There was a time when the hiring of coach David Blatt reportedly made the Cleveland Cavaliers a less desirable free agency destination for LeBron James. But that’s all in the past now, of course, especially after Blatt and James finally met face-to-face yesterday in Cleveland.
The report is courtesy of ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, and clarifies that until yesterday James had only communicated with Blatt via text since his announcement on July 11.
LeBron James met new Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt for the first time on Tuesday as he prepares for the upcoming season, sources told ESPN.com.
…James met face-to-face with team owner Dan Gilbert before announcing his free-agent choice and had communicated with Blatt by text since signing.
That James had failed to meet with Blatt before yesterday has no bearing on the pair’s relationship – LeBron has just been extremely busy the past few weeks.
The four-time MVP spent portions of July in both Brazil and China on Nike promotional tours and was in New York last week to shoot a movie. James returned to Northeast Ohio in recent days, and even worked out with Cleveland signee Mike Miller at his high school alma mater yesterday in addition to sitting down with Blatt.
[protected-iframe id=”db722f844711601831e84547973ab877-60970621-80610298″ info=”//instagram.com/p/rVjpCWiTL2/embed/” width=”500″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
That’s not a guy who looks too skinny, by the way.
Though he hadn’t met with anyone in the Cleveland front office since his ballyhooed talk with Gilbert in July, Windhorst notes that James has been working in conjunction with Cavaliers officials to recruit free agents to his new team.
James wasn’t in the same room as his front office this summer, but he has been working alongside team officials. He successfully recruited Miller and free agent James Jones. James also has been in contact with [Kevin] Love, [Shawn] Marion and free agent Ray Allen, who is deciding whether he wants to continue his career.
We can’t wait to see LeBron, Blatt, and company lead Cleveland back to relevance this season.
Will the Cavs win the East in 2014-2015?
Follow Jack on Twitter at @ArmstrongWinter.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
