Many believe that LeBron James is running the show in Cleveland and that he was a big part of the decision to fire coach David Blatt. Soon after a report was released of Miami Heat minority owner Raanan Katz, saying James also wanted Erik Spoelstra fired when he was with the Heat. James denies both stories and responded to claims that he is a coach-killer.
“I’m not the owner of a team, I’m not the GM of a team, I’m the player of a team,” James said.
“People get it so misconstrued because I’m a smart basketball player and I’ve voiced my opinion about certain things, which I did when I was here my first stint with Paul Silas and Mike Brown. Which I did in Miami with Coach Spo. Which I did with Blatt and I’ll do with T. Lue,” he said. “And at the end of the day, they’ll still have their final call. But, I don’t know. What do you guys want me to do, turn my brain off because I have a huge basketball IQ? If that’s what they want me to do, I’m not going to do it because I’ve got so much to give to the game.’
“People want to throw my name in dirt for no particular reason, because of speculation or whatever the case may be,” he said. “But you can’t worry about it too much. I got 14 guys here. I got a fan base here and a fan base all over the world that loves what I do and they respect what I do and I can’t worry about a select group of people that want to use their negative energy to take away my positive energy.”
As for the remarks made by Heat minority owner Raanan Katz:
“I have no idea who that is,” James said. “I don’t even know if a lot of guys that actually played ever met him. I was there for four years and I never met him. … I don’t think he was involved in any of the conversations that goes on with the personnel of the team or the coaching staff or anything. But it’s easy to say that at this point.”
James asked what was Katz’s objecting for speaking out. Told he was previously a shareholder in Maccabi Tel Aviv, where Blatt previously coached, James nodded.
“There you go,” James said. “There’s a direct correlation right there. Makes sense.”
Katz has since backed off his remarks, telling the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “That was my opinion. I am very careful with what I say. I have no knowledge of what happened.”
