LeBron James, Tyronn Lue Comment on Star’s Minutes, Health, Conditioning

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James is preparing for his 14th NBA season and a title defense with his hometown team.

Head coach Tyronn Lue, who is entering his first full season as the leader on the Cavaliers bench, is focused on keeping James as fresh as possible throughout the 2016-17 season, as he told the media Wednesday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:

I’ve looked at the schedule. Just seeing what makes sense and what’s smart when playing four-in-five type of nights. Can’t run our guys into the ground. We have to be smart, understand we have to take care of our bodies and take care of our key guys. Make sure that when we get to the playoffs we’re ready to go. 

My thing is just making sure guys are healthy, continue to limit LeBron’s minutes, and he was at an all-time low last year.

While there aren’t any stretches of the schedule that force the Cavaliers to play four games in five nights, there are a number of instances in which James and Co. will be playing three games in four nights. According to McMenamin, they also have “two five-in-seven stretches.”

For a team that’s again favored to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals—with 3-1 odds to win its second …

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