Before the Cleveland Cavaliers' first practice of the preseason, LeBron James held a players only meeting for 30 minutes in which he discussed every player from fellow All-Stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to training camp invitations who may not make the team.

David Blatt was anxious to start practice, but he gave James his blessing to hold the meeting beforehand.

"I was looking like, 'Wow.' That's crazy that he broke down every individual thing he wants guys to do," Dion Waiters said. "He wrote down every player from the guy in training camp who may be here or may not be here. …It was unbelievable. It was great."

Said Anderson Varejao: "He used to talk individually to the players before, but not like that."

The Cavaliers have noticed a major rise in leadership from James.

"I recruited [before] I left here," James said. "I just didn't win nothing so nobody wanted to come with me. I recruited. I recruited Michael Redd. I recruited Joe Johnson. I recruited Chris Bosh. I recruited a lot of guys. I just didn't win. They didn't want to come to Cleveland."