The Point Four-ward: Fit In, Fit On, Fit Out

Four things I’m thinking about the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) LeBron James loves his teammates.

Sorry… change that. LeBron James loves to love his teammates.

From his days playing at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary with Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton, Willie McGee and Romeo Travis, to his days as a Cavalier and thier elaborate choreographed pre-game introductions, James has always seemed most comfortable when his team exudes a family atmosphere. When they’re close. When everybody fits in.

So, it wasn’t shocking to see that this weekend, as his new version of the Cavaliers continues to round into form, that James would address what he saw as the team’s squeakiest wheel going forward: power forward, Kevin Love.

James tweeted “stop finding ways to FIT-OUT and just FIT-IN” in apparent reference to a preseason story where Love, admitting to his less social tendencies said that teammates were telling him to “fit out” and just be himself. After some back-and-forth, James admitted that the tweet was in reference to Love. Love admitted to being taken “by surprise” when he heard it, but has since said that there’s no problem between the two of them, though they have not talked specifically about the text.

While I disagree with the surface message of James’ tweet — I happen to like fitting out just fine — it does suggest that James views Love’s continued struggles with his role and performance this season as a real problem and something that could derail the identity that this team is (finally) building.

2.) I know less about Love and the teams of his youth than I do — than we all do — about James’, but here’s what I do know: going back to his days at UCLA, Love has never enjoyed a truly harmonious time on a team. In college, he received death threats (among other things) when he chose to play for the Bruins instead of his home state Oregon Ducks. He was traded on draft day. During his rookie season with the Timberwolves, his first coach, Randy Wittman, was fired. He developed a close relationship with Kevin McHale, who coached the team for the rest of the season, only to see McHale leave the team after the season and be replaced with Kurt Rambis, who often seemed at odds with Love during his two seasons. He was then not made the team’s designated player when they offered him an extension of four (instead of five) years, a move that Love perceived as a slap in the face. After that, things never really warmed between Love and the Timberwolves organization, and the team kept losing. All of which brings us up to the summer of 2014 and what has been, to this point, an extremely frustrating season for Love on the court.

So, maybe James needs to ease up on Love a bit. There’s a lot of losing, distrust and personal frustration that needs to be overcome and I’m not sure publicly saying “be part of something special” cures all that ails.

James is trying, though, which is an encouraging sign that he’s bought in to this team much more so than he had at the start of the season.

3.) It was disappointing to see the Cavs winning streak end last Friday night at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, but it’s not the end of the world. While the winning streak included more quality wins (the Bulls, the post-Josh Smith Pistons in Detroit, and the Clippers twice) than the overall cushiness of that section of the Cavs schedule would indicate (especially since the Cavs were in the midst of getting their own heads on straight during this stretch, as well), it was a chunk of games that saw the Cavs get look like world beaters largely in home games against sub-.500 teams.

This team still needs to show that it can win against a quality opponent on the road (something it will get another chance to do Thursday night in Chicago). Looking back, a road game against a depleted, though well-coached, team made up (mostly) of guys who know how to win one night after thoroughly dismantling the Clippers in Cleveland (a feat that looks a bit less impressive considering the Clippers subsequent games, but still…) was like a big, juicy steak sitting plop in the middle of a hair-trigger bear trap.

But nothing unrecoverable was lost. The Cavs led for most of the game. They were still in it at the end. And then they came back and beat another bad team (the Lakers) at home on Sunday. They will have to learn to win games like this, but first these “new Cavs” need to play more games like this. So, temporary pass given…

4.) If you’ve been paying any attention to the general NBA landscape this year, you’ve already heard plenty about Hassan Whiteside. You’ve probably heard about the 25-year old 7-0 center’s journey from second round pick of the Sacramento Kings to playing overseas to the D-League and now to putting up some huge numbers (15.4 points, 14.4 rebounds and 3.6 blocks in under 30 minutes a game over his last 10) as a member of the Miami Heat. Where you haven’t been hearing about Whiteside, though, thanks to the trade that brought in Timofey Mozgov from the Denver Nuggets, is in your nightmares… which is exactly what facing Whiteside would have been for the Cavs prior to the Mozgov deal.

With Dwyane Wade not expected to travel with the Heat as they visit the Cavs, the spotlight shifts away from the LeBron/Wade match-up (and the promise of any future team-ups that might result) and casts its light under the basket, squarely in the eyes of the Mozgov and Whiteside.

Whiteside played in the Christmas Day game between these two teams, registering just three rebounds and one blocked shot in eight minutes full of holiday cheer. That was before he really turned it on, though, and, really, that first Cavs/Heat game was reserved for whatever revenge Wade and Luol Deng were saving up for LeBron and his Dysfunctaliers.

How Whiteside is playing now — now, that’s the kind of player who would have gone off for a 30/20 game against the Cavs a couple of months ago. With Mozgov the Cavs have a guy big enough — and athletic enough — to potentially keep the Heat big man from adding a new chapter to the NBA’s feel-good story of the year.

Look for the Cavs to attack Whiteside and try to get him into early foul trouble. Over the last five games, Whiteside has averaged 3.3 fouls a game — not egregious, but enough to have LeBron working on his post-drive pleas to the refs like he’s auditioning for Hamlet.