Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James said that he would be willing to come off the bench if it helped the team out moving forward this season.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have gone on an 11-game winning streak, and they finally look like the championship caliber team that many expected them to be prior to the season. What could have changed their slow start around? Acquiring J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mozgov was the exact move that they needed to make.
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There are still some concerns surrounding the Cavaliers at this point in the season, especially their bench production.
Cleveland doesn’t have the type of scoring or playmaking off the bench, and James has made it clear that he would be willing to come off of the bench if that would help the issue. It would certainly make the Cavaliers’ second unit much more dangerous, and they would have the best bench player in the NBA by far.
It would be interesting to see see head coach David Blatt try it once just to see how it went. James coming off of the bench would give both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love more flexibility to play their game, and James could then dominate the game with the second unit. They would likely slide Shumpert into James’ normal starting spot, which wouldn’t be a bad replacement either.
Thinking about James coming off the bench is a very strange thought to say the least. He is the best player in the NBA by far, and there aren’t many bench players that are more talented than the starters.
LeBron James taking sacrifice to new level: "Whatever this team needs in order for this team to win, I'll come off the bench. I'm serious."
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 4, 2015
James has been having yet another big season in his return to the Cavaliers, averaging 26.2 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game. He is shooting 49.0 percent from the floor overall, and 35.1 percent from behind the three-point arc.
Bringing James off the bench likely won’t happen, but it is certainly an intriguing thought. It would likely cause other teams to make some lineup changing moves to match the Cavaliers. Blatt likely won’t entertain the idea right now, especially with the Cavaliers currently being on an 11- game win streak.
That being said, if things go back downhill at some point in the second half of the year, it might be something that they consider.