Cavs Report: Roster, Not Coach, Was the Problem
The Cleveland Cavaliers steamrolled the Charlotte Hornets last night. Now on a 5 game winning streak, heading into Sunday’s match-up with the Oklahoma City Thunder (and ex-mate Dion Waiters), the Cavs seem to be putting it all together. Just a couple weeks ago it looked like everything was ready to fall apart. It looked like the Cavs were giving up on Coach David Blatt, that Tyronn Lue might be respected more and that the players were giving pathetic effort.
A couple weeks, and two big trades, later and here we have a solid, if not great, team giving full effort and seemingly connected to their coach. So what gives? Is it just winning? Did GM David Griffin’s backing up Blatt change the players thoughts? Did Griff’s aggressive moves show the team he believe in them? Was Waiters the problem?
According to a new report this morning the problem was not the coach instead it was the players belief about their roster’s ability to compete:
"Under the condition of anonymity, members of the Cavaliers’ roster admitted that they had lost faith due to the lack of depth and structure of the roster. A handful of players said they came to the realization that the roster, as it was constructed prior to the trades, wasn’t equipped to go any further than the second round, if that.One player claimed the frustration of an “unbalanced roster probably contributed” to the team’s poor body language and effort level they were putting out. Another player vehemently said “it was never Coach [David] Blatt’s fault.”The consensus was that their confidence faltered because of help shortage and that it had nothing to do with their head coach."
Very interesting, and a great get by Chris Haynes, that the issue was not with Blatt. From everything we know the Cavs head coach is a very intelligent, hard working and successful coach. Those qualities don’t just go away just because you join the NBA. The transition isn’t an easy one though and he has shown he is learning some lessons.
However it is interesting to see that the Cavs roster, full of a ton of veterans, clearly saw that they were so flawed that they would not be able to make a run together. This was likely driven by LeBron James, who learned in Miami what a contender really looks like, but also Shawn Marion, Mike Miller and James Jones.
It creates an interesting dynamic. Besides LeBron, those players are ones whose playing time would be most impacted by the team making moves. Marion and Miller started for stretches this year. Marion still gets time but Miller and Jones are now playing minutes sparingly. It is an impressive sign of their maturity. Watching last night’s game, watch it again because it was fun, you saw Miller standing and cheering, and dancing, on most plays. He is still into the game even though he is now the small forward version of Brendan Haywood, the human victory cigar.
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The addition of Timofey Mozgov gives an impressive figure in the middle. J.R. Smith actually loves catch and shoot attempts, something Waiters seemed to despise. Iman Shumpert played his first game last night but showed range, ability to put the ball on the floor and ability to defend. Once he gets up to speed the Cavs roster will have the depth and balance that could make them a clear NBA Finals favorite this year.
The Cavs former starting shooting guards are now on another team (Waiters), playing minutes as a backup 3/4 (Marion) or playing very seldom (Miller). The team has a huge player in the middle to take up space, set hard screens and allow the Cavs to play aggressive defense on the perimeter. Oh yeah and they still have the Big 3 of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.
No wonder they are happier. Most work places know when they don’t have the talent to go into battle. Whether it is teachers who know their school is missing facilities or support personnel or business offices who know their co-workers just don’t have it to help pull a project across the finish line. This happens in many places. Fresh leadership, fresh talent or some upgrades can make all the world of difference to a person’s attitude.
According to Chris Haynes anonymous source that is exactly what happened to the Cavaliers and the NBA should be scared, very scared.
What do you think of this Cavs report?