LeBron James’ single-minded and all-encompassing focus on winning a championship, and its effect on his teammates, has been an ongoing storyline this season. The question is, can the mere mortals of the Cleveland Cavaliers meet LeBron’s insanely high standards? The answer will come in the spring, but until then, it appears LeBron is wielding unprecedented amounts of power over his teammates’ lifestyles and means of transportation — that is to say, LeBron may have come for J.R. Smith’s Hovertrax.
A new story on Cleveland.com examined the lengths to which LeBron and the Cavaliers are going in the name of professionalism. Recall that Smith, never anyone’s ideal in terms of professionalism, cut a tragicomic figure in last year’s NBA Finals when he exited Quicken Loans Arena on his preferred means of non-walking movement. Well, they’ve been banned from the arena. Chris Haynes wouldn’t name names in his story, but one man has been dictating team decisions in Cleveland for a while now, and we all know who that is.
We respect LeBron’s focus and drive, but there’s more than one way to win a championship. The Warriors keep it loose, after all. But if that’s what it takes to get J.R. Smith to focus up, then that’s what it takes. Like the rest of the Cavs organization, we’re going to defer to LeBron on this one.
(Via Cleveland.com)