Following a victory in his sixth consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals, LeBron James informed USA Basketball that he won’t play in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, telling Cleveland.com, “I could use the rest”. Although the Cavaliers are poised to contend for another title next season, there are no guarantees, and this might potentially be the city’s last championship for another 50 years.
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LeBron James is the first son of the city of Akron.
It’s also better from the NBA’s standpoint. But there were a few switched on parties who predicted his return to Cleveland when others were saying it couldn’t happen, because Cleveland couldn’t afford to have him.
As Cleveland celebrated in the trophy ceremony, Green returned to the floor to congratulate the Cavs.
In his last season with the Cavs before departing, LBJ averaged 29.7 points per game (a performance he hasn’t repeated since) which showed that Cleveland were too one-dimensional, and in order for them to have any playoff success, they’d need to build a team around him.
Even super-human LeBron needs a break every now and then.
So what do you do?
“I am much hopeful with my team, though our pin-up players are missing the squad this time” Krzyzewski said to the press.
The crowd, some fans arriving Tuesday night to camp out so they could get as close as possible, overwhelmed downtown Cleveland to celebrate with James, Kyrie Irving and their teammates. The most popular basketball player in the recent era will not take part at this summer’s Olympics. Trade out your two other No. 1 picks in Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins for someone of Kevin Love’s stature, and all of a sudden your team is starting to shape up nicely.
J.R. Smith has probably put on a shirt by now, and Stephen Curry is probably into one of the later stages of getting out of bed and realizing there’s another day.
“Five years ago if you’d have said those two young men would be Olympians everybody (would have laughed), but those guys have put in the work, they’ve improved as players and become all-stars and now Olympians”, Casey said.
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Admission was $5 per ticket to this year’s Official Road Game Watch Parties provided by the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena, presented by Budweiser, with 100% of the proceeds going to six local charities: The Centers for Families and Children, City Year Cleveland, Domestic Violence & Child Advocacy Center, Cuyahoga County Invest in Children, Achievement Centers for Children and Special Olympics Ohio Greater Cleveland.
