Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James detailed his surprisingly to-the-point recruiting pitch used to help lure Kevin Love, Mike Miller and others to Ohio. He also weighed in on the Chicago Bulls, whom he called a "much better" team right now because of their chemistry.
James's approach to convincing players, including Love and Miller, to come to Cleveland was simple: do it if you want to play there.
Per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:
"As soon as James committed to return, he immediately recruited Love, Miller, (James) Jones, (Shawn) Marion and (Ray Allen), who has yet to decide whether he's going to play this season. (James's) sales pitch: 'It was nothing really,' he said. 'Either you want to play here or you don't.'"
James also discussed his previous recruiting efforts when he played for the Cavaliers up until 2010, saying nobody wanted to play in Cleveland because he hadn't yet won any rings.
"I recruited (before) I left here," he said. "I just didn't win nothing so nobody wanted to come with me. I recruited. I recruited Michael Redd. I recruited Joe Johnson. I recruited Chris Bosh. I recruited a lot of guys. I just didn't win. They didn't want to come to Cleveland."
James's recruiting is one of the reasons the Cavaliers are a favorite to reach the NBA finals. The path there, however, likely goes through Chicago, whom James admitted is presently a better team.
"(The Bulls) are a team that's much better than us right now just off chemistry," said James, via ESPN. "They've been together for a while, we've got a long way to go. ... You've got to go through something to create a bond; that means for the worse. We've got to lose ballgames that we think we should've won, we've got to get into an argument every now and then just to test each other out."
