While speaking on an Israeli sports talk radio show Tuesday evening, Heat minority owner Raanan Katz had some harsh words for LeBron James.Katz said James caused the Heat to make poor roster moves during James' four seasons in Miami. While the Heat appeared in the NBA Finals in each of the four seasons and won two championships, Katz said the Heat were not prepared for James to return to the Cavaliers.
"LeBron screwed us badly," Katz said during a panel discussion,
via Bleacher Report. "We made the wrong decisions because of LeBron James — he told us to draft a point guard (Shabazz Napier) who didn't meet the expectations, but we chose him because that's what LeBron wanted."
James has been accused of getting David Blatt fired as the Cavaliers coach on Friday despite owning the best record in the Eastern Conference. Katz said James tried to do the same with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
"David Blatt's main problem was LeBron's attitude," Katz said. "I sat courtside during all the games Cleveland played in Miami. I was a few feet away from the Cavaliers' bench and I heard everything.
"With the Miami Heat, LeBron James — before and after his four seasons when his contract was up with the team — made it clear that he wanted to dump head coach Erik Spoelstra. At one point, (Heat president) Pat Riley called LeBron into his office and said that no one will tell him how to run the organization. Riley told James that Spoelstra is his guy and that firing Spoelstra is out of the question. That was the main reason LeBron returned to Cleveland."
Katz later backtracked during the Heat's 102-98 win over the Nets on Tuesday night by saying James "never tried to get Spo fired." Katz claims his actual quote was
incorrectly translated from Hebrew to English and he conveyed that to Heat management.
Katz also reportedly has little to no contact with anybody on the team,
according to ESPN.