Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James Unhappy With Management

The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently on a three-game losing streak. With the team struggling, LeBron James is not happy with management and their lack of signing a playmaker.

How about those Cleveland Cavaliers huh?!

It’s been a very interesting and tough three games for the Cavs. Some fans will put it on the usual January malaise the team goes through, but this is different. Something isn’t right.

They’re making silly mistakes that they didn’t make at all last year, they’re turning the ball over at an alarming rate, and they’ve forgotten how to play defense. It’s not even lapses, it’s a complete failure to play it.

It’s not as bad as Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson having a heated moment in the locker room in 2013, but it’s getting to that point. At the beginning of the season, most people saw the games against the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings as wins–especially with Anthony Davis out.

I don’t think even those teams fans imagined them taking the champion Cavaliers to overtime and back-and-forth battles.  It’s nothing against those clubs, but they’ve underachieved and have been rebuilding for years!

This makes the second three-game losing streak the Cavaliers have suffered this season. Is it coaching? As far as minutes being measured, possibly. Is it one or two players? No, it’s been consistent bad play by the whole team during this stretch. Is it bad performance and a bit of arrogance? Yes.

Missed free throws when the team is in the bonus with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter doesn’t help either.

When teams play with the “turn it on whenever” attitude, they struggle to win games. I understand last season the Cavs played poorly in January, and played much better after the All-Star break, but that was last year.  Slow starts have seemed to plague this team for years.

I’m not saying to be up 20-0 in every game, but a good start offensively could set the tempo early against opposing teams.

However, while most of that can be fixed in due time as a team, this is about an individual. That person would be LeBron James.

Since James came back to the Cavs in 2014, they’ve gotten better each year. Owner Dan Gilbert and General Manager David Griffin have improved the team.

They acquired Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith in 2015.

They traded for Channing Frye in 2016. They signed Chris Andersen and Mike Dunleavy, and just traded for sharp-shooter Kyle Korver this season. Anything the team has needed or that James has asked for, they’ve done.

But with James, it’s still not enough. I agree with telling the front office not to get comfortable, and to keep improving the team as best they can, but to go on tirades like a child, and not take responsibility for your own terrible play is not a good look.

I get he’s had triple-doubles in the last two losses, but he’s also had horrible turnovers in those games. He cost the Cavs the chance at victory against the Pelicans after penetrating to the basket and dribbling the ball behind his back. It led to a turnover and steal by Langston Galloway.

I don’t know if he was trying to pass it to Richard Jefferson in the corner or what, but it was a bad sequence that potentially cost them the victory.

James is the best player in the NBA, he’s expected by everybody to stuff the stat sheet, but what counts is how a player performs in crunch time.

The Cavs currently have the highest payroll in the NBA at $127 million.

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, Gilbert will have to pay $27 million in luxury tax this season. In 2015 when they reached the Finals for the second time in franchise history, Gilbert paid $82 million in salaries and only $7 million in luxury tax.

Last season, when they won the championship, that skyrocketed to $107 million and $54 million in luxury tax.  It’s safe to say that luxury tax has not been friendly for Gilbert.

The Cavs are spending money, and lots of it. Andersen and Dunleavy didn’t pan out, but unlike previous years, Griffin understood that and made the move to get Korver. He’s likely on the phone as I’m writing this trying to make a deal for a backup center and point guard.

Maybe if the team played defense, didn’t miss free throws and make atrocious turnovers, they would win games. There is more than enough talent on the team to win.

There are a few spots that need to be filled, and I have no doubt that Griffin will address it.

Here’s another thought for James to consider, maybe teams aren’t lining up and eager to help out a team that just won the championship.

For the Cavs, it’s about playing better, and getting that championship mentality back they had last season. For James, it’s all about patience.

You can’t always get what you want, when you want it. That’s something most of us were taught as children. Lead the team by example, and play better, and the wins will come back.