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LeBron James warned his new Philadelphia 76ers teammates on Monday that they must work hard on repetitive tasks and escape their comfort zones in order to achieve greatness.
NBA all-time scoring leader James, preparing for his record 24th season after signing a two-year deal with the Sixers last July, wants to bring Philadelphia its first NBA title since 1983.
“Everybody is kind of on the same page,” James said. “We want to put the work in. That’s most important.”
“Everyone is highly motivated to get 1% better every single day… Everyone is excited to be here and that’s exciting to be a part of.”
James, a four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, and ex-Boston star Jaylen Brown join Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe in a formidable lineup.
But James, who turns 42 in December, said camaraderie and changes will take time to produce results.
“If we’re trying to do something special, which I believe we are, it’s a positive,” James said.
“So many guys in our league over the course of my career have never made a sacrifice. They average 20, 22 points a game and they have one or two post-season appearances and zero post-season wins.
“I don’t think anybody in the locker room wants their career to be like that, or we wouldn’t be here.”
James won titles with Miami, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers by knowing not to expect “instant oatmeal” blending.
“It’s going to take time. People sometimes don’t want to work. They want instant oatmeal,” James said.
“If you want to do something special, it takes time, every single day doing things you may not want to do, because it’s the same thing over and over and over and over.”
“For us to be great, we have to do things that are just not comfortable. We have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s the best way to expedite being great.”
“If we do that, we can be a great team. If we don’t do that, we’ll be like, ‘Oh, it was a great team on paper and we had a lot of great talent and we lost in the second round.'”
“I don’t want to do that. I didn’t leave my family to lose in the second round; I know that for sure. Work needs to be done and I’m ready to put the work in.”
James is ready for a variety of roles in helping the team adapt.
“Whatever the team needs for me to do,” he said. “The luxury of my game is that I can do everything. Literally, I can do everything.
“I have a lot of experience in this game. I hope I can bring that experience, bring that knowledge, bring that blueprint to guys trying to accomplish some things they haven’t done in their career.”
“I hope every single day with my approach to the game, to the work, can translate to every single guy. Looking forward to that challenge.”
He advised teammates to keep an emotional balance to outside critics.
“The work we put in will take care of itself,” he said. “Everything going on out there does not matter at all. It’s about the results and things that happen in this building.
“If you have this championship approach every day, it will definitely work in our favour.”
James, who said his “great” relationship with Maxey was “one of the main deciding factors” in picking the Sixers over four other possible clubs, hopes to help 2024 US Olympic gold medal teammate Embiid win his first NBA crown.