LeBron James Says He’s No Coach-Killer

A highly-defensive LeBron James fired back against critics of his (alleged) involvement in the firings—attempted, and otherwise—of his past coaches.

James says that he’s being unfairly targeted as the ultimate decider of these men’s fates.

LBJ claims that he will not stop voicing his opinion when it comes to basketball-related matters.

Per the Akron Beacon Journal:

“People get it so misconstrued because I’m a smart basketball player and I’ve voiced my opinion about certain things,” James said. “What do you guys want me to do? Turn my brain off because I have a huge basketball IQ? If that’s what they want me to do, I’m not going to do it because I’ve got so much to give to the game.”

 

The Cavs have been under fire for days. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, the president of the coaches association, called (David) Blatt’s firing an embarrassment. Spurs coach Gregg (Popovich) took a shot at Cavs general manager David Griffin after the Spurs were pounded by the Warriors on Monday. […] “I’m just glad my general manager wasn’t in the locker room,” Popovich quipped, “because it might have gotten me fired.”

 

“If I feel I got something that will help our team, ultimately, I like to give it. It helped me get two titles,” James said. “But I think it does suck that people want to throw my name in dirt for no particular reason, because of speculation or whatever the case may be. […] But you can’t worry about it too much. I got 14 guys here. I got a fan base here and a fan base all over the world that loves what I do and they respect what I do and I can’t worry about a select group of people that want to use their negative energy to take away my positive energy. I can’t allow that to happen.”