LeBron James and Cavaliers working to get into ‘game shape’

INDEPENDENCE, OHIO– On Thursday LeBron James confirmed that his ankle feels well enough to play in Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

James missed most of the preseason after he sprained his ankle during the second day of training camp. As a result, James is understandably frustrated with his level of conditioning.

“I just want to get to where I should be,” James said after practice on Thursday. “Like I said, the ankle and the foot injury just kind of kept me out and set me back further than I would like, but I got some time now along the course of these games that we got– we got two back-to-backs coming up so that’s going to help and we have some opportunity to get some practice time in as well.”

LeBron talks putting in extra work o the VersaClimber and his own conditioning: “I just want to be where I should be.” pic.twitter.com/sSD1R1MQ6I

— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) October 19, 2017

Prior to coming into camp, there was plenty of talk that James was in the arguably the best shape of his career. He did say it was “very” frustrating to have to get back to that point, but he should be there again in a couple of weeks as long as he has no setbacks.

James played in just one preseason game, but that didn’t stop him from putting up 29 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists in the team’s season opener against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. It was the first time a player posted those numbers in a team’s opener, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

But even after the contest, James lamented his level of conditioning. Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, he even put in a session on the VersaClimber Tuesday night despite playing 41 minutes. He also gathered teammates for a VersaClimber session prior to practice on Thursday.

The reality of the situation remains that James is not the only member on the Cavaliers who isn’t in game shape yet. After the Boston game, head coach Tyronn Lue expressed disappointment with the team’s conditioning as a whole, and said that guys weren’t playing fast enough in the full court.

“We’ve got to get in better shape,” Lue said on Tuesday. “As far as pushing ourselves, not saving ourselves. We’ve got to do a better job of playing hard six or seven minutes, you get tired, come out. Our pace was really slow. To hold a team to 41 percent shooting and they were at 36 or 37 [percent] for a while and not play with pace getting up and down the floor, that’s not good for us. We want to play fast; we want to get up and down the floor. I thought tonight we settled and played a half-court game.”

It is possible that a shorter training camp has played a factor in the team not being in top condition to begin the season The league shortened preseason by about a week this year in order to eliminate four games in five nights, and to reduce the number of back-to-back games. As a result though, teams lost conditioning time before the season began on Tuesday.

“Shorter training camp it does hurt you a little bit as far as conditioning,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “When you have an older team that’s been around for a long time, you can’t really practice and condition the way you want to. It’s just going to take some time to get into shape and get in game shape. We will see how that goes, but the preseason does kind of mess with that a little bit.”

Lue says that a shorter training camp likely played a part in hurting the Cavs conditioning wise but that it will just take some time to get in shape. pic.twitter.com/qleoCgeujX

— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) October 19, 2017

When Lue first took over the team in January of 2016 after the organization fired then-head coach David Blatt, he used a similar tactic telling reporters that the team was not in shape to play the up-tempo style that he wanted.

“You want to be in the best shape you can be in individually, you shouldn’t have to have a coach tell you that,” James said.

“Our game fit with the type of conditioning we was in. When he took over, he wanted us to do something more. He wanted us to get the ball up across half court in four seconds so we could execute our offense. We wasn’t ready for that and it showed. We know how we want to play now and if guys are monitoring themselves, guys come in before practice, stay after practice, you guys see that all the time. Well not before but after. Not too worried about that.”

More from LeBron on conditioning, the team’s style of play. pic.twitter.com/bemi0qGKHS

— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) October 19, 2017