CLEVELAND — For LeBron James, opening night at Quicken Loans Arena was rather like the first game he played the last time he joined a new team. That was Miami, back in 2010, and the Heat lost with James going for 31 points but committing eight turnovers as he tried a bit too hard to force passes to teammates who were not expecting them. On Thursday, the LeBron 2.0 Cavs opened the same way, with James committing eight turnovers and scoring 17 points in a 95-90 loss to the Knicks.
“My turnovers, some of them were careless, some of them were chemistry,” James said. “I am throwing passes where I was hoping some of my teammates were, and they were not there. That will come with each game, each practice. We will learn each other. Those things will come.”
But for James and the Cavaliers, the happy news is that the first-night result is where the similarities end between James 2010 and James 2014.
Back then, James had unwittingly donned the biggest villain’s black hat in sports. His exit from Cleveland was clumsy and utterly mismanaged, from the self-serving hourlong “Decision” television special to the fact that he’d given the Cavaliers no prior notice to the bombast of the Heat’s post-signing celebration — during which James famously (and bizarrely) speculated Miami might win eight championships. It took years for James to rebuild his image after that.
Now? James could not have handled his move back here with more dignity and class. Rather than hyping himself on television, he made his announcement with a thoughtful essay in Sports Illustrated. Instead of acting as though NBA championships would be bequeathed to him, he has consistently tamped down expectations for this year’s Cavs, despite teaming with All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Should the Cavs continue to have trouble getting off the ground, it’s safe to say he won’t put the job security of new coach David Blatt into jeopardy, as he’d done in Miami with Erik Spoelstra.
Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley said of James’ return: “A lot of guys got mad at me and the older guys, because we were disappointed that LeBron left Cleveland. But it seems like what he said in the essay was what we were saying from the beginning: It’s not just about winning championships. It’s about where you win it at. To win in Cleveland will not be the same as Miami. I thought his essay was one of the coolest things I have seen in sports. . . . He has always been a good guy, but he didn’t handle that ‘Decision’ thing correctly. I think the way he handled this thing everyone is like, ‘Yeah, he really is a good guy.’”
Of course, being a good guy is not quite going to cut it. The Cavaliers are going to be under a special kind of pressure this year, the kind that Love and Irving (neither of whom has been in a playoff game) have not experienced before. Blatt has been on some big stages internationally, but nothing quite like what he will see in Cleveland this year. The Cavs will also need quality contributions from young guys like Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, who have known nothing but losing in the NBA.
That’s where James will need to set a certain tone, in the locker room and outside it. He learned over his time in Miami — particularly in that first year — that every controversial word, every hint of discontent will reverberate in the media echo chamber. If it’s a negative word, it will have an exponentially negative impact. James has experience with that. His teammates really don’t.
“Some of these guys are going to be under the greatest scrutiny they've ever been under as players,” former coach and ESPN analyst Doug Collins said. “You’ve already seen it. Kevin Love makes a little statement, ‘I need more touches to get going,’ and basically LeBron gets the guys together and says, guys, understand that every word we say is going to be parsed. … To me it’s going to be managing people. Every word that comes out of Cleveland is going to be parsed. Miami was the most-scrutinized team in the NBA when LeBron was there. They’re going to be the most-scrutinized team in the NBA with him back in Cleveland.”
Remember when James bumped into Spoelstra on the court as the Heat fell to 9-8 in 2010? Remember the obsession that developed over the Heat’s inability to close games, and which Heat star would take the big final shots? Remember when James and Dwyane Wade mocked Dirk Nowitzki’s illness in the Finals? You might not remember those things with most teams.
The Heat earned a spot in the Finals in James’ first year with the team, but it was not a smooth or fun journey. That’s because, with Miami, the scrutiny was so intense that every controversy was amplified.
On Thursday, that scrutiny in Cleveland began in earnest, as about 100 media members packed in around James’ corner locker to hear him talk about the very disappointing Game 1. And he put the blame squarely on himself.
“I got some good looks,” James said. “I missed a layup, I missed two open 3s. And I think the turnovers kind of got me off rhythm more than anything. We had a couple breaks where we didn’t finish the 3-on-2s because I had turnovers on two of them. I hate turning the ball over. It’s definitely a pet peeve of mine and eight is something that is not OK.”
James is wiser than he was four years ago — not just because of his age, but because of what he went through in Miami. He mentioned on Thursday that he had been through a hectic week, making his Cleveland re-debut at the same time he was becoming a dad again, welcoming his third child.
The result of the game was the same as his first showing in 2010. But fortunately, for James and the Cavs, the coming season figures to have little else in common with that year.