The Cleveland Cavaliers have been hit with a reality check. They’ve stumbled out of the gates and slipped to a 14-11 start to the season. This recently led to a tough-love film session by Kenny Atkinson,
followed shortly by a players-only meeting.
Everyone appears to be on the same page; this season has to be saved, and fast.
“The best players want to be coached hard, I really think that, and that’s the case with our guys,” Atkinson said of his meeting. “They want it, and so I feel comfortable doing it because they are accepting of coaching.”
The NBA season doesn’t often provide opportunities for teams to practice. But this latest break in the schedule is unique in that the Cavs are able to course correct in the middle of December. They aren’t looking to make any major changes, but just being able to get back to the basics could be beneficial for a team that has been losing its rhythym.
“Cleaning up the slippage, almost getting back to training camp like ‘remember, these are the details of what we’re doing,‘” Atkinson said. “Let’s re-examine and execute our core principles — because the other way you can look at it is, we gotta change things, but I felt like we were at the point where we had to get back to the beginning.”
The Cavs were expected to be a title contender this season. And while that’s not entirely out of the question after just 25 games — it’s hard not to look at the standings and realize the rest of the league is pulling away. Atkinson says you have to do everything in your power to avoid comparing yourself to teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are off to a 24-1 start.
“If you do that in the NBA, I think you’ll drive yourself crazy,” Atkinson said. “I just really gotta be focused on us — I looked at it the other day, and I think we’re borderline top-10 in both offense and defense… so there are some real positives, we’re not where we want to be, but we’re not way behind.”
It’s early enough in the season that you can still picture the Cavaliers climbing out of this hole, getting healthy, and hitting their stride at the perfect time. But patience wears thin as these games progress. They are quickly running out of room for excuses. This team needs to start showing tangible results again. Everyone knows this.
“That doesn’t mean I’m satisfied where we are, but I do think there are some positive signs, and as we get healthier, we’ll continue to get there,” Atkinson said.
If the Cavs want to get back on track, now’s the time. They play the Washington Wizards tonight and the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
