LeBron James' Social Media Presence Is Far From Being Cleveland Cavaliers' Biggest Problem

By Frank Fowler

We’ve played this game far too many times.

At some point, you would think people in the media would realize the actual intent of these messages released by LeBron James via social media. No, he’s not packing his bags up again to leave the Rock and Roll City to go play somewhere else. No, he’s not going to pressure general manager David Griffin to trade for Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul or Dwyane Wade. Griffin is far too intelligent to let something like that happen.

So what exactly does this all mean? Why did James unfollow the Cleveland Cavaliers on Twitter and go in deep with another journalist this week about the idea of playing with a brand new “Superteam?”

Honestly, I don’t really know why he did any of it, but I can guarantee you one thing: It has absolutely no meaning. James is never leaving Cleveland again to go play in another city. It’s that simple. Does anyone stop and think about the negative repercussions his brand takes when people make statements about him darting out of town because he’s unhappy with his supporting cast? What about the mentality of doing whatever it takes to win a championship for “The Land?” Did all of that just suddenly vanish away?

Point being, I don’t care what James says. I would be shocked if he did anything monumental this summer besides sign another extension. What I’m truly concerned about is the Cavaliers’ lack of energy and sense of urgency over the past month.

Yes, they’re 10-4 through the month of March, but those losses have come against teams like the atrocious Brooklyn Nets and Utah Jazz. Not to mention, they got blown out by the Miami Heat at home, and teams like the Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings have kept it close against them. Although this may sound nitpicky, it comes with the territory. Ideally, the Cavs should have around one to two losses on the month and they should be blowing these mediocre basketball teams out of the gym.

They’re not, and at this point, the Cavs still look out of sync. Kevin Love’s defense continues to be a glaring issue for this team and his lack of rebounding in the second half of close games is becoming concerning. He’s lucky he has Tristan Thompson to bail him out when he fails to grab a board at the other end, otherwise the Cavs would be getting smashed on the glass against teams with size.

Love also just seems to lose his place in the game as they carry on. He’ll come out of the gate on fire and laser focused. However, once they get to the fourth quarter and need a break to go their way, he just can’t find a way to close.

Really, the whole team in general has struggled defensively. They still come out of timeouts confused with their assignments, which shouldn’t be happening this late in the year, and the amount of defensive breakdowns we’ve seen over the past month has been alarming.

The team’s shooting also continues to be a red flag. James has vastly taken a step back from deep, as he’s shot just under 29 percent from three. Kyrie Irving hasn’t been much better, as he’s shot a little bit over 30 percent. Love’s overall field goal percentage is 41.4 percent, and right now no signs point to him improving as we approach the playoffs. Simply put, you have to get better production from your three stars if you want to compete for a championship in June.

At the beginning of the winter, I gave them a free pass for all the bad tendencies they were showing. Why did I do this? Well, by February, I thought they would have eventually broken them, but instead it’s almost April and I can’t sit here and say things have changed.

Maybe they will be able to turn it up an extra gear and hit their three-point shots in the playoffs. Maybe they will be able to exit a timeout with a strong defensive mindset and play with energy when the basketball isn’t in their hands. Until they do, my point remains the same. The tweets and interviews aren’t what matter right now. What matters is how lost this team looks with just 10 games left in the regular season.

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