Cleveland Cavaliers: RJ reminds us we can’t take what LeBron did for granted

The Cleveland Cavaliers are fresh off four runs to the NBA Finals, and Richard Jefferson demonstrated how that’s no small feat, even for LeBron James.

We all know what LeBron James means to fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and many, many more people. When he returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, one couldn’t put that into words. The guy simply means everything to people in The Land. It was really as good of a four-year run as anybody could have imagined, and James got back into everybody’s good graces as a result. Now with the Los Angeles Lakers in a heated Western Conference, even the best player in the NBA will have his work cut out for him. It’s not impossible to see James making noise, though, as everybody in Cleveland knows.

In a recent interview with the New York Times’ Marc Stein, Richard Jefferson (James’ teammate for two seasons and key contributor to the Cavaliers’ 2016 championship squad) noted just how special LeBron’s run in Cleveland was, how LeBron even surprised himself going to four straight Finals, and how he won’t rule him out in the West.

"“When he went back to Cleveland, I promise you he didn’t go back there thinking, ‘O.K., it’s time to go to four straight N.B.A. finals,” Jefferson said of James’s return to the Cavaliers in 2014. “But would anyone really be surprised if the Lakers made the conference finals? He’s that good. Any time LeBron steps on the court, he’s the best player on the court. There’s a bigger gap than I think many people would really believe.”"

Jefferson knows basketball better than pretty much everybody reading this, so that is saying something. The Cavs won’t have the best player in the world anymore, and that hurts a tad bit, but James doesn’t owe us anything. He did what he said he would do in delivering the city of Cleveland a championship, and it was in spectacular fashion (cue the 3-1 jokes).

If the Golden State Warriors didn’t end up adding superstar Kevin Durant, maybe the Cavs would be able to get another ring in the two seasons after the magical 2016 run. Maybe if that happened, James would still be a Cavalier.

Nonetheless, it was a tremendous four years that no Cleveland fan will ever forget. As Jefferson alluded to, LeBron is still the best player on the court (even going into year 16), so I wouldn’t be shocked if he went to the Western Conference Finals, either.