A Plan to Rest LeBron

During the Cleveland Cavaliers’ slow start, David Blatt received a lot of criticism from people who expected the wine and gold to be 82-0 for the regular season. After all, they added the best player on the planet, LeBron James and another all-star in Kevin Love to Kyrie Irving.

Now that the Cavs have won four in a row, some of that criticism has subsided, but there is one area that the new to the NBA coach needs to make an adjustment. That would be controlling the minutes of James, who will turn 30 years old at the end of the month, and has a lot of miles on his legs, having spent 10 full seasons in the league, plus playoffs, and his stints with USA Basketball.

James is currently averaging 37.7 minutes per night, which is right in line with the last three years he spent in Miami. However, he has accumulated more than 40 minutes in a game seven times in the season’s first 16 games.

That’s not going to help him or the Cavs if they do indeed make a deep run in the NBA playoffs.

So, Blatt has to make a conscious effort to limit James’ minutes, especially during this time of the regular season, when, let’s face it, the games don’t have a heck of a lot of meeting.

We are sure Blatt intends to give James around 35 minutes per night going into each game, but our guess is his competitive nature gets in the game, and as the contest goes on he wants LeBron on the floor so the Cavs have a better chance for victory.

Part of it could also be adapting to a 48 minute game too. In a shorter contest, resting a player five minutes gets them to 35 minutes on the floor, in the NBA, a player has to sit out for 13 minutes to be at that kind of playing time.

As a compromise, we would suggest James sitting out the last three minutes of the first quarter and the first four minutes of the second quarter. Currently, he is playing the entire first stanza. This would give him seven minutes off in the first half, and if Love and Irving are on the floor at that point, the Cavs shouldn’t be in any danger of getting blown out.

In the second half, the coach can keep James off the floor the last two minutes of the third quarter and first two minutes of the fourth quarter. That get James to 37 minutes per night. And when the Cavaliers get a blow out win, he will get even more time off.

We also think having LBJ on the floor as much as he is provides a crutch to the players coming off the bench, meaning they think James will handle things, and they are reluctant to step up.

While James is resting, why can’t Dion Waiters pick up the scoring slack? We know Waiters can put the ball in the basket, and if he can produce when he’s in there, it means LeBron can watch from the sidelines.

And that will also make the Cavs a stronger team.

If you spend as much time in the Association as James, it takes its toll. That isn’t to say LBJ is no longer a dominant player, but he does need to start cutting back on his minutes if he is to be at top form when the playoffs start. David Blatt knows this, he just needs to stick to the plan.

Way Too Early To Blast Blatt

It is amazing that with the NBA season just 10 games old, there are fans who are dissatisfied with Cavs’ coach David Blatt.

We know the reason. The wine and gold brought in the best player on the planet and another all-star to play for the team and they are only 5-5 after the first ten contests, so it must be the coach that is the problem.

After all, there were idiots out there projecting that the Cavs would win 70 regular season games in 2014-15, something only one team in history has done. So, really Blatt’s problem is the unrealistic expectations of the fan base.

This is not to say that Blatt has made a seamless transition from the European leagues to the NBA. He hasn’t used his bench much and that’s a big key for an 82 game schedule. This is the time of year where you develop your bench, giving reserves minutes so they can contribute as the season progresses. That has to change, and tonight’s game would be a good place to start.

He’s also using LeBron James too much. James was averaging a little over 39 minutes a game prior to Wednesday’s game against San Antonio, and played 34 minutes vs. the Spurs. That’s more in the realm we’d like to see going forward to keep him fresh for the entire season.

Also, giving James more time off would allow Kevin Love assert himself more offensively. Love admitted he is struggling to find out his place in the offense, and having him on the floor with James resting would make him the primary offensive option.

Blatt is also trying to figure out who he can trust, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. The knee injury to Matthew Dellavedova was a bigger blow than most think because he is one of the few guards on the roster who can defend. His absence has caused more playing time for rookie Joe Harris, which will help in the long run.

But once again, it is still very early in the season, the Cavs have played 12% of the regular season and once again, they have a roster where roughly 2/3’s of the players are new. We know sports fans in northeast Ohio hate the word, but it’s a “process”.

If the same issues are still in place once the calendar turns to 2015, then we can have a meaningful debate about the merits of the coach. Blatt is a smart man, and he’s not a head coach for the first time, just the first time at the NBA level. He has a lot of experience coaching professionals.

He’s not a former player without a background in x’s and o’s either. He knows the game, and he knows from a strategic standpoint how to coach it. But he does have to adjust to the NBA’s 48 minute contests. If you think about it, he rests his starters like they are playing the 40 minute games he is accustomed to.

The critics are forgetting that it’s a new coaching staff and the majority of the players also just joined the team over the summer. It takes time to develop chemistry and cohesion, mostly in terms on knowing where players need the ball to be effective, and also on the defensive end where trust in mandatory.

Guys who played for Blatt in the past have raved about him, and there’s no reason to think his style has changed drastically. The things he has struggled with early in the season should be correctable.

This team will show progress, we are confident in saying that. Blaming the coach is the knee jerk reaction in these parts. Let’s allow David Blatt to coach for a while longer before it is determined that he is the problem.

Cavs Road to Title Starts Tonight

Tonight is the night!

When LeBron James announced he was returning to the Cavaliers in early July, every fan of the wine and gold wondered what it would be like when he played his first regular season game back at Quicken Loans Arena.

Tomorrow, we will not have to wonder any more.

And hopefully, sometime next June we won’t have to imagine what it would be like if and when a professional sports team in Cleveland won a world championship any more. The then 51 year drought (assuming the Browns won’t win the Super Bowl this season) will be over.

We understand that there are many experts, mostly from the national media, who say it will take time for a team that has so many new parts to gel in time to win a title this year. However, it was just a few years ago that the Boston Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to go along with Paul Pierce in the off-season and then won the Larry O’Brien Trophy in their first year together.

Keep in mind, they are playing basketball, something they have done their entire lives, not doing nuclear physics.

Also, the playoffs don’t start until April, giving all of the players five and a half months to become acclimated to each other and their new coach, David Blatt. There is plenty of time to become a well oiled machine.

Besides having two of the league’s top ten players in James and Kevin Love, they have a two-time all-star in Kyrie Irving and also start a solid rebounder and improving offensive player in Anderson Varejao, this team is also very deep.

In fact, their second unit is a such that it looks like a pretty decent NBA team with Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, Tristan Thompson, Brendan Haywood and Matthew Dellavedova. And that doesn’t even mention Lou Amundson and James Jones, two veterans of the league as the possible 11th and 12th men.

And we haven’t mentioned the fourth overall pick in the 2012 draft in Dion Waiters.

This shouldn’t be a team that will have to depend on giving its best players big minutes on a night-to-night basis, meaning they should enter the playoffs as fresh as they can be after an 82 game schedule.

And with the salary cap increasing over the next few years, there is no question that GM David Griffin and James can continue to keep putting together a deep squad in wine and gold.

Will there be challenges? Of course, if Derrick Rose stays healthy, the Chicago Bulls will pose a threat in the Eastern Conference now that they added Pau Gasol. They play solid defense and are also a veteran laden team.

And whoever comes out of the West, assuming the Cavs can get to The Finals, will also be a tough team to beat.

James said in his essay announcing his return that winning a championship isn’t and won’t be easy. The organization doesn’t want to make promises because they understand the same thing, and they are correct in doing so.

The whole process starts tonight and the focus of the basketball world is on Northeast Ohio.

The start of what we have dreamed about for 50 years could be tonight.

Will Bosh’s Feelings Affect Love?

We have always had the thought that everyone likes to win, but we’d rather have players that hate to lose.

We will find out this season if the Cleveland Cavaliers have enough of the latter.

All of the holdovers from last season’s team have to be thrilled to have players like LeBron James, Kevin Love, Mike Miller, and Shawn Marion join the roster, because the days of finishing under .500 are over. The sheer talent brought in this off-season pretty much guarantees that.

However, if all of those players loathe losing, then the Cavs have a chance to be something special.

We bring this up because of Chris Bosh’s comments today about playing with a guy like James, more specifically the adjustments that Kevin Love will have to make coming from being the best player on a also-ran to being the second or third best player on a great team.

We agree with Bosh that some guys can make that transition and other guys can’t.

Going back in NBA history, we can think of at least two times where a superstar player subjugated his game for the good of the team.

The first is when Wilt Chamberlain did it twice, first with the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers, and again with the Lakers in 1971-72.

In the first case, The Big Dipper’s scoring average dropped from 33.5 to 24.1 and his assist total jumped from 5.2 to 7.8 playing with the likes of Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Luke Jackson.

With the Lakers in 71-72, Chamberlain’s scoring average dipped drastically again from 20.7 to 14.8, allowing Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, and Jim McMillian to do the heavy lifting in the scoring department.

Earl Monroe made a similar transition when he went from prolific scorer with the Baltimore Bullets (20.0 plus average) to fit in with a very good New York Knicks group.

In recent times, we saw the Boston Celtics put together Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen to go with Paul Pierce, and win a title in their first year together. All three had to change their games for the greater good.

If you think that is normal, think about how many titles Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant could have one if either decided taking a step back was worth it to collect more hardware.

The fact that the situation in Miami the past few seasons seems to irritate Bosh slightly is probably the reason it didn’t work in the long run. And if Bosh hated losing, he wouldn’t have cared how many touches he would be getting, as long as the Heat kept collecting Larry O’Brien Trophies.

Comparing Love to Bosh, remember that Love wanted to come here once James announced his return because he wanted to escape the losing. He didn’t come to Cleveland as part of a plan devised by friends while playing together on the US National team.

Plus, passing has always been a part of Love’s game, going back to his college days. We were struck watching him at UCLA the good court vision he had, and that was before he became an outside shooting threat.

Only time will tell of course, but it seems that Love has the disdain for losing that is needed to play with James. There is no question that players like Love, Miller, Marion, etc. came to Cleveland not only to play with LeBron, but to play with him knowing a title was very much possible.

The bigger question is can they all, including James, sacrifice individual stats to accomplish that goal.

Another huge question is how the holdover Cavs handle the culture change as well. With the youth in that group, that could be the bigger challenge.

Cavs’ Circus Begins Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, perhaps the most important non-sporting sporting event in Cleveland will occur when the Cavaliers have their media day.

So, the circus that will surround them all year will start then and there.

The biggest focus for everyone will be LeBron James, who hasn’t really sat down to speak about his return to Cleveland, except through his essay in Sports Illustrated and his welcome home party in July in Akron.

To be sure, he will be asked about his future with the Cavaliers because he signed a one year deal with an option, even though he has stated publicly that he will finish out his career in wine and gold.

There will also be considerable attention on the NBA’s newest “big three”, James, recently acquired all-star Kevin Love, and the MVP of both last year’s All Star Game and the FIBA World Championship, Kyrie Irving.

To be sure, they will be compared to the Celtics recent grouping (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) and Miami’s famous, or infamous trio of James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Will the Cavs group have the same success as Boston, winning a title in their first year together?

There is no question than not only do the Cavs have a core of all-star players, but they also have put together a deep roster of solid role players, something Miami didn’t have at least last season.

Besides the holdovers from last season, Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellavedova, who are all solid NBA players, GM David Gilbert also brought in Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, and James Jones, and don’t forget big man Brendan Haywood, who missed last season with a stress fracture in his foot.

The deep roster will allow James to cut back on his minutes, as our guess is all parties would like him to average around 33 minutes per game in 2014-15, compared to the 37.7 he played last season in Miami, and the 39.5 he averaged throughout his time in the NBA.

The only thing this team doesn’t have on paper is a big time shot blocker or rim protector in the new vernacular, and that could be Haywood if his feet can hold up.

And while some critics will say there aren’t a lot of lock down defenders in this group, right now James, Marion, Varejao, and Dellavedova would be considered the best defensive players, the name of the game is scoring more than your opponents, and this edition of the wine and gold should be very proficient in putting the ball in the basket.

The coolest thing about all this is the amount of focus that will be on Cleveland, Ohio this winter. The two best teams in professional basketball might just be here and in San Antonio. The national media has to be going crazy. We will probably hear about how the league is in trouble because it doesn’t appear its hallmark franchises (Celtics, Lakers, Knicks) will be in the championship mix for a while.

Also, the Cavs will be embraced throughout the league too. James was named the most popular professional athlete in the country this summer, in part because he did the right thing in many people’s eyes by reversing the wrong committed four years ago and returning to Cleveland.

As we have traveled around the country this summer, most basketball fans are genuinely happy that The King is back in northeast Ohio.

It all starts tomorrow. And the wait to Opening Night will be excruciating.

Cavs Give Everyone Reason for Extreme Optimism

We realize that the average Cleveland sports fan has no real sense of success, so they don’t understand how to handle it.

This has become particularly evident in regards to the city’s basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Since the regular season ended, another non-playoff campaign just like everyone since the departure of LeBron James, nothing but good things have happened to Dan Gilbert’s franchise.

First, despite overwhelming odds, the Cavs got the first pick in the NBA Draft. Cleveland had the ninth worst record in the league, with just a little over 1% chance to get the pick, yet it came up for them.

Unbelievably, the next great thing that occurred was James returning to the franchise, still the best player in the sport, and this made the wine and gold an instant playoff team, and a contender for a title, even if nothing else was done.

Unlike James’ first tenure here, he started actively recruiting for the Cavs, and told all-star forward Kevin Love that they should team up and try to win titles in little ol’ Cleveland, Ohio.

So, GM David Griffin apparently has packaged this year’s first round pick, Andrew Wiggins and last year’s pick, Anthony Bennett sending them to Minnesota to bring Love to the Cavs.

The Cavaliers will now feature their own big three of James, Love, and two-time all-star Kyrie Irving, and are the favorite to win the Eastern Conference and advance to The Finals for the second time in history.

They’ve also added veterans Mike Miller, James Jones, and Shawn Marion, all with championship rings to add support for Cleveland’s all-star trio. And they may also add another well-accomplished veteran in Ray Allen soon.

Still, fans are complaining, worried that the team still needs a big man, someone who can block shots.

Let’s put it this way. If the Cavs suited us up with James, Love, and Irving, along with another member of the Cleveland blogging fraternity, they likely would make the playoffs.

This team is a definite title contender barring injury as currently constituted.

They have Irving and Matthew Dellavedova at point guard. At the wing spots, they can put James, Dion Waiters, Miller, and Marion on the floor. They will have Love at power forward and Anderson Varejao at center, or they can bring the latter off the bench, and use Tristan Thompson, who averaged almost a double double last season as a starter.

It is true that the last move to make would be someone who can block shots, and based on the moves made already, we have no doubt that Griffin will add one to those to the roster.

The Cavs still have several first round picks that can deal as well as some non-guaranteed contracts picked up in the deal that sent Carrick Felix to Utah.

That’s the beauty of the situation that has been created here, not only do the Cavs have James, Love, and Irving, but they aren’t hamstrung in the ability to make moves.

That’s why James structured his deal (two years with an opt out after the first year) the way he did. He saw what happened in Miami, where the Heat management didn’t want to go over the luxury tax threshold, and the Heat couldn’t add some younger pieces to keep the title train going.

If you aren’t optimistic about this basketball season, you would probably complain about the taxes if you won the lottery.

Some fans will still complain though, that’s the Cleveland way.

One More Opinion on Getting Love

Since the return of LeBron James to the Cavaliers, the biggest speculation around town is whether or not the Cavs should deal Andrew Wiggins, the first overall pick in the draft to obtain Kevin Love, one of the league’s premier players.

Because Love is just 25-years-old, it really is a no-brainer. Love IS one of the NBA’s top 20 players, and that’s conservative. Wiggins MAY be one of the league’s top 20 players someday. It is just that simple.

Here is looking at it another way. James will turn 30 years old this December, meaning he will be the LeBron James he is right now for another 4-5 years. That’s the kind of window Cleveland likely has to win titles.

Now think of Kyrie Irving, the first overall pick in 2011, now entering his fourth year in the NBA. We can all agree that Irving is a very good player right now, but he’s not an elite one at this point.

Let’s say that Wiggins has a similar career path as Irving. He makes an impact his rookie season, and gets a little better each year in the league in his second and third seasons. As we just said, that would make Wiggins a very good player, but he still wouldn’t be an elite player.

Kevin Love is that right now.

Some fans have painted a picture of Love as a “stretch four”. To us, that is selling the big man out of UCLA short.

Rashard Lewis is a stretch four. Ryan Anderson is a stretch four. Yes, Love is a very good shooter with three-point range, but he’s also one of the top rebounders in the sport, capable of getting 20 in a game.

He also has the best outlet pass since Wes Unseld played in the league in the 60’s and 70’s.

He’s a lot more than a stretch four.

The other question about Love is his defense. He’s not regarded as a great defensive player. We say that the first thing about becoming a solid player when the other team has the ball is desire. And don’t you think that Love, and Irving for that matter will pay more attention on the defensive end of the floor, particularly when the game’s best player is on their team and demanding everyone give maximum effort on that end of the floor?

Also, coaches can scheme defensively to hide weaker defenders or provide help to those players. Good coaches teach a sound defensive philosophy that will help any player who wants to get better on defense.

A team led by James, Love, and Kyrie Irving would become an instant championship contender. All three can score, and James and Love are both very good passers. James and Irving can get to the rim with the best in the league, and a defense that collapses on them will have to deal with Love on the perimeter and near the basket.

However, the real point is this. The Cavaliers can be a title contender by getting another of the league’s elite players in Love, and if you have to give up a player who has never played one minute in the NBA, the question is why wouldn’t you do it.

Outside of James, who was the last first overall pick, or any rookie for that matter, who stepped right in to the league and was a force immediately. Even if Wiggins is someday going to be a great player, it likely will not be for three to four years, at which time LeBron James will be nearing the end of his dominance.

It really shouldn’t even be a question. If you have to give up Wiggins to get Kevin Love. You have to do it.

Cavs’ Griffin A Man of His Word, So Far

When he was hired as Cavaliers’ GM, David Griffin said the team needed to improve its basketball IQ, and get some players who can make shots.

So far, Griffin is a man true to his word.

Of course, it helps a great deal when the best player in the league decides he wants to come home and play for your team.

LeBron James was the smartest basketball player on the court when he was here previously, and with even more experience, it is doubtful he has lost his ability to play the game the correct way.

James took a lot of heat early in his career so making the right basketball play, that is to say, he hit the open man rather than force up a bad shot.

We can remember times when James wasn’t in the game where the Cavaliers took poor shots when the team needed a basket. We said at that time the rest of the Cavs could have learned from watching the younger LeBron play basketball.

His younger teammates should be in learning mode, and when the teacher happens to be a four-time league MVP, if they aren’t willing to gain knowledge from James on how to play the right way, they likely will not be in the wine and gold for long.

Griffin’s other two free agent signings help with the shooting problem the team had last season.

Last year, Cleveland didn’t have a lot of consistent shooters from the perimeter. Yes, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters had their moments from outside, but their strength is more taking the ball to the basket.

Signing Mike Miller and James Jones as free agents addresses the need for players who can put the ball through the hoop from outside.

And they should get plenty of open looks with the way James, Irving, Waiters, and rookie Andrew Wiggins can go to the basket.

Miller, now 34 years old, enjoyed a bit of a career renaissance this year, playing his most minutes since 2009-10. He’s a lifetime 46% shooter from the floor, including 41% from beyond the three-point circle.

Last season with Memphis, he shot 46% on three pointers.

Jones is more of a three-point specialist, with more than half of his shots in his career coming from behind the arc.

He will be 34 years before the season starts and he’s made 40% of his threes over his career.

Neither Miller nor Jones will be starters.

Miller will probably be a rotation player, backing up at both the off guard and the small forward spots.

Jones only played in 20 games for the Heat last season, so he will probably be used as a specialist, playing in situation where three-point shooting is needed, maybe for plays at the end of a quarter.

The point is, both of these signings are minor in terms of neither player will be getting 30 minutes per night, but they are bringing a skill set needed on the wine and gold, and also another veteran presence for a team that doesn’t have many experienced players.

They will help James get the message to the young players and relate what is needed to win an NBA title.

Neither player is killing the Cavs in terms of salary cap space.

So far, Griffin is keeping his word in terms of rebuilding this franchise. It helped immensely that James returned to the franchise, but getting shooters, something lacking for Cleveland, is a great help too.

James is Back, Would You “Love” to Add More?

Now that LeBron James has returned to the Cavaliers, sports fans in Cleveland needed something else to worry about.

They were provided that yesterday when it was revealed that James signed only a two-year deal and can opt out after one. People in social media started the angst rolling shortly after the news broke.

Look, it would be a real shock if LBJ invoked the opt out after the 2014-15 campaign and went to another team after the heart warming essay he issued on SI.com revealing his love for Northeast Ohio.

Unless Dan Gilbert wrote another letter blasting him or new coach David Blatt benched him, what James and his management group did was simply a business move. With a new television contract coming and the salary cap increasing, James put a mechanism in place to ensure he will be the NBA’s highest paid player for the balance of his career.

He stated in his essay that he intended to finish his career as a Cavalier, and all fans of the wine and gold should take him at his word on this.

So relax and enjoy the fact that LeBron James will be wearing the wine and gold of the Cleveland Cavaliers once again.

Where does the organization go from here? First, the rebuilding process is over and the Cavs are now contenders for an NBA title. Although fans want and are projecting that this upcoming season, it really isn’t likely, but certainly David Blatt’s squad will be in the playoffs.

And remember that the Cavs did win 33 games last night despite a poor coaching staff. They probably are much closer to a .500 team than their record would indicate.

The rumors abound that Cleveland is in the mix for free agent to be (after next season) Kevin Love. The power forward’s critics will point out that Love has never appeared in a playoff game.

However, that is merely the luck of the draw. If the Timberwolves were in the Eastern Conference, they would have made the post-season with their 40-42 record.

Love averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game last year, and is a 38% shooter from beyond the three-point line. He also will not turn 26 years old until September. He’s played for the US Olympic team which won the gold medal in 2012 t00, where he played with James.

If GM David Griffin can get him without dealing this year’s top draft pick, Andrew Wiggins, why wouldn’t you make that deal? And if Dion Waiters needs to be included, that shouldn’t be an impediment.

Trading draft picks? So what, the Cleveland roster is still very young and dealing some of the first round picks accumulated by the Cavs’ front office wouldn’t be a hardship to the franchise.

After all, they just moved two former first round picks in Sergey Karasev and Tyler Zeller to create cap space to sign James.

Love’s defense has been questioned, but good coaches can scheme around that and playing defense is mostly about effort and James will make sure his new teammates know that it is worth the work.

Also, wouldn’t it be incredible to see Love fire one of his three-quarter court outlet passes to James streaking down the court?

Even if Cavs do not make another huge move, they should be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. One issue is the division which probably has the two other top teams in the conference in Indiana and Chicago.

The Cavs could finish with the second best record in the East and be the fourth seed.

The philosophy of the Cavalier front office changed when James agreed to sign here on Friday. They have a chance to win a title next season. Again, not to say they will, but if they can add an all-star player without giving up Wiggins, who could be a special player in two to three years?

Why not?

The Prodigal LeBron Comes Home

As Al Michaels said in 1980 at the Olympic hockey championship, this impossible dream comes true.

That’s how it feels in Cleveland today with the announcement by basketball’s best player, LeBron James, that he is returning to northeastern Ohio to resume his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While everyone (us included) spewed venom over James’ departure four years ago, we have to explain our feelings this way. We are Cavaliers fans, and we support people who play for the wine and gold.

So, those feelings are set aside today. If Dan Gilbert and James can sit down and set aside the situation that occurred after the latter took his talents to South Beach, then fans can put them aside as well.

Because in basketball, where only five players are on the court at one time, one player makes more of a difference in this sport than in baseball and football, so a talent like James makes the Cavaliers an instant contender for a championship.

Perhaps we are quick to forgive James because it’s been 50 years since a Cleveland professional sports team has won a championship, but remember this: In 2003, when the Cavs drafted James with the first pick in the draft, he had to play here.

This time, he wanted to come home and play for the Cavs.

And because of that, most fans will give LeBron the benefit of the doubt and will welcome him back with open arms. After all, we are a forgiving society.

Even around the country, James has improved and repaired his reputation. Most fans outside of Miami were disappointed with him leaving Cleveland, and his return is being viewed with favor by most of the US.

Even if the Cavs don’t make any more moves (which is doubtful) this off-season, the wine and gold already have a player better than anyone James played with in his first stint with the Cavaliers in Kyrie Irving, a two-time all-star.

That’s no disrespect to all of the players who made the playoffs a yearly event at Quicken Loans Arena prior to 2010. It’s simply the truth.

And since James has always been a gifted passer, he should be a good fit for new coach David Blatt’s offense which features ball movement.

Now, James comes back to the franchise as a championship player, one who can set the tone for a still very young roster. He can show them how difficult it is to win an NBA title.

And it is a much bigger story for him and his “brand” to come back to the area where he grew up, and now he can raise his family here and watch his children go the St.Vincent-St. Mary and play in the gym that bares his name.

Seriously, when was the last time a great player in his prime decided to play in Cleveland, Ohio?

Whatever contempt you had for James when he left should be tempered that the best basketball player in the world, and someone who is known throughout the planet has decided to work in our city.

Coupled with the Republican Convention coming to town in 2016, it’s been a helluva week for northeastern Ohio.