LeBron James

[ssopata]

I wouldn't give this talk much if thought it came from someone else, but Haynes has the in with Rich Paul..

Could just be LeBron putting pressure on the front office through the media, but there is some credibility with Haynes here.

not saying your full of it but didnt Broussard have an in with the James camp? Now he's way out in the cold

it appears the way they ran the return this summer, there are few media members with any inside info but I could be/have been wrong before

 

[Cayman13]

not saying your full of it but didnt Broussard have an in with the James camp? Now he's way out in the cold

it appears the way they ran the return this summer, there are few media members with any inside info but I could be/have been wrong before

We could all be wrong...we're just passionate fans wanting our team to do well. All a good discussion, IMO.

 

[elcheato]

not saying your full of it but didnt Broussard have an in with the James camp? Now he's way out in the cold

it appears the way they ran the return this summer, there are few media members with any inside info but I could be/have been wrong before

I could be wrong (I probably am), but Haynes doesn't seem like a guy who just throws out information like this to stir the pot.

I don't think LeBron is really going to leave after a year unless there is an unforeseen disaster coming. They have a lot to work with, with those two large trade exceptions and the Memphis first, but we don't know if LeBron is even thinking about that or would even care. He might be forcing their hand here to trade that Memphis pick sooner rather than late for help.

 

[godfather]

You'd have to be incredibly naive, to really think, he's not capable of leaving again.

I mean, we all said in 2010, no WAY he leaves his home town, and does it on national TV. He did.

Miami Heat thought NO WAY he leaves after straight 4 finals appearances, two titles, but he did.

So there's not one person, at all, that can seriously feel comfortable of him staying after this season, if things spiral out of control.

LeBron is definitely capable of doing it. Will he? I have no idea, trying to get inside his head, is like trying to get inside of Caligula's. Okay, not that bad, but anything is possible with him.

The fact this is getting leaked, to me, kinda tells you what LB is all about. The guy never takes much accountability himself, and is always ready to point the blame elsewhere. It tells me, the guy still is who he's always been. An extreme narcissistic personality. But, hey, this is what we sign up for when bringing him back. You get the good, and some of the bad. But lately, we aren't getting much of the good from him either!

I knew the letter was mostly written beautifully at a PR standpoint, and frankly, I don't really care.

But to me, a lot of the problems, not all, have to do with LeBron doing a bad job setting the tone for this team.

It pisses me off, because as flawed as we are, I do think guys are trying. Dion, Tristan, Kyrie, etc, they are all trying.

Sometimes, it's like LeBron just doesn't care.

 

[crabbyshark]

James also plays the entire first quarter, the quarter in which we score the most points. What accounts for that? Is it that he runs the sets perfectly in the first quarter and never at any other time? Do we score all of those points off of the sets and nothing else (offensive rebounding, run outs after stops, off of improvisation kick outs, off of ISO drives that result in FTs which we draw a LOT of [4th most in the league])? What % of those points are the result of sets run compared with other factors mentioned above? Is the claim that after the first he stops running everything and that's why the offense isn't as good? Does Love not making any open shots other than in the first (except against Detroit) have something to do with things? I don't know--somebody should break it all down, play by play, but we don't exactly know 100% what the sets are and when they are running them and when Blatt gives the option of breaking them off if X, Y, or Z scenario occurs, etc.

I'd prefer Lebron stop playing the entire first quarter. There's evidence the team would be better for it.

In the first ATL game (when ATL was playing with Jeff Teague, who might be ATL's best player) Lebron checked out of the game with 3:03 left to play in 1Q. The score was 24-21. link

Lebron came back into the game with 9:40 left in 2Q. The score was 49-27.

Why have the Cavs gone away from this?????? Why is Lebron now stealing minutes???

Lebron appears to be actively trying to prevent the Cavs from having success with Blatt's offense. I personally think this is mostly due to Ray Allen. In interview after interview Allen has said he has no desire to learn a new system. He also wants meaningful minutes at the end of games. So far no team has been willing to do that. We'll see what happens!

No. That is not why the defense sucks. Right now, we have two plus defenders on the team: Marion and James. That's it. You might be able to marginally add Delly in there. Think about that. James is not making much effort on defense (whether it's because he doesn't really want to, because he's physically hurting and can't, because he's saving himself, who knows) and I don't know what will change that and you are right that others take lead from him, but our problems run deeper than that. Even with James not giving full effort, he's still a plus defender (and you're right--he's getting worse). The defense is terrible because

a) our rotations are terrible and result in poor contesting of shots. Even when they do, Kyrie and Dion and Miller don't close on shooters very well just as they didn't last year. James hasn't been very good at it either.

b) our perimeter defense is awful and our guards cannot keep anyone in front of them. For all of the talk about Dion being a lockdown defender the last three games and Kyrie being a better defender this year, neither has been a plus defender overall this season. Dion has been terrible in most games BUT does show promise. I hope he can defend like this in every game and become a plus defender. Kyrie has regressed since the beginning of the year. He's not as bad as he was last year, but he's not very good either

c) once our guards are beaten off the dribble and they are every game, there's no resistance at the rim at all. Maybe TT here and there. That's it. We get as few stops at the rim as any team which demoralizes and hurts the defense and prevents us from getting out in transition. It's almost a hopeless case other than hoping the other team misses. There's nobody to provide weakside help in the post.

d) other than James and Dion, we really have no length of athleticism to play defense, lock people down, get deflections, block shots, alter shots, anything.

Would a, b, c, and d be cured if James went out full force every game? They would be ameliorated for sure and we would look better for sure, but him doing so wouldn't SOLVE our problems because the goal of all of this is to win a title and without different personnel and/or massive growth from Kyrie and Dion, we don't have the defensive personnel to win a title. Simple as that. We don't. IN the last 35 years, every team save two has had a top 10 defense and one of those teams was top 12. The other played the best defense in the playoffs. So James going out full force every game doesn't solve the problem (might make things better), and what does it leave for the playoffs?

Stats are nice. I like stats. Stats do not tell the story of what's happening from psychological perspective. This is why it's so important that Lebron "buys-in."

We were seeing massive defensive growth from Kyrie for a little while there. No one was expecting it. What happened? Did Kyrie quit trying so hard on defense because he knows that Lebron is going to let the other team score anyways? Because Lebron does let the other team score sometimes. I can find you the plays if you want me to.

One of the best players in the league can figure out ways to make himself look good on paper regardless of what's happening on the floor. Cameras have shown Lebron is keenly aware of the stats.

Do you honestly think we would be better without Love and James? We have 18 wins right now primarily due to the offense, an offense led by an under-performing James and under-performing Love. Our offense is 4th best in the league with a Lebron playing more inefficiently than he has since his first few years in the league and a Love who cannot make open shots. If James and Love play with even close to the efficiency they showed last year, we'll have the best offense in the league. Nobody knows about the defense.

What kind of offense would we have with the players you mentioned? Would it be fourth in the league? Wiggins isn't a plus defender yet (he almost surely will be in a year or two, but not right now) and is poor on offense. In fact, as of today, the Timberwolves are BETTER with Wiggins off of the court (same on defense, worse on offense). In his last 400 minutes played, they're worse on both offense and defense. Bennett? Sims? The defense would be just as bad if not worse and the offense would be worse. NOw, there would be hope that Wiggins would grow into something, but as for this year, we would be worse and I'm sure people here would be up in arms about why we didn't trade for Love when we had the chance to do so.

Yes, Lebron needs to sort things out and calm everyone the fuck down, but Rich is correct when he says it's much easier to parrot the "Lebron's not buying in and that's why we aren't playing well" meme rather than looking at the structural problems of this team that, I believe, are the root cause of our problems.

The Cavs could be as good or better right now without Lebron and Love depending who was signed in their place. I never thought I'd say that before the season started. If the Cavs didn't sign Lebron they would have signed Hayward or Parsons. That would have been a good team. Considering the East, they'd be at least 18-12.

Would you have expected Love's PER to drop so precipitously playing with Lebron? Would you have expected Kyrie's PER to go down playing with Lebron? The Cavs playing together as unit would be better than Lebron playing half-assed by himself. We won't have solid data on this until he finally takes some games off.

It gets to a point where a guy's gifts aren't worth the continued selfishness. I'd rather watch guys grow and give a sh*t than a guy turn the ball over 7 times in an effort to covertly undermine his coach.

 

[oracio]

I don't think Lebron has "juice" issues or the tactics Blatt "dictates" hit his performance so much.
Some other posters already said that - he is saving himself to when it counts - the playoffs and add to that some kind of make-my-career-last-till-I'm-40 plan that he is running.
How do I know this? just from him not dunking. (this is one example)
He has so much opportunities to dunk the ball and he chooses not too, and guess what he misses so much because of this, and he gets blocked or he just turn it over.
Why a man with his physic and talent would miraculously stop dunking and start playing under the rim?
You can see how he is uncomfortable with that, but he keeps doing so, and that's for sure not for the sake of the team.
And I totally agree with the posters above me saying that this is such a bad example for the younger players, playing with an on and off switch, not caring about the team, just the "save mode", "chill mode" and no "leader mode" whatsoever.

Lebron finish every tweet of his with the #StriveForGreatness hashtag, sadly we still don't see any type of #Strive from him, even for one full game...

and Lebron please start to #DunkTheDamnBall!
I want to start enjoying watching you, and I know you have plenty to bring!

 

[Maximus]

FWIW, hearing Lebron may sit tonight.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

^If his knee was bothering him again that might explain his struggles against Detroit

I'd sit him if there is any serious injury risk at all in terms of the knee getting worse

 

[Man Called X]

What matters the most to me....

LeBron decision or coaching/executive decision to sit him?

 

[oracio]

What matters the most to me....

LeBron decision or coaching/executive decision to sit him?

Isn't it the same?

 

[Ohio]

Kinda hope he doesn't play, honestly.

 

[Jordan]

Is it impossible for people just to enjoy LBJ? I'll give you that he's not the same player he once was, but positing that this team would be better sans Lebron is mind boggling. He is still the best player in the NBA, if you want to go by stats still top-3. And for everyone saying he has been detrimental to this team look at how much better Kyrie and Dion are playing this year. They are playing team ball. Without LBJ we don't have Mike Miller, Kevin Love, and Shawn Marion. We have Anthony 'Asthma' Bennett and Andrew 'The Rookie' Wiggins.

 

[mrbeaks]

FWIW, hearing Lebron may sit tonight.

Makes sense. First night of a road-home back-to-back, and he wants to give his all for the best fans in the world tomorrow night!

 

[Danny DiVito]

You'd have to be incredibly naive, to really think, he's not capable of leaving again.

I mean, we all said in 2010, no WAY he leaves his home town, and does it on national TV. He did.

Miami Heat thought NO WAY he leaves after straight 4 finals appearances, two titles, but he did.

So there's not one person, at all, that can seriously feel comfortable of him staying after this season, if things spiral out of control.

LeBron is definitely capable of doing it. Will he? I have no idea, trying to get inside his head, is like trying to get inside of Caligula's. Okay, not that bad, but anything is possible with him.

The fact this is getting leaked, to me, kinda tells you what LB is all about. The guy never takes much accountability himself, and is always ready to point the blame elsewhere. It tells me, the guy still is who he's always been. An extreme narcissistic personality. But, hey, this is what we sign up for when bringing him back. You get the good, and some of the bad. But lately, we aren't getting much of the good from him either!

I knew the letter was mostly written beautifully at a PR standpoint, and frankly, I don't really care.

But to me, a lot of the problems, not all, have to do with LeBron doing a bad job setting the tone for this team.

It pisses me off, because as flawed as we are, I do think guys are trying. Dion, Tristan, Kyrie, etc, they are all trying.

Sometimes, it's like LeBron just doesn't care.

He either doesn't care or his heart just isn't in the game anymore. I think it's a little of both to be honest.

 

[Real Deal]

Maybe it's a tactic by Lebron and camp.

A. Light a fire under the players

B. Fire Blatt