INDEPENDENCE, OHIO – Both knees wrapped in ice, LeBron James walked in a circle, waiting for his turn to speak with a larger-than-usual media contingent.
First, though, it was new coach Tyronn Lue's turn to address the developments of the past 24 hours in Cleveland.
Halfway through a championship-or-bust season, the Cavaliers are picking up the pieces.
One day after coach David Blatt was fired despite taking the Cavs to the NBA Finals last season and guiding them into first place in the Eastern Conference, James said he was surprised by the bold move but supported general manager David Griffin's rationale behind it.
"We're just a team that we're a bit fragile at times," James said following Saturday's shootaround, "and we're still learning each other."
The Cavs needed a shakeup and one was provided by Griffin, who sensed the talented team was not as connected as it needed to be in order to win a championship in Cleveland, the title James covets most.
James was told of Blatt's firing during a meeting Friday with Griffin and his teammates.
"I was just as surprised and caught off guard like everybody," James said. "It's unfortunate what happened yesterday, and as a team we just have to focus on what's now, what's now in front of us with the coach that we have now and we've got to continue to get better. He (Griffin) was right on everything that he said. Obviously, he sees it from the outside and the inside looking in. He's around us every day and he felt like as good as we can be we weren't reaching the potential to this point.
