Cleveland Cavaliers: Stuck In A ‘Good’ Rut

The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently 8-2 and sit atop the Eastern Conference with champagne bottles and grape bunches. They’re the best team in the East, but LeBron James thinks they might be indulging just a little too much in the luxuries of living at the top.

It’s not altogether that surprising when you consider the fact that Cleveland went to the NBA Finals last season and brought back essentially the same team save a few minor additions. They’ve now felt the heat of the big moment, stood under the brightest lights and know what it takes to get there.

So they relax. This season, the Cavs have made a notorious habit of making late-game runs to win games. During their last three contests, this has been the case. They were down to the Utah Jazz by nine, down to the New York Knicks by eight and 11 to the Milwaukee Bucks. They pulled out the first two of those games, then lost the latter in a dramatic double-overtime finish.

Admittedly, it is a concerning, albeit small, trend. The Cavs are playing as if they’re bored a lot of the time, and then seem to round into form just in time to save the day. LeBron’s Miami Heat teams used to do this, but there is a substantial difference between those teams and this one: the Heat actually won championships.

Therefore, it makes sense that the one guy who’s the most upset about his team’s performance is King James himself. He’s been through this rodeo before, and knows that the Cavs haven’t earned the right to morph into a “Turn It On In The Fourth” kind of club.

He recently called out his team’s effort, and by doing so evidently hopes to kick his teammates’ butts back into gear. He doesn’t care that Cleveland is dealing with some key injuries right now; all he cares about is trying to achieve wins with the guys he’s got.

James did say (quoted in the aforementioned article), however, that he still thinks the Cavs at present are a “good team” but not a “great” one. His goal is to push his squad from their current tier to the next, but that might be an impossible task.

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This is not to say that the Cavs can’t play better than they are as is, and LeBron has been right about the effort levels and attention to detail on the floor, but I’m going to suggest (and I think most will agree) that the Cavs simply can’t reach the echelon of greatness desired until they are completely healthy and once more playing cohesively.

Without a star like Kyrie Irving in the mix, and missing role players like Iman Shumpert, the Cavs are going to be stuck in a rut of being good. You certainly can’t call any team with LeBron James on it mediocre, and they sit as the first seeded East squad, but Cleveland is most definitely trapped in a sort of limbo. The fuel is there, but the car just won’t accelerate as quickly as they need it to.

By all accounts, this Cleveland team still looks fantastic statistically. They are third in the league in offensive rating (107.3) and eighth in defensive rating (99.8). They are a force to be reckoned with on any given night.

Next: Where Do The Cavs Place In Our Power Rankings?

Yet their ceiling is still far above them, and painted upon it is the all-important word: “HEALTH”. And while this may be a source of frustration for LeBron and his teammates, it should also be one of concern for the rest of the NBA. The Cavaliers aren’t great yet, but they’re working on it.