LeBron James, most recently seen working out with Dwyane Wade in Miami — despite the fact that his team is based in Cleveland and is in the middle on an NBA season — thinks he knows why the Cavs were unable to win the title last season.
No, it wasn't that Cleveland played Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, and the Warriors without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving — it was that LeBron didn't have a goon on his team.
LeBron's logic is simple: in Miami, the Heat won two titles with notorious enforcer Udonis Haslem, whose goal in life is to mess dudes up. If someone was out of line, you put U on them, and they found themselves in line right quick.
The same cannot be said for Matthew Dellavedova.
LeBron is a student of history: Wayne Gretzky needed Dave Semenko in Edmonton and Michael Jordan needed Dennis Rodman for the second three-peat. Who is the Cavs goon?
King James might be out of luck in finding a no-nonsense dude to add to his squad though: The trade deadline has passed, and any player the Cavs would sign would not be eligible for its playoff roster – so count out the Cavs bringing Stephen Jackson out of retirement.
That said, the Cavs might have the answer on their roster. The pace-and-space NBA has never been softer, and the Cavs have one of the most physically intimidating basketball players of all time on their squad — why doesn't LeBron use all that strength and goon it up down the stretch?
Dieter Kurtenbach is willing to sign a $1 million deal to be LeBron's goon. David Griffin can get at him @dkurtenbach.
