The Cleveland Cavaliers have a lot of issues these days, but an apparent disconnect between the team's players and coaches stands near the top of the list. As the Cavaliers have sunk to a disappointing 19-20 record this season, opposing evaluators have seen the team "appearing to run different plays than the bench calls," according to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst.
The Cavaliers are reportedly ignoring play calls from their coaching staff
Play calls from Cleveland’s coaching staff are apparently being ignored by the team’s players.
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland entered the season with high expectations after adding LeBron James, Kevin Love and others during the offseason. However, injuries and issues like the one described above have sunk the team's title aspirations and led to speculation that the players and coaches aren't on the same page. Windhorst makes it sound like that's the case:
"They see players appearing to run different plays than the bench calls, see assistant coach Tyronn Lue calling timeouts literally behind Blatt's back during games and hear Cavs players openly talking about coaching issues with opposing players and personnel," Windhorst writes. "Not once, not twice, but frequently over the past several months."
There’s a lot to unpack there, but the talk of Cavaliers players running different sets than assigned by the coaches is particularly noteworthy. There’s been a good deal of talk about unrest in Cleveland surrounding the players and head coach David Blatt, who was hired during the offseason before the rash of moves that made the team a projected contender.
The Cavaliers have stood by their coach so far, but the idea of players continually ignoring the coach’s play calls could change the equation. Calling plays should be one of Blatt’s most important jobs, particularly on a team that could use some structure, and his role as a leader seems directly in question when players are ignoring his commands.
In isolation, it might not be reason to panic, but given the other issues in Cleveland these days -- from LeBron’s ongoing injuries to Love’s lack of production -- it’s hard to imagine things working out unless everyone is on the same page. In late December, James responded, “What other coach do we have?” when asked whether he supported Blatt and last week, the coach bizarrely called out Love following a loss.
When that kind of stuff is happening, the assistant coach is undermining the head guy and the players are tuning out, it’s hard to say everyone is getting along. Whatever the Cavaliers plan on accomplishing this season, they need to fix these things first.
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