LeBron James: “Our Only Goal Is an NBA Championship”
September 30, 2009 – 10:20 am by Jimmy Shapiro
This post was written by Chris Fedor of WKNR in Cleveland. LeBron James came to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft and has taken the city by storm. He said when he came to Cleveland that he was going to light up the city like Las Vegas. So far he has done everything that he can possibly do to deliver on that promise. He has set numerous youngest player records, has been an All-Star a number of times in his career, was the Rookie of the Year in 2003, has a NBA MVP trophy to his credit, and depending on who you ask, he is the best player in the NBA. All those individual accolades are great, but there is one thing that continues to be missing from the ultra-impressive resume of “King James” and that’s an NBA Championship ring.
The main nucleus of a 66-win team that finished the year with the best record in the NBA and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals is coming back for another run at a championship before the summer of 2010, when LeBron James becomes a free agent. Along with the returning players, the Cavs went out and got LeBron some reinforcements. The additions of Shaquille O’Neal, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon and Leon Powe have the Cavs organization, the players and the people here in Cleveland thinking just one thing this season and that’s an NBA Championship.
King James joined WKNR in Cleveland for a rare one-on-one interview.
On getting ready for the season:
“Everywhere I was going I was always talking about ‘man I can’t wait for the season to start, I’m ready to get back into the flow of things, I feel great, individually I’ve improved and I can’t wait for tomorrow.’ Tomorrow is the first day that begins our run to the championship. It doesn’t start when the first regular season starts. It starts tomorrow and that’s the first day of training camp.”
On whether he was able to get work in with his busy schedule this summer:
“Absolutely. I don’t feel right if I’m not getting work in. At one point in the summer I was doing two-a-days and was still doing a lot of the work that people were seeing on TV. I know they are wondering how I do it, but I always find three, four, or five hours of the day, no matter what time it is. There were times I was going to the gym at two o’clock in the morning, just to make sure I got some work in.”
On talking with Dwyane Wade about what Shaq’s presence means:
“I haven’t. As close as me and D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) are, I’ve never gotten to that conversation. You don’t have to be a fool to look and see what type of presence this man has brought to not only D-Wade and Kobe (Bryant), but to the league itself. To know that I’m going to have that type of presence on the court and know that we not only have one guy that can attract a double team, but now we have two guys. It not only helps myself, but it helps Mo Williams, it helps Anthony Parker, it helps Z (Zydrunas Ilgauskas), it helps Delonte (West) and it helps everybody that comes into the game because they don’t have to play one-on-one basketball. They’re catching out of double teams making a play while somebody is sprinting out of a double team, so that’s a luxury to have.
On whether anything less than a Championship would be a success:
“That should be our goal. For Cavs fans, all 20,000 plus, for myself, for Shaq, that’s our only goal. The short-term goal is of course to get better everyday, to improve everyday and continue to get better as a team, but the long-term goal is to win an NBA Championship. I think all the great teams in this league will say the same thing. The San Antonio’s, the Boston Celtics, the L.A. Lakers and us, that’s just how it has to be.”
On whether he understands why fans are worrying about the future:
“Absolutely. I can’t fault them for that. The only thing that I can do is continue go out there and play at a high level. Every night I think the fans know that I’m never going to cheat them out of that price. That ticket price will never be cheated when I hit that court. I’m loyal to this team and I’ve been nothing but great and I’m going to try and continue to be great just like the fans have been great to me.”
Listen to LeBron James on WKNR in Cleveland with Michael Reghi
Tags: 2010 NBA Free Agency, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA Championship, Shaquille O'Neal
