Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
His Heat weren’t elite
James reflects on season after loss to Golden State
LeBron says he’s never been on a super team.
He played in South Florida with not only Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but also Shane Battier and Ray Allen. So it’s not as if there wasn’t Hall of Fame-level talent alongside in a group that helped him win two championships.
And yet for all LeBron James had with the Miami Heat or, for that matter, during these dual tenures with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he now insists he has never played on a super team.
That, along with the disappointment of again falling to the Golden State Warriors, was among his takeaways after yet another statistically brilliant performance in the NBA Finals.
In the wake of Monday night’s loss at Oracle Arena, James was asked what appeared to be a straightforward question during his media session, in light of the Warriors’ free-agency addition of Kevin Durant last summer and championship domination.
“You’ve been a part of two super teams, the one you have here, the one you had in Miami. Looking at what the Golden State Warriors have done, are you still a fan of the concept? Do you think it’s a good
thing for the NBA to build these teams how they brought in Kevin? You get what I’m asking?”
The response was equally straightforward in James’ view.
“No, not really,” he said. “I don’t believe I’ve played for a super team. I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe we’re a super team here. So, no, I don’t really, I don’t.”
The answer was somewhat brusque, with little room for a follow-up, with James adding, “You guys want one more question before I leave and not see you guys for a long time?”
James’ first response during his media session was offered in terms of self instead of team.
“Well, for me personally, I left everything on the floor every game, all five games,” he said. “So for me personally I have nothing to be — I have no reason to put my head down. I have no reason to look back at what I could have done or what I shouldn’t have done or what I could have done better for the team.
“I left everything I had out on the floor every single game for five games in this Finals, and you come up short.”
He then turned the question toward his questioner.
“So it would be the same if you feel like you wrote the best column of you your life and somebody picked another one over you,” he said. “That’s how would you feel? You know, so you wouldn’t hold your head down, but you would be like, ‘OK, it’s just not my time.’”
The upshot of James’ comment is the pressure now is on the Cavaliers’ front office and ownership to equalize, even with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in place.
“They assembled a great team,” James said of the Warriors. “We were able to get them last year, and they went out and got one of the best players that this league has ever seen. So they did a good job of — a great job, their front office and their players — by doing that recruiting, the things that they did in the summertime, and obviously it paid dividends.
“I’m not the GM of the team. I’m not in the front office, but I know our front office is going to continue to try to put our ball club, put our franchise in a position where we can compete for a championship year in and year out.”
Among pointed comments, James’ Monday offering was not as defiant as when he lost his first Finals visit with the Heat against the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, before going on to win titles with the Heat in 2012 over Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder and 2013 over the San Antonio Spurs.
In the immediate wake of that series’ loss to the Mavericks, after his first season alongside Bosh and Wade, James was asked at AmericanAirlines Arena, “Does it bother you that so many people are happy to see you fail?”
His response that night was cutting.
“Absolutely not,” he said while seated alongside Wade, “because at the end of the day, all the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today.
“They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point.”