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LeBron on Cavaliers: 'It's going to be a long process'

Craig Mitchelldyer / USA TODAY Sports

An empire can't be built in a day, and neither can a championship team.

LeBron James is prepared to weather the storm ahead of the 1-2 Cleveland Cavaliers as they struggle through the early-going of this NBA season, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

"We have to understand what it takes to win," James said. "It's going to be a long process, man. There's been a lot of losing basketball around here for a few years. So a lot of guys that are going to help us win ultimately haven't played a lot of meaningful basketball games in our league."

The Cavs suffered a setback as team with a 101-82 loss to the Portland Trailblazers on Tuesday. The Blazers held James to just 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting, while power forward Kevin Love stepped up to deliver 22 points on 7-for-14 shooting and added 10 rebounds. However, both Kyrie Irving (3-for-17) and Dion Waiters (3-for-11) struggled, which can't be ignored. Irving chose not to speak to the media following Tuesday's defeat. 

But James refuses to quit, sticking to his mantra of patient progress.

"There's a lot of bad habits; a lot of bad habits have been built up over the last couple of years and when you play that style of basketball it takes a lot to get it up out of you," said James in reference to his teammates. "But I'm here to help and that's what it's about."

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