"The real key is, we've got to try to win with him here now and keep getting better," Paxson said. "Not that (James) doesn't feel good about (the direction of the franchise), but we don't want to give him any reason not to."
In other words, every personnel move Cleveland management makes is made with the hope of pleasing LBJ.
It must be said, then, that James should be at least moderately pleased by Cleveland's recovery after the Carlos Boozer defection, with Drew Gooden, Eric Snow, Lucious Harris and Tractor Traylor among the veterans brought in to lend depth to a club that was woefully thin last season.
"It's so sweet," Silas purred, so happy to have some experience on his bench.
A lack of depth was the killer for Cleveland last spring, when Silas had no more than four or five dependable players to use as the Cavs wound up missing the playoffs by one game.
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• Senior NBA writer for ESPN.com
• Began covering the NBA in 1993-94
• Also covered soccer, tennis and the Olympics
