In the middle of the 2015-16 season, the Cavs fired David Blatt as head coach and promoted associate head coach Tyronn Lue to fill the vacancy. It was Lue's first head coaching gig and he was put in charge of LeBron James.
The first call Lue made, according to ESPN, was to James' former coach with the Heat, Erik Spoelstra.
Now that James has moved on from the Cavs to the Lakers, Lue is paying it forward as he will meet with Lakers head coach Luke Walton Monday in Las Vegas. Both coaches are attending the NBA Summer League.
What is Lue planning to tell Walton about James? He shared that with ESPN on Monday.
"I just want to let him know, the s--- that people say and you read, Bron's not like that. Like, they make it seem like he's hard on the coach, he's hard on [the organization]. He's nothing like that. That's the most important thing I want to convey with him: that he's not like that. My biggest thing is the zoo comes from just the outside media. It's really not coming from within because everybody he deals with -- Maverick [Carter], Randy [Mims], all those guys -- are professional. So it won't be no problem from any of those guys, and Bron carries himself the right way. So the biggest part is just having to deal with the media scrutiny. But he's not like that. I don't want people thinking Bron's an a------ or Bron's this and that because he's not."
James announced on July 1 that he had agreed to a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers. After 15 seasons in the Eastern Conference, it will be his first venture out west.
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Walton is entering his third season as the Lakers head coach. Prior to taking the job in Los Angeles, he spent two season as an assistant coach for Steve Kerr. During his time with the Warriors, Walton stepped in when Kerr dealt with the side effects from back surgery and guided the Warriors to a 39-4 mark before Kerr returned to the bench.
