When Luol Deng was traded from the Bulls to Cleveland, he was coming from the only team he had known in his nine-plus NBA seasons. His Chicago teams, especially under head coach Tom Thibodeau in recent years, have been the epitome of professionalism in pursuing winning above all else.
The Cavaliers, apparently, are the complete opposite.
Deng reportedly is shocked at some of the goings on in his new surroundings, the particulars of which are detailed by Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News: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. ...
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.
Mike Brown may have done an adequate job when he had LeBron James on the roster during his first stint in Cleveland, but his personality is geared toward basketball more than it is charismatic leadership or taking on the role of a disciplinarian.
When things start to go bad on one of Brown’s team, they snowball to a level that gets out of control extremely quickly -- which is exactly what happened when he was relieved of his duties as coach of the Lakers just five games into last season.
There are real problems with personalities in the Cavaliers locker room -- Waiters is immature, and Irving lacks the level of star power to command enough respect. The accountability needs to come from the top, and it doesn’t seem like Brown or GM Chris Grant are able to get the players on the same page.
The good news for Deng is that he’s an unrestricted free agent once this season is finished. The Cavaliers, however, will be stuck with this mess moving forward unless the required changes are made, which seemingly need to take place at multiple levels of the organization.