Draymond Green doesn’t think Cleveland fans should be concerned quite yet, but he does notice a trend that is giving him pause. In an interview with USA Today Sports, Green pointed out that he thinks LeBron James is playing way too much. Seeing as how LeBron is leading the league in minutes per game at 38.1 per game while nearing his 33rd birthday, this is a fair point.
James can do it all, but it’d be much better for Cleveland’s long-term success going into the postseason if he didn’t have to. As it turns out, LeBron agrees with this assessment, too. He’s already hinted at his hopes that he’ll be able to rest more in the near future, noting that when Isaiah Thomas returns from hip injury, the point guard will be able to give LeBron a break on the offensive end for quarters or even games at a time.
After Cleveland took down Charlotte on Thursday night in a game where the four-time MVP played a team-high 37 minutes, LeBron was asked by Cleveland.com if he’s shouldering too much of the load like Draymond suggested.
He said yes, and pointed out that injuries piling up in Cleveland have caused him to do a little more than he’d like.
“Draymond’s right,” James told cleveland.com, after Green’s comments were relayed to him. “We want to get those minutes down for sure. But as of right now, we’ve had two point guards out and we’ve had some different lineup changes, so, I’ve had to play more minutes than I would like, and more minutes than my teammates would like me to have.”
Isaiah Thomas and Derrick Rose are both sidelined, and beyond them, the only person who is even nominally a point guard on the roster is Jose Calderon, who has not checked into a game since Nov. 1. Thomas’ return will be huge for James and the Cavs, and although he’s no longer the MVP-caliber player who can take over games, having Rose back would at least give the Cavaliers an additional ball handler who can theoretically run the offense, which they don’t really have right now.
Cleveland is still a work in progress, and one of their big issues seems like it will be fixed once LeBron isn’t getting run into the ground. As for whether that’ll help tighten things up on the defensive end, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
(Via Cleveland.com)
