The Week LeBron Returns to Cleveland

There will be much ground to cover in LeBron’s highly anticipated return to Cleveland for Thursday night’s Cavs vs. Heat showdown.

Let’s get things started with this hilarious story from ESPN’s Chris Broussard detailing how Miami’s players are unhappy with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. While he doesn’t specify which players or how many of them, it should be noted that Broussard is tight with Maverick Carter and there’s little way to read the article except as a shot across the bow from LeBron James’ camp.

Exhibit A was a recent shootaround in which Spoelstra told James that he had to get more serious. The source said Spoelstra called James out in front of the entire team, telling him, “I can’t tell when you’re serious.”

“He’s jumping on them,” one source said. “If anything, he’s been too tough on them. Everybody knows LeBron is playful and likes to joke around, but Spoelstra told him in front of the whole team that he has to get more serious. The players couldn’t believe it. They feel like Spoelstra’s not letting them be themselves.”

See, they just want to have fun and be themselves! That’s why they’re not winning!

Also, there’s this little incident: LeBron James bumping his coach on the way back to a huddle, which has pretty much ruled the Internets over the weekend. Watch it below and decide for yourself if it was intentional or not, then check out the video below that, which shows LeBron bumping Mike Brown back in the day in a very similar manner.

It’s going be a fun week around here.

This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2010.