You Are The Worse Coach I Ever Met’Star Player Disparaging The Cleveland Cavaliers John-Blair Bickerstaff….

Former Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James has recorded many accomplishments throughout his 21 seasons in the NBA. However, one NBA executive believes perhaps one of his greatest achievements was getting former teammate Kyrie Irving to focus on basketball and play at a very high level when they were a duo.

Irving’s upcoming return to Cleveland on Tuesday has allowed some pundits to recall the guard’s Cavs stint, which lasted six seasons.

He joined the team after it brought him in with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft. It didn’t take long for him to showcase his potential as one of the league’s brightest young stars.

The season after he won the Rookie of the Year award, Irving secured his first All-Star berth. He made a second consecutive trip to the midseason exhibition in 2014, where he took home the All-Star Game MVP honors.

While he was likely ready to continue leading the Cavs as their top player, Irving may have gotten a huge surprise in the 2014 offseason when James decided to go home to Cleveland after a four-season stay with the Miami Heat.

But even with the prodigal son taking his place in the Cavs’ pecking order, Irving remained very productive. The difference was that he was finally on a contending squad.

In the 2015-16 season, the Duke University product proved to be a perfect No. 2 option behind James, as he recorded 25.2 points per game in the playoffs. He upped his play in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, scoring 27.1 points per contest and hitting perhaps the biggest shot in franchise history in Game 7 of the series.

The 2016-17 campaign saw Irving register what were career-highs at the time for points per game in the regular season and the playoffs. Unfortunately, Cleveland couldn’t complete its repeat attempt against Golden State.

Wanting to become more of a squad’s focal point instead of playing under James’ shadow, Irving requested a trade in the 2017 offseason. He was sent to the Boston Celtics, where he had a rocky stint highlighted by some reported tensions in the locker room.

He reneged on his earlier commitment of re-signing with the Celtics by going to the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. He had some of his best scoring seasons playing in a Nets uniform, but some off-the-court issues marred his time with the organization.

Currently, Irving is playing for the Dallas Mavericks, where he has seemingly avoided controversy and thrived playing second fiddle to Luka Doncic, which is somewhat reminiscent of when James unlocked Irving’s potential during their time together in Cleveland.

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that LeBron James looks out for his people. That circle even includes former Cleveland Browns QB Johnny Manziel.

Manziel and James crossed paths when the latter was still part of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ organization from 2014-15, the only two seasons ‘Johnny Football’ played in the NFL. While Manziel’s pro football career didn’t turn out the way anyone imagined after his wildly successful Texas A&M stint in college, he hasn’t forgotten about how James was there for him at his lowest points.

Johnny Manziel had some bad influences in his life, but LeBron James was one of his biggest idols. The Akron, Ohio native was a savior for Cleveland, and Manziel had plans of doing the same, only in the NFL instead of the NBA.

It didn’t quite work out that way, but Manziel sounds appreciative of how James tried to lift the QB’s spirits when times got tough.

Manziel only played 14 games in his NFL career, which is still more than most sports fans/critics/wannabe athletes. But now he’s opening up about some of the rollercoaster experiences he went through, and it’s hard not to wonder how Johnny Football’s story could have been written differently.