THE Cleveland Cavaliers season of sh*t continues to capture headlines. With supposed chemistry issues, trade rumours and their need for another playmaker the defending champs have been in and out of the news more frequently than they would like. The 39-16 Cleveland squad will now be without Kevin Love for the next six weeks with a knee injury and the media is wondering what their solution is. Spoiler alert, they already have it. He wears #23 and no I’m not talking about Michael Jordan. Or Ben McLemore.

LEBRON James is no stranger to putting a team on his back and storming towards greatness. In fact that is what defined him as great in his early Cavalier years. Lacking a strong supporting cast in the 06-07 season a 22 year old James led the Cavs all the way to the NBA Finals, where they were swept by the juggernaut overpowering San Antonio Spurs. That postseason on average Lebron spent just 3.3 minutes a game on the bench. The rest of the time he was doing everything in his power to deliver the Ohio region the championship it so desperately craved.

Image from mettachronicles.com

FAST forward 10 years and it’s fair to say he won’t be expected to average over 44 minutes a game this postseason, but Cleveland has been too reliant on Lebron so far this season in the eyes of many. At the time of writing he is second in the league behind just Kyle Lowry for average minutes a game with 37.6. Over the past decade though Lebron has featured inside the top eight for average minutes played in the regular season eight times. Do you know why? Because, Lebron James is an alien. Never in professional sports have we seen a player have a dominant stretch that James has had over a 13 year span, without once, ONCE, suffering a major injury. And it isn’t like he has taken it easy or coasted through much of of those 13 years, in fact it’s quite the opposite. He has been the cornerstone of Cleveland and Miami teams for the past dozen plus years and relished his role as the teams franchise piece.

Image from youtube.com

CLEARY Lebron’s success doesn’t happen by accident, he puts in the necessary time and effort into caring for his body, both mentally and physically. Personalised chefs, yoga sessions, personal trainers, exercise regimes and more have contributed to King James sustained success. He is a well built, well oiled machine with one goal and focus. Win a championship, year in year out. His resume is more than enough to deter the naysayers claiming he is playing too many minutes, or he needs to take it easy for the playoffs. He isn’t like everyone else, therefore he doesn’t have to do  what everyone else does. Whether he plays 33 or 36 or 48 minutes a game for the remainder of the season is irrelevant, if healthy Cleveland will once again be a force in the playoffs. And if not, as long as 23 is in uniform another banner in the rafters is still a possibility.

Banner from blog.williamhill.com.au