Wednesday, October 29, 2008

LeBron: There's always work

Several good quotes from and about LeBron James in USA Today's NBA Preview issue yesterday:

Cavs head coach Mike Brown: "If I'm putting LeBron up on the film session or if I'm getting on LeBron about not doing this or not doing that, his teammates see how he takes it, how he accepts it and how he tries to get better from it. It makes it easier for me to go to our seventh player and say, 'Get your behind in gear.' "

Teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas: "A lot of times, people see him step on the court and do the things that he does and go, 'Wow.' What they don't see is 99% of the work that goes in before the game, the hours and hours in film session he spends, the hours in the weight room, the hours he spends shooting before practice, the hours shooting after practice."

Teammate Daniel Gibson: "He always wants to be first. He hates to lose no matter what we're doing. He wants to win at everything."

James on his desire to win an NBA title: "I'm at a point in my career now, if I don't win an NBA championship, it's a failure."

James on his willingness to learn: "I don't know everything. Coach (Mike) Brown has been in this game for a long time. We've got assistants who've been around long before I was born or ever thought about … basketball."

James on his game: "I'm not the greatest of shooters. I'm not the greatest defender. I'm not the greatest rebounder or the greatest scorer. I got everything in my game that can add up to a complete basketball player. There's always work. … There's not one thing that sticks out in my game that somebody can say, 'Well, we're going to let him do this all night and we'll be able to stop him.' Can't stop me."