PHL Anon
I have never hidden my disdain for LeBron James. Before you try and throw shade – no, it’s not because of how great he is. He is absolutely phenomenal! I just dislike his disingenuous attitude, tendency for flopping, and always wanting everything to be about him. Great player, just annoys the shit out of me. Now that that’s squared away, I think Tyronn Lue has now become my favorite person in the NBA, and not just because he let Allen Iverson make him his human doormat in the 2001 NBA Finals. It’s because of this:
Before Tyronn Lue was elevated to head coach, replacing Blatt, they were playing like a team that didn’t know its strengths — or, frankly, the rules of engagement at a championship level in today’s NBA.
Blatt’s use of Kevin Love, refusing to get him the ball in the post and relegating him to a stand-still shooter when all else failed, bordered on ridiculous. By letting James overwhelm him in the huddle during timeouts, Blatt unwittingly ceded control — and demoralized the rest of the team. By not being comfortable enough to rein in James, the dynamic of the team became one of LeBron and then everybody else.
“They felt they were doing this for LeBron,” the person familiar with the internal workings of the team said, “instead of with LeBron.”
Lue changed that the moment he first told James in a huddle, “Shut the [expletive up]. I got this,” according to a person who heard the exchange — and a few others like it. If Lue was going to get the stars and the role players to buy into the strategic changes he was determined to implement — play faster, space the floor, move the ball, take full advantage of Love’s versatility — he was going to have to restore order first.
Not only did this make me happy on a personal level, but it should also make Cavs fans happy. It looks like Lebron being put in his place has worked, as the Cavs are coasting in the playoffs, and the “Big 3” in Cleveland are finally meshing together and not just feeding off of Lebron’s scraps.