How do you think IT and Lebron will work together?

[jpotter33]

Personally, I don't see them working together very well at all, especially since IT is coming off a major injury and it's his contract year when he's looking to get paid.

I think there's going to be a steep learning curve there that I'm not sure they will be able to overcome in one year. And that's not even counting their defense, which will probably be even worse than last year now.

How do you think they'll work together?

[max215]

Extremely well. As we've seen, IT might be most dangerous when operating off-ball. He's also a better and more willing passer than Kyrie, which might make him a superior complement to LeBron. If the pairing doesn't work out, it'll be because IT's hip isn't right, not because he's incompatible with LeBron.

[Eja117]

Very very very well

With IT having Bron to distract defenses.....back up the Brinks truck

[cman88]

I think fine. IT4 was the main focal point of the C's and did fine. Now he will have LeBron to take pressure off him. As stated above. if they don't mesh it will be because of his hip.

[jpotter33]

Extremely well. As we've seen, IT might be most dangerous when operating off-ball. He's also a better and more willing passer than Kyrie, which might make him a superior complement to LeBron. If the pairing doesn't work out, it'll be because IT's hip isn't right, not because he's incompatible with LeBron.

I just do not see this rationale at all. IT was always good, but he was never great until he became the centerpiece of the offense, which won't be the case in Cleveland.

And regarding the off the ball stuff, I think that's largely overblown. While he was capable of playing off the ball in short spurts, we didn't really utilize him off the ball all that much. And it was generally out of necessity due to playing with Smart and not having another true scoring threat in the team.

I think people will be surprised how much IT's game will dwindle with a lesser role in Cleveland. Our offense was absolutely tailor-made for IT to excel in. He's probably still right at a 20 ppg scorer in Cleveland, but he's nowhere near the elite offensive star he was last year in Boston.

[CelticSooner]

So now we are going to bash the dude since he'll be wearing a different jersey next season? If healthy I don't expect the Cavs to miss a beat offensively. LeBron will let IT does his thing will taking a back seat during the season. The amount of focus LeBron leaves for everyone else will only make it that much easier. His numbers will probably dip because there is only one ball but I don't see a huge transition for them. That team will be highly motivated more so than last year. It's all in with potentially one last hurrah.

A better question would be is how well Kyrie and Hayward work together? As good as Kyrie is he's even more ball dominant than IT is. Will he sink or drown without such a entire focus of LeBron next to him. I think he's a tad overrated by himself. Replace LeBron with Jimmy Butler last season in the ECF and the C's are playing GS IMO. He's never been one to strike the fear of god into me like this:

[Roy H.]

No worse than Lebron and Kyrie worked together. In other words it's, pretty dang well.  With IT's ability to get to the line, they may work even better.

[BringToughnessBack]

One of my Cleveland friends just thanked me for this trade. He said we bailed them out as no other teams were willing to part with as much as we did. He loves Crowder being added and thinks IT will work great with Lebron. Also loves the pick. Trading for a star player with heart for a star malcontent seemed like a win for his side. He thought the Cavs were going to be lucky to get a few super  good players let alone a top draft pick and a star plus solid energy player.  A player like IT that has the heart of a lion and amazing talent will do amazing with Lebron unless hip is a factor.

[Tr1boy]

Short lived ....

IT4 and Nets pick I predict will be dealt by the trade deadline

[Celtics4ever]

I think they will get along as well as humanly possible to get along with LeBron.   That means deferring to the KING in all matters.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Extremely well. As we've seen, IT might be most dangerous when operating off-ball. He's also a better and more willing passer than Kyrie, which might make him a superior complement to LeBron. If the pairing doesn't work out, it'll be because IT's hip isn't right, not because he's incompatible with LeBron.

I just do not see this rationale at all. IT was always good, but he was never great until he became the centerpiece of the offense, which won't be the case in Cleveland.

And regarding the off the ball stuff, I think that's largely overblown. While he was capable of playing off the ball in short spurts, we didn't really utilize him off the ball all that much. And it was generally out of necessity due to playing with Smart and not having another true scoring threat in the team.

I think people will be surprised how much IT's game will dwindle with a lesser role in Cleveland. Our offense was absolutely tailor-made for IT to excel in. He's probably still right at a 20 ppg scorer in Cleveland, but he's nowhere near the elite offensive star he was last year in Boston.

You can make a similar comment about Kyrie - he did nothing prior to LeBron's arrival.  While Kyrie's game is flashy and cute, IT has demonstrated more consistent scoring.

[CelticSooner]

I think they will get along as well as humanly possible to get along with LeBron.   That means deferring to the KING in all matters.

I don't think IT will defer to LeBron and let him run over him if it came to it. While small IT is an alpha himself. Would be headbutting like anywhere else but respect deep down.

[jpotter33]

Extremely well. As we've seen, IT might be most dangerous when operating off-ball. He's also a better and more willing passer than Kyrie, which might make him a superior complement to LeBron. If the pairing doesn't work out, it'll be because IT's hip isn't right, not because he's incompatible with LeBron.

I just do not see this rationale at all. IT was always good, but he was never great until he became the centerpiece of the offense, which won't be the case in Cleveland.

And regarding the off the ball stuff, I think that's largely overblown. While he was capable of playing off the ball in short spurts, we didn't really utilize him off the ball all that much. And it was generally out of necessity due to playing with Smart and not having another true scoring threat in the team.

I think people will be surprised how much IT's game will dwindle with a lesser role in Cleveland. Our offense was absolutely tailor-made for IT to excel in. He's probably still right at a 20 ppg scorer in Cleveland, but he's nowhere near the elite offensive star he was last year in Boston.

You can make a similar comment about Kyrie - he did nothing prior to LeBron's arrival.  While Kyrie's game is flashy and cute, IT has demonstrated more consistent scoring.

Kyrie was also in his late teens and very early twenties when that happened, and those Cavs teams had significantly less talent than virtually every one of IT's teams (he was always playing with someone like Cousins, Dragic, etc.).

And I'm not sure why you think IT has demonstrated more consistent scoring. Kyrie has been a consistent 20 ppg scorer every year other than his rookie year (when he averaged 18.5). IT has only done it three times in his career, and Kyrie averages 2.5 more points per game than IT for his career. And if you take away this last year, which is largely an aberration in IT's career, the gap grows even larger.

I think the fact that IT was a fan-favorite and Kyrie was on the Cavs has really warped the narrative and perspective on both of these players. Yeah, IT had the better year last year, but Kyrie is clearly the better overall player.

[Who]

Brilliantly. Just like Mo Williams + LeBron James back in the day.

[mmmmm]

More important for Cleveland might be that Thomas will likely work well with Kevin Love.

While the Cavs have tended to do well with Kevin and Kyrie on the floor (after all, Lebron has been on the floor most of that time), they've done notably better with Kevin on and Kyrie off. 

And it always seemed there was some sort of tension there.

Thomas and Love both know each other from being roomies during AAU days and are supposedly good friends.

As for the specific question, I don't really see any reason to think that Thomas won't function well with Lebron unless his hip truly is a problem.

If Thomas' hip ends up fully healed and he resumes his prior form, then the Cavs lineup looks to be very, very dangerous and could be difficult to get through.  Not only will they have arguable a similarly strong starting 5 as last year (just replacing KI with IT), they will have a stronger bench with Crowder a likely 6th man.   He solves some key problems for them in that area by being a better defender than Korver and a better shooter than Shumpert.