For LeBron James, how much power is too much power?

Regardless of what LeBron James’ personal mouthpiece might want to tell us, the two-time NBA champion played an integral role in the Cleveland Cavaliers firing David Blatt on Friday.

It’s been a point of contention ever since James and Blatt joined one another in Cleveland just one month apart back in the summer of 2014. We saw it with James calling his own play over the head of Blatt in a game last season. We also saw it with some not-so subtle shows of disrespect James has thrown Blatt’s way over the past 18 months.

But this whole idea that James has too much power within the Cavaliers organization seems a bit ridiculous.

His decision to re-sign in Cleveland was an absolute coup for both the organization and the city. Based on the 97 total wins Cleveland put up in James’ four years with the Miami Heat, it’s safe to say he’s brought a whole new level of success to the team.

In addition to this, the energy that James himself has brought to what had been a downtrodden scene in downtown Cleveland cannot be overstated.

When you have someone of James’ ilk — an international phenomenon and until recently the best player in the world — you cater to him. You cater to his idea of what team building should be about. And yes, you listen to him when it comes to player moves.

This isn’t a hard concept, nor is it new.

You don’t think Michael Jordan had some say in what the Chicago Bulls did personnel wise? Heck, the only reason he wasn’t deciding on the coach was the fact that he got along swimmingly with Phil Jackson.

What about Byron Scott being hired by the Los Angeles Lakers prior to last season? Did Kobe Bryant not have a role in that decision?

When a fledgling organization has the chance to bring in a superstar, in this case Ohio’s native son, it should do everything possible to cater to what he wants.

Following Blatt’s firing on Friday, Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Peter Krouse went off on a bit of a tirade directed at James. Not only did he suggest the Cavaliers can’t win a title with him, he indicated the team should trade the two-time champion:

“People in my office accuse me of being a LeBron hater,” Krouse wrote. “I assure you that I’m not. But while most people believe the Cavaliers can’t win a championship without LeBron, I believe they can’t win one with him.”

Obviously taking a personal disliking to James, the writer went on to call the future Hall of Fame forward an “egomaniac” with a “savior-complex.”

This is why Cleveland sports can’t have good things. It doesn’t know a good thing when it smacks the city right in the face. Pun very much intended there.

The fact of the matter is that James brought the Cavaliers — Cleveland sports for that matter — back to relevancy. Anyone suggesting that his role is too overplayed within the organization is missing the broader picture here.

To compete for titles, you simply need to have enough star power. If those who believe James has too much power in Cleveland are serious, maybe we should send them some game tape of the 2010-11 season when the 19-win Cavaliers featured Antawn Jamison as the leading scorer with Christian Eyenga and Manny Harris seeing substantial minutes.

James’ biggest mistake since rejoining the Cavaliers was pushing for the team to acquire Kevin Love in a deal that sent that year’s No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota.

Even then, the idea was rather simple. The combination of Love, James and Kyrie Irving seemed to make Cleveland an instant contender.

And in fact, that’s exactly what happened. Cleveland ran roughshod through the Eastern Conference en route to an appearance against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. It took injuries to both Love and Irving to derail their championship aspirations.

It also took a historically good Warriors team to fend James’ one-man show off at the end.

In an alternative universe where Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert actually ran a good organization without the help of James, all of this would be moot. The team wouldn’t be in a position to give him so much power.

But we exist in the real world. A world in which all six of Cleveland’s postseason appearances in his 10 years as owner have come with James on the Cavaliers. A world in which Cleveland boasted a 97-215 record in the four seasons James was in South Beach.

This is the very same world that has seen Cleveland take the likes of Shannon Brown, J.J. Hickson, Christian Eyenga, Dion Waters, Jared Cunningham, Anthony Bennett and Sergey Karasev in the first round over the past decade.

The same world that saw Cleveland waive Danny Green after just 20 games with the team.

If you would rather have Dan Gilbert and general manager David Griffin running the team without any input from James, you are apparently happy with the moves the team has made over the past several years.

You would also likely be okay with James himself playing elsewhere. After all, he wouldn’t have re-signed with Cleveland without the promise of having some sort of roster control.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin ran an in-depth piece on the firing of David Blatt Saturday morning. That article tells us a story of a head coach that started his Cavaliers career without much of a relationship with James himself:

“After James signed, he showed no interest in meeting Blatt. Weeks passed before James took a brief break from filming a movie in New York to have a face-to-face conversation with his new coach,” the article read. “It was clear James’ respect for Blatt was limited, and soon it also became clear that Blatt assumed respect would be coming his way.”

If James wasn’t sold on Blatt, why did he sign with Cleveland in the first place?

Blatt was hired a month before James’ decision to return home — a decision he clearly indicated was about bringing a championship back to Cleveland.

The hiring of a coach he wasn’t sold on should have played a role in this decision, right?

There’s very little doubt that James should have a major say in who he’s taking the court with. But once a player directly dictates who is coaching his team, disaster potentially looms. We have seen that with Byron Scott and Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles.

All this could be moot.

Reports on Saturday suggested that James wanted Mark Jackson to replace Blatt on the bench. If that was the case, and after the promotion of Tyronn Lue, maybe James’ pull when it comes to the front office isn’t as great as we think.

There’s also the possibility that this report was pushed out there by the Cavaliers organization as a way to save face.

After all, other reports paint an entirely different picture:

This makes much more sense than what is being thrown out their from those with a subjective motive in Cleveland, James himself included.

You simply don’t fire a head coach just seven months after he led his team to the NBA Finals. You surely don’t when your team boasts a 30-11 record and is the top Finals contender in the Eastern Conference.

Common sense seems to indicate something else was going on behind the scenes. And in reality, that something else is likely LeBron James himself.

Is this where the line should be drawn? Is this where the power of one man simply becomes too much?

If we were talking about any other player outside of King James, the answer to these two questions would likely be in the affirmative.

But based on James’ importance to the Cavaliers organization and the city of Cleveland, the answer to these two questions become muddied.

What we do know is that James will take the court for the remainder of the season as the best player on the best team in the Eastern Conference, just like he has done over the past five years.

With that, James has already proven himself to be the most powerful figure in Cleveland.