The NBA trade rumors lit up when no less than LeBron James had pushed his own team's front office to acquire a playmaker.
James was very insistent to say the least. His comments on ESPN.
"I just hope that we're not satisfied as an organization," James told a small group of reporters who regularly travel to cover Cleveland's road games. "I just hope we're not satisfied."
"We're not better than last year," he said, "from a personnel standpoint."
"It's great to have bodies," James said. "Obviously, in the playoffs, you go down to what, eight max? And if somebody gets in foul trouble, you go to nine. You're not playing back-to-backs. You have two days in between. You're able to lock in." "It's like when you don't have bodies. It's tough," James said. "The f---ing grind of the regular season. We're a top-heavy team. We have a top-heavy team. We top-heavy as s---. It's me, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. It's top-heavy."
"We need a f---ing playmaker," James said. "I'm not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn't say that." "
James defended his coach Tyronn Lue for feeling the need to play him and Irving for heavy minutes.
"What else are we going to do?" James said. "You saw the game. Kyrie had to do that. And I tried to mix in my plays. We didn't have no choice. ... We got what we got."
Based on his lengthy tirade, who is LeBron James referring to? Who is the "f**ing playmaker" he wants to acquire?' The belief is that he is not making an empty rant-everything LeBron says is calculated and aimed at a result. As he would later reiterate, he's not getting any younger.
James is ambitious and perhaps, at the very least he wants to tie Michael Jordan's number of titles. He's halfway through but the assumption is he's probably feeling like he's not at his peak anymore. Therefore, he can't waste any more seasons, including this one.
Considering that he's laser-focused on the championship-what he said about tight rotations and getting down to just eight players in the playoffs, he would want someone with the experience.
If we also consider his remark-that "I'm not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees" seems to denote that his target is already available. That what he's asking from the front office is actually doable.
According to Steven Aschburner of NBA.com, it could be Rajon Rondo.
"If LeBron's angling for Rajon Rondo, I'm sure that can be arranged (Rondo surely is capable of, er, leveraging his way out of Chicago with the Bulls' stuck for his salary). Neither Anthony nor Wade can be termed a playmaker, so I'm assuming it's a point guard he's seeking who can facilitate and, even more important, defend.That might be Rondo if properly motivated in the defending champs' culture and by James' demanding expectations."