Former Cavs coach explains how pressure was all on LeBron James in 2015-16: ‘Our team had to win’

The Cleveland Cavaliers replaced head coach David Blatt with Tyronn Lue a few months before they won the 2016 championship.

Former Cavs assistant coach James Posey recently explained how the pressure of winning a championship in the aftermath of Blatt getting fired fell on superstar LeBron James.

“In 2015-16, our team had to win,” Posey wrote for BasketballNews.com “Even with a winning record, Blatt was let go that winter and T-Lue got the head coaching job. But this was on ‘Bron’s shoulders. When you have the best player in the league, every station you turn to on TV, he’s gonna be on there and his team’s gonna be on there. It’s a circus, but it’s a good circus. Wherever ‘Bron goes, he wins. Wherever he goes, the media follows. They wanna be able to say they covered the team, even before the wins start coming, just to say they did it. ‘Bron expects to contend every year, which creates those championship expectations.”

The Cavs hired Blatt before James made his return to Cleveland in 2014.

Although the international coach led the Cavs to the 2015 NBA Finals, he struggled calling plays and acquiring the support of his players.

As a result, Lue got the promotion. Still, the pressure was on James to get the Cavs to the promised land.

Luckily, James delivered on his promise to the bring Cleveland a championship. The Cavs roared back from a 3-1 hole against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals to win their first title.

During the 2016 NBA Finals, James averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals and 2.3 blocks per game.