Windhorst: New Leadership Style by LeBron?

I honestly believe that Lebron is trying to make these guys win on their own. He doesn't want the team using him as a crutch like the previous Cleveland team and Miami did to a certain extent. Let's face it, if Bosh and Wade played the finals like they played us last night, they would have beaten San Antonio.

 

This makes a ton of sense

 

this....

Lebron approach isn't about dominating regular season bball games, but building confidence and teaching players like kyrie and waiters how to win. Kyrie was mic'd up against chicago and asked Mike Miller 'Is This, Like, Similar to What a Playoff Game Feels Like?' That tells you how far they have to go.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...miller-is-this-what-a-playoff-game-feels-like

"We have to understand what it takes to win. It's going to be a long process. There's been a lot of losing basketball around here for a few years," James said.

 

He should retire and coach then.

 

I think the truth is somewhere between "he's actually sucking" and "he's trying to suck." He did not seem like he was putting in much effort at all last night, and seemed to be coasting throughout the second half, especially defensively. I don't know how calculated it is, but LeBron is gonna get a pass and the Kevin Love honeymoon is not over. Waiters and Irving are gonna get a ton of hate from fans and the media if Cleveland keeps losing.

Kyrie winning MVP for the World Cup has validated his style of play. Waiters is still chucking. And it is strange how poor they are defensively, there's really no excuse for that. They have enough rebounding ability and athleticism to be a top defensive team. 14 FTs for the entire Cavs team last night... that's barely more than Harden gets a game.

 

Ah, so this is what he was doing against the Mavs then.

 

While I understand the approach to an extent, the first thing I think about when I think Lebron isn't "ultimate winner". Best player of his generation? Clearly. Ultimate winner? Not so sure. He's a rebound away from being 1-5 in Finals, and as is, is 2-4. Getting there IS half the battle... getting there in the East isn't as impressive.

All that said, maybe the new approach is an improvement.

 

I don't think it's crazy to think that Lebron is intentionally taking a backseat to prove a point even if Windhorst is a hack.

 

I'm tired of this.

 

It is an 82 game season. I think LeBron realizes he doesn't need to be killing his body here in these early games. I look at Kobe playing 44 minutes and taking 37 shots, and what LeBron is doing makes sense. He'll turn it on as the season winds up and he understands what's needed. If they can make the playoffs at 4-6 seed, and LeBron turns it on then, I think they'll be fine.

 

I am with the OP. Just call it a rough start with a new team. No need to theorize so much.

 

how many days til waiters gets benched and accepts a 6th man role or gets traded

 

The best player on the team just needs to lead by example...with the fame, Lebron needs to keep being true to himself and lead...others follow. Dwight and Harden are playing well, and their teammates are following their lead. Lebron has to be the leader both on and off the court for the Cavs to do something. Fact is this team only goes as far as Lebron takes them. He will unfortunately have to do so for the rest of his career.

 

Maybe the Cavs could win a title this year if Lebron plays the way he played in Miami the past 4 years, and the way he played with Cleveland before, but they wont have sustained success playing that way.

At the end of the day its up to Irving and Love to really define the identity of what that team is going to be moving forward. It makes sense to some degree that Lebron would openly divert and force Love & Irving to be "the guy" as early as possible.

Lebron is still going to be a great player for awhile, but not to the point where he can get you to the finals all by himself. If we've learned anything at all about Lebron James over the past decade its that he needs help, and not just guys who are going to sit in the corner waiting for their turn to shoot the ball. Now that he's going into his 30's its only a matter of time before he's going to breakdown if he's needed to carry a team to the finals every single night having to be Lebron James while everyone else sits around waiting for him to do his thing.

 

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I always thought Lebron's body type determines he'd be on a rather rapid phisical decline in his early 30's.

His is so different than the body type of MJ/Kobe/KG... who can still play at very high level into 30's.

IMO it's the beginning of the end of a great career.

 

I am with you on this. Lebron is more like Wade rather than Kobe. SF3 was down very quickly at 30.

 

Man, what a guy. Don’t worry Cavs, your 2 losses this season are because of bad habits. You all just stunk so bad the last 4 years you forgot how to play basketball. And no, I know what you’re thinking, don’t you think it had something to do with the fact that Lebron went 5-15 against the Knicks, 14-30 against the Bulls and 4-12 against the Blazers for a whopping .150% points below his usual shooting average? Or the fact that he’s been playing below average Defense and sort of just floating around the perimeter for large parts of each game? Seriously, last night I watched a couple of quarters and I can’t tell you how many times he would just stand out on the perimeter and not move without the ball. Iso every couple of trips down the court and otherwise do nothing. But Nahhh, that’s not on Lebron, you guys just don’t understand how teaching works, the Cavs are losing because of bad habits not his ****ty play. Pretty simple really. If the Cavs win it’s because Lebron taught them how to win, and if the Cavs lose it’s because the guys suck really bad and Lebron is trying to teach them how to stop being so bad but they’re not listening enough. Win-Win for bron bron, what a life.

PS

I obviously know that the Cavs will put it together and will probably roll off 15 wins at some point this year but if you’re a Bulls fan or a Lebron hater you have to relish any time the Super Team isn’t clicking on all cylinders. That’s part of the deal. It was the same in Miami and it’s the same in Cleveland. If you put together a group of All-Stars and you fumble even for a second, the world will criticize. Dems Da Breaks.

 

Hahaha. Lebron never had that fire.

 

I think it's insane for anyone to think that Lebron didn't go back to Cleveland for any other reason apart from Lebron. He's just gotten a lot better at managing the media. Using an emotional letter instead of the celebrity decision