---

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James is, in the estimate of InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner, one of the top ten players in the world, and possibly in the top five. And James isn't turning 20 for another week. InsideHoops.com's Lenchiner and another reporter interviewed James in New Jersey before a Nets-Cavs game.

Question: What was the scouting report on last year's version of LeBron James?

LeBron James: Give him the outside shot, don't make him drive. Give him the outside shot and hopefully he'll miss. Just try to contain him. But that's last year. That's over and done with.

Question: How is your game different from last year to this year?

LeBron James: I'm a better shooter now. I have more confidence in my game. I'm the leader of this team. I feel like I have to put on my A-game every night.

Question: How much did the Olympic experience help you?

LeBron James: It helped a little bit, but the offseason work, being in the gym by myself, with the help of some other guys, that helped me more than anything.

Question: Is averaging a triple-double someday a goal of yours?

LeBron James: That's not a goal of mine; it would be nice (laughs). I'm going to keep getting closer to it every year.

Question: Is it incredible to you that you actually have a shot to do it? Most thought it would never happen again, but with you, it seems possible.

LeBron James: Right; have to have people around you to make shots, and you have to have big men who don't take all the rebounds (laughs). I'm just going to play this game the way I know how to play it. If we keep getting wins, I'm not going to worry about that, the individual statistics.

Question: How'd your jumper improve so quickly? It should have taken longer.

LeBron James: Just work ethic. Work ethic, and then the confidence that I know every time I shoot it, it's going down. Last year sometimes I would take the jumper but didn't have confidence in it, because people were giving it to me. But this year I feel like, if people are going to give me the jumper I know it's going to go in. That's just how I feel about the shot this year.

Question: How many shots per day were you putting up when working on your shooting in the summer?

LeBron James: I never really counted. I just went by hours. I probably stayed in the gym for two and a half hours (per practice). How many shots I get up, that's how many I get up. I just tried to go hard for those minutes, and tried to make every shot count.

Question: Are we talking two and a half hours of someone feeding you the ball?

LeBron James: Yeah, yeah, people feed me the ball. I can't go rebound, not for two... I'd be there for an hour then if I had to rebound all my shots. People feed me, coming off cuts and stuff like that, and it's just all increased my game.