LeBron James learned enough in his first season with the Miami Heat to know that there would be growing pains when he returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That has been evident in the early going, with the Cavs off to a 1-2 start after being blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
LeBron had another bad game, going 4-for-12 from the field and missing the last six shots he took. After the game, LeBron came close to sounding like he was blaming his teammates.
“I’m just trying to do other things to instill what it takes to win,” James said, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. “My mission is not a one-game thing. We have to do multiple things in order to win. We have to share the ball, we have to play defense, we have to sacrifice in order to ultimately win.
“A lot of bad habits have been built up over the last couple of years. When you play that style of basketball, it takes a lot to get it up out of you. But I’m here to help.”
No one is arguing that LeBron makes the Cavs a better team than they were last year, but he needs to start hitting shots. He is shooting just over 40% from the field and has turned the ball over 14 times in three games. LeBron has been part of the problem — not the solution — in Cleveland’s two losses.
With Kevin Love looking like the player everyone expected him to be, the Cavs need to get better at playing inside-out and creating open looks. When they do that, they need to hit shots and stop turning the ball over. They’ll get there eventually. As we all expected, it’s going to take some time.
