Cavs: No vaccine drama or team dysfunction thus far

The Cleveland Cavaliers are no strangers to organizational dysfunction. This is the franchise whose owner wrote a scathing letter in Comic Sans to the greatest player in franchise history when he left in free agency. This is the franchise that had a player chuck a bowl of soup at a coach. The Cavs have not had the smoothest ride as a team.

What about hiring John Beilen as head coach, only for that relationship to dissolve in mere weeks? Firing Mike Brown to please LeBron James, then backtracking and apologizing, then re-hiring Brown, then firing him again after one year just before LeBron returned? The team drafted Kevin Porter Jr. in the first round and had to punt on the very promising guard because they couldn’t get along with him. They took Anthony Bennett first overall in an NBA Draft. Supposed team leader Kevin Love has thrown multiple on-court temper tantrums.

From terrible basketball decisions to interpersonal spats, the Cavs have seen it all. That’s why it is so refreshing that with drama and dysfunction popping up all over the league in the last few weeks, the Cavs appear to be avoiding it all.

The Cavs have their history of drama, but this season they are drama-free while so many other teams deal with vaccines and fights

A little over a week ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired their President of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas, days before the start of Training Camp. Rosas had just overseen multiple trades and contracts for the team, and they unexpectedly fired him. The reason for firing him was a poor track record and dysfunctional team culture, which are both apparent and valid, but the timing was reportedly triggered ($$) by the discovery that Rosas and another team employee both had extramarital affairs with one another. Not the Cavs this time!

In Philadelphia, one of the messiest breakups in recent league history is going on. After the Philadelphia 76ers openly shopped Simmons when James Harden was available last season, All-Star Ben Simmons has declared he is not returning to the team. In the last few days he told his teammates not to fly out and see him, and even stated through the media ($$) he couldn’t play next to Joel Embiid anymore.

Sounds like something that would happen to the Cavs, right? Not this year! The two biggest potential sources of drama on the roster are Kevin Love and Collin Sexton. Love is on a contract that is effectively untradeable given his health and recent play, and he could be agitating to get off of a team that has added three bigs in front of him in the last year. Instead, he is keeping his head down, buying in, and just trying to be a “positive force” for the team.

Collin Sexton and the Cavaliers are in the midst of potentially contentious contract negotiations, but he isn’t making any waves either. He came into camp his usual high-energy self, stepping up into a leadership role. When asked, both he and the team are saying the right things about Sexton being with the team “long term.”

Of course, the most headline-dominating news of the past week has been the vaccination status of a number of players leaguewide. Adrian Wojnarowski reported yesterday that the vaccination rate for NBA players is now 95 percent. Most teams can work through this with their players on their own because a lack of vaccination just elevates risk and hoops to jump through.

The vaccination question becomes a much bigger deal for the Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors. In both cities, New York City and San Francisco, players cannot play or practice in the city without being vaccinated. Kyrie Irving of the Nets and Andrew Wiggins are causing stress and making waves as they are currently taking a stand, whether intentional or not, in their suspected lack of vaccination.

Will they only be able to play in road games? Will their teams look to trade them? The ante was only upped when the NBA made clear that unvaccinated players who miss games due to local vaccine mandates will not be paid for those missed games.

Even in cities where the vaccine is not required to play in home games, players who are vocally unvaccinated are grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons. Instead of talking about Bradley Beal going again for the scoring title on the new-look Washington Wizards, the conversation is about his views on vaccination. The Orlando Magic have an exciting young rookie and some important pieces close to returning from injury, but instead, they are discussing Jonathan Isaac’s views on the vaccine.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have an exciting young core, a top-tier rookie themselves, and plenty of new faces. Key players like Dylan Windler are back healthy, Darius Garland is poised for a breakout season, and Ricky Rubio is one of the league’s best dudes to have around. Is the media coverage about these storylines?

Yes! Yes, it actually is. When asked about vaccines during media day, general manager Koby Altman said that the entire roster will be fully vaccinated before the season starts. That’s it, move on, nothing to see here.

Without commenting on the rights, the wisdom or the presentation of other players leaguewide deciding not to get the vaccine, it would have been a serious distraction and drag on this young team to have to deal with such a media maelstrom as they try to have a positive season. Instead, they get to focus on the upside and development of so many talented players. This appears to be the biggest drama from training camp thus far:

Fans of the Cavs know that this is not guaranteed to last. Kevin Love could get pushed out of the rotation entirely and start making noise about it. The team could fail to offer Collin Sexton the max and he could begin negotiating through the media. Perhaps Cedi Osman chucks a bowl of soup at Sidney Lowe.

While all of that could happen, it hasn’t happened yet. Players are excited and bought in, the future is bright, and the team shouldn’t have to worry about forfeiting games next year. Actual Cavaliers basketball is just a few days away.