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  • The Blueprint

  • LeBron James, Cleveland's Deliverance, and the Making of the Modern NBA
  • By: Jason Lloyd
  • Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
  • Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

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The Blueprint

By: Jason Lloyd
Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
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Publisher's Summary

A must-listen sports book for every LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, and NBA fan.

June 19, 2016: the greatest moment in Cleveland sports history, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals and broke the Cleveland Curse. It was the triumph fans had been waiting 52 years for, and it wasn't easy to get there - but thanks to LeBron James, an audacious plan to build a winning team, a couple of maverick GMs, and an incredible community of fans, it happened, and 2016 saw the birth of a new Cavaliers dynasty. 

But how did they get there? It was a roller-coaster ride from tragedy to triumph, one that Jason Lloyd, a longtime Northeast Ohio resident turned reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal, got to see firsthand. He was witness to the Blueprint, as he calls it, which the Cavs put together to win their star player back from Miami and build a team that could win the ultimate championship. It incorporated several losing seasons, some high-risk draft picks, and an entirely new understanding of how to build a championship team. 

The best part of the plan is that it worked, culminating in the most exciting Finals series in NBA history. And, most important, the end of the Cleveland Curse. Jason Lloyd, a true insider, tells the story of how the NBA really works and how everyone - from the front office to the stars on the court to the new generation of coaches - worked together to create an unforgettable winning team. 

©2017 Jason Lloyd (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"[An] energetic, detailed slice of basketball history.... Lloyd’s intoxicatingly thorough reporting allows readers to grasp the difficulty in assembling a team - even one featuring a legend." (Publishers Weekly)

"[A] brilliant book, one that takes the reader back through the many momentous moments over the past several seasons in Cavaliers history... .Lloyd masterfully tells a truly compelling story of the fall, and subsequent rise, of the Cavaliers." (Tim Bontemps, The Washington Post)

"In the tradition of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball (2003), journalist Lloyd traces how the Cleveland Cavaliers, after re-signing LeBron James, captured the NBA championship in 2015-16." (Booklist)

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