Cleveland Cavaliers Not Losing Hope, Despite Struggles

The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently riding a four-game losing streak and have lost eight games in their last 10. The Cavs are 1-7 without LeBron James in the line-up, they are 8-9 on the road and have failed to score over 94 points in six consecutive games.

It would seem like the sky is falling in Cleveland but amid all the recent struggles and the criticism coming from left, right and center, the Cavaliers aren’t losing hope and for good reason.

Lets break down some reasons why the Cavs haven’t been the 70-win team some were predicting before the season tipped off:

• The Cavaliers have suffered injuries to multiple key players over this stretch, as James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and Shawn Marion have all missed time. James is obviously the biggest name to note here. As the leader of this team and well, the best player in the game, everything this team does with or without him has to have an asterisk next to it. I mean, it isn’t easy to replace 25.2 points a game, 7.6 assists a game and 5.3 rebounds a game. His missing presence has most definitely been felt this past week and a bit. You cannot forget that Anderson Varejao is lost for the season also.
• The Cavs had a major roster make-over this past week, as out went Dion Waiters, Alex Kirk, Lou Amundson, draft picks and trade exceptions and in came Iman Shumpert, JR Smith and Timofey Mozgov.
• Shumpert, one of the main pieces to the recent trades, is yet to debut with his new squad and won’t be in the line-up for the next 2-3 weeks.
• The Cavaliers have had some tough games in this stretch, as they have faced the likes of the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks.
• We are still only 37 games in. Sure, you can say that is almost half the season gone but consider this: the Cavs brought in a guy who has never coached in the NBA before in David Blatt, they now only have 4 players from last season’s team on the roster, they have a trio of All-Stars who are still learning to play with each other (the aforementioned injuries hasn’t helped that cause) and the rotations have been all over the place.

Now, while it may seem like it, I’m not making excuses for this team. I’ll be the first to admit that they should be better then 19-18 and have lost a lot of winnable games but you need to take the things above into consideration when breaking down this team.

Blatt explained this after the teams practice in California, after he was asked about his comments after the early-season loss in Portland, in which he stated that the 20-game mark would be a fair time to asses the team, “Well we have to change that because there’s been so many changes and so many injuries” (per cavs.com.)

He is right, as it would simple be unfair to judge this Cavalier team, due to the non-stop changes that this team has endured during this first half of the season.

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Now, it would be easy for the players and coaches to lose hope as well and it would be easy for them to listen to all the criticism this team has been taking but they know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“Yeah, and it’s tough right now and I know it’s tough to see, but when we do get back to full strength we’re going to be good.” Love said after the team’s loss to the Warriors. “I feel like we have the pieces when Iman (Shumpert) and Bron (LeBron James) get back and Trix (Shawn Marion) is healthy that we’ll be able to put this all together. We just have to continue to fight, continue to keep pushing. I know I sound like a broken record over the past few games, but that continues to hold true.”

Love would also keep his belief in his team high, as he had this to say to USA TODAY Sports, “We know that things are going to work out. I know that we have a lot of talent here, guys who can do a lot of different things, so I tend to look at that more than the negative stuff.”

Even though the team suffered another loss, Blatt still believes improvements are being made, “I think you see we’re a better team today than we were yesterday, and we were a week ago. I’m not even going to talk about the guys that aren’t playing because we’re a better team today already.”

Even newcomer Smith remains positive, as he explained to reporters after the Warriors loss, “Yeah absolutely, we know this isn’t going to last. We just have to do the best job until those guys come back, until we can be great.”

The reason for optimism within this group has been fueled by the constant criticism that the media has fired to them. They understand they are the target of the NBA and they understand when they lose, people are going to overact but they aren’t letting that get to them. They are being professional about it all, as they know this is a process and it will take time to get this thing right.

While this season has been mediocre at best for the Cavaliers, the excitement in the locker-room remains high. As seen from the quotes above, the players are still enthusiastic about where this season can take them. They know, as does everyone, that the talent is there. Cleveland possesses one of the most impressive rosters in the league. Now, it is just time for the media and fans alike to take a chill pill and let this team develop into something great.

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So what if they don’t make the Finals in their first year together? It’s not like the Eastern Conference is a cakewalk this season, with teams like the Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls all looking like legitimate threats to win the conference. All of those teams have the continuity of groups that have been together for a period of time, a luxury the Cavaliers haven’t had.

So it is time for the entire NBA world to lay off the critiques of the Cavaliers for the moment. (Editor’s Note: We know they won’t but it is fair to ask for it.) Let the team actually get healthy and give them time to build something all championship contending teams need and that is chemistry.

Then, the results are sure to do the talking.

Are you as optimistic as we are, and the Cavaliers players state they are, or do you have your doubts?

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Next: Remembering Dion Waiters