If you’re on the same team as one of the greatest players of all time, to an outsider, life is easy for you. Since it seems to the world that the greatest players take the biggest loads of pressure on the team. But to you, the pressure of keeping up with your teammate is a whole different challenge altogether.
This is what happened with Richard Jefferson, who played on the same team as LeBron James for three seasons (2015 to 2017), i.e, the Cavaliers. In a recent appearance on his “Road Trippin’ Podcast” with Channing Frye, Jefferson admitted he felt so much pressure to keep up with LeBron James because he demanded excellence from his teammates as well, not just himself.
“Hell yeah, there’s cons. You want to know what the con is?— Here are the cons. Playing with LeBron s**ks because you’re trying to win a championship. That he’s one of the most competitive human beings in the history of American sports and sports in general.”
“Does it s*ck when you’re showing up and he’s already been practicing for four hours and you’re like, ‘oh sh**’. When he’s watching a film and you mess up a play and he’s just like, “M****f***er, what are you doing?”
“And it’s like, yeah, those are the cons, but there were cons for playing with Jordan. There were cons to playing with Kobe. There were cons to playing with players who were so great that they demanded excellence. There were cons for playing for Pat Riley or Popovich, or Spoelstra. There’s always cons.”
The co-host of the podcast, Channing Frye, also chipped in while talking about James. He was also on the Cavaliers when they won the championship in 2016. However, he had a different take than Jefferson. Frye believed that James’ teammates needed to tactfully lower the bar of expectations set for them.
“I think there’s really no cons if you know yourself. Because Bron was like ‘Channing!’ and I go ‘I can’t move– like what have you not seen film? I can’t get that’. ‘Channing, go get that ball.’ How? How do you want me to— it’s too late. Bron, I am who I am, I’m not getting that rebound. I’m here so you don’t get double teams, lower the expectations, big dog.”
Some of his teammates seemed to be content with letting him do all the extra work. James averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists during the Cavaliers’ historic 2016 NBA Finals win.
While it is due to comments like this that James widely gets the credit for carrying the 2016 Cavaliers team to the championship, players like Kyrie Irving stepped up and also made irrefutable, crucial contributions in the historic 2016 season. This just goes to show that tough love works for some and it doesn’t for others.
But as far as being teammates with great players goes in general, a great teammate pushes you to reach your true potential. If James did not create a toxic atmosphere and instead helped his teammates thrive, then he has done his job correctly as the leader of the team and as a teammate.
Do you think pushing teammates for excellence even when they don’t want to is a price that the greatest players need to pay, even when their teammates may be against it? In my opinion, it is a necessary part of the journey to the pinnacle of basketball.
