Hoiberg: Payne needs to have 'best summer of his life'
With Cristiano Felicio healthy once again, Bulls guard Cameron Payne joined Dwyane Wade on the inactive list for Thursday's game against Cleveland.
The Bulls acquired Payne from Oklahoma City with the idea he'll be a piece for the future. Before the game, coach Fred Hoiberg was asked if he's seen enough from Payne to make any judgments.
"From playing in a couple D-League games, he did show some things that you get excited about," Hoiberg said. "He's done some things in practice that show he's really got a chance to be a player. I just had a conversation with him about how important it is to finish out the season the right way, whether he's getting minutes or not and then having a great offseason getting himself ready for next season."
In three games with the Windy City Bulls in the past week, Payne averaged 18.7 points, 7.7 assists and 6.0 rebounds. The Bulls won all three games. Hoiberg wasn't ready to commit to Payne playing for the Bulls' summer league squad.
"Going into the third year, it's very important to have the best summer of his life to get him ready to come in and battle for a spot in the rotation in next year's camp," Hoiberg said. "I think the biggest thing is having him around and making sure we have him with our strength guys."
Cavs stuck on repeat:
The Cavaliers haven't played well this month and LeBron James talked about the pressure of trying to follow Cleveland's first NBA championship.
"I've been in this position (in Miami) where you had to try to repeat, so I know what it takes," James told reporters at the morning shootaround. "I know how taxing it can be from the standpoint of the competition gets motivated to play you every night.
"You can't shortcut it. You have that feeling of what it felt like to win a championship, but you have to get back to the point where you're thinking, 'How hard did it take for us to get there.' It's human nature sometimes to kind of take a step backward. But for us, if we want to be in a position where we want to be legendary, then you throw that to the side and understand you have to take this process very seriously."
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue took a more direct approach on the same topic.
"There's no nights off," he said. "We get mad a lot of time when teams play great against us and then the next night they can't make a shot. But that's just how it is."
James on Wade:
LeBron James on whether he needed to counsel Dwyane Wade to help him get through his late-season elbow injury.
"Me and D-Wade talk all the time," James said. "We probably all talk 3 to 4 times a week. He's the oldest of the crew between me, him, CP3 (Chris Paul) and 'Melo (Carmelo Anthony). Nobody counsels him. He knows what he's doing."