Cleveland Cavaliers vs Phoenix Suns

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James says he never could be a head coach because he'd get blamed for everything.

(cleveland.com)

INDIANAPOLIS - Houston's Kevin McHale, Brooklyn's Lionel Hollins, the Cavs' David Blatt . . . and now Jeff Hornacek is the latest NBA coaching casualty.

The Phoenix Suns fired Hornacek early Monday morning after dropping 17 of their last 19 games. Coaches are dropping like flies as immense -- and often unrealistic -- expectations are placed on those individuals roaming the sidelines.

That's one of the many reasons why Cavaliers star LeBron James says you'll never see him coaching an NBA team after his playing days.

"Man, I couldn't be a head coach," James said to cleveland.com upon learning about Phoenix's situation." Boy, I'll get blamed for every little thing. Can you imagine that? Please."

Pretty much anything James does is dissected, scrutinized, magnified and made a topic of discussion for days. There's no disputing James' high basketball IQ and his qualifications, but as a coach, every one of his timeouts, substitutions and defeats would invite criticism from every which way.

He's already subject to that sort of scrutiny for even some of the most benign of incidents. When he ripped the sleeves off his sleeved jersey this season, it was controversial news. And just on Saturday, he played the first half of the first quarter wearing the wrong shorts.

Yes, his shorts became a news story. Funny, but news nonetheless.

The argument can be made that if James were to enter the coaching profession, the detractors would take it up a notch. Who wants that kind of pressure? But he'll gladly take it on as a player.

"It's the shoes that I've been put into it and I understand it, but it's not a distraction at all," James said of the attention he receives now, fair or foul. "The only thing I'm worried about is winning. That's all that matters to me. Everything else comes secondary and that's all I'm about.

"So, I'm happy to be one of the leaders of this team, of this franchise, and we're going to go out and try to win every game and be great citizens off the floor and role models to these young kids that's looking up to us. All that other stuff, that stuff doesn't mean anything."

Coach James is out of the question.