It’s been a true culture shock for Luol Deng since he’s been a Cleveland Cavalier over the past 26 days. Not in a good way, either.
Deng has seen how a team mired in losing since LeBron James left town wrongly caters to its young star players, even as they continue to undermine head coach Mike Brown at almost every turn. In Chicago, where Deng broke in and played nine-plus seasons, there is a winning culture where players are expected to act like professionals and understand that they will suffer the consequences if they step out of line.
As Deng recently told one close friend, “the stuff going on in practice would never be tolerated by the coaching staff or the front office back in Chicago. It’s a mess."
Deng was brought in to help clean it up when he arrived in a deal for Andrew Bynum on Jan. 7. But since then, he’s seen players get thrown out of practice, take off their uniform tops at halftime and threaten not to play, mouth off to Brown and generally act like spoiled brats. Entering Saturday’s game at Houston, the Cavs had lost seven of their last 11 games since the Deng trade.
There is no accountability, as Dion Waiters found out when he was kicked out of practice last week but still got his usual minutes against the Knicks. Brown isn’t getting much help from GM Chris Grant, who is expected to be fired at season’s end because of the losing and problems in the locker room.
The Cavs were supposed to challenge for a playoff spot, but not to worry. All the losing isn’t keeping them from having a good time. During their trip to New York, several players enjoyed themselves immensely the night before the game against the Knicks, partying into the wee hours with J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, and other NFL players. Their late-night/early morning carousing played a factor when they didn’t even try in their blow-out loss to the Knicks.
This franchise is a mess. Coach sucks, has no ability to orchestrate a offense, players suck, and management is horrible. Not to mention their FO should be fired. Kyrie Irving was supposed to be the franchise player, and leader, but he clearly can't do any of that.
From top to bottom this might be the worst franchise in the NBA. Do people wonder why Lebron ever left?
This franchise is a mess. Coach sucks, players suck, management sucks. From top to bottom this is one of the worst franchises in the NBA.
The only thing I fault Lebron for is making a silly TV about his free agency and that stupid celebration he had with Bosh and Wade. As far as the move to Miami, he was right.
But because he's been so dominant in recent years, he could've won a least one championship, but would it really be worth it all? None of us want to work for a terrible employer, or business.
And Lebron, considered the best basketball player prospect coming out of high school, spent so many years... That he finally realized that.
Obviously, the thing that kept him committed to Cleveland was probably the fans and that it was his home town. Other than that I do feel some pity and sorrow for the fans that constantly pray that they may see the ring. But I think just like Lebron, their left out in the rain.
Topic: Loul Deng on the state of the Cavs (Read 16033 times)