Is LeBron James trying to lower expectations for his team entering the new season?
Prior to a preseason game on Monday between his Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls, James said the Bulls were better than the Cavs at the moment.
“[The Bulls] are a team that’s much better than us right now just off chemistry,” James said before the game via ESPN. “They’ve been together for a while; we’ve got a long way to go.”
The Cavs beat the Bulls in the game 107-98 with Derrick Rose scoring 30 points.
Though LeBron says the Bulls are better at the moment, one could argue that Chicago is in a similar spot because they’re not used to having Rose in the lineup. They also have Pau Gasol and no Carlos Boozer, so they have plenty of adjustments to make.
From his experience in Miami, James knows the starts to seasons are not always smooth and that it takes adversity to test a team.
“You’ve got to go through something to create a bond; that means for the worse,” James said. “We’ve got to lose ballgames that we think we should’ve won, we’ve got to get into an argument every now and then just to test each other out.”
Recall that James’ Heat team started off the season 9-8 in 2010 before getting on a roll and eventually reaching the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Mavericks. I fully expect the Cavs to be better than the Bulls, but this seems like LeBron just trying to lower expectations and pressure from the fans and media.
