Cavs players reportedly felt team lacked enough depth to succeed

From the time he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer, LeBron James insisted that the team had to go through a big development process and would not instantly be the best team in the Eastern Conference. Though some had a hard time believing that, his words proved to be correct.

The Cavs have been a good team, but they have looked far from a championship contender, and at no point during the season did they look like one of the best teams in the NBA. Things got even worse during the span when James took a few weeks off to rest his body.

So what was the real problem with the Cavaliers? Was it a matter of players like Dion Waiters being unwilling to take a reserve role? Was it David Blatt’s coaching? Was it Kyrie Irving being resistant to sharing the ball?

According to a new story from Cleveland.com, players believed the real issue was a lack of depth on the roster.

Under the condition of anonymity, some Cavs players admitted that they had lost faith because of the team’s lack of depth. A handful of players said they came to realize the roster, as it was constructed before the trades, wasn’t equipped to go any further than the second round, if that.

One player said the frustration of an “unbalanced roster probably contributed” to the players’ poor body language and effort level. Another said “it was never Coach [David] Blatt’s fault.”

Well that certainly helps shift the blame away from Blatt, whom many figured James was unhappy with. And the good news is a big part of the roster depth issue has been resolved since the team acquired Timofey Mozgov, JR Smith and Iman Shumpert. The new players plus the return of LeBron have helped the Cavs win five in a row, and now they are looking like a team that could emerge from the East.