The Cleveland Cavaliers have won five games in a row and now that they are fully healthy they look to have hit their stride. Many people view Cleveland as locks to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals and they certainly have the most talent in the conference but off the court issues could become a problem. The most recent problem has to do with Mo Williams as he has seen his role greatly diminished and he is not very happy about it, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN Cleveland.
Last week it was reported that many of the veterans on Cleveland were not very happy about Richard Jefferson not playing on Christmas due to a coach's decision and it caused some tension in the locker room. Now they have another issue being reported in the locker as Williams has been visibly unhappy and acting like he isn't part of the team.
Williams took less money this offseason as a free agent to sign with the Cavaliers to be their backup point guard, a position which was an issue for them last season. Williams started off the season playing great as the starter with Kyrie Irving out but he knew he would go to a backup role when Irving returned. Since Irving has returned though, Matthew Dellavedova has passed Mo on the depth chart and because of that Williams appears to be out of the current rotation as he has been a DNP- coaches decision the last two games.
The numbers suggest that Williams is having a better season than Dellavedova so far, plus he has a better track record. The only area where Dellavedova has Williams beat is in three point percentage (44 percent Delly, 34 percent Mo) but Williams is shooting better from the field, is scoring more, has a better PER and is playing just as well on defense so it is hard to blame him for being unhappy with his situation.
The issue for Williams is that he hasn't handled the situation very well at all as he showed up to the arena just an hour before their game against the Orlando Magic this weekend and wasn't cheering his teammates on during the game. Behavior like that isn't going to get Williams minutes and instead it might hurt the Cavaliers because it is a distraction that they really do not need as they are in pursuit of an NBA title.
The Cavaliers are clearly one of the best teams in the NBA and they have been playing great lately but little things like this add up and can turn into big things that hinder a team. Should Williams be playing? Probably, but his selfish behavior is something that his teammates notice and no team, especially one that has such big aspirations, needs that kind of negative energy around.
