After losing 4-1 in the 2017 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to retool the team, by any means necessary, in order to reach the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive time the following season.
Unfortunately for Cleveland fans, the Cavs took “by any means necessary” quite literally and elected not to extend former general manager David Griffin, the architect of the team that won the Cavaliers their first NBA championship. Soon after the Griffin ouster, star point guard Kyrie Irving said he wanted out of Cleveland and to be traded to either the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves or San Antonio Spurs due to the fact he wants to be the center piece on offense with a new team and no longer play in the shadow of a certain member of the Cavaliers.
With all of this drama unfolding for the Cavaliers, one constant still remains in LeBron James. Throughout his entire NBA career, James has been crucified by the media for so many different things and he has played above it all, time and again.
Starting back in the day when professional troll and part-time sports journalist Skip Bayless and many others would make claims like this about James’ ability as a player before he had any championships:
The jury is still out on what exactly a “clutch gene” is, but LeBron silenced the majority of his critics after winning not one, but two NBA championships during his time with the Miami Heat.
With one monkey off his back, James still had a 10-ton gorilla still on there, winning a championship for his home with an organization he had just burned on national television not too long ago. Time seems to heal all wounds as James announced via Sports Illustrated that he was coming home to play once again for the Cleveland Cavaliers. But, like most times throughout his career James still faced plenty of adversity, despite the fact that he was again wearing No. 23 for the Wine and Gold.
The first bout of criticism came from the media who again had a bone to pick with James about assembling another super team by joining Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving and helping behind the scenes to orchestrate a trade for then Timberwolves star Kevin Love and things felt similar to his days in Miami when he teamed up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. And much like his days in Miami, all of James’ actions were under a microscope. If it was not the cryptic tweets directed at Love for fitting out instead of fitting in or the fact that at times he was openly critical of the front office’s inability to add a true center to the team, things were not smooth in James’ first season back with the Cavaliers. He then once again played through the adversity and finished the 2014-15 season with an amazing stat line of 25.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 7.4 assists and led the Cavaliers to their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2007.
In those Finals against an up and coming Golden State Warriors team, James was again battling through adversity. After losing Irving in Game 1 to a fractured knee cap and Love in the first round against the Boston Celtics, James dragged the Cavaliers to just two wins away from winning the team’s first championship and Northeast Ohio’s first in over fifty years. But unfortunately for James and Northeast Ohio, the 10-ton gorilla remained on his back for at least one more season.
The following season was yet another filled with drama and controversy for the Cavaliers. After players clashed with his system and his treatment of certain members of the organization, the Cavaliers parted ways with David Blatt midway through the season with a record of 30-11 and promoted Tyronn Lue to the head coach position permanently. James once again battled through and helped lead the team back to the NBA Finals to square off against their rivals in the bay.
Once they reached the 2016 NBA Finals the Cavaliers found themselves soon in a 3-1 hole, and thanks to the efforts of James, who lead all teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, the team was able to defeat Golden State and win its first NBA championship and James was finally vindicated and became arguably the greatest player of all time when one of the longest championship droughts was finally ended.
The following season, the Cavaliers, largely unchanged from last year, once again would never have a dull moment. Throughout the 2016-17 season, the Cavaliers biggest flaw was the lack of a true back-up point guard, after losing Matthew Dellavedova in free agency to the Milwaukee Bucks. So James once again was vocal in his criticism of the front office by constantly telling the media that the team needs a playmaker coming off the bench. Ultimately the season ended swiftly once again in the NBA Finals as even James’ penchant for battling through adversity was not able to handle Golden State adding Kevin Durant to its lineup.
With Griffin, a James favorite, and Dan Gilbert, a thorn in James’ side, along with Koby Altman running the show, the team has already made a few lackluster moves in signing Jose Calderon and Jeff Green to veteran minimums and the team has largely remained unchanged and unable to compete with Golden State. One move James did support though was the team signing former-MVP Derrick Rose to the team:
🌹 🌹 🌹🌹🌹 Let's Rock G!!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 24, 2017
But, throughout the season James will once again battle with the front office and ownership, once again causing problems for the team. On top of that Irving wants out and this is a huge blow for the Cavaliers who are trying to appease Irving while remaining in contention by trying to land James’ fellow agency member Eric Bledsoe.
Despite the drama, turmoil, unforeseen circumstances and everything in between, the Cavaliers still have LeBron James. Thankfully for the team, the epitome of James’ career has been the fact that he has always played past doubters, critics and came out an even better player. Already a perennial MVP candidate, LeBron James will easily be in the conversation throughout the season for the most valuable player in what could be his last season in Cleveland. If it is, expect James to put on yet another masterful performance and lead the Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive time and maybe add another ring to his collection as well.