Onus Is on LeBron James to Carry Cleveland Cavaliers for Now
LeBron James cannot yet disperse the burden of winning among his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates. That cross is, for now, still his to bear alone.
When he left the Miami Heat and returned to Cleveland, it was—and still remains—a decision impelled by melded emotions and desires and instinctive responsibility.
Loyalty. Obligation. Want. Need. Passion. Nostalgia. James' return—marked by a stirring and introspective return letter for Sports Illustrated—had it all. Including basketball.
Talk of patience and process has never once cloaked the obvious. James left Miami in search of redemption and change. If he was content shouldering exceptional workloads, things would be different. He might still be on the Heat, beside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Or perhaps Andrew Wiggins would still be in Cleveland, learning the NBA ropes from James himself.
Instead, James is on a Cavaliers team that acquired Kevin Love, extended Kyrie Irving and added a slew of veterans in conjunction with his return. While the roster is shallow, this is a squad conducive to championship contention and, more clearly, alleviating the strain placed upon James' back through star power alone.
And, in due time, that's just what they should do. Love (26) and Irving (22) are both young stars with the capacity to cart the exacting millstones that James has traditionally ferried on his own. But as the Cavaliers continue to go through the motions, enduring the aforementioned process, James must exhibit the aforesaid patience by being proactive.
There is nothing else that allows for this team to win and contend while also developing. Riding James is the only way it's managed to find success thus far.
With the exception of one game, James has led the Cavaliers in scoring through every victory this season. And as for that lone exception, a win over the New Orleans Pelicans, it isn't really even an exception. Both he and Irving led the team in scoring, tallying 32 points apiece.
James is also averaging more than 20 shot attempts in victories, compared to just over 16 in losses. The rest of his splits, meanwhile, speak for themselves—and they're saying volumes:
| Wins | 20.4 | 53.1 | 31.6 | 7.1 | 8.3 | 1.7 | 33.9 |
| Losses | 16.1 | 39.8 | 19.0 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 1.0 | 27.6 |
| 2014-15 Overall | 18.3 | 47.3 | 25.3 | 6.1 | 7.2 | 1.4 | 30.4 |
It's easy to cite Love's declining field-goal percentage (42) and scoring totals (16.5) and Irving's plummeting assist rate (21.9, down from 31.6 in 2013-14) when talking about the Cavaliers' onset struggles. It's too easy, actually. James himself has emphasized the importance of everyone else stepping up as the team searches for synergistic balance.
Following an ugly loss to the Portland Trails Blazers on November 4, the two-time NBA champion lit into his teammates, seemingly calling them out for inexperience and an over-reliance on him, via USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt:
"I'm just trying to do other things. I'm trying to instill what it takes to win. My mission is not a one-game thing. We have to do multiple things in order to win. We have to share the ball. We've got to play defense. We've got to sacrifice in order to ultimately win. Obviously, when you're going through the process, it's not the best part of it. But I'm looking at the end of the tunnel.
"
Indeed, James' performance against Portland resembled some form of protest. He attempted just four shots in the second half, missing them all, while Love, Irving and Dion Waiters all jacked up at least seven. He kept deferring on offense, forcing the ball into the hands of others. It was, perhaps, the most visibly indifferent offensive performance of his career—an aesthetic derivative of his apparent need to teach lessons and deliver truths.
But James' aim—which we're admittedly assuming—was undermining.
That game in particular proved how important it was for the Cavaliers to find collective balance. They wouldn't win or erase leads consistently by playing as individuals. James, Irving and Love clearly weren't on the same page (something James himself pointed out afterward as well, per Zillgitt).
At the same time, that game, along with those that followed, inadvertently highlighted James' need to lead by doing more. Designed passivity, however temporary, wouldn't generate wins in excess. He needed to take over when the situation called for it.
"We got a four-game losing streak, so I stink," James would later say, per The Associated Press (via NBC Sports). "I'm not doing my job."
Recognizing the need for change, James has since led his team to a pair of quality blowout victories over the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards. The 113-87 win against Washington was easily the most impressive and encouraging.
Although James didn't fire away at will (14 shots), he relentlessly attacked the basket, collapsing the Wizards' highly touted defense and earning frequent trips to the foul line. His hyper-aggression created scoring opportunities for others. Irving and Love combined to attempt 12 totally uncontested shots, and Cleveland's superstar trio amassed 68 points on 21-of-39 shooting.
None of that is an indictment on James' effort in losses. Part of the Cavaliers' struggles have been punctuated by James' individual struggles.
This is the first time he's shooting under 50 percent from the floor since 2008-09, and his field-goal percentage in the restricted area (65.3) pales in comparison to last year's (78.3). The fact that the Cavaliers' seventh-ranked offense is also scoring more points per 100 possessions with him off the court is unnerving. But it's also slightly misleading, since they're averaging just 10.5 minutes of James-less basketball per night.
"It's hard to explain this drop," SB Nation's Mike Prada wrote. "James is still getting to the basket at about the same frequency as before, but he's no longer powering through defenders. Perhaps the back issues are contributing to his lack of explosion. Perhaps his summer weight loss did more harm than good."
Any number of things could be at play here, including the manner in which he's finishing at the basket. He hasn't been a walking highlight reel and is trying to evade and sidestep defenders rather than go through them.
Still, there's something to be said about James' success when he's being more aggressive. He's shooting better than 52 percent from the field during games in which he attempts at least 20 shots—he's connecting on just over 44 percent of his shots on other occasions.
The more aggressive he is, the better he is (and the better the Cavaliers are). It's that simple—which isn't to be confused with ideal.
Shouldering this responsibility for a star-stuffed team isn't the perfect beginning to James' time in Cleveland. It's a bit too similar to his first go-round with the Cavaliers and the latter part of his career in Miami, when he spoke candidly about the obstacles Wade's maintenance program posed. Less than 25 percent of the way through 2014-15, he's also already complained about his playing time.
And who can blame him? Like, really blame him? James makes a handsome living by playing a game, but he's also pushing 30 and has 40,000-plus minutes—regular season and playoffs—on his treads. His usage rate in victories (33.9) is the equivalent of the league's second-highest mark. It's only natural that he resist such a role after assuming an identical one for so long (with both the Heat and Cavaliers).
He just can't resist it forever.
Cleveland is his creation. This team wouldn't be where it is now, employing numerous superstars and title-seeking hangers-on, if not for his return. It's he who signed with the Cavaliers, it's he who recruited Love, per Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, it's he who has been through a similar transition before.
To wit: This is all on him. He's the best player, the "old head," as he said in his return letter. If the team is winning when he takes charge as the primary playmaker and scorer, then that's who he must be—every night, every game—until the Cavaliers have figured things out and can afford to embody the success-by-superstar-committee dynamic James clearly envisions.
Taking a backseat has backfired. It's resulted in losses to the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, along with beatdowns delivered by the Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors. Serving as the Cavaliers' hawkish lifeline—the way he did between 2003 and 2010—has generated wins.
In the case of Cleveland's recent two-game winning streak, it's hauled hope.
"For all the pressure, expectations and scrutiny surrounding the team's first dozen games, Cleveland has a chance to show its true colors," Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz wrote on the heels of the team's win over Washington. "Now with back-to-back blowout wins, the Cavaliers are beginning to display that elusive, team-first identity that, up to this point, they had yet to discover."
With James' heightened aggression at the forefront of that discovery—the Cavaliers have 53 assists on 80 made baskets in their last two wins—his domineering mindset must hold strong. As much as he may wish things could be different, they must remain the same.
For now.
Change comes later, after James successfully steers the Cavaliers through an identity crisis he helped create and must now solve.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com unless otherwise cited.
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