April 2, 2015 9:29 am ET
LeBron James has mostly been on the periphery of the MVP conversation that is now essentially a three-man race: Stephen Curry, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
But wait, this changes things. Now, we find out that James has not only been playing for and leading the Cleveland Cavaliers, the consensus favorite to emerge from the East and reach the NBA Finals, but he's been coaching them too?
From longtime LeBron chronicler Brian Windhorst on Bill Simmons' latest B.S. Reportpodcast:
The Princeton offense that David Blatt installed in the preseason, they just threw that out. 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.
James and Blatt addressed Windhorst's assertion after practice on Wednesday. Unsurprisingly, given Windhorst's track record as a meticulous, accurate reporter on all things LeBron, there were no denials or rebuttals -- only affirmations with some context mixed in.
"When the game is going on and you're in the heat of the battle, sometimes you can't get a message through or you don't want to stop the flow," Blatt told reporters. "So we have sets that we know what we're going to use going in, have a package we're going to use going in.
"At times according to the flow of the game, somebody may call out a play. I don't think that's unusual, no. Certainly if you know what you're doing, you have a plan going in. That's obviously not an all-the-time case, but it's going to happen during the course of the game, sure."
LeBron, your thoughts?
"If I see something, I have the right to call plays. Kyrie [Irving] as well," James said. "We kind of do the play-calling. Coach Blatt does the play-calling obviously throughout the game and timeouts, but it's great to be able to have some type of freedom out there with Kyrie to be able to call sets that we feel best suit our team."
Also, from Chris Haynes of the Cleveland.com:
When the media entered the practice facility on Wednesday, James was seen introducing Blatt and the coaching staff to a couple of new plays he suggested they consider implementing.
The coaches were spread out on the court and James was directing them in where the ball should move. Blatt along with assistants Tyronn Lue, Jim Boylan, Larry Drew and Phil Handy were paying close attention.
At this point, I await the promotional package to arrive in the mail from the Cavs trying to secure my vote for LeBron as MVP. No doubt, it will include a whiteboard and a whistle, to reflect his role as the first player-coach in the NBA since Dave Cowens with the Celtics in 1978-79 (not counting Jason Kidd in New Jersey).
Hey, I kid because I care.
We always knew when LeBron returned to Cleveland that he'd not only be the team's best player, but also its GM and traveling secretary. Now we know he's the coach, too.
But in all seriousness, there are a couple of points that need to be clarified here.
First, LeBron isn't the first, nor will he be the last superstar with the latitude to call plays and run offense based on his read of the situation, defensive look or both. If you think that Curry, Harden or Westbrook don't have that freedom, you're not watching them play. Steve Nash had this kind of responsibility for most of his career. The Lakers in recent years set the modern-day record for most coaches hired and fired without ever actually changing coaches -- the real coach being, of course, Kobe Bryant.
When healthy this season, Carmelo Anthony was running the triangle offense, all right -- as in, the Bermuda Triangle. The ball goes in to Melo and no one ever sees it again.
At a certain point with the Big Three in Boston, Rajon Rondo was given plenty of freedom to turn to a page in his own imaginary playbook and communicate what he wanted with a hand signal or eye contact (though, not so much in Dallas under Rick Carlisle). Chris Paul isn't looking over his shoulder for a call from Doc Rivers in the flow of the game; he's being Chris Paul.
So it is with LeBron. Is this a poor reflection on LeBron? Is it a sign that Blatt, for two decades one of the most successful basketball coaches in the world outside the NBA, is powerless in his job?
The answers are no and no.
The best NBA coaches put their egos and controlling tendencies aside and give their stars latitude and freedom within the concepts and philosophy that they've established. Is Gregg Popovich standing at halfcourt and telling Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili when to screen, when to cut and to whom they should pass the ball? Hardly.
The best coaches adapt to their talent and to the times. With the grind-it-out Knicks of the '90s, nothing happened in the halfcourt offense without Pat Riley barking a call or flashing a hand signal -- a far cry from the freedom and freelancing he afforded his Showtime Lakers.
In Miami, even Erik Spoelstra was able to corral his inner control freak and let LeBron be LeBron within the flow of the game.
What LeBron is doing in Cleveland now, and what Blatt is allowing him to do, is therefore not unique. It's part of the process of coaching a star of James' magnitude. Would it have been better for Blatt to continue force-feeding his methodical Princeton offense over his best player's objections? Certainly not.
But there is a line, and Blatt needs to be cautious about how often he allows LeBron to cross it. On the floor in the flow of the game is one thing. But with a minute left in a playoff game on the road, in the huddle with the game on the line, who's the boss? Who's calling the shots then?
It had better be the coach, because for all the freedom that coaches like Popovich and Rivers allow their stars when the ball changes ends in the second or third quarters, they are first in command in the huddle when the game is on the line late.
So this juicy revelation about LeBron playing without a headband but with an imaginary whistle around his neck isn't really a big deal until it becomes a big deal. That moment will come, and someone will emerge as the boss.
And it better be the guy who actually is the boss.
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