The Cleveland Cavaliers have been underwhelming to start the 2014-15 season, and despite back-to-back victories by wide margins they're still just a .500 team in the weaker of the two NBA conferences.
Here are the top five reasons that the Cavaliers are struggling in the early stages of the season.
The Cavs Aren't Passing Like Miami Used To
This is the No. 1 sign that this team hasn't gelled yet. Of course LeBron James' Miami Heat took some time to come together-a whole season really-but this group of Cavaliers is experiencing the same growing pains.
One of the issues that is worrisome for Cleveland though is Kyrie Irving as the point guard. Unlike Mario Chalmers, LeBron's primary point guard in Miami, Irving is a star. He has dominated the ball his whole career in Cleveland, and is a score-first guard, not a role player like Chalmers. If he can't be convinced to by into the ball-sharing of the championship Heat, then Cleveland may have a rough go.
Kevin Love's Usage & Shot Selection
Kevin Love dominated headlines all offseason, and eventually cost the Cavaliers Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in a 2014 draft class many pegged as historically good. So far, Love's scoring, rebounding and assists are all down.
Love has simply been less effective in Cleveland, despite a vastly improved supporting cast, and the problem may be he's not getting enough touches. Love is shooting 12 times a game, down from 18 last season, and that's not the only problem.
Love is a good 3-point shooter, but a great post scorer. Why then, are shots from inside three feet making up just 24 percent of his attempts, and treys accounting for 36 percent? If the Cavaliers needed a 3-point specialist, they didn't have to trade away Andrew Wiggins for him. Love needs more touches, closer to the hoop.
Interior Defense
Another problem on this team is an utter lack of rim protection. When the Cavaliers acquired Love, it was no secret he is more of an offensive weapon than anything else.
Anderson Varejao is a quality big, but he is 32 years old with older legs because of injuries. Brendan Haywood is a good defender as well, but provides close to zero offensively. Their inability to protect the basket has neutered LeBron's ability to defend on the perimeter, and is putting undue pressure on an offense loaded with talent, but short on continuity.
Dion Waiters Isn't Giving Them Anything
Dion Waiters looks like a lost soul. He is a ball-dominant shooting guard who was compared to Dwyane Wade coming out of Syracuse, but so far he's been left out in the cold.
Waiters isn't starting, he's only shooting 10 times a game, and his field goal percentage has dropped to 37 percent (26.7 percent from behind the 3-point line). Waiters is expected to be a critical cog of this offense; when everything's working the ball is supposed to be whipping around the court with shooters firing away whenever they're open. They can't trust him to do that if he's bricking treys.
LeBron James' Minutes
James is the best player in the world, but he's almost 30 and a month into his 12th NBA season. Nobody is suggesting that James is going to break down this year under a big workload-that's not going to happen. But he may be at a point where too many minutes can fatigue him late in the year, especially come postseason time when he literally almost never sits.
Irving and Love are playing huge minutes as well, but they don't have the same responsibility as James. He is the architect on offense, the key cog on defense, and the brains of the operation on the floor at all times. 38 minutes a night is quite a lot.
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