Nobody will be there, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown thought as he left the house early one morning last May.
It was a few days after Cleveland's disappointing season ended with a bitter loss to the Boston Celtics. The Cavaliers had dispersed to Cancun, the French Riviera and other vacation spots for rejuvenation and reflection.
Brown was headed to the team's plush training compound with his son, Elijah. Time for some father-son bonding with nobody around but security guards.
But as the Browns walked in the door, the lights were on in the gym. And as they neared the courts, they heard the thump, thump, thump of a basketball kissing hardwood.
One Cavalier stayed home.
LeBron James was already back at work.
"I said, 'See, LeBron doesn't just show up at the games with his Superman outfit on,"' Brown recalled telling his impressionable boy. "He works harder than anyone. That's why he's LeBron."
And since that spring day, James, the NBA's most unstoppable force, hasn't ceased working.
The likely MVP for this season is beyond driven, more like obsessed.
"I have never seen LeBron more focused and more determined," said Maverick Carter, James' business partner and lifelong friend.
Motivated to win his first title and deliver one to a sports-obsessed region -- his home -- that has waited 45 years to sip championship champagne in any major U.S. sport, the 24-year-old superstar has the Cavaliers on the cusp of greatness.
"The goal since day one has been a championship," James said. "Nothing less."
And if his play in Cleveland's first-round playoff obliteration of Detroit is any indication -- he almost averaged a triple-double in the four-game sweep -- James will settle for nothing less than winning everything.
When last season's Eastern Conference finals finished in a Game 7 loss at Boston, James stormed off the court without making congratulatory handshakes or good-luck hugs or a word. He was disgusted. Never again, James promised himself.
His 45-point performance, overshadowed by Paul Pierce's 41 in the Celtics' triumph, wasn't enough to get the Cavaliers back to the finals. The team had underachieved and never gelled following general manager Danny Ferry's massive roster overhaul at the trading deadline.
James needed help, and at the postgame news conference he indirectly ordered Ferry to get him some. James then set out to change himself.
He took two days off and then was right back at Cleveland's opulent, 50,000-square-foot (4,600-square-meter) facility, located a short drive from James' almost-as-big mansion. The Beijing Olympics were looming, and if an NBA championship wasn't in his cards, well, he was getting that gold medal.
For the first time in his career, James got serious about weightlifting and developed a program he has stuck to this season. He lifts for up to 30 minutes before each game and has added at least 10 pounds (4 1/2 kilograms) of muscle. He also added yoga to his routine.
With Cavaliers assistant coach Chris Jent's help, James began reconstructing his jumper. He spent five days a week, two hours per session, refining his outside shot, still the weakest area of his immaculate game. James finished the regular season shooting a career-high 49 percent.
Like Tiger Woods teeing off balls for hours on the driving range, James took thousands of shots in practice.
Fans "just see the fantastic plays and his God-given ability," Jent said. "They don't understand that there were kinks in the armor and he wanted to figure them out. He wanted to straighten them out and he wanted to be better and the only way to do it is by working.
"When things are going good he works, and when things are bad, he works harder."
James has made his greatest strides on defense. Often guarding the other team's best player -- something he rarely did in past years -- he has become a ferocious stopper. His chase-down blocks now rival his dunks for air time on TV highlights, and he finished second to Orlando's Dwight Howard for NBA defensive player of the year.
He improved his defense by making it a priority.
James' passion to play has rubbed off on all the Cavaliers.
After practice, this tight-knit team of gym rats practices some more.
"We enjoy each other's company and it shows," James said. "Nobody wants to go home."
Once Brown is done with them, the Cavaliers often hang out and play shooting games, try to one-up each other with trick shots and fool around like a bunch of teenagers crashing a parent-less house after school.
Their ringleader and head clown, the one usually with his shirt off doubling over in laughter, is also their best player. He's also the one recently forced to do push-ups after badly losing a 3-point contest.
"I hate to lose in anything," James said. "I invented that game and I've lost one time -- I was upset about it."
Recently named coach of the year, Brown feels blessed to coach the self-motivated James, whose selflessness has inspired teammates, coaches, front office personnel -- everyone around him -- to do more.
"He sets the tone for the culture here," Brown said. "I could preach all day, 'Hey, get 1,000 extra shots and stay late and do this and that. Guys aren't going to do it unless it's required or they're faced with fines. We don't have anything like that here.
"Because with a guy like LeBron, everybody follows."
