COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers play another preseason game Monday night, taking on the Chicago Bulls at Value City Arena on Ohio State's campus.
The plan is for the Cavaliers to be whole -- and to play accordingly. That means LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving on the floor together for their most extended preseason action 10 days before the season opener vs. the New York Knicks.
The game airs at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Ohio, and the fact that Cavs coach David Blatt said his team plans to play "a more typical game tonight than we have to this point" of the preseason means it's worth watching.
But James said he's looking well past next week or even next month when it comes to continuing to bond with Love, Irving and the rest of his new teammates.
"We're still growing every day," James said Monday morning. "We haven't spent much time on the floor together. Every day it's learning -- me learning those guys, those guys learning me. We're nowhere near where we have to have it but we shouldn't have it right now.
"Every day is a learning process, every day is adventure. You have to go through some things. You have to lose ballgames you should have won. You have to get in arguments every now and then to test each other out. It has to happen. I know it's going to happen.
"That's the only way we're going to be able to grow. You don't define yourself during the good times."
The Cavs and Bulls, generally considered top Eastern Conference contenders, play Oct. 31 in Chicago in the second game of the season. Blatt said the Cavs planning to go with "normal rotations" in this game is less about the opponent, though, and more about the Cavs having had to play much of the rest of the preseason with at least one of James, Love and Irving out.
"I absolutely wish we could have had those guys together more," Blatt said. "That would have been optimal for us. It's only because of small injuries and maintenance things that we couldn't do it. It would have been a lot better for us had we been able to put them on the floor (together) for extended minutes or for consistent minutes throughout the preseason."
James has said he doesn't plan to play Wednesday in the preseason finale at Memphis. Blatt said he's "not expecting" James to change his mind.
"We have eight days after that game to kind of get things going," James said. "A preseason game is not going to make our chemistry get to where it needs to be. It's going to take regular season games, it's going to take some losses, it's going to take some practices for all of us to get on the same page."
