The Cavaliers have won two straight games, which has somewhat cooled down the talks of things in Cleveland being an abject disaster, but they are still a mess right now.
Finding himself at the center of seemingly all of the problems and finger-pointing right now is Isaiah Thomas, from his role in the disastrous team meeting a couple weeks ago to his poor play on the court. Thomas had an interesting air-it-out talk with the media on Saturday where he got a bit defensive, although understandably so, about the blame he’s received but was also defiant about needing to change things.
There have been many around the Cavs speculating that Thomas could find himself on the way out of Cleveland just a month after making his debut. However, as Bleacher Report’s Ken Berger reports, Thomas apparently has the ear of the most powerful person in the organization and that may make his departure far less likely.
While LeBron James has long been considered the man pulling the strings in Cleveland, which has been true at times, with David Griffin’s ouster Dan Gilbert has apparently gone back to taking the reins of the front office. According to Berger, Thomas has become a “favorite” of Gilbert’s and the two talk regularly.
Thomas has become a favorite of Gilbert, and they often exchange calls and text messages, a league source familiar with their relationship told B/R. This isn’t necessarily unusual on a team with an owner who is as involved in the basketball side of things as Gilbert is. It also isn’t great for locker room chemistry, because the rest of the players know it.
“LeBron just looks at everybody as a shill for Dan,” the league source said.
…
“The word is out that Dan is running things,” a rival executive told B/R. “Frankly, that’s where he’s happiest and the role he’s most comfortable in.”
Gilbert running things will not please Cavs fans and, considering how quickly they’ve turned on him, neither will Gilbert being especially fond of Thomas. Gilbert doesn’t have a great track record of making wise basketball decisions and this was the fear of many Cavs fans when they refused to extend Griffin.
If Thomas and Gilbert have become close, that would seem to indicate Thomas won’t be getting moved at the deadline as many have projected. That could obviously change or the closeness of their relationship could be overstated, but if we take this report at face value it points to Thomas likely being in Cleveland past Feb. 8 and the Cavs hoping he can simply figure out his issues and they can make things work with the volume-shooting point guard.
