It is my theory that LeBron’s teammates see him as a crutch and he knows this. They don’t work as hard because they know they have LeBron to bail them out all the time.
He is trying to get across that is the wrong mindstate to have, but it isn’t working so far.
“We haven’t done anything,” an exasperated James said after the Cavs lost their second straight game, 104-99 to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. “We didn’t win anything. We lost. We lost in the Finals. So that’s enough motivation for myself. I think we need to understand that. Like, we lost in the Finals. We didn’t win. And the team that beat us looks more hungry than we are. So it shouldn’t be that way.”
“We’re too relaxed and too nice,” James said. “We’re just too nice.”
“It’s not always about being Iron Man,” James said. “It’s a mental toughness as well — going out and doing your job, doing it at a high level and preparing that way before the tip even happens. So we got some guys who’ll do it and some guys that don’t do it consistently enough.”
LeBron knows that while his window is still wide open to win championships, he can’t keep taking Ls in the Finals, because his legacy is on the line.
It is still early in the season, but something that bears watching.