In 2014, LeBron James hosted an unofficial pre-training camp with the Cleveland Cavaliers in Independence, Ohio. In 2015, he did the same thing in Miami. In a couple of weeks, the Cavaliers will gather again to work out in Los Angeles, according to cleveland.com's Joe Vardon.
James has spent most of his summer in Los Angeles, as he recently bought a $21 million house in Brentwood. Many NBA players, including some Cavs, spend their offseasons in southern California anyway. Training camp doesn't actually start until late September, but around Labor Day the majority of teams will start doing things like this.
Two years ago, this gathering was about changing the Cavaliers' culture -- James has repeatedly talked about having to show his less experienced teammates how to approach the season. Now, Cleveland has won a championship, so its new challenge is to defend it. Thanks to his time with the Miami Heat, James knows a thing or two about this, too.
Tristan Thompson was not with the Cavs when they got together last summer, as he was still a free agent. J.R. Smith could be in the same position in a couple of weeks if he and the front office can't reach an agreement on a new contract. When James announced that he was re-signing with Cleveland last week, he publicly urged the team to get a deal done with Smith.
