<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The pain of missing the playoffs last season still lingers. LeBron James was so distraught with the team's free fall, which included losing 20 of its last 32 games, that he slipped past the waiting media following the last regular-season game and exited the arena without comment. James had nothing to say Fast forward five months and with one week before the opening of training camp, James is ready to erase the disappointment of not making the playoffs the past two years. He is focused on taking the Cavaliers to the postseason for the first time since 1998. "There shouldn't be any more excuses," James said. "Because on paper, we have one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference if not in the NBA. I'm a veteran now, and I'm more of leader and I know what it takes. We have a great veteran team in Z [Zydrunas Ilgauskas], in Larry [Hughes], in Eric [Snow] and Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall. We have a veteran team now, so we should know what it takes." It took a lot of spending for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and General Manager Danny Ferry during the off-season to get to this point. The first big move was signing Washington free-agent guard Larry Hughes, who will be the perfect complement to James. Hughes' game is similar to James' because of his off-the-ball defense (led the league with 2.89 steals a game) and his all-around play. The Cavs convinced Ilgauskas to remain with a multiyear contract, and Ferry shored up the backcourt and frontcourt by signing Miami point guard Damon Jones and Toronto forward Donyell Marshall to free-agent deals. Jones and Marshall should boost the Cavs' outside scoring. The team has been at the bottom in 3-point shooting for the past few years, and Jones and Marshall are among the NBA's top 3-point shooters. James is pleased by the moves made by the front office. He said it is a huge step in the right direction. "Those were excellent moves," James said. "I'm very excited. [The front office] has done a great job and you can only praise people that want to make the team better and it looks like it's headed that way." But the free-agent signings do not instantly give the Cavs a free pass to the postseason. Questions still remain. Will Jones or Snow start at point guard? How will Mike Brown deal with his first time as a head coach? And will the Cavs have enough support off the bench? </div> Source
Lebron a Veteran? I don't think so, atleast yet. Yes he is a superstar believe it or not, but he is NOT a veteran. I wouldn't trust him to take the buzzer beating shot. Veterans are players who have went through the playoffs, have gotten experience. Lebron hasn't played in the playoffs, it's a total different atmosphere.
I like Lebrons attitude about the up-coming season and the fact the he is commited to making the playoffs and having a great year, trying to get past the nightmare last season. But Lebron James is not a veteran at this point, hes just a talented YOUNG super-star. The most important thing about being a vet is having playoff experience and this guy as amazing as he is has 0, zip, nada, none.
Lebron is a junior in the league and like said before he's never been to the playoffs. The Cavs had made very good moves this offseason with the signings of Hughes, Jones, resigning of Illgauskas, and donyell marshall. They also got rid of bad personnel and have a better bench now. The Cavs make the playoffs this year. They should've last year but they collapsed in the 2nd half of the season.
Why does it seem to me that LeBron was never a rookie? He has always said the right thing, the veteran thing, and the auora of maturity speaks volumes about him. However, he still has more to prove because of it. If the cavs dont make the playoffs this season, LeBron may loose some of that magic.
physically and individually he never seemed to be like a rookie, however in leadership ability he is still a rookie.
I think we have established the fact he's not a veteran. I don't think Lebby's the type to suffer in the playoffs, look at how he was performing the last several weeks of the season, averaging way over his regular ppg. And yes, if I were Mr. Brown, I'd want Lebby taking the last shot of the game.
