An open letter to the Cleveland Cavaliers:
To the team and coaching staff that I admired and gave everything to. I’m done.
After watching one of the many humiliating, embarrassing losses of this roller-coaster ride of a season, I must pull back and regain my sanity. It’s with this sentiment that I write this open letter.
What happened to the team that we saw coast through the regular season (after Jan. 20th) last season? What happened to the team that performed well with their backs against the wall? Has the in-fighting between teammates really caused this season to become an abomination?
The one thing that I have noticed a difference in is the “leadership” of one LeBron James.
His lack of compassion, his cryptic stabs through Twitter and his inability to “connect” with ALL the teammates the way he has connected with his buddy Dwayne Wade has proven to drive a stake between his lofty self and the rest of the Cavs players.
James feels since he once was the greatest player in the league that he can mistreat teammates and that they should be grateful to just play in his shadow. NOT! The thing that truly opened my eyes is how not one player that was bought out after the trade deadline even considered joining this train-wreck of a team. It was fully evident when Zainsville, Ohio native Kevin Martin was bought out by the Timberwolves and signed with…. The San Antonio Spurs!
The Cleveland Cavaliers were heavily relying on obtaining Joe Johnson after Brooklyn bought out his contract, but he decided Miami was a better destination.
Why?
It may have to do with getting a better contract for the remainder of the season, but it worked out that Johnson wanted to play, something that was never guaranteed him by the Cavaliers. I have to believe that the rest of the league and these players looking for a championship contender saw what was going on in Cleveland and stayed away.
Only after Miami signed Johnson did LeBron – who was supposedly in charge of recruitment – mention that he would have moved over to the 4 and Love to the 5 to make room for Johnson to start at the 3.
Another arrogant blunder by the King!
After watching this team get blown out by sub .500 teams and now by playoff contenders like the Miami Heat, I feel that three things have been mishandled badly this season.
1.) The team lacked cohesiveness and a sense that all was well in the locker room. G.M. David Griffin assumed that because of the talent on the team that this had to be a part of the coaching. Thus, David Blatt was fired half-way into his 2nd season (after leading the team to the Finals his rookie campaign). This has been the first time a coach of a #1 seeded team was fired at any point in a season. The team elevated Associate Head Coach Tyronn Lue to Head Coach and since that point, the promise of “holding players accountable” has vanished. Lue has struggled with rotations and trying to re-shape this team in his image. But he had less than half a season with players who were already malcontent.
2.) Now with just 13 games remaining, the Cavaliers have no identity, no resolve and no leadership. Tyrone Lue has tried his best, being thrown to the wolves with less than half a season to turn the team around, but the one thing that has suffered most in this coaching change has been the most important thing for the upcoming playoff run. Defense. They have played lackluster defense throughout the Lue era of the 2015/2016 Cavaliers. Since Lue was in charge of the defense that was proven last year in the NBA Finals, it seems that since he has taken on many more obligations as the Head Coach, that his hiring of Mike Longabardi as the defensive coordinator has gone horribly wrong. The defense has just been nonexistent for the majority of these games.
3.) It was apparent that once Kyrie Irving returned to form that the team chemistry was changed and for the worse so it seems. James has continually harped on his teammates (Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving) having little to no playoff and virtually no championship experience. Has it ever helped once to be derogatory of fellow teammates? No, I didn’t think so. It’s the thing that usually tears a team apart and I believe we are watching the team tear every single game… One step forward/Two steps back.
With just 12 games left and three more back-to-backs, it seems that time has run out for our Cavaliers. The realistic part of me wonders if they will make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. The die-hard fan still crosses his fingers and says “Yes, they will once again be in the NBA Finals.”
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The wildly inconsistent play – now even against the teams that they took seriously – drives fans crazy.
How can we be fully invested in a team that does not even take itself seriously?
The playoffs – when LeBron James supposedly becomes a beast – are right around the corner. The question is this… Is the rest of the team ready? Have they been following James lead of “coast through the regular season and play tough during the playoffs?” The stage is set for a major melt-down. As a fan and a long-suffering Cleveland sports aficionado, I hope and pray that I am wrong! The city of Cleveland deserves a championship.