NEW ORLEANS: At 32 years and 50 days old, LeBron James would have been the oldest player in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game if not for the injury-replacement addition of Carmelo Anthony, born 215 days before James.
But while criticism rages in media circles about James’ heavy minute load this season after playing in six consecutive NBA Finals, James is feeling fresh and energetic. He doesn’t have a shred of doubt about whether he can handle the workload that lies ahead as the Cavaliers attempt to win back-to-back championships.
“I’ve got enough left for whatever. I was ready to play another Finals after Game 7 of last year,” James said Saturday after the East All-Stars’ practice at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. “Just give me one or two days’ rest and I would have been ready to go again.”
But that’s not to say that James isn’t loosening his grip in the tug-of-war he plays with Cavs coach Tyronn Lue and the training staff over sitting out some of the remaining 27 regular-season games. He’s averaging 37.5 minutes, higher than that of the past two seasons (36.1 in 2014-15, 35.6 in 2015-16).
“At the end of the day when I’m done playing the game of basketball, I’m going to wish that I would have had two more minutes in the fourth quarter of a certain game or I would have played in this game. That’s my own assessment of where I am,” James said. “Now my coaching staff is going to [decide] what’s best for the team as well and what’s best for me.
“Me being a competitor, me playing the game that I love every single day, I don’t always have the right assessment of me playing a lot of minutes. That’s why I have Coach Lue and the coaching staff and the training staff to be like, ‘Hey, LeBron, you’ve played six straight Finals, you’ve played this amount of minutes, let’s take it easy today. Let’s take today off.’ That’s what they’re going to do. I don’t ever want to take a day off. To have that other side I think is key for our team going forward.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the Cavs’ opponent in the past two Finals, said he is trying to lighten the load for his players in practice.
“Maybe not [practice] less, but we probably go lighter. We’re still having the same number of days off that we had the last couple years,” said Kerr, who will coach the West All-Stars Sunday. “But for me we’re trying to pace the guys a little bit more this year given that we’ve been in the Finals the last two years and the seasons have gone nine months two years in a row.”
But Kerr, who played for the Cavs from 1989-93, knows that easing up in practice is not where the real benefits are gained.
“I think it can help, but the games are the big thing,” Kerr said. “I don’t think anybody ever really overdoes it in practice. Coaches understand the 82-game journey and how difficult it is. The real rest comes from either having games off or not piling up big minutes in those games.”
James hasn’t averaged over 40 minutes per game in a season since 2007-08 (40.4) in Cleveland. But while he said health is the No. 1 issue that will decide the Cavs’ fate this season, he understands the downside and the upside to his time on the court.
The downside might not show until June. The upside is that he’s posting numbers that rival those of his four NBA MVP seasons. He’s averaging 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting .539 from the field and .389 from 3-point range. The latter two percentages would rank second if compared with his four MVP years, and his assists would be his high.
“Being an MVP-caliber player is my goal every year,” James said. “Do I receive the award or not, it’s not up to me. But do I approach the game as an MVP every single night? Absolutely.”
James prides himself on his consistency, especially in what has become a point guard-driven league.
“I take pride in you know what you’re going to get from me every night,” he said. “I work on my game, I work on my craft. To know that my numbers are right up there with my MVP seasons let’s me know that I’m consistent.
“You can always book me for whatever my numbers say. Sometimes they’re more, they’re not going to be less. It may be a couple nights, but it’s not going to be many. I’ve been consistent and I can appreciate it.”
Making his 13th All-Star appearance, James had a hard time comprehending he would be the oldest player this weekend.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” James said. “I was like, ‘I know Marc Gasol and [Paul] Millsap are older than me.’ Then it came out those guys are (one month and 1½ months) younger than me, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ It put everything in perspective as far as where I’ve come from and how long I’ve been playing this game.
“At the same time, it’s a humbling thing to know that I’m still at an All-Star level. The way I’m playing the game right now at my age, as long as I’ve been playing with the miles that I’ve been playing, to know that I’m still at this game and still an All-Star starter, it means a lot, too.”
It sounded as if Anthony received some ribbing from James when the Knicks star was added to replace the Cavs’ Kevin Love, sidelined after knee surgery.
“It was a blessing when I saw Melo was taking Kevin’s spot,” James said. “ ‘OK, I’m not the oldest guy on the team any more, now Melo is.’ It’s pretty cool.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.