LeBron: I never met Heat minority owner, and I don't undermine coaches
As serious drama continues to surround LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers, the NBA's most famous player finds himself playing more defense off the court than on it (which, sadly, doesn't say much).
On the heels of Cleveland's shocking decision to fire head coach David Blatt last week, Tuesday, a minority owner of the Miami Heat named Ranaan Katz came out and said he believes that when LeBron was with Miami, he wanted Erik Spoelstra out, too.
It's a bombshell story, if true. It's also news to James, who said he's never even met Katz:
LeBron went on to defend himself, and the way he thinks he's treated coaches in the past:
Via the Akron Beacon Journal, James continued to defend himself, and the way he approaches his co-workers and coaches:
"People get it so misconstrued because I'm a smart basketball player and I've voiced my opinion about certain things. What do you guys want me to do? Turn my brain off because I have a huge basketball IQ? If that's what they want me to do, I'm not going to do it because I've got so much to give to the game."
This is all very interesting, and directly goes against this story Marc Stein wrote for ESPN after last year's NBA Finals:
I saw it from close range in my role as sideline reporter through the Finals for ESPN Radio. James essentially called timeouts and made substitutions. He openly barked at Blatt after decisions he didn't like. He huddled frequently with Lue, often looking at anyone other than Blatt. There was James, in one instance I witnessed from right behind the bench, shaking his head vociferously in protest after one play Blatt drew up in the third quarter of Game 5, amounting to the loudest nonverbal scolding you could imagine -- which forced Blatt, in front of his whole team, to wipe the board clean and draw up something else.
It's tough to say who's telling the truth. LeBron has quite clearly been disrespectful to his head coach before, but that doesn't mean he wanted to get rid of Spoelstra. The only way he can stop all the chatter is by winning another championship.
But right now that feels less likely by the day.
