Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James Is Done Carrying; Issues Challenge To Kevin Love
LeBron James essentially says he’s done carrying the Cleveland Cavaliers; issues challenge to Kevin Love and rest of team
When LeBron James penned the letter last summer, which stated that he would be leaving the Miami Heat to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he made it clear that his new team was in no position to compete for an NBA Championship in year one.
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It’s safe to say that things have drastically changed since then. With the additions of Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and others, the Cleveland Cavaliers are now a no doubt championship contender. Everyone knows that. Even LeBron.
And while he did do a whole lot of carrying the team last season, even with the new additions at mid-season, LeBron is now calling for accountability. No more carrying. No more excuses.
The Cavs are NBA title favorites, once again, and will be graded on what they accomplish with what they have – not on some bell curve accounting for injuries and circumstances.
LeBron took a Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love-less Cavs to the Finals last season. No excuses. And despite the early injuries that the Cavs are going to have to overcome in the next few weeks, LeBron says that the team has “enough” to get by – he probably stole that from Eric Spoelstra.
"[via Cleveland.com]Until Kyrie and Tristan and Shump is ready, we have enough guys that will all help,” James said this morning before the Cavs’ shootaround, in preparation for tonight’s preseason opener against the Atlanta Hawks at Xavier University. “It’s not about me carrying the team and that nature. We’re all grown men, we’re all professionals and they’re here to do their job."
There have been reports that Kyrie Irving could be out until January, but I highly doubt that. Kevin Love looks like he’ll be good to go for the season opener, as he’s expected to return to practice soon. Iman Shumpert is out for a couple months, if not more, after undergoing wrist surgery and Tristan Thompson‘s holdout could last “months.”
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Despite that, in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs should have enough to stay afloat. But the most interesting aspect about this quote is the fact that LeBron essentially said that he’s tired of carrying this team, as he did for the majority of the playoffs last season.
He flat-out said it in this quote and hinted to it earlier in camp when he told reporters that Kevin Love was going to give him an opportunity to rest on the bench a bit more this year.
It’s a challenge to the rest of the Cavs, and Love. LeBron knows that if the Cavs are going to win an NBA Championship this season, Love is going to be a big part of the reason why.
Cleveland can’t reach its full potential until Love, Irving and LeBron reach their peak cohesion point. Forcing some pressure on Love could actually be the final step in reaching it, though.