MIAMI - On the mourning after, the soul searching would begin for LeBron James.
And where it leads him will ultimately define what kind of player this sublimely talented baller will become.
In the immediate aftermath of Miami’s six-game elimination to the Dallas Mavericks, TV analyst and former head coach Jeff Van Gundy made an interesting observation when he floated the idea of Miami getting involved in the Dwight Howard sweepstakes.
Is it possible two of the most dominant players of their generation can get traded for each other?
The short answer is that anything is possible, even Miami learning from its bitter disappointment and stunning exit to return next season, whenever that is, a better team.
But here’s the point Van Gundy and others have made: Miami needs better balance, a deficiency that was exposed by a more balanced, more cohesive, more poised and more veteran Dallas team.
Too often in the final, James stood around waiting for something to happen as opposed to initiating and attacking.
When the ball gets swung side to side, it’s easy to describe it as good ball movement, only Miami appeared unwilling or unable to make plays by attacking the rim.
Had Miami lost the final in a more dignified manner, it would not be viewed as failure.
But when a team loses three games in a row, yields more than 100 points in the final two games and when your team’s best two players in James and Dwyane Wade are turnover-prone, no better word encapsulates the loss than failure.
“I’m not going to hang my head low,’’ said James. “I know how much work as a team we put into it. I know how much work individually that I’ve put into it, when you guys are not around. That’s something people don’t see.
“I think you can never hang your head low when you know how much work, how much dedication you put into the game of basketball when the lights are off and the cameras are not on.”
James has to find a way to be much more active off the ball, learn how to come off screens and take all this criticism and use it to become mentally stronger.
Something was definitely amiss with James against Dallas, his fourth-quarter struggles and inability to get to the free throw line the most obvious areas to surface.
“Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don’t, and that was this case in this series,” said James.
“The only thing that weighs on me is when I don’t perform well for my teammates and the guys that I play for every day.
“That’s the only thing that weighs on me because I take pride in going out there and doing the things that need to be done to help my teammates win. That’s it.”
Two trips to the NBA final, two losses for two teams under different circumstances and backdrops.
James has won two NBA MVP awards since Cleveland’s loss to San Antonio in the 2007 final, but now comes the hard part of transforming a mindset that requires a player of James’ ilk to impose his will in the fourth quarter of a championship series, an ability Dirk Nowitzki clearly demonstrated.
“Any time you feel like you get to the top of the mountain and you fall off, that’s definitely a personal failure,” added James.
“I’ve been in this league eight years. There’s no distractions that can stop me from trying to chase an NBA championship. Not you guys, not anything that goes on that’s not focused on my team and my teammates and what we’re out there to do, what we set out to do.
“I work hard to try to put myself in position to play at a high level. When you go out on the court, does the ball always go in? Absolutely not. But the one thing I know, I never hold my head low in saying I didn’t do it the right way or I wish I would have did this. It’s not about that.
“I put a lot of hard work into this season individually. We all did. So we have nothing to hang our heads low (about). Just use this as extra motivation to help myself become a better player for next year.”
frank.zicarelli@sunmedia.ca
