David Blatt, LeBron James Must Steal Page Out of San Antonio Spurs' Playbook

CLEVELAND — Just about everyone associated with basketball, stateside or overseas, is effusive in their admiration of the San Antonio Spurs, and with good reason. The consistency of their performance, even with tweaks to their personnel, has been unmatched by any other team in North American sports over the past two decades, ahead even of a New England Patriots organization that is sometimes classified in their company. 

David Blatt is among the admirers, so much so that the current Cleveland Cavaliers coach has paid multiple visits to Gregg Popovich and the rest of the Spurs crew, spending significant time during a training camp trip in 2008 with the Russian national team. He picked their brains as they perked his ears, especially with their preference for one particular trait in their players. 

"Without exception, the first word out of their mouths was 'character,'" Blatt said. "And I remember that. And I was so impressed by that."

Over time, his objective, along with other Cavaliers' decision-makers, is to add as much of that as possible to Cleveland's franchise, even if some of San Antonio's other attributes, such as continuity, won't come easy. But there's something else he can take from Popovich and the Spurs right now, something that would serve his stars and supporting cast well.

He can take a bit of the Popovich playing-time plan.  

He can lay off a little. 

While Blatt need not go to the Spurs' extremes, such as seeming to time the resting of starters to national television games as some sort of protest action, he certainly can pull back on the time they're logging during games. And he certainly should.

Even before James spoke out this Tuesday—more on that later—it was plainly evident to most observers that Blatt was pushing a bit too hard, in a way that ultimately ran the risk of pushing away both groups of players, the burdened and the benched. 

James, for instance, played at least 40 minutes in seven of the Cavaliers' nine games. Back in 2010-11, his first season with the Heat, he played that many in four of the first nine games, and seven of the first 15. Over time, and with James' encouragement, Erik Spoelstra learned to lessen his load even further, as his average declined from 38.8 to 37.5, 37.9 and 37.7 over the next three seasons. In that final season, 2013-14, James topped 40 minutes just once in his first 22 games, and in just 24 of his 77 games overall.

In half of those 24 games, Dwyane Wade didn't play, leaving Spoelstra with little choice but to lean on James more. 

Blatt, however, has had his full complement of stars for the start of this season, losing only Matthew Dellavedova to significant injury. But that's not all that makes the usage odd. Blatt was adamant during training camp that he wanted to shield James—who has played nearly year-round basketball for roughly a decade—from some of the responsibility and wear. 

This was in response to a question from Bleacher Report about ball-handling and playmaking:

"You know what I hope happens, as far as that's concerned, is that a lot of the other players will be able to take some of the load off of him," Blatt said then. "You know what I mean? That he'll come to times during the season where he'll be particularly fresh, because that load will not necessarily have been on him all the way through. Obviously, at the right time, he's going to step up and he's going to do the things that he can do that you talked about. But we can sort of spread it out a little bit more, and that should help him." 

So far, they haven't. 

James' usage rate of 30.8 is in line with his four seasons in Miami, and it's lower than the majority of his first stint in Cleveland. Yet his minutes rank third in the NBA, behind Thunder guard Reggie Jackson (a product of the absences of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook) and Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (always overplayed by Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau). 

James' teammates, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, rank fourth and fifth, respectively. The Clippers are the only other team with three players in the top 30—Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan are 12th, 14th and 16th, respectively. 

The top Spur, Tony Parker, is 65th, at 31.8.

And his number is actually tops for San Antonio. 

Last season, Parker led the Spurs at 29.4. 

That was something James, also a Spurs admirer, noticed and appreciated. 

So, what does James think about his current minutes, at 39.1 per night, most since the 2007-08 season, and skewed slightly by Saturday's rout of Atlanta that allowed him to sit the fourth quarter?

"Too much," James acknowledged Tuesday.

He didn't reveal this sentiment to create conflict with his coach—Bleacher Report had already relayed to him that Blatt had just told the media that he planned to alter his strategy some, and "that it might be a good idea for our guys to play some shorter stretches harder rather than longer stretches." 

But it was still significant that James said something publicly, because he knows too well how it will be perceived. That's why he typically says that if he's gone through the trouble of stretching and suiting up, he'll play as long as it takes. Anything else will arouse the agitators. As he ended his interview session Tuesday, he even joked that everyone can start writing headlines that he's quarreling with his coach and wants to play less basketball. 

That's not it.

He just wants to be as fresh as possible when it matters.

And at times, he needs to be saved from himself. 

Before Saturday's game, when he stuck with just eight players until the Cavaliers were ahead by 31 early in the fourth quarter, Blatt said he wasn't "overly concerned right now with the minutes that some of the guys have been playing, but I am and we are cognizant of the fact and desiring of the possibility of lowering those minutes as we go forward, at least for a good part of the season. And we will adjust to that as much as possible, and where possible, because it's important."

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Still, he added that since James has "told me that he's feeling good and he's starting to feel his game shape...this is not the time to be thinking about resting him. He's feeling good, this is the time to allow him to feel comfortable and get into his rhythm."

At times, though, Blatt needs to step in and make the decision for him and then own the decision to the masses, in part so that he appears in control, and in part to keep the detractors off James' back. Because it's not often that James will be as open as he was Tuesday, without care for the consequences. 

He said that he "wouldn't mind" cutting back to give more of the reserves "more of an opportunity." 

He noted the minutes statistic, with three Cavaliers in the league's top five.

"That has to come down," James said. "For me, I don't want to do that all year. Obviously, right now, it's kind of difficult because we're trying to find a groove, we're trying to find a rhythm, and we're trying to implement something that you don't want to shortcut. But at the same time, you got to be smart about it. So I don't mind giving a few of my minutes up, just to help the team and help my minutes go down. I think it would be for the best." 

There really can't be any argument. 

After all, it's what the Spurs would do.