LeBron Leads and the Rest Follow, Even If It Means Rock Bottom
By Eliana Brown
The Cleveland Cavaliers will always follow LeBron James’ lead, for better or for worse.
From the moment LeBron James announced his return to The Land, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been on a rollercoaster ride. A ride that has taken them through midseason coaching changes, ugly trade requests and mysterious Twitter behavior.
However, it has also led them to three straight Finals, a championship parade and Arthur-inspired trolling.
This rollercoaster ride, while chaotic and unpredictable, has one constant: each stop on the way has been facilitated and conducted by LeBron.
Take out LeBron from the roster and the Cavaliers would be struggling for air at the bottom of the lowly Eastern Conference. At the epicenter of the NBA, and certainly at the epicenter of the Cavs, is The King. How he conducts himself on and off the court impacts everyone around him.
If LeBron is disengaged and quiet, the Cavs lose their sense of self.
During this never-ending post-Christmas day combustion, in which the Cavs have gone 3-10 and are now ranked dead last in defensive rating, LeBron has set the defensive tone, or lack of.
He currently has a 115.9 defensive rating, making him one of worst defenders in the league.
Who is right below him in defense? Cavs shooting guard, and once reliable defender, J.R. Smith.
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During this 13-game stretch, LeBron has also slipped on a skill that his teammates rely so heavily upon for success: assists, assists and more assists.
During the Cavs 15-game winning streak, LeBron was ranked fourth in league for assists per game with 8.4. Yet, during the month of January, in which he has paired an over reliance on iso-ball with poor decision making, he ranks 11th in the league with 7.1.
Where do the Cavs rank in assists since Christmas day? You guessed it – they’ve dropped to 22nd in the league.
LeBron’s off-court behavior has also left us with more questions than answers. While there has been no suspicious tweets, he has been particularly quiet throughout the midst of the Cavaliers full-on implosion.
LeBron half-heartedly spoke up when asked about the job status of Tyronn Lue and after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Kevin Love was targeted by players at a Cavs team meeting, LeBron refused to speak to the media on the matter.
LeBron is not only one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game, he is also one of the smartest. He usually has a reason for his behavior and is always one step ahead of the pack. But his lackluster and uninspired play has the rest of the world wondering… does LeBron know what he is doing or is he slowly losing grip on his throne?
With the February 8th trade deadline quickly approaching and the remainder of the regular season awaiting, we’ll have to just wait and see….