Report: LeBron James is Cavaliers’ primary play caller

By Evan Massey | Mar 31, 2015

Mar 25, 2015; Memphis, TN, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) drives against Memphis Grizzlies forward Jeff Green (32) in the second half at FedExForum. Cleveland defeated Memphis 111-89. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports /

According to reports, Cleveland Cavaliers’ superstar LeBron James is the teams primary play caller rather than head coach David Blatt.

LeBron James returning home was the biggest headline of the 2014 NBA offseason, but there has been quite a bit of drama surrounding him in Cleveland this year. Head coach David Blatt is in his first season with the Cavaliers, and it has appeared that James has been taking over Blatt’s coaching responsibilities and that the team hasn’t really been paying too much attention to Blatt.

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A new report has surfaced that James has actually been calling the plays this year, and Blatt has simply seen what plays James is calling and repeated it to the rest of the team.

"What typically happens—and this has been happening for like three months now—is LeBron will take the ball, and LeBron will call the play. David Blatt will see what play LeBron calls, and he will repeat it to the team. That happens on a regular basis."

That just doesn’t seem quite right, although there aren’t many players that have the talent that James has. He has a great basketball mind and is without question capable of coaching, but it just adds to the belief that Blatt doesn’t have control of the Cavaliers. James is the Cavaliers’ leader, and he has also inserted himself as a player coach.

It isn’t too uncommon that star players are given permission to make play calls on-the-court, but this situation just doesn’t seem quite right with all of the other reports that have come out about Blatt in Cleveland.

Earlier in the season, it was reported that Blatt had completely lost the locker room and that players were no longer listening to him. They were struggling early on in the year, but have since righted the ship and are the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 48-27 record. Cleveland is playing more like a James-led team, and he has been much more vocal as the season has moved forward.

James has averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting 48.9 percent from the floor overall and 35.3 percent from behind the three-point arc.

These reports could simply be the media making something out of nothing, but it does all add up. Blatt simply hasn’t done too much coaching in his first NBA season, and part of that has to do with trying to learn the game while having the best player in the world on his team. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the season goes this year, and what happens with Blatt in the offseason.

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