NBA News: LeBron James Contradicts Coach David Blatt And Asserts Health More Crucial Than Seeding

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James is going the other direction as opposed to his current coach David Blatt in the subject of securing the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Blatt has recently said that it is imperative that his team latch on to its current position and at least assure two rounds of home court advantage, yet James believes he can win on anybody’s home floor and that health and chemistry are far more crucial than seeding.

"Health," James told Dave McMenamin of ESPN after the team’s double digit loss to his former team, the Miami Heat. "Health and chemistry. We got to continue to build our chemistry. We're a young group, as far as cohesiveness on the floor. So we got to continue to build that, and we got to be healthy during the playoffs."

The Cavaliers have injury concerns of their own during the gruelling 82-game season. Gone for the rest of the year is Brazilian centre Anderson Varejao. Starting power forward Kevin Love has sat out the last two games due to a recurring stiff back while James even missed a big chuck of the end of December bridging the start of the year to cure an assortment of maladies. Despite James’ pronouncement, Blatt was all praises for the two-time NBA Champion by sharing that James’ is even giving in nightly effort despite being banged up.

Despite just turning 30, James has accumulated close to 42,000 minutes in his lengthy NBA career. He has been in the playoffs in every season excluding his rookie year and he continuously led Team USA in international competitions every summer, with the last iteration as the only exception. It is also notable that most of James’ teams reach the conference finals or play until the late days of June when the new champion is crowned.

While James has not been too keen on addressing the issue of grabbing the second seed, the Cavaliers are still well-positioned to finish at that spot. The challengers for the position include the Toronto Raptors who are struggling out of the All-Star break, the Chicago Bulls who are again dealing with the injury of Derrick Rose and the Washington Wizards who are widely inconsistent after a fairly good start. Blatt and James may not yet be on the same page in terms of reconciling if seeding is paramount yet the encouraging signs of the team’s recent success is cause for optimism that the Cavaliers will hold on to the standing while giving spot rest time to its core players.

For concerns on this story, contact the author at hidalgovincentpaul@gmail.com.