LeBron James has at least identified what the biggest issue with the Cleveland Cavaliers is right now. After a deflating 114-95 loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday night, he told reporters that there is one area where he knows more work needs to be done.
“Guys are scoring at will against us. Our defense is pretty bad right now.”
It’s that lack of defense that has the Cavs off to a mediocre 3-4 start, and their struggles are blatantly evident, through all of the roster shuffling and looking for the right chemistry, the team already had enough and decided to hold an air-it-out meeting in Tuesday’s practice.
Coach Tyronn Lue spoke with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, saying off the court and man-to-man interaction is not the problem. The players all genuinely love to be around each other and enjoy the camaraderie, but the basketball side has not been as pleasant.
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“Off the court we’ve got great chemistry, great bond. Just, on the court, we just got to be better. Like, talking, communicating, enjoying the game together. Having fun. … Right now guys are not having fun.”
That’s not hard to believe seeing as the team is ranked low in all major categories. They are 25th in points allowed, 21st in opponent field goal percentage 27th in opponent 3-point percentage and last place in opponent 3-pointers made per game.
Foward Kevin Love who has been asked to play spot minutes at center this season also chimed in about having the patience to work out the kinks, and staying focused, no matter how early it is in the season.
“Naturally, the slow start that we’ve had prompted us to just all get on the same page and kind of figure out what we need to do. I feel like we can get in better shape, that’s going to help us on the defensive end. Communication, energy and just getting the new guys to (become) adjusted, well-adjusted and on the floor, more time together. So time will tell how it’s going to play out, but we have a lot of really good positive energy from today, so, it was a great practice.”
According to a source present at the meeting, every player had their say and it ended on a productive note before breaking for practice which lasted more than three hours working on the details and getting the team to work on speeding up the pace.
Right now, the Cavs run a pace that has them right in the middle of the league, same case with their offensive efficiency. That certainly may have sparked the comments from coach Lue about James being in better shape to pick up the pace.
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Love also injected that players aren’t taking plays off, but aren’t giving maximum effort either partly due to a deeper roster, and that’s another issue that needs to be resolved before things get out of hand.
During this early portion of the season, the Cavs’ schedule is believed to be at one of its easiest rounds of the season although they finished it poorly, and will now face the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, the Washington Wizards on Friday, and the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.