Cleveland Cavaliers: Who’s To Blame For Struggles?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a team with enormous expectations. LeBron James made his return to Northeast Ohio over the summer, bringing All-Star forward Kevin Love with him. Add in a few championship level veterans, and boom: title contenders over night.

The Cavs and first-year head coach David Blatt are off to an 18-12 start through the first 30 games of this talented new regime. Not exactly what the fans and organization were expecting.

This of course comes after a pitiful performance on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons that left the Cavs looking dazed and confused, pointing fingers and blank stares at teammates.

Detroit embarrassed them on their home floor, setting a franchise record for three-pointers made when they knocked down 17 of their 31 attempts in a 103-80 shellacking.

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Start the rumor mill, because things are about to get interesting.

BLATT TO BLAME?

In a report released Monday from Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein of ESPN.com, sources within the Cavaliers organization have begun to express concern for David Blatt’s ability to reach his players and to demand their attention:

"There is a growing level of worry within the Cleveland Cavaliers organization about first-year coach David Blatt and his ability to reach the team, according to league sources.Sources told ESPN.com that there is rising concern in team circles about the level of response that Blatt is getting on the floor, with Blatt himself acknowledging that the Cavaliers “lost our energy and we lost our competitiveness” in Sunday night’s embarrassing home loss to Detroit."

Whether the reports are true or not, it raises a glaring question that can only be answered by Blatt and his players: Is Blatt a good fit for the Cavaliers?

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, two of his superstars, had some interesting responses to questions regarding his fit in Cleveland, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

Irving’s response seemed to be something you were hoping to hear from one of your players. James on the other hand, not so much.

James was then asked if an endorsement for his coach would go a long way. Here’s his response to that, via Windhorst and Stein:

"“Well, listen, man, I don’t pay no bills around here. Listen, man, I play. I’m happy with who we have at our helm,” James said. “He’s our coach, but to make it a feud between me and Blatt or the team and Blatt is just to sell. It’s just to sell and get people to read it and put something on the bottom of the ticker. That’s all it is.”"

The King’s responses come just a day after he told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com:

"“Right now we are not very good. In every aspect of the game.”"

Starting to sense some sort of connection here?

The statements come just a day apart and derived from the same embarrassing loss at the hands of the Detroit Pistons, who are now just 7-23, a mark that’s fourth-worst in the league.

However, coming from the player whose words and opinions carry more weight than even the owner of the team, LeBron could have been a bit more convincing in his support of Blatt.

LEBRON’S STRUGGLES

Perhaps more of a concern to Cleveland should be the demeanor and play of their prodigal son.

When James made his return to his home state team this past summer, fans and players were expecting him to bring to the Cavs what he did for the Miami Heat the previous four years when they made four straight trips to the Finals.

What he brought was a killer instinct, defensive effort, and efficiency.

Fast forward to his first 30 games back in Cleveland. He’s shooting an ugly 48 percent from the floor, his lowest since 2008-09, after he finished shooting 50 percent or better the previous five seasons. Last season with Miami, he shot a ridiculous 57 percent from the floor.

After seven turnovers in the loss to Detroit, he’s now averaging a career-high 3.8 turnovers per game.

On defense, it’s almost like he gives up on a majority of plays. There have been numerous times where James’ man gets from the three-point line into the paint with ease. Of course, this has to do with the Cavs defense being bad as a whole, but still.

Compared to his first season with Miami, he looks like a completely different player on the defensive end. He posted a defensive rating of 101.5 that year. In his first year back with theCavs, he’s currently boasting a defensive rating of 107.1, the highest of his career.

And his killer instinct? Well, in their come-from-behind victory over the Orlando Magic last Friday, it took a scuffle with Tobias Harris to get him to “deactivate chill mode.” LeBron took that at fuel to his fire, finishing the game by scoring 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, giving the Cavs the 98-89 victory.

If you have to flip a switch in your brain to “deactivate” chill mode, you’re doing something wrong. The Cavs need him to activate destroy-everyone-in-his-way mode every night if they want to have a shot at the NBA Title this year.

Maybe LeBron is struggling because of David Blatt’s system, or maybe it’s just Father Time taking his toll. After all, by the time you read this, he will be celebrating his 30th birthday.

As far as the team’s struggles go, the blame should not be thrusted upon one person or player.

It’s a team game and team effort, and there’s one thing that’s certain about them: in order to compete for a championship this season, Cleveland has to find its identity and chemistry as a unit. They have to start trusting one another, from the coach to players one through fifteen.

Who or what do you think is to blame for Cleveland’s struggles so far this season?

Stats via Basketball-Reference, NBA and FOXSports.com. 

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