The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a poor start that continues to get worse this season. The Cavs have now lost four in a row and are 3-5 this season. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with the team, though there are a lot of potential issues.
The Cavs have many new players and are trying to figure out their best lineups and rosters. They also have players coming off injuries. But one thing that was noted this week is how the signing of Dwyane Wade affected things.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Cavs head coach Ty Lue never wanted to start Wade.
“Dwyane Wade signed, and — not (because of) anything Dwyane did but — that arrival threw five or six people out of whack, including Ty Lue,” Windhorst said “The Lowe Post” podcast on ESPN. “Lue I’m not saying he would admit to this publicly, but he didn’t wanna start Dwyane … but he knew that he had to because it was the right thing to do for the chemistry of the team. He ended up starting five different lineups the first seven games. And it displaced JR Smith who pouted, and he’s playing terribly. The Derrick Rose arrival displaced a couple people — it displaced Kevin Love.”
Windhorst also said that the Cavs have been playing in a bad mood.
The Wade problem is starting to somewhat work itself out. Wade, who appeared to make starting a condition for signing with a team, admitted he was struggling to find a role on the Cavs and eventually volunteered to come off the bench. That was helpful to the team, because JR Smith said he was hurt by his benching.
The good news for Cleveland is that it’s only early November, so they have plenty of time to figure out their lineups and roster before the more meaningful games are played.
