Cavaliers open to the idea of occasionally resting LeBron

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt is a great admirer of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, especially the way "Pop" rested his players last season.

Blatt is open to employing a similar strategy with LeBron James.

"Certainly could," Blatt responded to a question about resting James (via ESPN). "It's not specifically planned at this point. In other words, we didn't sit down and already write up a plan for what game he would miss or what practice he would miss, but it could (happen) depending on need."

James has been a workhorse over his 11 seasons in the league to date. The star forward has appeared in 842 out of a possible 886 regular season games. In short, James hasn't been afforded the luxury of rest very often.

"I noticed a lot of what Pop does because he does it pretty well," Blatt said. "In my last years in Europe, I was coaching close to 80 games each year. I know what it is. The travel was a lot harder where I was than it was here."

For his part, however, James is playing the part of good soldier, telling reporters that he's "29 years old, and I can still fly above the rim."