Trouble In No Assist Land
2014-11-06
Make sure to check out my recap of the Cavs Vs. Jazz here.
Brian Windhorst is reporting that LeBron James had words with Kyrie Irving not only after the game against Portland but also after the game against Utah. The King is upset that Irving isn’t playing like a point guard. He acknowledged the fact that Kyrie hasn’t had an assist in more than forty-five minutes.
“There’s a lot of bad habits, a lot of bad habits been built up the past couple years,” James said to the media moments after the exchange. “When you play that style of basketball, it takes a lot to get it up out of you.”
Irving said this about the Utah game:
“For us, it was a growing process that we have to go through,” Irving said Wednesday. “It sucks right now. For us, we’re still young, and I’m still learning what’s going on.”
Right now, I’m not worried. LeBron has the right to call out Irving. This tweet says it all:
Crazy SportVU stat: The Jazz passed the ball 166 more times than the Cavs did last night, 442 to 276.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) November 6, 2014
However, LeBron shouldn’t be too critical of the young point guard. The Chosen One had just four assists against Utah, and they were sort of negated by his four turnovers. If anything is really wrong with the Cavs right now, it is the defense. Even in a subpar offensive performance, the Cavs managed to score. Defensively, I could have taken on Kevin Love in the post, and I’m just 6′ 3.” The Jazz even killed the Cavs with their high power rebounding machines to grab 11 more boards than the Wine & Gold. Yet, in the end, LeBron is unfazed by all of this and refuses to let the internet run wild because of his allegation that iso ball isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
In the words of the great @AaronRodgers12 “RELAX”
— LeBron James (@KingJames) November 6, 2014
Settle down everyone. Trading guys after 4 games is insanity. Let’s give it at least a month or 2 before massively panicking.
LeBron is doing what a leader should, pushing his team and not shying away from being blunt with them about areas where they need to get better. The comparisons to the Heat of the Big 3 era’s slow start aren’t entirely apples to apples though; the supporting cast on that squad was more experienced and Spoelstra had been around the NBA for a while and has much less of his own learning curve. They’ll get better but this isn’t going to be a clean walk to a #1 seed even in the East like so many have thought, there’s some… Read more »
What happen was…Kyrie was used to being the first option…he never played like a true point guard since day one(mostly because he was the best player/shooter on all those losing teams)…Now he is resisting playing the position he is so ideally made for…he doesn’t understand that this is no longer a “me” thing…he has to learn how to plat “team” ball or play elsewhere…It is totally unacceptable for him to play as he has been playing and I don’t blame Lebron one single bit for “checking” him…The Cavs can go after Rondo…trade Kyrie and not miss a beat…actually they will… Read more »
If we offered the Celtics Kyrie for Rondo, the Celtics would trip over themselves trying to get to the phone to accept that trade. We know Kyrie can be the PG he was in the FIBA world cup and in the All-Star games but he only does that if he trusts his teammates. Clearly, there are going to be more growing pains than we thought as these guys figure out how to trust each other. Trying to explain what Lebron is doing now as intentional is backwards logic. Frankly, he hasn’t been playing well enough to “teach this team a… Read more »
What’s confusing is that when Kyrie played for the US National Team he was the consummate point guard. He may have had more assists than shots. He played that way in the preseason as well. What happened?
the “trev” radio show did quite a spin off on ‘ THE HEALTHY EXCHANGE OF WORDS “—-HAD ME GUTTTING IT —-words are exchanged in every lockerroom ( I have been a high school coach for over 25 yrs —” THE HEALTHY EXCHANGE OF WORDS ” is common place—-just ask your wife
Deadspin is now mocking us for panicking about the start of the season. Good job guys way to keep an even keel. RELAX
http://deadspin.com/the-fuck-is-wrong-with-lebron-some-theories-1655569823
Weird that teammates talking in the locker room is a story…one would think that happens in every locker room, win or lose. But anyway, it appears Lebron has finally learned the lesson that Michael Jordan did not win 6 titles by effort and willpower. Phil Jackson channeled all of MJ’s prowess into a system that allowed players to be replaced year after year by other players of the same caliber…and executed that system to the point of sometimes appearing effortless on offense. Sounds a lot like the Spurs teams that Lebron has been bested by. He seems concerned that winning… Read more »
I agree so much with this comment. Everyone here would much rather go 41-41 and win a title than go 62-20 and lose the finals. The Spurs would put up 150 against this team. Clearly it will get better. As Cols has said it’s hilarious that everyone mocked his optimism but are now panicking as bad as the reactionary press. But the only way we win a title is playing good TEAM basketball. LeBron is a complete enigma though so far. He states he’s “playing poorly” to teach the others, and yet he won us the Chicago game and almost… Read more »
Great insight. The young pups have so much growing between the ears to do. My only counter would be that defense actually DOES require a good deal of effort and individual shortcomings aren’t as easily masked by a system. I can buy LeBron coasting on offense to instill certain habits into the team, but I would figure he could still bring it on the other end of the floor if he’s saving so much energy. At some point, the Kyries and Kevins of the team need to realize that shots aren’t always going to fall and you need that defensive… Read more »
Yeah. Like later on in the season. Right now we have to get our offense right. So playing the starters for a lot of minutes makes sense.
I totally agree. The lack of effort from Lebron on defense is WAAYY more of a red flag. He should be setting the EXAMPLE for intensity on that end. Probably harder to break the habit of running around like a wild man and taking over ballgames than maybe we think, tho. And he’s figuring it out on the fly. Like the Chicago game, he definitely just went out and put in his normal “i will make us win” routine…and his example on the defensive end was a huge catalyst to get us back into that game. I just think his… Read more »
Wish LeBron would stop tweeting and mouthing off to the media and just play defense.
THIS THIS THIS +15
Leb is right
Relax. Everyone should take that advice. He knows what it takes to win a title and that’s what they are working on. I have no problems with the team.