- USF Takes Alabama To The Limit In 17-3 Loss
- USF, McClain Roll To First Win of the Season
- Bobby Bowden dies: Legendary coach built Florida State into college football powerhouse
- ECU hammers USF for first win of season
- Mike Brosseau’s HR off Aroldis Chapman Lifts Rays Past Yankees in ALDS Game 5
- Tom Brady Purchasing $7.5 Million Mansion
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers DT Vita Vea has broken ankle, likely out for season
- Tampa Bay Lightning have placed Tyler Johnson on Waivers
- USF football excited to bring fans back to Raymond James Stadium this weekend
- Tampa Bay Lightning Win Stanley Cup
LeBron James won’t hesitate to leave Cavs
- Updated: December 31, 2014
With the Cleveland Cavaliers off to an 18-12 start that isn’t exactly blowing people away with championship dreams this season, David Blatt has been under a lot of scrutiny in his rookie season as an NBA coach. His team isn’t defending, as expected, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of chemistry on the court with the three big stars there. Combine the early struggles with LeBron James‘ looming free agency in the next year or two as he finagles the incoming television money and new collective bargaining agreement, and there’s a bit of pressure to get things right in Cleveland.
According to Chris B. Haynes of Cleveland.com, the pressure to keep James happy is real because he won’t hesitate to depart from Cleveland again if “his hand is forced.” LeBron reportedly doesn’t want to waste his prime years on a sputtering team in Cleveland that isn’t really building toward a championship.
There is immense pressure to keep The King happy.
James, who turns 30 today, has no intention of compromising his prime years playing for a sputtering organization. He can opt out of his contract at the end of the season and become a free agent.
Given the massive scrutiny he would endure if he departed Cleveland a second time, if his hand is forced, I’m told he won’t hesitate to make the appropriate business decision if it means bolting.
It’s hard to believe LeBron would actually leave the Cavs a second time. He received so much scrutiny the first time he did it (primarily with the way he did it), and going through that again after the fanfare of how he returned to Cleveland despite having been to four straight NBA Finals with the Miami Heat seems unlikely. But we’ve seen LeBron endure this type of bad public opinion before and know he’s mentally prepared to do it if he needed to.
This notion that he’d leave the Cavs if his “hand is forced” is coming in an article about how the Cavs need to play for David Blatt and prove they’re a team. It’s all true too. Unless LeBron asks Dan Gilbert to drop the hammer on Blatt’s coaching stint with the Cavs, they’re not going to replace their coach this season. And this season was always about gelling and finding a way to build toward the next championship run of LeBron’s career. You can’t win championships in November and December.
The fact that this is out there now puts even more pressure on the organization, even if it’s not coming from LeBron. It’s not that this team isn’t dominating games but the way they’re not dominating games. The offense is good but disjointed. The defense is bad — really, really bad. Again, that’s to be expected with this group that was tossed together in a couple of months and asked to have title aspirations right away. We’ve seen new teams struggled early on time after time when put together.
Even if we don’t totally believe LeBron would leave the Cavs a second time, the looming free agency does act as a shot clock on the next season or two, even if it’s not as serious as the game clock. They’ve got to figure it out one way or another because you don’t want to have this experiment fail in a lack of titles once again.
