Are The Cleveland Cavaliers Too Talented?

Oct 30, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward

LeBron James

(23) talks with forward

Kevin Love

(0) and forward

Tristan Thompson

(13) against the New York Knicks at Quicken Loans Arena. New York won 95-90. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

With the Cleveland Cavaliers recent struggle, we ponder whether the Cavs are too talented

It’s often thought that the ideal NBA team is a roster filled with talent at every position, and a few All-Stars. Surely that’s the key to winning Championships, right? Well, as history has told us so many times, it’s not always that simple. I’m not saying that teams loaded with stars never work, just look at the Celtics and Lakers in the 80’s, or the Miami Heat of the last four years. However, a star-studded franchise with a bunch of big egos can often lead to just as much disappointment as excitement.

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Since Kevin Love announced he’d be joining LeBron James’ homecoming this offseason, Cavs hype videos have been flooding the internet and The Kings’ bandwagon seems to be more crammed than ever. Fans who didn’t hold back from burning his jersey just four years ago were in even more of a rush to go out and buy their LeBron gear this summer, and the formation of the new Big 3 created endless anticipation.

After losing four straight games — prior to last night’s victory over the Magic — to result in a 6-7 record though, it seems that fans may be left just scratching their heads and wondering how they only have three more wins than the Lakers.

Thirteen games into the season, Cleveland have been the epitome of inconsistency. Over their last handful of games they won their first two, then turned people’s heads with a four game win streak, and then quickly made them roll their eyes again by losing the next four games.

Nov 22, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) blocks a shot by Toronto Raptors forward

Amir Johnson

(15) in the second quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

By no means am I writing off the Cavaliers as a competitor though. Their team is entirely different from a year ago and time to adjust should be expected, not to mention they have a head coach in David Blatt who is only in his first year as an NBA coach. Blatt may have had an 80 percent winning percentage with his team over the last four seasons, but putting what is currently a mish-mash of stars into an efficient team is not proving easy for him.

Now though, with the way they play defense, and the fact that too many players want to lead the way, the issue of having ‘too much talent’ has to be considered.

“We’re a very fragile team right now… Any little adversity hits us, we just shell up” LeBron James

There’s no doubt the Cavs can score, and with LeBron, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love holding down three positions on the starting lineup it really isn’t a surprise. Having said that actually, they’ve been fairly average on offense, ranking 13th in points per game (perhaps LeBron’s bandwagon is looking a little less crowded after-all).

But with each of these guys, along with Waiters, there are too many players who want to be the ‘star.’ LeBron himself summed up their situation best after blowing an 18-point lead during their loss to the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

Nov 22, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Toronto Raptors guard

Louis Williams

(23) shoots the ball over Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) in the second quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Lou Williams managed to score just as many points (36) as LeBron and Irving combined on Saturday, and after his Raptors came back for a great win on the road it pretty much summed up the Cavs’ season.

So what’s the problem?

LeBron knows he’s the best player in the world so he obviously wants to continue doing LeBron-esque things on the floor, which should generally be the case no matter what team he’s on. However, he is by no means guilt-free for the woes of the Cavs this season, and his sporadic play of inaccurate passes and surprising turnovers can’t go unnoticed.

Irving, of course, has shown everyone this year that he is still a shoot-first point guard, despite having two 25+ point per game players beside him. His tendency of over dribbling and overusing isolation plays is just frustrating to watch when Love is standing down-low waiting for a chance to actually do something.

With a slight increase of playing time (now 38.4 minutes per game) you’d think that Irving’s assist numbers would increase now he has two superstars to get the ball to. Yet they’ve now dropped below five per game for the first time in his career. He may be a scoring machine at times, but in order to be an effective point guard for the future of his franchise, he needs to utilize his teammates far better than he is right now.

Dion Waiters, the naive Dion Waiters, still holds onto the fact that he and Irving are the best backcourt duo in the NBA. Well, I think any basketball fan with an ounce of knowledge knows that title is well and truly held by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors. Waiters insists on shooting in tough situations despite being the worst player in the lineup, and now he’s shooting just 37 percent from the floor and barely even making three shots a game.

Nov 17, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dion Waiters (3) shoots as Denver Nuggets center

Timofey Mozgov

(25) defends during the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. The Nuggets beat the Cavaliers 106-97. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Love on the other hand just seems to be forgotten half the time. Maybe his teammates don’t realize he’s just one of a few players in NBA history to average 26 and 12 over an entire season. Love’s averaging 10 points less per game than last year, which is a huge drop off considering the scoring skill set he has, and if they want to improve they need to get him the ball far more often.

Too many times he seems to be hovering around the perimeter or waiting on the block for a chance to put some of his post game into practice. Meanwhile, Irving spends seven seconds dribbling around like a high school freshman trying to make highlights for his mix tape.

Nov 21, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) dribbles the ball as Washington Wizards guard

John Wall

(2) defends in the third quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 91-78. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

This team is full of talent. Their three stars are superstars, and their bench should be contributing far more than it has been. They have the potential to be great, possibly even all-time great. But right now they look like another premature champion who are winding up as the punchline to nearly as many basketball jokes as the Lakers.

They need an identity, they need to play hard on defense, run in transition, use every piece of talent they have, not lean on LeBron, Blatt needs to sort out an effective rotation, and they need to play together rather than looking around to see who’s turn it is to make the next play.

The cause of all of this appears to be just too much talent and the inflated egos that come with it. An overhaul of stars can clash just as often as they can come together, and until this Cleveland Cavaliers team figures out a way to play as a team they won’t be strolling into the NBA Finals like we thought.