LeBron James and Tyronn Lue spoke the same basketball terminology and Lue was able to push James on an intellectual level with his on-court decisions.
Lue matches James in terms of his basketball IQ and that automatically garnered respect whereas David Blatt struggled at times on that level during his tenure.
"I knew what he was capable of," James told cleveland.com. "I've had a long history with Coach Lue. ... I just always believed he was ready for the moment if the moment presented itself. I was just hoping we didn't lose him to another team. That was my thing, because I knew he was next in line [for a head job]. I was just hoping we didn't lose him to somebody else and obviously he's shown how valuable he is."
The results have borne out James' assessment.
"Just look at him. Look at how we respond to him," James Jones said. "You can tell a lot about a person by the way people respond to them. On this team, guys are laying it on the line. I don't know if you notice in games, but our guys are reaching levels physically that they haven't reached in two years.
"He connects with us and he's done a great job of helping us connect the dots and see the plan, the vision and how every step is necessary."