Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James believes this season is a bigger challenge than it was to win his first NBA title. In a candid interview, James discussed the "burden" of leading this young Cavaliers team to a championship.
The new-look Cavaliers are still building team chemistry and adapting to the new offense of first-year coach David Blatt. As Cleveland's Big Three - James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving - continue to figure out what role each of them will play, the Cavaliers sit at 5-5 to the surprise of many.
For James, this is his most challenging season yet.
"This is more challenging than me trying to win my first championship," he told ESPN on Wednesday. "Because that was a personal goal of mine. Doing this was never a goal until I decided to come back to Cleveland. ... I've taken on the burden of leading young guys, getting them to understand what it takes to win. And it takes more than just basketball.
"It's about being a professional, not having a sense of entitlement, being grateful that you're a part of this league. Those things have a lot to do with winning."
James also said it'd take some time for Cleveland's core of holdovers - Irving, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, to name a few - to break a number of bad habits.
"It's going to take a while. When you're losing, you pick up a lot of bad habits," James said. "When you walk into the building every night and don't even expect to win, that wears on you, and it takes a while to break it."
Many predicted defense to be the weakest part of Cleveland's game, and so far they've been correct. Cleveland doesn't have a true rim-protector, and the kind of team defense needed to overcome that deficiency in the paint is based on chemistry and needs time to grow.
The season is still young, and with 72 games left in the regular season, the Cavaliers are likely to get hot when it matters the most.
