LeBron James will now not play in all 82 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, as the Cavaliers organization “remain diligent in monitoring his health.”
Despite saying that he hoped to play in all 82 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, LeBron James will now likely have to miss a few games as a healthy scratch in 2015-16, as the Cleveland Cavaliers are protecting their 30-year-old superstar.
James has never played in all 82 regular season games before, but would like to as he believes he owes it to his fans. In reality if he owes anybody anything, it’s for the Cleveland metro area to get their first championship in professional sports since 1964. That’s what Cavs’ fans want more than anything.
Keep in mind that the Cleveland Cavaliers organization are aiding on the side of precaution with their gradually aging superstar. LeBron James has done something no other player in the modern era of the NBA has done: play in five straight NBA Finals! The wear and tear that comes from deep playoff runs take a toll on even the most gifted of athletes.
Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com stated, “the Cavs remain diligent in their monitoring and concern over James’ health, to the point of plotting areas on the schedule where they could rest him.” Vardon later wrote, “the reality is that he will not reach the goal he laid out last week of playing in all 82 regular season games.”
This is exactly how the Cavaliers organization should handle LeBron James’ minutes in 2015-16. He is in uncharted territory with the amount of basketball he’s had to play in a five-year window. It’s only advantageous to take a page out of the Gregg Popovich playbook from how the San Antonio Spurs head coach manages his players’ minutes.
LeBron saw it work wonderfully during his four years with the Miami Heat with shooting guard Dwyane Wade. The Atlanta Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer, a longtime top assistant to Popovich in San Antonio, did similar minutes restrictions with his starters, after the Hawks all but locked up the top seed in the Eastern Conference last spring.
More importantly that playing in all 82 games, the Cleveland Cavaliers are in the prime to contend for an NBA Championship. Since they are the assumed favorites to come out of the East, it doesn’t matter where they finish in the regular season standings in the conference. All that matters is that their core of LeBron James, point guard Kyrie Irving, and power forward Kevin Love are healthy when it comes time to turn on the switch and orchestrate another run towards the NBA Finals.