It most certainly has been a disappointing year in sports in Cleveland. All three of our professional sports teams have pretty much stunk in 2012.
One bright spot fans on the north coast thought they had been watching the progress of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They had the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in Kyrie Irving and two other top four picks in second year forward Tristan Thompson and rookie Dion Waiters.
So far, the wine and gold have been a huge disappointment, starting the season at 5-22 and on pace for another season of less than 20 victories.
The biggest problem is not the physical ability to play the game, the Cavs have some talent. Look at the teams they have defeated this year.
The Lakers are struggling, but they have talent. The Clippers have one of the NBA’s best records at 19-6. Philadelphia made the playoffs last season. Atlanta currently has the third best record in the Eastern Conference.
All have lost to the Cavaliers, whose lone win over a bad team was an Opening Night win over the Wizards.
They also have close losses to Miami (16 -6), New York (18-6), and Memphis (16-6).
On the other hand, they’ve lost at home to teams like Toronto (8-19), Detroit (7-21), and Phoenix (10-15).
They seem to play to the level of their competition, which has to frustrate their coach, Byron Scott, to no end.
It is true that the Cavaliers are a young team, but it has to drive Scott crazy to see them play with teams like the Heat and Knicks on the road, and then get whipped at The Q by a team like Toronto.
They need to have that same drive and determination in games they can win, particularly at home, as they do against the big boys in the NBA.
Too often, it looks like they play with the attitude of we’re at home and since he can hang with the Heat, we’ll win tonight. They don’t have a professional attitude on a night-to-night basis.
They’ve lost 16 straight games within the Central Division!
Right now, the Cavaliers don’t have anything they can hang their collective hats on. They should, and it should be on the defensive end.
Cleveland has the worst defensive field goal percentage in the league, allowing opponents to make over 47% of their shots. Much of that problem stems from their best player, Irving, struggling at the defensive end.
There is no question that Irving is the team’s best player, now he needs to become a leader, even if he is just 20 years old. He needs to be the guy who takes Scott’s defensive mantra to the floor and show everyone else on the team that he buys in.
That’s the responsibility of being a great player instead of a very good player.
The young Cavaliers have to learn this is a business rather than a game and they need to win games at home against mediocre teams, which you can read as squads of their ilk.
When we see them beating the likes of the Bobcats, Hornets, Pistons, Bucks, etc. with regularity, then they will be turning the corner toward improvement.
The first step toward respectability and then the playoffs is winning the games you are supposed to win. The Cavs need to do just that and do it soon.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 