The Cleveland Cavaliers are at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, but they have lost three of their last five games and are just two games ahead of the Toronto Raptors. The fact that they might get caught by the Raptors isn't the biggest issue though; the fact that they haven't been playing very well is.
There have been little things throughout the year that have come out of the Cavaliers' locker room that suggested things weren't great there, but they thought firing coach David Blatt would solve that. It hasn't though and this team still seems to be a group that is not bonded or ready to win an NBA Championship.
The Cavaliers have plenty of talent to be able to make the Finals and be able to take it home, but one thing that they are missing, at least according to LeBron James, is an enforcer. James said that having an enforcer is a vital component to a championship team, something his head coach Tyronn Lue agreed with.
Cleveland had an enforcer last season in Kendrick Perkins, whom they signed at the end of February, and many of the players were not very happy with the fact that he was not re-signed this season. Perkins only appeared in 17 games for the Cavaliers last season and averaged just 9.8 minutes per game, but his impact was not about stats, it was more about his presence and leadership.
This offseason Perkins signed with the New Orleans Pelicans while the Cavaliers decided to fill that void with Sasha Kaun, a 30-year-old rookie who has barely played and who some people think isn't ready to play in the league. In the Cavaliers' defense, they made the decision to sign Kaun over Perkins before they knew what Tristan Thompson's situation was. Thompson was still unsigned at this point and they couldn't afford to use a roster spot on a big man who wouldn't contribute. Cleveland decided that Kaun had a better chance of helping the team on the floor than Perkins did, a decision that did not sit well with some of the other players on the team.
Thompson eventually agreed to a long-term deal, so in hindsight this decision doesn't look great for the Cavaliers, but not having Perkins shouldn't be the reason for their poor play recently. Perkins does provide the enforcement the Cavaliers seek, but he wasn't going to get much playing time this year anyway, so how much enforcement could he realistically do from the bench? It sounds like the Cavaliers are starting to come up with excuses while the team they lost to in the finals last year is busy breaking records.
