LeBron James: Teaching Cavs more challenging than winning first ring

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still struggling to find consistency, which is something most of us expected in the early part of the regular season. The Heat struggled when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami, so why should this be any different?

According to LeBron, the work he has to do with Cleveland is much more challenging than what he had to do in Miami.

“This is more challenging than me trying to win my first championship,” James told ESPN ESPN’s Chris Broussard on Wednesday. “Because that was a personal goal of mine. Doing this was never a goal until I decided to come back to Cleveland.”

LeBron’s play has been up and down through the first few weeks of the season. He is missing a lot of shots and appears to be forcing the issue at times. He said that part of the team’s struggles stem from trying to teach guys how to win.

“I’ve taken on the burden of leading young guys, getting them to understand what it takes to win,” LeBron said. “And it takes more than just basketball. It’s about being a professional, not having a sense of entitlement, being grateful that you’re a part of this league. Those things have a lot to do with winning.

“It’s going to take a while. When you’re losing, you pick up a lot of bad habits. When you walk into the building every night and don’t even expect to win, that wears on you, and it takes a while to break it.”

James basically said the same thing earlier this season when he pointed out that the Cavs have developed a lot of “bad habits” over the past few seasons.

It’s still very early in the season, but the whole “teaching these guys how to win” thing is going to get old fast. LeBron is getting dangerously close to sounding like he is passing the buck, which again is fine just 10 games into the regular season. Eventually, he might be wise to stray away from that narrative.