LeBron James Facing Biggest Challenge of Career with These Cleveland Cavaliers

He’s been touted and lauded, the hype so hot it would sear a weaker man to ash. He’s been doubted and derided, his name dragged through mud thickened by insolent ink. No matter how many feats he meets, it’ll be the blunders from a decade ago that keep the cameras rolling.

Over an unparalleled 11-year career, LeBron James has faced a battery of tests that would make Hercules head for the hills. And none will prove tougher than leading these Cleveland Cavaliers to the Promised Land.

It’s a twofold question of talent and expectations. Embedding LeBron with the Philadelphia 76ers might make for the biggest basketball challenge.

But to guide Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and the rest of his Cleveland cohorts through such a narrow needle’s eye, to make good on their strengths while seamlessly correcting their weaknesses? That, for LeBron, is the harder hardwood high-wire act.

James has been down this road before, of course. Four years ago, in the midst of a 9-8 start, it was the King being brought to court, forced to answer for the Miami Heat’s lackadaisical play. Two titles and a quartet of Finals appearances later, it’s hard to argue The Decision—clumsy though the prologue was—didn’t hit a happy ending.

So when word came that King James would take his talents to Cuyahoga County, it was reasonable to expect a sequel. There would be bumps and there would be trials but trials that made it all worthwhile.

We’re still waiting on that narrative turn.

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By now the arch-villain is plainly known: Through November 23, the Cavs were registering the fifth worst defensive efficiency in the league, per NBA.com (subscription required). The chief culprit being Cleveland’s woeful lack of rim protection, resulting in a 29th-ranked 65.3 percent opponent field-goal percentage on shots within five feet of the rim.

That might seem like an isolated weakness. And one with a clear-cut solution: Adjust the rotations accordingly, or pursue a tried-and-true paint protector using one of Cleveland’s myriad young assets.

But it’s in what Cleveland’s lack of defense means to its offense that has been the far bigger elephant in the room. Specifically: By failing to consistently get stops, the Cavs are prevented from doing what’re custom-built to do; push the tempo and put the defense on pass-rattled roller skates.

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Despite that rather significant impediment, Cleveland has still managed to chart the league’s 15th most efficient offense, per NBA.com (104.4)—respectable, albeit a cavernous cry from where the Cavs should, and most likely will, ultimately be.

Writing at Fear the Sword, Jesus Gomez underscored the dire domino effect at play in Cleveland’s defensive woes:

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One reason why people were confident the Cavs were going to figure out how to use all the offensive weapons at their disposal was the system coach David Blatt was going to implement. A read-and-react offense with players who can both score and pass at an elite level was supposed to be near the top of the league in offensive efficiency. Love's versatility was supposed to be at the center of it all. But the Cavaliers' offense has not looked like that at all so far.

Cleveland averages 39.5 assist opportunities per game, the fifth-worst mark in the league. Instead of letting the ball flow freely, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving dominate it and often take contested pull up shots. They rank No. 11 and No. 14 in touches per game and 12th and eighth on pull up field goal attempts per game, respectively. They are good enough scorers that the Cavs still rank No. 9 in offensive rating despite having a predictable attack based on one-on-one play. But with the team's defensive limitations -- of which Love is certainly partly responsible -- ninth is not good enough.

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A singular panacea, LeBron is not. But that’s not stopping him from trumpeting the optimist’s ode. James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

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For me, being the leader of the team, if I start hanging my head low, then I think it's going to go to everyone else. They look up to me. They look to me to make a difference, and I got to stay positive even throughout the rough times. Like I said before, this is not the darkest point that we'll see this year. I've seen very dark, and this is very light to me.

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Sometimes, it’s wise to start with a sliver. Specifically, the outmatched Orlando Magic, whom the Cavs throttled 106-74 Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak. James was predictably phenomenal, finishing with 29 points, four rebounds, 11 assists and three steals in what was perhaps Cleveland’s best two-way performance of the season to date.

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It’s a step—albeit a slight one—in the right direction. Still, the hurdles abound, from the Cavs’ lack of overall depth to the sheer inconvenient truth that, for all their tantalizing talent and upside, Love and Irving are nowhere near Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in terms of two-way consistency.

This team’s potential might be greater than that of the Heat. The challenge lies in marking every notch above and beyond that rarefied standard. Like using a socket wrench to fasten a bolt, where every additional, tightening turn takes myriad more effort than the last.

Compelling these Cavs to championship tightness will take more muscle—mental, physical and otherwise—than LeBron has ever mustered.

But if you’re bound to bet on anyone to find the torque few believe is there, who better than a legend steeped in rendering the impossible possible?