PHOENIX – Before
LeBron James disappeared on his
two-week vacation to South Beach and JerryWorld, his message to these
Cleveland Cavaliers had been unmistakable: Never mind what you see, just listen to what I tell you.
For all the leveraging of the Ohio homecoming into marketing and commercials, few surrounding these Cavaliers sensed James had intimately invested himself into the process of constructing a championship culture. When the Cavaliers needed his old MVP self – hard-playing, smart and relentless – they found him taking off plays and jogging back on defense and undermining his coach in ways big and small. James hadn't offered the leadership he promised to reconstruct the franchise, only his presence.
For everyone suspicious of James' intentions when he
pushed David Blatt out of a confrontation with a game official in Tuesday night's loss to the
Phoenix Suns, give James a benefit of the doubt he hasn't earned. He was trying to spare Blatt a technical foul.
In this warped Cavaliers culture, it almost felt like progress in the limited star-coach partnership. At least, James acknowledged that Blatt was there, that he was Cavaliers coach. That's been rare.
Cleveland
lost its sixth straight game, dropping under .500. James was refreshed, explosive on the way to 33 points, seven rebounds and five assists – and it needs to be the reset button on his return to Cleveland.
Tristan Thompson, with the Oct. 31 deadline approaching for the draft class of 2011 rookie extensions looming. James' agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, represents Thompson.
James is the biggest reason Klutch Sports exists, and he's an active recruiter of high school, college and current NBA players to join the agency. Of course, plenty of players help their agents recruit. So when James committed as a free agent in July, everyone understood there was a tax – spoken or unspoken – that would come with James' return, that would manifest itself in an above-market deal for Thompson.
Thompson's a rebounder, a defender, an energy guy. He isn't a starter on a playoff team, but he has a good attitude, a good motor and could be a role player anywhere in the NBA. Paul isn't the first agent to leverage a more prominent client's extension against another, nor the last.
Even so, at what price? Within the NBA, officials expected maybe $10 million a year, perhaps $12 million if Klutch wanted to push it. Well, they kept pushing it. Thompson turned down a $13 million-a-year extension offer – four-years, $52 million, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Mark Jackson left one of the most powerful agents in basketball to become a client of Paul's. Paul had no coaching clients, but immense leverage within the Cavaliers. To hear Jackson overpraising James and the team's talent on television – even defending James on giving Blatt a tepid public endorsement – delivers light in itself to this alliance.
Before James signed as a free agent, the Cavaliers management wanted nothing to do with Jackson as a coach. They did their research and had their answers. Now, they understand the reality: If James won't play for the coach, what choice do they have there? James wouldn't be left to pay the buyout on Blatt's contract, nor the luxury tax on Thompson's extension. It'll simply be Klutch Sports gathering the commissions on Jackson's and Thompson's deals.
There was a different James on the floor on Tuesday night, and these Cavaliers need him to turn them into a contender. For now, LeBron James is back, and his time away seems to have rejuvenated his body and mind. Beyond bringing a championship to his beloved Ohio, everyone understands James had his business reasons for this return to Cleveland. Those are playing out, and they're clear, but the Cavaliers need the total LeBron James now. They need the team builder, the MVP – they need it all. The Cleveland Cavaliers need him now.