Cleveland Cavaliers struggling to find post-LeBron James identity

The Cleveland Cavaliers may have tried to remain competitive, but they’re learning just how difficult that is without LeBron James.

As everyone knows, the Cleveland Cavaliers once again saw LeBron James sign elsewhere this summer, leaving the owner and front office with the arduous task of rebuilding the franchise coming off its fourth consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals.

While everyone was having flashbacks of the 2010-11 season in which the Cavs went 19-63, the organization made a statement by extending the contract of All-Star Kevin Love, silently announcing that the mindset of this post-LeBron era will vastly differ from the previous one.

The team has yet to crack double digits in games played, but already things aren’t looking good, with a 0-6 record that includes some disheartening home blowouts at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks.

It simply isn’t working out for the team so far, with plenty of their averages ranking in the bottom third of the league including points, assists and 3-point percentage among others.

Even Kevin Love, a guy who many projected to return to his former dominant self, has struggled mightily out of the gate, shooting just 32.3 percent from the field while converting on a ghastly 29.2 percent of his looks from beyond the arc.

It’s pretty unbelievable, though, because aside from James, this roster is vastly the same from last season and yet their offense looks completely different with an extra 8.4 mid-range shot attempts per game and a decrease in looks from distance by 9.3.

We all knew they’d be a lesser version from what we saw last year, but the difference is eye-opening.

And now, incredibly out of the blue, Cleveland has decided to let go of head coach Tyronn Lue less than a month into the season, likely due to the team’s underwhelming start to the year.

With someone as smart as LBJ running the show, nobody quite knew just how good of a coach Lue actually was, but we all assumed that question would be answered this season. To let him go without really giving him much of a chance is a very strange move, although less so when considering the turmoil Cleveland has been through since owner Dan Gilbert bought the team in 2005, with the latest firing leading to the team’s sixth head coach in as many seasons.

Despite their struggles, the Cavs aren’t without talent. Rather, they seem unclear as to how to best utilize it. They’ve played a specific brand for the last four seasons, and having to veer from that to something else, no matter how different, comes with growing pains.

Those pains will grow even larger in the coming months, with assistant Larry Drew likely to be named interim head coach, but with no assurance it will last past this season.

Nobody can replicate the greatness LeBron brought to the table. For Cleveland, it’s about finding that new identity and style of play — whether that be with a new coach or roster changes — enough to increase the competitiveness to a level the organization so desperately wants to be at moving forward.