<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Cavaliers assistant coach Hank Egan said forward LeBron James has returned a changed man. Besides honing his skills on the bronze-winning team last summer at the FIBA World Championships, he's more mature as a player. "He's grown since last year," Egan said. "Because of the Olympic experience, he's aware of the whole floor more. He carries himself different. It's amazing how good he is on the court and off the court. That's an unbelievable combination for someone his age." Working with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski last summer was good for James. "He was around good players and good coaches," Egan said. "It was good for LeBron to hear some things we were preaching from another source. There were a lot of fundamentals, especially on the defensive end, that Mike Krzyzewski is in the same school (as the Cavaliers). He got to hear another voice. It's like sending your kid off to school and the teacher talks about some of the things you are teaching at home. It hits home." When NBA teams search for coaches, they often seek out candidates with years of NBA experience. The biggest reason is there's a world of difference between coaching in college and the professional ranks. "In college, you are the teacher and they are the student," Egan said. "Here, they have corporate memory and years of experience. It's a partnership. You make suggestions. If it's about a specific play, you're going from Point A to Point B because we want you to set a screen. But if you're talking about making adjustments to their individual game, they have to absorb that and be comfortable with that." And that applies to James as well. Like some other future Hall of Famers Egan has coached - San Antonio's David Robinson and Tim Duncan - he finds James very coachable.</div> Source
