LeBron James Opens Up About The Miami Heat Learning How to Win Together

when you met in Miami, yes, the conversations with Chris about his role, but also the decision to move him to the five, which by the way was not immediately, no, it was not like there was a rejection of that at that time. Do you remember those conversations because you know, I know you were there? Joel Anthony was there, yeah, yeah, my first year, the big Z was there and Eric D and Eric wetter, yeah, I'll tell you when everything changed, obviously, my first year there, you know, you played great basketball, I got there until the final and I lost the finals.

I play like SPO was the reason we were a better team and our team was better put

together

that summer. He went to Oregon and was with Chip. Kelly, oh interesting, he, he, when we lost to Dallas, he went to Oregon and he was with Chip Kelly and he learned how to spread the offense and he tried to figure out if he could translate that to basketball and he doesn't know the super conversations that he and Chip had. but I know when he came back to us he knew that for us to reach our potential he had to be 10 times better than the previous June finals, but Chris Bosch had to go to the five and CB being who he is. there was no setback there was no setback he knew that for us to reach our potential that CB would have to go to the five and we had to extend we had to start working on his corner three Faithfully every day after Practice the corner three every day after the practice, we will publish you, we will catch you with the elbow.

The offense will get through you at times, but so you know the Tyson Chanders out of the paint to be able to bring the Roy comes out of the paint to get Tim Duncan out of the paint sometimes to get Kevin Garnett out of the paint. You have to hit these three in the corners. You have to at least be a threat and SPO SPO knew he had it. that he had that vision, he went and learned that he said the way I said the way I coached in that final against Dallas unacceptable I told myself the way I played unacceptable and he came back with a vengeance and I was all which was locked in from start to finish, but it was a spell.

I got a question about BOS BOS spacing, but since you just said that was the lowest point for you in your career, oh sure, the lowest, yeah, yeah, the lowest, yeah, the lowest, right? what is Bosch? spacing what did that type of unlock do I'm curious what the actions were what was Twan's game yeah what were the readings the cut slot cut the cut slot the cut slot the short slot was unlocked the slot cuts Unlocked exactly what dwade and I thrive on dribbling, penetration, slot cutting, pick a roll, it happens, tag the slot cut, yeah, he unlocked all that and we all know how good dwade is at the baseline, it's hard to cut behind the defense when X5 is stationary. there all the time because you know the offensive five is there, you know, so you know you hit me on the pocket pass, now you know I get the pocket pass from Charmers or Norris Cole, you know, and now BOS is in a strong corner.

Are you going to leave him or not? If you do, he'll tag you and if you don't, when I roll now you have X3 or heading to the three-point line and D cutting right behind him, it just opened up a lot for our offense and gave DW and I in transition we had this thing called Mac Truck Lane, so basically from block to block, like this that San Franc, we are sitting at the free throw line, yes, we have a block on one side, a block on this side. I can imagine a basketball court, yes, what we do for the spectators.

I'm not questioning JJ's experience, heh no. I know what you're saying, the first day of training camp we had everything on tape. The Bigs weren't allowed to run between the truck lane from the first day of training camp until the first game, banned, you're out. you got it and if I'm picking up the ball and the big guy is behind me he can't cross the court he has to run way back this is all this is all SPO it's like he's as good as a Twitter detective He'll correct me on this and I'll do it I'll accept if I'm wrong, but in my mind, when I think of five outs or delays, I think of the Miami Heat with Chris Bosch, since maybe he was not the creator, but the first time I did it.

Like, oh this is different and this is happening, it was the Miami Heat with Chris BOS, yeah, and it changed everything, it changed everything, it changed everything, the whole team changed, the whole team, then we added Ray Shane, we added Shane , we added Mike Miller, we added spacing and CB could pass, he could rebound and push, there weren't many fives at that time that were rebounding and pushing the fast break, you see it all the time, now, Bam, Bam, he does it, bam, He does it all the time and and MP from the Yi League. Is it like CB is pushing for a breakout?

Okay, if he has nothing at the beginning of the trans boom, straight to a second DHL side. Swing Swing like it was smart, it was just smart, but I mean, obviously, when you move from a position that you're in. So dominant, you think about CB in Toronto where he mainly played the four, almost probably 95% of the time he played the four and averaged 25 and 10 or 12, the ball went through him at the mid post every time on any block, really yeah , but It is notable that it has changed, that yes, that it has changed, that I want to be before we talk about more space.

I want to touch on one last thing with the

heat

and that is I feel like in the NBA this is the phrase super team or the The term super team is a bit of a misnomer because you can have three big guys, right, you still need four or five role players. assistants who are absolutely protagonists in their role and then complement the stars, there is no doubt about it and that is not the case. It doesn't work, it doesn't work unless you have those guys and you've lived it a few times. I have lived it.

I have lived it. I mean, obviously, my first year in Miami, yeah, we had three big guys and everyone said it's a super team super team super team, but we had to build our team with a minimum of guys, which was still okay, but no. we filled out the complementary guys enough, yeah, we had Rio, we had Udonis, you know, but we didn't do it. I don't have enough complementary guys to make it all work and we still made it to the final, we still made it to the final and we probably should have won the final, but I still give you credit, listen, it's what you are, you win and you lose and we we lost just no Dallas was good and they stepped up at the right time Dirk was amazing, but my second year we were able to get some complementary players and role players that I really love.

I'm talking about super superstars in their roles and it goes back to my first year in Cleveland, my first year in Cleveland, yeah, we got Kevin out of a trade that we lost in the Finals, we weren't really complete to unlock everything that we weren't. Complete enough to unlock everything, then we were able to add Channy Fred, add Richard Jefferson to that second team, yeah, add those guys and then the experience we had from the year before, you know, Jr got better and shump, you know , and obviously we were healthier, you know Kyrie goes down in the finals, you know, busty kneecap and Kev obviously separated his shoulder in year one, but you're absolutely right, complementary guys are ultimately the that will help you win the championship yeah and they'll qualify as like a real super team so I think you know the whole point of this show is to really talk about basketball right I love it and it's cool and I love it.

I love it and I could do it all day, yes. You also know, we both live online, let's be honest, we live online, we are very aware of all the discourse. I have to participate in the speech and I said this. I want, I want to participate much more. I, I, uh, said this. I thought the other day that the speech has a place, it provides a level of entertainment and I understand that, and I feel like sometimes I get annoyed by a couple of key words that get involved in the speech and we're not going to do this every episode.

We're not going to do this, but just on this point that we're doing about how a team works, yes, there is the word important, who is the most important player for the Boston Celtics, who is the most important player for the Boston Celtics um, The word pressure also bothers me, right? Those are the two words that drive me crazy, pressure in particular, because if you've been here you know that most guys in the NBA put incredible pressure on themselves that's why we all have anxiety because we all put so much pressure on ourselves and the important word bothers me because the best player is always the most important player, it is very difficult to win in the NBA if the player who has the greatest impact is You are not at your best and no offense. 2011 is a great example of that.

I was not at my best. You were at your best and you lost. If I play something like I did in the Easter Conference Finals, we won, but you could have been at your best. and the role players could have been bad, so to me that's why it bothers me because I'm like, yeah, like when I played CP for the Clippers and Blake were the most important guys on our team, but DeAndre and I had a paper. Jamal had a role Matt Barnes had a role Luke and bab mut the next two years had a role like we all had a role and guess what we put a lot of pressure on ourselves yeah to play really well and contribute to winning yeah and I feel like We live in this 2K world where we're like putting

together

a roster and it's like who can, how can we put together so many good players that don't even make sense, yeah, yeah, yeah, and it drives me crazy, it's like what is it. wrong with this team, well it's very simple, basketball is something very organic and the players and their skills have to complement each other and Chris Bosch is a great example of that, the sacrifice to find out how my skills and maybe the I have.

To develop some of the mentioned three point shooting, how do I figure out how to compliment correctly? It will make me better. He will make LeBron better. It will make Dwade better. And it will make our team better. And that's basketball and that's basketball, but that's it. but that also comes from going back to episode one of Basketball IQ and him having Basketball IQ knowing that he says yeah, he could still be in Toronto averaging 25 and 12, but that's not what I came here for. We won championships and lost in year one, what can I do to complement my teammates and what can I do to expand my game to where we don't lose in year two?

We talk about growth mindset and everyone talks about it. You know, Chris Bosch was this one. Before that, no one asked Chris Bosch, no one asked Chris Bosch how he feels, everyone just speaks for him, no one asks him how he feels, he knew he was making a sacrifice, we all knew we were making sacrifices, but we knew that. we all came together and that was winning championships and that's what we did Hey guys, thanks for listening, thanks for watching the mind the game podcast, if you like it, hit the subscribe button, thanks.