You think Mike Miller realizes what he’s signed up for over the next several months?
One wonders given Miller’s remarks this week about how the nature of recruiting and the win-now-at-all cost mentality that now permeates the league has transformed the NBA game into even more of a pressure cooker situation than it’s always been.
“LeBron makes things easy,” said Miller, speaking from the experience of having won back-to-back titles with the four-time league MVP in Miami. “Cleveland is a hard-working city, and winning a championship takes a lot of hard work… it’s going to be crazy this year and we understand that. ‘Championship or bust’ makes basketball not as fun as it should be.”
It’s not as if the 14-year, former Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of The Year Award winner hasn’t known and conquered burdensome circumstances before, it’s just that James returning to Cleveland to face the challenge of raising banners in his hometown stands to raise matters to a whole other level, one arguably not matched in terms of sheer drama since the days of Michael Jordan making a similarly heroic return from the couches of retirement to again lead the Bulls to the heights of a historical three peat.
On Tuesday, the Cavs officially added Miller and James Jones to the equation for their marksmanship and calculations are Kevin Love, Shawn Marion and Chauncey Billups could all be on the way for their basketball savvy, toughness, and leadership.
Indeed, nothing is left to chance for teams built to win now in the world of the new-age NBA, particularly when you have the added advantage of boasting the game’s best and most versatile talent as part of the attack.
“The process is where you build the chemistry to sustain success,” said Jones, a player, who like Miller joined James on those Heat-title winning squads. “It’s a lot tougher than it looks.”
But the potential reward seems to make all the risk worth it and, as such, there seems no shortage of those willing to join The King in his newfound journey.
Added a resolved and battle-tested Miller, “a championship is our goal.”
