INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - Some saw it as a nudge, others a challenge that LeBron James issued to Kyrie Irving at the start of training camp last season, when on the first day of practice James said the Cavs' offense was "Kyrie's show."
This season, James has done the same thing to Kevin Love. The Cavs are hopeful for similar results.
On media day and again following Wednesday's morning practice, James declared that Love's presence would allow Cleveland's superstar to spend more time resting his body on the bench.
The statement is intriguing because, for starters, Love was here last year. James' 36.1 minutes per game in 2014-15 were actually a career low, but no one credits Love for James' dip in minutes spent on the floor. In fact, Love often struggled to find his place in the offense, and those struggles were well chronicled.
Also, Love is not James' backup. That job belongs to Richard Jefferson, the 35-year-old, 14-year pro who said Wednesday he came here because of the allure of backing up James at this stage of his career.
Back to James' challenge to Irving last season. At the time he issued it, James was new to a team that had been run for the past three seasons by Irving, who was a growing star used to having the ball in his hands. James sought to diffuse a potentially sticky situation - who should run the offense, James or Irving? - by declaring it "Kyrie's show."
James showed confidence in, and demonstrated his expectations of Irving with his statement. And after some early growing pains, Irving enjoyed his most complete season, thriving next to James and posting the NBA's two highest scoring games.
James did the same thing this week with Love - a player with whom he didn't always click last season, who needs to hear that James has the utmost faith in him, and who has now been put on notice that excellence is expected.
"I just think he's more comfortable in the situation that he's in," James said Wednesday. "He's got a year under his belt, he knows what he expects out of himself and what his teammates expect out of him. I expect big things from him this year with a year up under his belt."
Love, 27, signed a five-year, $113 million contract to return to the Cavs. He's nearly recovered from shoulder surgery, necessary after Boston's Kelly Olynyk yanked Love's left arm out of place in Game 4 of a first-round playoff series.
James said Love watching the Cavs reach but lose in the Finals from the bench was a valuable experience, because it proved to Love his worth on this team.
"It gave him the opportunity to put things in perspective," James said.
Love's 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 43 percent shooting last season were near career lows. He took just 12.7 shots per game after averaging 18.5 the year before with Minnesota, with whom he posted averages of 26.1 points, 12.5 boards, and a shooting percentage of 46 percent.
Coming from the Timberwolves, where he was the first option, to a Cavaliers starting five with James and Irving, a dip in output for Love was expected. He was the third option among a Big Three that posted the highest scoring average of any trio in the NBA.
But Love often lamented his positioning within the offense, catching the ball on the perimeter instead of the block. Early in the season, James challenged Love to go to the post and demand the ball, but Cleveland's offensive schemes basically sent Love floating toward the three-point line.
On Wednesday, James said Love would "do some of the things he did prior to last year," and Cavs coach David Blatt said this summer his staff "looked for and identified ways that we can take advantage of Kev's unique skill set."
"It's the things that you run, the emphasis you place on certain things, the responsibility that you give him and he takes," Blatt said.
Love said on Tuesday he thought he'd be able to find his rhythm this season.
"I think all of us will be more comfortable with what we're trying to do out there," Love said. "I think that ... it all starts with the big man, No. 23, and it all kind of trickles down from there. I think if all the pieces fit together as we expect, we'll be a tough team to deal with."
The Cavs, and obviously James, want Love to be comfortable to the point where he can take over when James goes to the bench.
A 6-10 power forward, Love can't physically replace the 6-8, 250-pound James on the wing (that's Jefferson's job). But the offense can run more through Love on those occasions.
Last year, Love played 1,790 of his 2,531 total minutes with James on the floor, compared with 2,004 minutes with Irving. The Cavs want to get away from feeling like they can only rest James in short spurts to maintain their leads.
Cleveland never really had a true backup for James a year ago. Shawn Marion, perhaps brought in to fill that role, wound up starting 24 games - mostly at shooting guard - until General Manager David Griffin remade the roster with trades for Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith.
When Marion returned to the bench, he slipped out of the rotation. Marion, who's now retired, was limited as a shooter and scorer and didn't fit in Cleveland's floor-stretching scheme.
Jefferson, meanwhile, averaged 5.8 points per game for Dallas last season, but shot 43 percent from three-point range. He said he hopes to give the Cavs 10-12 minutes each night, though Shumpert's wrist surgery and three-month recovery could mean Jefferson sees more time.
"With LeBron and his versatility ... when you have that piece, kind of like the queen in chess, that can do everything, you realize that 'hey if I can play the four and LeBron can go to the two, somebody else can play the three or vice versa, it makes everyone's job a lot easier,'" Jefferson said.