Considering the Cleveland Cavaliers played opening night without their starting backcourt, LeBron James has to be at least somewhat pleased following his team’s 97-95 loss to the Chicago Bulls on opening night. The depleted reigning Eastern Conference champions, who were also without James and Tristan Thompson for a majority of training camp, were within a single possession of beating a contender on the road to begin the 2015-16 season.
Not bad. But some additional context renders Cleveland’s solid performance on Tuesday night even more encouraging. According to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, the Cavaliers called a players-only meeting in mid-October after some players noticed the team had begun the season with a debilitatingly lighthearted mindset.
The last few weeks, the captain hasn’t been happy with the team’s frame of mind and has used his voice to send a message that pursuing a championship requires a businesslike mindset from the start.
James wasn’t the only one who noticed something didn’t feel right about the team’s demeanor. Other players saw it too, prompting a team meeting before they took off for an exhibition game at Toronto on Oct. 17.
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Players, I’m told, spoke up about not liking what some considered to be a increasingly loose, frolicsome atmosphere. James, I’m told, chimed in on the need to straighten up. Guidelines were given and a renewed commitment was established.
It bears stressing that Cleveland’s James-led summit apparently has nothing to do with the opt-reported friction between he and coach David Blatt. The team’s sometimes encouraging half-court offense against Chicago lends credence to the preseason narrative that it will embrace his ballyhooed offensive concepts in 2015-16, too.
Nevertheless, it certainly doesn’t say good things about the Cavaliers’ approach that a players-only meeting was necessary barely two weeks from the beginning of training camp. It also flies in the face of Irving’s recent assertion that he and his teammates would play this season with “rage” gleaned from June’s loss in the NBA Finals.
But it’s far, far too early for concern regardless. Injuries and a difficult opening schedule made it likely Cleveland would struggle to begin this season; that James and others realized a wake-up call was necessary before that prospect came to fruition increases the likelihood it won’t happen at all.
If the Cavaliers are still having these exclusive talks later this season, though, it will finally be time to cast a bit of doubt on their championship hopes.
