Forward: LeBron James
This might very well be the year of the decision for King James. His decision to come home was the biggest story in the NBA last year and his joining forces with a youthful promising core of Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson as well as the addition of the best stretch forward in the game in Love, seemed a situation perfect for him to walk into.
Last season’s loss to the Warriors was tough and many expected the Cavs to be on a tear in their pursuit for revenge. They are still the favorites to come out of the East, but they seem a much-worsened team as compared to where they were last season.
The episode with Coach Blatt, the press stories of LeBron fraternizing with Wade when the Cavs were getting whooped in Miami and many such rumors didn’t help.
The city’s favorite child has been embroiled in controversies and many speculated that has had an adverse effect on the Cavs game. All this noise was disturbing up until the past month, where LeBron James just got pissed off and shut out the media.
This is the play-off warrior in LeBron that came to the fore and for the past few weeks, he has been on an absolute demolition path. His athleticism seems to be back and his rhythm just overwhelming and defining his game.
He has managed to get his legs under him and the lift on his shot just looks better. His shooting percentages are up and while question marks still remain over Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, LeBron seems ready for the playoffs and that is all that matters. When LeBron is in this mood, the rest are an afterthought.
I could go on and talk about his numbers but that is inconsequential. LeBron’s ability to fill the stat-sheet has always been acknowledged, and his value as the one of the greatest ever can’t be debated. Curry might be the best in the world, but you would be a fool to even think of writing LeBron off. The King is and shall always remain one of the premier players in the game.
