A Cavs-tastrophe
LEBRON JAMES & CO. LOOK LIKE THEY’RE IN DEEP TROUBLE
It’s an ugly scene right now in Cleveland.
A 3-10 record (before Tuesday’s game at San Antonio), a meeting where nobody’s feelings were spared, calls for head coach Ty Lue’s head, the first season of LeBron James’ illustrious career where the stats have Cleveland better when he’s off the floor than when he is on (let’s call B.S. on the validity of that last one, OK?).
Only Sacramento surrenders more points per 100 possessions than Cleveland’s 109.8. That’s a massive problem. Cleveland might be tied with Toronto for fourth in offence (109.8, identical to the defensive number), but true contenders never rank that poorly on defence.
There aren’t enough stoppers, Kevin Love is a poor last line of defence, the roster is filled with aging and fading players and there is no clear solution in sight.
“We could easily get bounced early in the playoffs if they started next weekend,” James said late last week.
James and teammates like J.R. Smith have supported Lue, saying he can’t “go out there and play for us,” and Lue said before Tuesday’s game that he hopes the heated meeting would be the start of something good.
“Everyone has to be better, and we’ve been saying that, but we’ve been taking the necessary steps to do that,” Lue said.
“We’ve been practising, showing film, working on defensive things that we’ve got to get better at, so at some point we’ve got to start putting it together for 48 minutes.”
James was seven points shy of becoming the seventh player to reach 30,000 points, but his recent play has not been his sky-high pedigree.
“When I’m not playing to my standard and we’re losing, then I have to do a better job as well, so I got to figure that out,” James said.
“I gotta be much better.”