LeBron James is back at it again, using the media as his fiddle during a stretch in the season his Cleveland Cavaliers (30-13) need motivation.
“I just hope that we’re not satisfied as an organization,” James said in the New Orleans locker room, via Jason Lloyd of Ohio.com. “I just hope we not satisfied. How hard it was to do that s—. I just hope we’re not satisfied.
“We’re not better than last year,” he said. “From a personnel standpoint.
“It’s like when you don’t have bodies. It’s tough,” James said. “The f—ing grind of the regular season. We’re a top-heavy team. We have a top-heavy team. We top-heavy as s—. It’s me, (Kyrie Irving) and (Kevin Love) It’s top-heavy.”
Shouldn’t everyone understand anytime James is critical of the Cavs publicly, there’s a hidden motivation behind the words?
Hurting the feelings of his teammates or the front office isn’t on LeBron’s mind when he rips the organization for being satisfied; the Warriors are. A 14-year veteran, LeBron is not just randomly teeing off on people he cares about on purpose. The reason for this January regular season overreaction is to get the Cavs to start playing their basketball now, as opposed to limping into the playoffs and wasting energy in six-game series’ against Boston and Toronto.
The truth is the Cavaliers are the second best team in the league, and maybe James is partially right that they’ve gotten comfortable eating high on the hog. Cleveland’s now lost five of seven games in the midst of a brutal January stretch. They’ve looked beatable. A last second win on Christmas Day against the Warriors has by the highlight in a season of some lows. They would be the fourth seed in the Western Conference if the playoffs started today.
“I don’t got no time to waste,” James said. “I’ll be 33 in the winter and I ain’t got time to waste. That’s what I’m talking about. … When I feel like physically and mentally, me personally, can’t compete for a championship no more or I feel like I can’t do it, then I won’t have this problem. But until that happens, and it don’t seem like no time soon…”
His words are aimed to be controversial on purpose. Teammates will read this. The front office will read this. And James will, again, rock the boat just the perfect amount. Mark my words: Cleveland will start playing their basketball at the right time. James is making the people closest to him uncomfortable on purpose. These comments will be a part of the puzzle when it’s all said and done.
This is a gentle reminder the Warriors are up against Godzilla. Another trip to the NBA Finals this June will be LeBron’s seventh in a row — Kevin Durant hasn’t played in June since 2012. Durant will no doubt change the whole tenor of the series and he’s playing arguably the best basketball of his career. He matches up with Cleveland much better than Steph Curry does. But LBJ’s contagious fire-breathing leadership was proven last summer. His teammates can absorb that emotion and elevate their level of play. They’ve overcome a 3-1 deficit. A losing streak in January is honestly nothing.
The ironic part of this is that James is not happy with Cleveland’s lack of a backup point guard because the team is loaded with his overpaid friends. Tristan Thompson’s $82 million deal, J.R. Smith’s $57 million contract and the lack of a first-round pick until 2021 have the front office handcuffed.
The team lost Matthew Dellavedova to the Milwaukee Bucks and saw Mo Williams unexpectedly retire right before the season. That leaves the Cavs with rookie Kay Felder and defensive specialist DeAndre Liggins.
“No disrespect to DeAndre and to Kay, you think we can rely on them to help us win a playoff game right now?” James asked. “And it’s no disrespect to them. But it’s like, it’s not fair to them.
“I ain’t got no problems with the front office,” James said. “I told (GM David Griffin) to his face, so it ain’t like I’m telling y’all to put it on record. I see Griff all the time. One thing about me, if I got something to say, I’m going to tell it to your face. We need a f—— playmaker. I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that.”
The Cavs will feel a little uneasy today, maybe a little irritated at James. Yep. LeBron stirred the pot a little bit last night.
But it’s a pot in the NBA’s kitchen where he’s mastered the recipe of airing frustrations to the media and using it to motivate his basketball team.
