TORONTO: LeBron James on Saturday dismissed as false a New York Daily News report that the Boston Celtics and Cavaliers discussed a trade centered around Kevin Love that might also bring the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony to Cleveland.
The Daily News reported there were preliminary discussions with the Knicks about expanding the deal to include Anthony, who has a no-trade clause. The Daily News said the Knicks would receive draft picks and players, and that Timofey Mozgov was believed to be one who would be included. Mozgov played for the Knicks in 2010-11 before being traded to the Denver Nuggets in a deal that moved Anthony to New York.
Asked about the report Saturday after the NBA All-Star Game practice at Ricoh Coliseum, James said: “It’s false. It’s the only thing I can look at it and say it’s false. That’s the last thing guys are worried about right now are trade talks from our team.”
The Daily News reported the talks have not progressed. The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m., and with the clock ticking on LeBron James’ prime years, Cavs General Manager David Griffin may be looking to add another piece.
James expressed concern for the plight of Anthony, one of his best friends in the league. The Knicks (23-32) are 16½ games behind the Eastern Conference-leading Cavs (38-14).
“I feel for any one of my friends,” James said. “Obviously it’s well-documented that Carmelo and Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul are my three best guys that we have around this league. I felt for CP last year in the postseason. I felt for D-Wade with all the injuries he’s had, last year having a rough season, not making the playoffs. I feel for Melo. I want the best and most high success for all three of them.”
Big 3 nostalgia
James is in his second season back in Cleveland after four years with the Miami Heat, where he won two championships with Wade and Chris Bosh. Wade said Friday it seems “way longer” than that since the three were together.
“Especially for us, we’ve been rebuilding since. LeBron went to the Finals,” Wade said.
Asked what he missed, Wade said: “It’s the bond that we shared, the knowledge we shared, the one common goal. We all want to be hall of fame players. We have a bigger goal in mind than trying to lead the league in scoring or statistics. It’s the reason we decided to team up, because of that bigger goal in mind.
“The thing I miss the most is being around every day and having conversations with guys who understand you and your life. When you don’t have it, you understand it’s an important part of overall happiness in life. We all understood each other very well and could deal with each other’s success or failures or family things or whatever we were going through a lot different than what we deal with now with younger teammates.”
Mutual respect
James has faced Spurs coach Gregg Popovich three times in the Finals and said Friday he wished he could be around him on a day-to-day basis.
“I study him a lot from the outside looking in,” James said. “I believe he’s one of the great basketball minds we’ve ever had in this game. I wish I could be around him every day to pick his brain and see what he does, what he thinks. I believe I think the game, I’m not going to say a similar fashion because he has more experience than me, but I have a high basketball IQ, too. It’s incredible to see what he does year after year after year with that franchise.”
The feeling is mutual.
“That’s very flattering for him to say that,” Popovich, coaching the Western Conference All-Stars, said Saturday. “He thinks the game. He’s not just an athlete. He understands the nuances of the game, the spatial relationships that go on. He likes the chess game that’s involved in basketball. It would be great to have that time with him.”
Getting focused
James said he doesn’t want his teammates paying attention to media criticism and plays the enforcer in that regard. He also hopes the Cavs remember what happened last season in the conference semifinals against the Chicago Bulls and against the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.
“When I come into practice every day, if there’s sports anything on, I turn it off. Because I don’t need that venom in my guys’ minds or whatever they’re talking about, if it’s good or bad,” James said.
“We need to have our blinders on to everything from the outside. There’s so much talk about what we should be, we should do this, we shouldn’t do that.
“The only thing that matters is what we come together and talk about and how we prepare every single night and our coaching staff putting us in position to win. I shouldn’t have to remind those guys that we were down 2-1 to Chicago, that we were up 2-1 in the Finals and that we could have easily lost to Chicago and we could have won in the Finals. We’ve been on both sides.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com.