LeBron James isn’t holding back with his struggling Cleveland Cavaliers.
Monday’s loss represented a new low for the Cavs, who have dropped five of their last seven games. James had a triple-double while Kyrie Irving poured in 49 points, and Cleveland still somehow lost to a New Orleans Pelicans side without Anthony Davis.
A frustrated James tore into his franchise after the game in what Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon said was a 20-minute session with reporters.
“I don’t got no time to waste,” James said, according to Jason Lloyd of Ohio.com. “I’ll be 33 in the winter, and I ain’t got time to waste. That’s what I’m talking about. …
“When I feel like physically and mentally, me personally, can’t compete for a championship no more or I feel like I can’t do it, then I won’t have this problem. But until that happens, and it don’t seem like no time soon …”
Having logged 89 minutes over his last two games, James grumbled once again about the Cavaliers’ need for more playmakers.
“We’re not better than last year, from a personnel standpoint … we’re a top-heavy team,” James said. He added, “I just hope that we’re not satisfied as an organization. I just hope we not satisfied. How hard it was to do that s—. I just hope we’re not satisfied. …
“No disrespect to DeAndre (Liggins) and to Kay (Felder), you think we can rely on them to help us win a playoff game right now? And it’s no disrespect to them. But it’s like, it’s not fair to them.”
James was careful to avoid blaming head coach Tyronn Lue and said general manager David Griffin was well aware of his feelings about Cleveland’s roster.
“It’s tough for coach because we’re in the process of trying to win a f—— championship,” James said. “It would’ve been unfair to (Matthew Dellavedova) to ask him his rookie year to play on a championship-level team. So that’s why you got guys in front of him that allows him to (grow). We telling Kay to be a backup point guard to a f—— superstar right now, instead of being a backup point guard to a guy that’s proven in the league. You know what I’m saying?”
James added, “I ain’t got no problems with the front office. I told (Griffin) to his face, so it ain’t like I’m telling y’all to put it on record. I see Griff all the time. One thing about me, if I got something to say, I’m going to tell it to your face. We need a f—— playmaker. I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that.”
With James and Irving on the roster, the Cavaliers have two stars who can shoulder playmaking duties. But for a team trying to defend its title, Cleveland is awfully thin on the bench, which is why James and Irving have logged heavy minutes of late.
“For the most part, all championship-contending teams have got guys that are ready to step in,” James said. “Knock on wood, what if Ky goes down? For two weeks. Let’s say two. What if I went down for three weeks?”
He summed it up: “It’s been a s—– 2017 so far.”
