LeBron James

[wremy]

As far as James' back it truly is hard telling how much it is hurting him.. even if he never is a guy that explodes off the floor again he still has enough basketball IQ and passing skills that he could easily be a 25-7-7 guy and that is plenty.. Love and Irving are 26 and 22 and will be in there prime for another 5-7 years at least.. LeBron can relax once he trusts these guys more and guys like Dion and Marion are able to contribute more offensively... this team is going to be fine and an obvious title contender by year's end

 

[Winnersville]

Bad back Lebron > Graham, Gee, or Casspi. Just like the first game, we shouldn't worry about it too much. But I don't like that LeBron has played 42.5 minutes on average in these first 2 games.

 

[Pioneer10]

Why are people still discounting the fact he is playing with a completely different set of teammates after playing for a team that got to the Finals for four straight years?

He isn't a guy like Kobe who will gun away regardless of who his teammates are. Plus on top of not having played a lot with this current crew, the offense so far has been a lot different. You have one of the most gifted pick and roll players of all time and a guy who even was younger was more comfortable getting getting a pick to gain speed and we've basically not run any significant amount of pick and rolls. Sure his back maybe bothering him but it's going take him and the team awhile to figure out how to utilize all the weapons we have

 

[Bandwagoner305]

Bottom line, It would be great to see the top 3 scorers of the team shoot above 48% from the field in the season the way Miami's big 3 did in their first year. LeBron shot 51%, Wade shot 50% and Bosh shot 49.6%. Miami were second in FG% in the first year of their big 3 era and shot 48% from the field. Both Kyrie and Love have never even shot 48% from the field before, so they'll have to make a few adjustments and picking their spots better in order for this team to be an elite shooting team. I don't know how effective the Cavs offense will be, but I really hope the team can shoot as well if not better than the 2010 Miami Heat did. It will come down to patience and playing smart. If everyone take the best quality shot available, then they can be a great shooting team, but if the offense isn't well-organized and players are constantly taking turns to run their own ISO plays[Miami did a lot of that as well, but they eventually figured it out and shot well as a team], then it will get ugly before it gets better.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

I don't expect the Cavs to be as good defensively as the Heat were in 2010, but they do have the potential to be just as good offensively and efficiently. It's already a guarantee that the Cavs is a better rebounding team than Miami were in the last four years of the big 3 era, but if this team can be in the top 10 on the defensive end in terms of opponent points allowed and be in the top 5 when it comes to opponent FG%, then they'll be more capable of doing what Miami's big 3 failed to do in 2010-11. Efficiency matters. Teams would bully the Heat when it comes to rebounding, but they were good enough defensively and efficient enough to compete for championships. The Cavs will not have the same rebounding problems, but the level of efficiency will have to be there like Miami's shooting efficiency and they'll have to be a solid above average defensive team in order to be where they want to be.

 

[CavsFan005]

Its probably mileage. I don't think he even looked the same last year as he did when they won it all 2 years ago vs the spurs. He still put up 27 7 7 and still had a good finals, but something seemed off about him last season. I was the one Cleveland fan who still rooted for him when he left and watched as many heat games as I could. The last 2 seasons for whatever reason he hasn't come into training camp in shape at all.. like he has been partying and traveling the world all summer (who wouldn't). Hes probably a bit worn out with the game basketball. I mean he has barely missed a game for 10 straight years in the nba that would make anyone want to have more of an outside life..

 

[Simmy]

Didn't want to make a new thread for this so thought I'd post it here:

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/video#

Cavs.com have a freaking fantastic mini movie video of opening night posted online. Not yet available on YouTube so unable to embed - will post when it becomes available though.

 

[Cayman13]

Didn't want to make a new thread for this so thought I'd post it here:

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/video#

Cavs.com have a freaking fantastic mini movie video of opening night posted online. Not yet available on YouTube so unable to embed - will post when it becomes available though.

That is a sweet video. How amazing.

I work downtown at Sherwin Williams and will never forget that day. Watching from inside as they lowered the banner over our windows. Then when I left work, the atmosphere was unlike anything i've ever seen before and probably won't ever experience it again. Unbelievable.

 

[cavsfever]

Its probably mileage. I don't think he even looked the same last year as he did when they won it all 2 years ago vs the spurs. He still put up 27 7 7 and still had a good finals, but something seemed off about him last season. I was the one Cleveland fan who still rooted for him when he left and watched as many heat games as I could.

Agree with this. I also still rooted for him and watched a lot. I think he peaked in the period from the 2011-2012 playoffs through 2012-13, maybe during that 27 game win streak if you wanted to put a time on it. (That was his peak as an overall player in his combination of knowledge/awareness and skill; if you are just talking peak of physical dominance it might have started in his last two seasons in Cleveland). Last season he was already starting to show some decline. He always played an incredibly physically demanding game...you're talking someone 265-270 who spent a lot of time playing like a 185 pound guard, for 40+ minutes per game too. I think he is aware of this and it is probably one reason he left Miami; he needed to transition into a situation with a deeper team where he wasn't the one doing all the work. We still have a ways to go on that given his centrality in the early going on this team, but we have all the pieces to take some burden off him.

It's just a shame to think we're getting him back when he's no longer quite Superman...when you think of what the 2008-2010 Lebron could have done if Cleveland had put some real players around him it's just sad. But right now we have all the ingredients for a great team if it all comes together...

 

[Simmy]

Here's the video embedded via YouTube:

 

[Dylan Windler's Mom]

I noticed a slight decline athletically during his Heat days. His first step during the first stretch with Cleveland was crazy imo. He used to blow by defenders during the yrs of 03-11...now he struggles to get past guys who have avg foot speed. His hops have always been pretty consistent though.

 

[Bandwagoner305]

Just wait and see how the season plays out, then we'll know where he really is. Is he as explosive as he once was? No. Is he a smarter and more efficient player now than he was then? Yes. He's not going to look as explosive and flashy as he once was, but he can be just as effective or better than the more athletic version of himself if the coach can utilize his all-around talent the way Miami did.

I don't care if LeBron isn't throwing down highlight reel dunks and layups in a game as long as he's shooting above 50% from the field and playing smart all-around. It will be different here because he doesn't even have to lead the team in RPG and probably in APG as well. It's up to coach Blatt to utilize LeBron's talent in the most effective way he can without running him through the ground like Miami did.

 

[AZCavs]

His explosiveness is still there. He just utilizes it more wisely now. Another thing everyone has to remember is that he took the summer off from basketball after a season where he had to shoulder entirely too much of the load in Miami. He's not only still getting back into the swing of everything, he realizes the team isn't counting on him to carry the same weight on his shoulders that they did the last two seasons in Miami. He understands he needs his energy for the playoffs and we are currently just two games into the regular season. He's very, very cautious of his body and energy level by season's end. Hence why he went on a rigorous diet and lost weight. He may claim it was just a personal challenge to himself, but he's so calculated with what he does that there isn't a chance in hell that his long-term stamina didn't come in to play when he decided to lose the weight.

He's not "coasting" or being "passive", he's being smart. He knows he has some young stars in Kyrie and Love that will be able to take a huge weight off his back that neither Bosh nor Wade could do over the past two seasons.

 

[Chris]

Did you guys notice this change last year? Did anyone in the NBA?

So you're telling me...he lost explosiveness in 3 months? What, because he cut a few pounds? Highly unlikely, please think this through.

 

[Cavatt]

His back hurting is real and was a problem last year. Dude is tough but isn't indestructible.

It's something to keep tabs on, not to freak about.