Photo Credit: NBA Interviews
LeBron James has been complaining about the Cleveland Cavaliers depth – particularly in the point guard position – for a while now. However, after he put up a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists, and Kyrie Irving scored a whopping 49 points and the Cavs still lost 124-122 to an Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans, LeBron went on an expletive-filled tirade.
“I just hope that we’re not satisfied as an organization,” James said. “I just hope we’re not satisfied.”
“We’re not better than last year,” he said. “From a personnel standpoint.”
“It’s great to have bodies,” James said. “Obviously, in the playoffs, you go down to what, eight max? And if somebody gets in foul trouble, you go to nine. You’re not playing back-to-backs. You have two days in between. You’re able to lock in.”
“It’s like when you don’t have bodies. It’s tough,” James said. “The f—ing grind of the regular season. We’re a top-heavy team. We have a top-heavy team. We top-heavy as s—. It’s me, [Kyrie Irving], [Kevin Love]. It’s top-heavy.”
“I’m not singling out anybody,” James said. “I’m not. Yeah, we won [the championship], but f—, you know what, let’s see if we can do something.”
“We need a f—ing playmaker,” James said. “I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that.”
James also noted that other contending teams have players they can depend on. The Golden State Warriors added Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia, David West, and JaVale McGee. The Cavs lost Mo Williams who retired, J.R. Smith went down with a thumb injury that could keep him out for several more months, they signed Chris “Birdman” Andersen who went down with a season-ending and potentially career-ending ACL injury, and they signed Mike Dunleavy who was shipped out in the Kyle Korver deal.
“For the most part, all championship-contending teams has got guys that are ready to step in. Knock on wood, what if Ky goes down? For two weeks. Let’s say two. What if I went down for three weeks?”
“Yeah, y’all are worried about five minutes. What if I went down for two weeks?” James said. “Trying to build something, you know?”
James defended coach Tyronn Lue giving him and Irving heavy playing minutes, noting that he has no other choice.
“What else are we going to do?” James said. “You saw the game. Kyrie had to do that. And I tried to mix in my plays. We didn’t have no choice. … We got what we got.”
“I don’t know what we got to offer,” James said. “I just know me, personally? I don’t got no time to waste. I’ll be 33 in the winter, and I ain’t got time to waste. That’s what I’m talking about.
James ended the tirade with a simple statement.
“Listen, when I feel like physically and mentally, me personally, can’t compete for a championship no more or I feel like I can’t do it, then I won’t have this problem. But until that happens, and it don’t seem like no time soon …”
“We got to figure it out,” he said. “It’s been a s—ty 2017 so far.”
source: ESPN
