LeBron James

LeBron James celebrates from the bench after Cleveland scored against the Golden State on Friday.

(Ben Margot)

OAKLAND, Calif. – LeBron James' return season with the Cavaliers is off to a rocky beginning.

Too much has happened, the pile of evidence is too high, to really argue the contrary. It starts with the record through 37 games: 19 wins, 18 losses – the latest a 112-94 setback to the Golden State Warriors.

Those losses – so many, in fact, that Cleveland is now in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind Milwaukee – can be tied directly to James' nagging injuries. James sat out his career-high eighth game Friday night with a bad back and left knee.

The Cavs are 1-7 in the games he's missed, though in most they had other key players missing, too.

James' injuries are now also being used to explain why his on-court performance hasn't always passed the eye test this year, even though his stats suggest otherwise.

The now 30-year-old James is averaging 25.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 7.6 assists, but doesn't jump as high, or as often, nor does he blow past defenders with his usual consistency or flood the passing lanes on defense.

The Cavaliers have played in two highly-charged, emotional games – his second Cleveland debut after four years away in the season opener, and his return to Miami on Christmas Day – and lost both. The best anyone can say about James' relationship with first-year coach David Blatt is that it's "growing"; though James' myriad statements and occasionally poor body language suggest there's much room to grow.

And there's been some strange stories lately, from whispers about James' future in Cleveland, to a viral Internet clip of something he said or didn't say to Dwyane Wade, to his three-day retreat to Miami to rehab his injuries this week.

That's the case against him, in a nutshell.

But as James gets closer to returning to the court, he has the full support of a locker room that envisions him having the kind of second half the Cavs expected when he declared he was coming home July 11. It was an announcement that set off a chain of events which made this team a favorite to win an NBA title.

James sounds as though he could return even sooner than the Jan. 15 target date the Cavaliers set for him on New Year's Day.

"LeBron's more committed than I've ever seen him. That's all I need to know," said Mike Miller, who played with James for three seasons in Miami and signed as a free agent to rejoin him in Cleveland.

In interviews with four of the five or so Cavaliers who know James best – Miller, James Jones, Tristan Thompson and Kyrie Irving – a picture emerges of a star player and team that are together, even though their record and their in-game play doesn't necessarily reflect it.

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James celebrates from the sideline after a score against the Golden State Warriors Friday night.

They said the team's younger players are benefiting from being around a two-time champion, four-time MVP and 10-time All-Star who has played in five Finals.

The Cavs, though losers of four straight and seven of eight, are primed for a quick recovery, they say, because of trades to add Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, and because No. 23 is about to rejoin the fray.

"It's been definitely a blessing" to have James on the Cavaliers, said Thompson, 23, who works out with James over the summer and like him is represented by agent Rich Paul.

"Especially once he decided to come back, how early he was in the gym and rounded up all the guys to come in early. That shows leadership and shows his determination to win and get back to where he was in Miami in terms of where they finished every year."

For Thompson, the moment that stands out is a game on Oct. 31, Cleveland's second game and first win of the year. One night after the emotional letdown in the season-opening loss to the Knicks, James scored 36 points in an overtime thriller in Chicago in which Thompson said James "put the whole team on his back and just sort of willed us to victory.

"That was the first time I really saw him just take over a game," Thompson said. "His will to win trumped everything."

James has had other big moments. He registered 41 points in a win over Boston in which the Cavs came from 19 down in the fourth quarter.

In a revenge win over the Washington Wizards on Nov. 26, James not only scored 29 points, but on one play tossed Paul Pierce out of the way with his left hand and dunked the ball with his right – the way James used to.

There have been more moments, more games like that. But he's also had games like the last he played, on Dec. 28, when his 17 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists were less obvious than his seven turnovers and 5-of-9 shooting in a 23-point loss to Detroit.

"What you're finding out now is how good he really is," Miller said. "At the end of the day, he was playing at probably about 65-70 percent for the last three weeks."

On Wednesday, James said "I can never get my motor back to 100, but as close to 100 as possible." He said he hasn't been healthy all season, but "my back is feeling a little better, my knee is feeling a little better. ... I'm excited about what this next week brings."

Miller said he expects some of the explosiveness that has been missing from James' game will return, but "even if you don't see that guy, which I do believe you'll see it, he still gives you enough to win. And that's all you want."

But how James plays only makes up a portion of his total package. His celebrity brings scrutiny upon everything he does and says, every grimace and every shoulder shrug.

In a single day – it was Dec. 8, in Brooklyn – James helped spark a political movement by donning an "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt before the Cavs played the Nets. Afterwards, he had a private meeting with the Royal couple Prince William and the former Kate Middleton.

James has twice brought the entire NBA free agent market to a standstill, in 2010 when he left the Cavaliers and last summer when he returned.

With that kind of power and notoriety comes the speculation that has swirled around James at times this season, especially when the Cavs have lost games or when he's been out.

"He's happy," said Jones, who's now in his fifth season as James' teammate. "People are always looking and prodding, hoping they can glean something from his body language or asking other sources how he feels, but if you ask him directly he'll tell you he's happy. He's enjoying his time here in Cleveland. He's focused on getting himself healthy and building a contender."

Contending was the idea when James came home, joining Irving in Cleveland and then Kevin Love. Though the Cavaliers lost their eighth game in 10 tries Friday night, Blatt and Love spoke as though they felt the losing would end soon, that the trades made and James' return would mean an instant turnaround.

Irving, who finished with 23 points and a floor burn from diving for a loose ball Friday night, knows the addition of James will help guard against fourth-quarter collapses Cleveland's suffered without him. The latest – a 28-18 deficit against the Warriors -- followed fourth-quarter leads blown against Houston and Philadelphia.

But Irving was also perhaps a little more stuck in the moment than his coach or Love, who were looking forward.

"Obviously losing sucks," Irving said. "We've had doubters this whole entire time and you know, people wondering what's going on, but the only thing that matters, and I've been saying this since the beginning of the season, is what's going on internally in our locker room.

"We have such a great locker room and such a positive message every single day, honestly, we don't want to lose, but it's something we need to go through."