It all starts with LeBron James in Cleveland, and when the Chosen One comes out and says he is playing for a “fragile” team, panic buttons start to be pressed. We’ll see what kind of buttons coach David Blatt pushes Monday night against Orlando after saying he expects to tinker with his starting lineup, but this comes down to a bigger question:
Why is LeBron James playing in November mode this November? It was understandable the last couple of seasons in Miami when he played in November mode early in the season, because that team knew it was fully capable of clicking on all cylinders when the games start to get important in April, May and June.
But this Cavs team?
They do not have the luxury of knowing what they will look like when playing at peak efficiency, because through 12 games their peak efficiency period lasted four games — and now has been supplanted by a four-game losing streak going into Monday night’s game against Orlando.
Problem No. 1 has been defending opposing guards. When you allow the threesome of Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Lou Williams to torch you for 79 combined points as the Cavs did on Saturday night, you have a problem — and it is a problem exacerbated by not having a rim protector (Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson and Brendan Haywood are a lot of things, but a rim protector is not one of them).
Bench scoring is another area of concern, and Dion Waiters has been running as hot and cold as a broken faucet since his demotion seven games ago. Of course, Ray Allen could fix that problem, but nobody aside from Allen knows what his future holds. And he still would not solve the problem of not having a backcourt defender who can stop an opposing scorer.
Then there is the simple matter of body language. Maybe it’s just me, but this team’s body language has been on the decline since pre-game introductions on the night of their opener against the New York Knicks. Granted, there is a lot of hype to live up to … but whether it is James’ fault or coach David Blatt’s fault, there is a serious woe is us vibe encompassing the Cavs.
More on Cleveland’s problems in this video with CineSport’s Noah Coslov.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.