As the NBA finals are just past the halfway mark, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers are beginning to worry about the wellbeing of the team, and rightfully so. On paper, the Cavaliers were essentially a dream team with the paring of Dwayne Wade and LeBron James with Isaiah Thomas running the point. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers have been having a rough time finding a rhythm and winning games that they should. The team’s recent loss to the Orlando Magic on February 6th is a perfect demonstration of the team’s struggles, as the Cavs managed to lose after having a 21-point lead.
At this point of the season, everyone in Cleveland is wondering what was causing the 2016 NBA champions to crash and burn.
If you ask most Cleveland fans, it all derives from the coaching of Tyronn Lue. It is almost Cleveland tradition to blame the coach, as most Cleveland sports fans always blame the Cleveland Browns history of ruining draft picks and promising seasons on the coaching staff. There are a lot of Cleveland fans that think that the players don’t really respect Tyronn Lue, which is causing issues on the court. However, in this case, it is hard to blame Tyronn Lue as he helped lead the Cavs as well as the city of Cleveland to their first champions in decades.
Most rumors from inside the NBA are leading Cleveland sports fans to believe that there were problems inside the locker room that was causing the poor play of the Cavaliers.
For example, there have been rumors made that the team has been butting heads with LeBron. This is because they believe that he is manipulating plays in order to boost his stats. So instead of passing the ball when he sees a player open, LeBron waits until the shot clock is almost expired in hopes of acquiring an assist. This, in turn, is causing a lot of turnovers and making the rest of team mad.
The most recent rumor that has been circulating the NBA is that Isaiah Thomas, the replacement for Kyrie Irving, was causing the drama. There have been speculations that Isaiah Thomas was attempting to turn the team against each other, specifically Kevin Love. Considering that Isaiah Thomas was not happy about being traded from the Boston Celtics, this isn’t too farfetched to believe.
To make the situation even worse it is being said that Cleveland’s knight in shining armor, LeBron James, is thinking about taking his talents to the Golden State Warriors or possibly another team. In recent interviews, LeBron has said things like that he believes that the team should not be aired on national television. This proves that he is unhappy with the way the team has been playing this season and is why many believe that he may, in fact, go to another team.
Fortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to have their mindset on rebuilding another powerhouse team in hopes of reclaiming the NBA championship. This past week the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Derrick Rose, Channing Fyre, Dwyane Wade, Iman Shumpert, Jae Crowder, their 2018 first round pick, and even Isaiah Thomas. In return, the Cavs obtained Larry Nance Jr., Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and George Hill. These trades took a lot of Cleveland Fans by surprise. The Isaiah Thomas trade to the Los Angeles Lakers also helped solidify the rumors that Isaiah Thomas was causing drama in the locker room as he was starting drama by refusing to come off the Lakers bench before he even arrived. Nonetheless, these trades seem promising as the shiny new Cavs got an explosive win over the Boston Celtics this past Sunday. Hopefully, this trade will generate the energy the Cleveland Cavaliers need to overcome the league's powerhouse teams like the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets.
