Tyronn Lue on coaching LeBron James, Cavaliers: 'It's the hardest job, by far'

Coaching the greatest player alive is apparently harder than it looks

Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich are generally considered to be three of the best coaches in NBA history -- but they also coached some of the best players of all time.

Auerbach had Bill Russell and Bob Cousy. Phil Jackson had Michael Jordan, then Kobe and Shaq. Popovich had Tim Duncan. The debate rages as to whether those coaches would have been considered great if they hadn't been fortunate enough to coach some of the game's best players.

But according to Cavs coach Tyronn Lue, just because you have really good players -- even one of the best of all time -- doesn't make your job easy.

"It's the hardest job, by far," Lue said on ESPN's NBA Lockdown podcast. "It's the hardest job. But I've been through a lot of tough things in my life anyway, and I just try not to listen to the outside noise -- to the media and what they have to say. As long as I have the support of [Cavs general manager] David Griffin, [principal owner] Dan Gilbert, my players, the city of Cleveland, the state of Ohio, as long as I have that support, that's all that matters."

Lue went on to explain that the media scrutiny that comes with coaching one of the NBA's best teams -- and LeBron James -- is a lot to handle.

"That's why I know that the media has to do what they have to do, because when you rest [LeBron], they cry, 'Oh, he should play! [Michael] Jordan would never sit!' And then you play him 42 minutes: 'He's playing too much!' Like, what? So if you don't play, you mad. If you play too much, you mad. ... And I've come to the realization that it is what it is. That's why I just try to tune the outside noise out."

Some coaches who struggle to put five competent players on the court every night would probably revel in the opportunity to suffer through the media attention that comes with coaching an NBA championship team featuring LeBron, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. But that doesn't mean that Lue's comments are off base.

Oftentimes coaching in the NBA is just as much about managing personalities and egoes as it is Xs and Os, so the argument can definitely be made that the better team -- and players -- you have, the more difficult your job becomes.

Lue has certainly made it look easy this postseason, however, with the Cavs still undefeated heading into Wednesday's Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors.