Discontent marinates within the Cavaliers‘ locker room and veteran James Jones recently spoke to the team to try to sort out the issues, sources tell Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. After the team’s loss to the Spurs, Jones rhetorically asked players what they wanted out of the season. Vardon adds that neither Kyrie Irving nor LeBron James addressed the team, but a source told the scribe that the losing and travel have “frayed nerves.”
Cleveland owns a record of 6-9 during the month of March and the team has the eighth worst Plus/Minus over that stretch, as I recently mentioned.
Here’s more from The Land:
- Irving holds himself accountable for the Cavaliers‘ struggles, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com writes. “I had to face it, had to face the music,” Irving said of his performance against the Spurs earlier in the week. “I think we all had to do it. But me more importantly, I had to look in the mirror and just wasn’t doing enough. I need to demand more out of myself and do it at a high level.”
- Irving and James had an extended and emotional conversation after the Spurs loss, Shelburne adds in the same piece. Irving declines to comment on the nature of the meeting, calling it “private.”
- Irving believes getting J.R. Smith and Kevin Love back up to speed has been problematic, but the Olympian said it’s his job to help them, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com relays. “I have to do my best as a point guard to integrate J.R. and K-Love and get our starting five back to having the continuity,” Irving said. “It hasn’t been perfect, to say the least. There’s definitely been some ups and downs and disagreements. But as adults and professionals we just have to figure it out.”
- The Cavaliers have nine games left in the season, including tonight’s tilt with the Bulls, and coach Tyronn Lue feels it’s enough time to right the ship, Fedor adds in the same piece. “I feel like we can get it right,” Lue said. “We’re right anyway. We’re still right there.
LeBron hadn’t had a losing month in 10 years, and he has 2 in the last 3 months. Their defense has been an issue b/c of the moves they made. It’s going to have to be another carry by LeBron to get there this year. Before the season, I thought this was the deepest and best roster he has ever had there. They had a couple of unfortunate injuries, and some bad moves, amd now they’re here. They’re going to have to simplify things to get back on the right track. It makes no sense for Liggens or Shumpert to not get minutes when this team is so bad defensively
Cavs will probably make the Finals regardless because of how weak the East is. Last year, the Eastern playoffs were disappointing, mainly because there was no competition (swept the Pistons and Hawks, beat the Raptors in 6). I’m more optimistic this year than last year with the Celtics, Wizards and Raptors looking like they could upset the Cavs. But they all have issues that could prevent something like that from happening. Raptors have an okay defense, but lack scorers outside Lowry and Derozan. Celtics are solid, but they lack size both to defend and rebound. Not to mention IT (who’s having an amazing season btw) may get abused by Irving regardless of how much he scores. Wizards seem most likely to knock off Cleveland with a better backcourt than Cleveland, but outside of Bogdanovic and Mahinmi , they have little depth anywhere else on the roster.
If anything, the Eastern playoffs looks to be more competitive this year than last year.
Bradley locked Irving down on the final possession of Boston’s win a couple weeks ago. I think they go with that matchup on defense. But yeah, rebounding is a huge issue.
Agreed. Bradley would take on Irving as his assignment every time and he did a helluva job last time.
It’s whoever Thomas has to defend that concerns me the most. I like his effort on defense, but he just doesn’t have the height to guard bigger guards. JR, Shump, and Korver may not look intimidating, but they are all 6’5″-6’7″ who can shoot over him. Can Thomas contest their shots just enough that they won’t go in? If he can’t alter them, they’ll be tough to stop.
Detroit arguably should have won 3 out of those 4 games. Atlanta couldn’t rebound against them again, and tor onto got lucky when they beat the heat due to bad officiating. Wasn’t easy for the Cavs last year, in my opinion, and they were fortunate in some spots. I think it will be more competitive this year, as you mentioned. Ultimately, I can’t bet against lebron james, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose
And to add to the Toronto point, they easily could’ve lost to the Pacers. They really exposed the Raptors lack of depth after Lowry/DeRozan.
Didn’t they go 12-2 in the Eastern Conference playoffs last season? Doesn’t get much easier than that