ESPN's Seth Greenberg had no mercy on LeBron James after recently separating himself from the rest of his teammates, an antic he has now showcased multiple times, as well as teammate Rajon Rondo.
During Wednesday's iteration of “Get Up!,” Greenberg tore into James' dissonance to the chagrin of former teammate and coach Damon Jones, who defended his friend:
“LeBron James, [16th] year in the league, he's playing with a group of dudes that were 1 and 2 years old when he came into the league. He's the leader of that team, he came to L.A., he is the face of that team,” said Greenberg. “I don't care if you've coached for a bunch of years, you take a guy and you put him at the end of the bench looking at the stat sheet, you take a guy who's the face of your organization, put him at the end of the bench and he's talking to Tyson Chandler and giggling and laughing while the game is going on. It's just as easy for LeBron James to do that, or is it even easier for him … he doesn't have to be in the huddle, but he has to be part of it.”
“Those kids, they're not following him. That's just the way it is,” Greenberg continued. “He might go to dinner with them — I want Anthony Davis also — but the matter in which that happened, it totally splintered that locker room and you can say he's not a coach killer, but I'll tell you one thing: By sitting at the end of the bench, what is he saying to Luke Walton? He's saying, ‘Dude, I'm not part of this mess, alright? This is on you, we're bringing my own guy next year.'”
This is hardly the first time Greenberg has had this smoke with James, but he does have some valid points. It also helps that he didn't pull any punches with his argument, even with a friend of James sitting next to him on set.
Jones claimed James “is not a babysitter,” and while he isn't blameless, the young guys should respect his body of work and be professionals about the situation. That argument fell flat, considering Greenberg was quick to point out LeBron James has not been playing at the “110 percent” Jones claimed he did every night.
Luke Walton will get the brunt of the blame, as it's easier to fire a coach than it is to schematically trade a player and have an excuse at hand for fans. But James does have a lot of the blame resting on his shoulders, injury aside, not for missing the playoffs, but for alienating the very teammates who once welcomed him into the fold with open arms.
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