This was certainly not how LeBron thought all this was going to play out. We can agree on that, right? He returned to Cleveland to help deliver the Cavs a title. One was all he needed, all the city wanted. To quote my desert-dwelling forefathers, Dayenu.
Then Steph Curry happened and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson kept getting better and better and the Spurs got stronger and deeper so that they could keep up and suddenly the window that just one year earlier had looked to be wide open had been slammed shut.
Meanwhile, things keep getting worse in Cleveland. The firing of David Blatt didn’t lead to the changes that LeBron and others hoped it would. The Cavs were 30-11 with him; they’re 12-6 since Lue took over. Stephen A. Smith says Kyrie Irving isn’t happy. Kevin Love still looks like a JV-player trying to figure out how to fit in with the varsity. And while the offense has improved under Lue (up from 105.2 points per 100 possessions to 111.1) the defense has completely fallen off (surrendering 104.9 points per 100 possessions, five points more than they were under Blatt).
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Conducting armchair Psychology is usually a bad idea. But for all LeBron’s otherworldly talents he’s never been particularly strong at cloaking his emotions. It’s kind of strange, actually, considering the era he grew up in and the microscope he grew up under. But that’s a topic for another day.
So now we get cryptic Tweets featuring advice on how to react to past mistakes. And Instagram posts of him enjoying the warm rays of his former home. And reports of him going after teammates for lackluster effort despite plenty of evidence showing that he’s guilty of the same charge.
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In a bubble, all those actions are explainable and easy to write off. Together, though, they paint a pretty clear and stark picture.
Remember, just one year ago LeBron was the center of the basketball and sporting universe. He was the best player in the league, no questions asked. His team had as good a shot as any at winning a title — and if they didn’t, well, it was just Year 1 anyway. There’d be plenty of more chances to deliver Cleveland that championship that it so desperately craves. Plenty of time to gel with his teammates and build that Heat-like championship culture which he left behind.
And so LeBron spent the summer of 2014 shedding weight and shooting a movie. He coasted through the season’s first quarter and even took a two-week vacation right around New Years. He returned to the floor rejuvenated and refreshed and carried the depleted Cavaliers, sans Irving and Love, all the way to the Finals, where he played some of the best basketball the world has ever seen. 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists. He couldn’t quite push the Cavs past the Warriors, but you can make a compelling case that he deserved to be named series MVP. Forgive the pun, but he was still The King.
Now, not so much. The young stars keep getting better and he keeps getting older. His numbers are down across the board. Most worrisome: he’s morphed into one of the league’s worst jump shooters. It’s not just the 28 percent shooting from deep. James is connecting on just 29 percent of all his jumpshots and just 30 percent of his shots outside of eight feet (according NBA.com’s player tracking data).
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Steph Curry, on the other hand, is redefining the game’s geometry and leaving both fans and opponents speechless and in awe, just like LeBron used to. He’s the one getting the magazine covers and drawing the big weeknight television audiences. And let’s not forget Kawhi Leonard, who on Thursday night Charles Barkley called “the best two-way player in the NBA, better than LeBron.” And Anthony Davis, still just 22. And Kevin Durant, the impending free agent that everyone is coveting. And Russell Westbrook, who’s surpassed LeBron as the league’s most physically gifted specimen.
James is no longer the league’s public face or best player, and now an argument can be made that he’s no longer in the NBA’s top three. If you were starting a team from scratch, would you prefer the 31-year-old James, someone who’s played in over 1,000 career games, or the young legs of players like Leonard and Davis?
But here’s the thing: you don’t become as good as LeBron James without developing a healthy ego along the way. When LeBron looks around and sees his team limping to the finish line and the uninspiring Raptors hot on their tail (two games back as of Friday), who do you think he blames? When he peeks over at the Western Conference standings or tunes into a Warriors or Spurs game late at night and watches the remarkable efficiency at which they operate, what do you think goes through his head?
LeBron’s no fool. At this point he can recognize a championship-level team and no doubt knows this Cavs group isn’t there, despite being first in the Eastern Conference, something last year’s NBA Finals team never was this late in the season. He also knows neither the Warriors nor Spurs are going anywhere and that another heavyweight is likely to emerge over the next couple of years.
Two summers ago it looked like he’d have multiple opportunities to lead the Cavs to multiple titles. Now all signs seem to point to his second tenure in Cleveland ending in failure, just like the first. And it all happened so fast, too. Seemingly overnight. Change like that would be tough for any great athlete to process. For a player of LeBron’s stature it’s likely damn near impossible.
He’s faced so much throughout his life, and beaten nearly every obstacle along the way. Aging, though, is a new one for him. It’s also unlikely anything he’s ever dealt with before.
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