The Cavaliers continue to hang onto a top-three seed in the East, but the team has dropped four consecutive games and eight of its last 10 — in terms of wins and losses, the 26-17 Cavs are now the same distance from the eighth-seeded Pistons (22-20) as they are from the second-seeded Raptors (29-13).
Cleveland’s slump has multiple players speaking to reporters – including Dave McMenamin of ESPN and Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com – to express a “growing discontent” with the state of the team. There’s increasing concern in the Cavs’ locker room that the squad’s problems aren’t fixable from within, according to McMenamin and Vardon.
“Rotations are awful. [Isaiah Thomas] is so much worse than Kyrie [Irving] defensively it’s insane,” one league source told Vardon. “There is not a great feeling anywhere. They need to limp into the All-Star break and get away from each other.”
The fact that Cavs players are expressing concerns to the media about the state of the franchise suggests that perhaps they’re trying to push the front office to make a trade to address some of those issues. According to Vardon, communication between the team’s front office and its players and coaches isn’t as frequent as it was under former GM David Griffin, so perhaps this is the simplest way for the players to send a message to management.
Here’s more from out of Cleveland:
- League sources continue to say that the Cavaliers prefer to hold onto the Nets’ 2018 first-round pick in case the team enters rebuilding mode next season, McMenamin writes in the piece linked above.
- A trusted source tells Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) that he believes the Cavaliers will “definitely” make at least one deal before the February 8 trade deadline. However, Stein is skeptical that there’s a single move out there that would allow the Cavs to close the gap between them and the Warriors.
- The Cavs can forget about winning the NBA Finals this year if they don’t make a trade in the next few weeks, opines Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net.
- In the wake of Gregg Popovich‘s comments about LaMarcus Aldridge‘s offseason trade request, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst compares and contrasts the way the Spurs handled that situation with the way that the Cavaliers handled Kyrie Irving‘s trade request.
Package the nets pick and whatever else to try and get Deandre Jordan, Patrick Beverly, and Lou Williams from the clippers. Jordan and Beverly seriously help the defense and Williams gives Lebron another get buckets scorer off the bench.
Nets pick and an additional first round pick, Thompson Shumpert, Frye, and a second rounder could get negotiations going
Beverly is out for the season bruh. Lol
Beverly probably won’t help the D with the knee surgery and all.
I’m sticking with Thompson and Frye or Shumpert for Dwight
What they really need to do is be honest with themselves. And realize they traded away the edge over the C’s. And to the C’s nonetheless. There are about 5 maybe 6 teams that are as good or even better than them. And should hold onto their “Nets” pick. Maybe even trade Thompson and others for assets.
No one will realize LEBRON JAMES IS THE PROBLEM. If you people know any basketball you would notice the Cavs play like a unit and team basketball when he is off the floor, last night when he hit the bench in the second quarter the Cavs swung 4-5 passes around the perimeter and through the post and got good shots. Lebron destroys ball movement and they’ve got no shot against GS,Boston, or San Antonio’s defense because Brad,Pop,and Steve know how to defend Lebron drive and kick. That is why Kyrie left that mess in Cleveland because ANYONE who plays with Lebron becomes a spot up shooter period, put Kevin Love,Jae Crowder, and JR Smith in a system which emphasizes ball movement and they would absolutely flourish. The only way I could see them dethroning Golden State is if they move that pick for CJ McCollum.
I wish Lebron would come be such a problem on my team. 7 straight finals and 3 titles.
1st title-lockout season against young KD,Harden,and Russ
2nd title- Ray Allen
3rd title- Kyrie
Idk how you’re saying LeBron is the problem AND that he only wins when he has help. Because maybe the point you’re really making is that the problem is his help.
Like, the Cavs chose LeBron when they traded Kyrie. Isn’t that their fault they couldn’t build a decent team around him? I don’t see anyone blaming
Funny because he was mvp in all of those series not any of the other players you mentioned.
And now lababy is old and leaving Cleveland.
Nope!
The other Cav players commented in the media on LeBron holding the ball too long and actually showed numbers how he’s holding the ball longer
since Kyrie left. Tyrone Lue said the Cavs have to stop seeking agendas. The other Cav players said LeBron is chasing stats holding the ball so long trying to get an assist. Wade has to play the 2nd unit to get his shots. LeBron is eating up the shot clock.
Cavs are in a bad situation. Nobody wants J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Kardashian Thompson, or Channing Frye because they make so much more than they are worth. They almost have to trade the Brooklyn pick.
They are 29th in the league in defense. They HAVE TO find players who can play defense, especially center and shooting guard.
See Cleveland.com-Joe Vardon, January 12-Tyron Lue talking about players agendas. I read LeBron is holding ball about half a second longer than last season, over 3 seconds every time he touches the ball.
Best trade the Cavs can make is Tristan, J.R., and their own pick for Nerlens Noel and Wes Matthews.
Or Dwayne Dedmon and Kent Bazemore.
“Cavs need more ball-movement to win” but you propose trading for an undersized 2 guard who is a scorer more than a passer. So basically a taller Isaiah Thomas without the hip issue?
Also, what does winning a championship in a lockout year have to do with anything? Did the Heat get a bye until the NBA Finals? Everyone played the same amount of games. If players weren’t in shape, that’s on them, not LeBron and the Heat. Also, you’re completely ignoring the stats that LeBron put up to put his team in the position to win a championship. You’re acting like Ray Allen and Kyrie Irving single-handedly carried those teams to a championship. But there’s no point in arguing with you. You probably think it’s LeBron’s fault his team lost all those Finals appearances (which I’d give you the Finals loss to the Mavs) , but he’s not the reason (or at least a big reason) why they won the Finals. You must still be bitter that he didn’t sign with your team during The Decision.
@Dionis – You lose credibility when you go off on James, which seems to happen a lot. The Cavs typically have no matchup advantages against top opponents except for James. Against Bos, Tor, Was, GS, and more, if you rank the players, Cleveland has the #1, then 4 of the last 5.
The team is deep but at odds. It was shook up and altered and has not settled yet.
Dionis thinks JRSmith can still thrive without being a complement to James! I wish he were a GM and traded for him.
I’d honestly be looking at getting a new coach. Lue isn’t a strong leader and he’s only been successful because of LBJ taking control. Get a strong, experienced, successful coach and watch most of these “issues” disappear.
Can’t do. Doing a coaching carousel, people will start comparing them to the Browns.
No real coach touches that team.
LeBron is the real coach!
Go get Fizdale, and offer the nets pick to the Thunder for P13. That team is clearly not going anywhere.
The loss of James Jones really seems to be hurting them lol
Mike Miller too!
Apparently, the Cavs still haven’t accepted that they were schooled in the KI deal, giving him away for secondary pieces, including the most overrated remote draft pick in history. IT (even when healthy) and Crowder are nice pieces, nothing more. Hard to make the right moves in the shadow of a deal you still have delusions about. LeBron likes to play with older guys, but they need defensive upgrades at multiple spots, so I’d pursue a couple of upgrades with young legs and that skill set, more than another offensive minded veteran.
I keep seeing Kent Bazemore mentioned if Dan Gilbert is willing to accept his salary. He’s a 2 way player at 3 positions. Dwayne Dedman is a rim protector with an expiring contract who started in San Antonio last season and is a seven footer.
I think it’s a given that the salaries would have to match (be close) in any deal. Cavs are at 4x salary on the margin tax-wise. Hawks wanted to move Bazemore badly in off season and start of the year, but now its a swap of contracts so hard to tell.
The cavs are done! HaHa!
As a Celtics fan, that quote about IT’s defense says it all. That is exactly why I was quite okay with that trade from day 1.
I just got through reading the piece on M.Fultz before reading this piece. Can we just take a second to appreciate the genius of Danny Ainge.
While on the other hand, he was able to recognize the value of Irving. He made the only legit offer for him!– (that has been made public… I would like to know what the Spurs offered).
Also Ainge was ahead of the curve on valuing draft picks. Now he can sell at great profit.
The Spurs offered Lamarcus Aldridge. They offered him for Paul George too. Like IT and the Cavs, the Spurs didn’t know Kawhi would be out for the season. He’s out indefinitely again with a quad injury.