throws to keep from being hacked every time down the floor. I'm satisfied with that.

Sounding the alarm over LeBron's shooting or hinting that He's letting down his team because of these faults is ridiculous. That LeBron can be the best player in the N.B.A. in spite of poor shooting is just more evidence to His divine awesomeness. Without getting into it too much, LeBron is having the best year of His career. He deserves the M.V.P.

Career 3P% of Michael Jordan: 32.7
Career 3P% of LeBron James: 32.5

I'm just sayin'.