James cautious, hopeful on Cleveland’s new look
Before flurry of deals, Cavs had lost 13 of 20
CLEVELAND — Lebron James moved on quickly.
A day after the Cavaliers overhauled theirrosterwithaseriesoftradesthat ripped through the NBA, James didn’t dwell on what’s lost, who’s no longer around or how much time Cleveland has left to salvage its season.
“It is what it is, so let’s get it going,” he said Friday after a team shootaround in Atlanta. “The front office made changes that they felt best fit this franchise. It’s time to go to work.”
In the hours before Thursday’s trading deadline, the Cavs unloaded six players, including Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade, James’ best friend, in three separate deals designed to make the team younger, more athletic and as general manager Koby Altman put it, to revitalize a team he felt was “marching a slow death.”
Cleveland added guards George
Hill and Jordan Clarkson as well as forwards Larry Nance Jr. and Rodney Hood, and all will have to take a crash course in Cavaliers 101. The team sent some of medical staff to Atlanta in hopes of completing physicals before Friday’s game, but it’s unlikely any of the new additions will play until Sunday in Boston.
On paper, the Cavs look better. James is cautious.
“We have to see how it meshes, obviously,” he said. “But I like the pieces that we have coming in.”
The makeover was also aimed at placating James, who can be a free agent and leave Cleveland this summer by opting out of his contract and turning down $36.5 million.
“He’s the guy that is going to take us back to the promised land,” Altman said, “so you want to put the right pieces around him.”
So the GM’S first move in the overhaul was bold, requiring him to swallow his pride and scuttle the blockbuster trade that brought Thomas and Jae Crowder to Cleveland last July in the deal for Kyrie Irving. Crowder was also traded Thursday to Utah.
A former All-star, Thomas struggled while recovering from a serious right hip injury, and there were no signs he was going to improve enough to make a difference this season. He and James were a forced fit, and it became obvious to the Cavs they had to pull the plug on the experiment.
And it wasn’t just Thomas’ poor shooting and defensive holes. He irked teammates and coaches with public comments. He was also in the middle of a heated team meeting when he questioned why Kevin Love left a game early and missed a practice.
Cleveland could afford to go on with him, so they sent Thomas, Channing Frye and one of its 2018 first-round picks to the Los Angeles Lakers.
James took the high road when asked about his time with Thomas.
“The small little doses that I was able to play with Jae and IT, I wish it could have been better than it was,” James said. “I want Isaiah to get his bounce back, get his spring back, get healthy. Being out seven months is difficult for anybody. I just feel like he was playing behind the eight ball, not only on the floor, but just trying to get himself back to where he’s accustomed to playing. I wish the best for him in LA right now and his future.”