Evaluating Cavaliers Weaknesses, Pt. 1 : Verbal Leader, But No Floor Leader

Cleveland may have the upper hand when it comes to the support of their ever-growing fanbase, but when it comes to actually establishing the leadership role on the squad it takes a little more time to come to a conclusion.

I wish I could call out even one name that comes to mind when speaking of a viable option for the leader on the Cavs’ team, but my mind is currently and always has been drawing a blank, which is a problem I am sure every other Cleveland supporter has also experienced.

You may hate to hear it, Cleveland fans and LeBron James haters, but ever since he left and before his arrival there has been no man to set up to the plate, other than verbal communication, to lead this team in a righteous direction. No one has even been able to lead the roster in a direction that would keep them from sinking into league oblivion.

The time has come for LeBron’s name not to be the most memorable on a team that he does not even reside with anymore, but who will make that stand?

It cannot be Baron Davis. Even though he has seemingly hopped into the role of moral support for the team and has volunteered for the casting of the rookie tutor role for Kyrie Irving, Davis still has not shown what needs to be done on the court to lead the team through trenches of any sort.

Leaders on any given night can score 30+, shooting 50+ percent if the organization demands that of them. Davis missed ten games after being traded to the Cavaliers and although he averaged 14.1 points in February and 13.6 in March, Baron was rarely at the magic line that most of the other point guards in the league seem to flourish in.

Russell Westbrook: 7.7 free throw attempts

Derrick Rose: 6.9 free throw attempts

Deron Williams: 6.3 free throw attempts

Chris Paul: 4.8 free throw attempts

Baron Davis: 2.3 free throw attempts

Not to mention that all of the above mentioned men, with the exception of Baron Davis (77.1) have free throw percentages well above 80 percent. Kind of makes you want to go “Hmmm” doesn’t it? At the age of 32, if you are not still out there moving swiftly like J. Kidd, you really are looking at your last moments in the league.

Antwan Jamison is the only other player on the team that could even be considered for the leading man, as he is the leading scorer with 18.0 points per game. Still, what intangibles does he have other than the voice in the lockerroom to master the rebuilding stages of the franchise.

Considering forward comparisons, he is ranked below the likes of Durant, James, Anthony and Granger, which is not saying too much about how ill equipped he may be to lead his roster. That is pretty good company for any player in the league to be in.

However, he averages 15.5 points against the teams that Cleveland will have to battle on their way to the top such as Miami Heat, Boston Celtics (7.0 points per game) and the Chicago Bulls. There are other teams in the Eastern Conference in the rebuilding stages as well, but those are the main three teams that anyone must barrel through to claim and an Eastern Conference Championship.

If he cannot make things happen there, as the driving force, there is no hope.