At least the Cleveland Cavaliers have the right team-first mindset

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the right attitude despite having a disastrous first half of the 2018-19 season.

The on-court product for the Cleveland Cavaliers really is lacking lately, with the team really having issues in second halves of games. The Cavs (and myself included) initially thought they could compete for an Eastern Conference postseason birth this year, but as we’ve seen since October, that’s not happening this year. Nonetheless, Cleveland does seem to be at least unified in their approach, and that’s no small thing with all the hardship they’ve faced.

Tristan Thompson (as we’ve touched on numerous times) has fully taken the reigns as the Cavs’ primary leader with Kevin Love only appearing in four games thus far, and having Thompson return to the lineup after missing ten games due to a foot sprain helps the rebounding effort.

After yet another blowout loss in which Cleveland was obliterated in the second half against the visiting Utah Jazz, head coach Larry Drew and the Cavs reportedly had a team meeting (per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor). Airing out their issues as a team is a good step to changing Cleveland’s outcomes for the second half of the season and in continuing to progress in their rebuild.

Despite the Cavs losing eight straight games, there hasn’t been public finger-pointing, and the message is at least clear (as our own Eli Mooneyham noted), and it’s accountability, as Larry Nance Jr. highlighted (per Basketball Insiders’ Spencer Davies).

With much credit likely going to Thompson, it’s impressive the way that Nance has established himself as another leader on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He’s one of the players that Cleveland hopes can be a key piece going forward, and that shows with the way he’s taken strides as a shooter (with him shooting a solid 35.1 percent from three-point land) and passing playmaker (as he leads Cleveland’s qualified players based on minutes in assists per game, per NBA.com).

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The defensive end of the floor has been awful, as Cleveland has been at the basement of the league in defensive rating for most of the season. When Patrick McCaw (a very capable on-ball perimeter defender) gets more in-tune with Cleveland’s coverages, and when David Nwaba (reported ankle soreness) and Matthew Dellavedova (reported foot sprain) can get healthier, Cleveland’s defense will be better off, though.

Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman have both mightily struggled defensively, but they are both progressing offensively as scorers and playmakers, and the Cavs’ locker room understands they need to be patient with the two key guys.

When Love can return to Cleveland’s lineup, that’ll definitely help Cleveland’s spacing and should generate more free throw attempts. He’s reportedly cleared for “select basketball activities,” the team announced Thursday (h/t Bleacher Report’s Kyle Newport).

Even with the Cavs likely not winning many more games this season, them establishing the right mindset for the coming years thanks to emerging leadership should translate to a good culture that will help Sexton, Osman and others develop gradually.

Keeping the locker room together is at least something the Cleveland Cavaliers can use to keep building for the near future, and I credit for Drew for a good amount of that. This season hasn’t been easy with all the Cavs have had to endure.