The Cavs have a massive problem on their hands...

The Cavs have a massive problem on their hands. They're sitting at a 500 record right now and it's just not good enough. The team needs to find some sort of rhythm soon or else they're in some big trouble. It starts with a few key players that I'll talk about in this video. Right now the Cavs are sitting at 6-6 and that is sixth place in the Eastern Conference. So right now looking in the playoff picture just on the edge to miss out on the play-in. But right now, you're just looking at some of these teams and the competitiveness of the East. There's so many good teams right now. Like Boston is such a huge surprise. I mean, Philly, obviously, we all knew since they got LeBron and Jalen Brown, we knew they were going to be good. Detroit is looking like, you know, another top seed like they were last year. The Hawks are a little bit of a surprise early on. Obviously, the Knicks, NBA champs. And then there's other teams down near the bottom that. In my opinion, I think they're going to make some runs. I mean, I think the Pacers, once they get more healthy, they really have a very similar team to when they made the finals a couple years ago and lost to the Thunder. I think they're going to make a run. And then you have the Raptors, obviously, with Kawhi, and once they get healthy, they're going to be a team to beat. And then the Heat and Giannis, too, and the Magic, obviously, with Paolo and Franz Wagner. So there are some teams that are right now below the Cavs that I, in my opinion, are going to make some runs later on in the season. So, I mean, this is really important that the Cavs get right now. So they can contend for a playoff spot later on in the season. But right now, 6-6 and 6th place is not good enough for the Cavs, especially with the amount of talent that they have on their roster. In my opinion, I think this comes down to a lot. There's a lot of factors that are obviously going into the Cavs not playing at their potential. But I think one of the main reasons is this guy, James Harden. He's got to play a lot better. He needs to improve as a player and his stats. I mean, he's a leader on this team. It's Donovan Mitchell. He's 1A and then Harden's 1B. So right now his numbers aren't where... We need him to be there, not obviously where James Harden wants him to be. And the coaching staff is a little bit disappointed in his play as well. So let's take a look at those numbers for James Harden so far through the 2026 NBA season. So he is averaging a little under 17 points per game, which I mean, if you're looking at this numbers, these numbers right now for Harden, you're like, hey, you know what? If you just saw the numbers and you didn't see the name associated with them, you'd be like, hey, these numbers aren't bad, right? This is good for a role player or a starter who's not a star on the team, but then... When you see the name associated with these numbers, that these are James Harden stats so far this season, you're like, wow, those are, you know, subpar and not where James Harden, you know, where you expect his numbers to be in his averages. So for anybody else, these are like, you know, average good numbers for a role player, for a starter, for somebody coming off the bench. But for James Harden, they are well below. His average and what he's used to putting up. So, I mean, 17 points per game needs to be higher, obviously. The assists are there, but historically Harden's been a guy who averages 8, 9 assists a season. And especially with this talented Cavs team, you'd think those assist numbers would be higher. He should be getting more guys involved, especially the bigs with Allen and Mobley in the post. Now you've got Peyton Watson. So there are a lot of opportunities to distribute and run the offense and spread out the ball. And Harden can do a better job of that. Obviously, the turnover number at three is still high. He's got a, it's been a problem the past couple of years, really ever since he's been a Cav has been turnovers. He really needs to cut those down. And then the shooting numbers aren't terrible, but for a guy like James Harden, you expect the field goal percentage to be in the 40s and the mid to low 40s and the three-point percentage as well. You want to see that hovering a little bit higher around 40, but I'm not really disappointed in the shooting numbers. It's really everything else. The turnovers, the assists, the points that Harden really needs to step up. And obviously, the low point of the Cavs season, I think, just happened a few days ago. It was the game against the Charlotte Hornets. We'll take a look at the Cavs stats for that game now. It was a 12-point loss for the Cavs against Charlotte in Charlotte, but honestly it was way worse. It was way worse than 12 points. If you watch this game or if you checked in on the score at some point, you saw the Cavs down 30 in the first half and then in the third quarter. And this was just a really disappointing performance for the Cavs. One bright spot, obviously, Malik Thomas coming off the bench to lead the Cavs in scoring with 18 points. I mean, that's obviously the bright spot, but I think it stops there. I think that's really the highlight of this game for the Cavs. You saw on social media, it was well documented about... Uh, the Cavs not boxing out, not getting rebounds. They didn't get their first offensive rebound until like the third quarter or something crazy like that. So, uh, just the effort really is what I noticed that that stood out to me big time in this game, which is, it looks like they didn't want to be out there. They didn't want to play. They didn't want to play hard. Number one, there's just doing the little things, right? Boxing out, rebounding things that you have to do when you're in the NBA, the Cavs just weren't doing, and weren't doing the little things. Um, and the Hornets really just a Hornets team that didn't really have a lot of talent a lot of you know big name players in this game they're just not a good team in general they're going to be towards the bottom of the east when it's all said and done at the end of the year and they just outplayed a Cavs team full of all-stars. It was a really poor performance from the Cavs and I think this turnaround is going to start with Yes. Start with Kenny Atkinson and his coaching staff. They've got to get a fire under these players and be like, hey, we're not playing good enough. They've got to set their foot down and be like, hey, we've got to improve. We've got to be better. Obviously, 32 rebounds. We got out-rebounded severely in this game. Now we take a look at the other side for the Hornets. You're looking at these starting lineups. Grayson Allen scoring 27 points. I mean, it should not... Be happening. Grayson Allen should not be leading a game and scoring with 27 points. How about Naz Reid with 25? I mean, he shouldn't be scoring that many. Thank you very much, Danny. And then Kalkbrenner, Ryan Kalkbrenner. Obviously, he was a great player at Creighton, a great rebounder and defender, but for 15 rebounds for him and Naz Reid, 13 rebounds. Those two guys combined at 28 boards. Allen and Mobley should not be getting out-rebounded by those two guys, 28. What did they have? Let's look at Allen and Mobley, their rebounds combined. Thank you very much. Allen and Mobley, Mobley two rebounds, and Jared Allen was seven, so nine rebounds for our two centers. Combined this that's not going to cut it and obviously the Hornets had 49 rebounds so out rebounded us by 17 as well. So I mean that's that's obviously the big factor. I mean you see the clips on social media of you know the Hornets getting offensive rebound off their offensive rebound and Harden just standing there not boxing out. I mean the guards you're at your guards but you still have to box out. So it's everybody one through five. starters and bench needing to do the little things in order to win basketball games like it's against a team like the hornets it doesn't have a lot of talent i mean that's what's going to be the separators doing the little things and the hornets obviously do that way better than the Cavs and hence they were able to to get the win at home by by 12 points and like i said it was a lot worse um but it starts with with Kenny Atkinson and and this this coaching staff um now the Cavs The Cavs just beat the Knicks at the Garden. So that's a step in the right direction, right? We're coming off a win against the Knicks, but still... We need to see more, right? So this is, if we can, you know, build off of that win against the defending NBA champs at their place, that's huge. But we got to get some sort of momentum moving forward. It starts with, obviously, our two talented guards, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. They have to play better, and especially James Harden. His numbers are not where we need him to be as, you know, a perennial all-star talent, and he needs to be a lot better. I've mentioned obviously some solutions to the Cavs problem. But what else? What other options are there? I mean, I obviously mentioned Harden has to play better. Mobley now would have to step up, as I mentioned, in that Hornets game. Or maybe it's a younger guy like Malik Thomas, maybe a Tyrese Proctor, Jalen Tyson. Maybe they can step up and fill maybe some of the scoring void and some of this effort and hustle plays that need to happen. I'm looking to some young guys, like especially Malik Thomas, Jalen Tyson, Tyrese Proctor, to make an impact here over these next couple weeks. He speaks. Or maybe, I mean, it's a long season. You're at 82 games. We're only 12 games in. So maybe you just need to give this team some more time. Some more time to gel and play together and reach their potential. Like I said, only 12 games in. I'd say around maybe game 20, game 25, if the Cavs don't have a winning record by a couple of games, then it's really panic mode and time to start shopping some solutions for this team because this is a team that should be competing for an NBA title. They should be in the top four seeds in the East, just based on talent alone on the roster. They should be a top four seed when it's all said and done in the East, a stacked East. I'll add that. But yeah, a lot of solutions, a lot of things to clean up, and it starts with James Harden, starts with Atkinson and his coaching staff. And if Kenny wants to keep a job, he's got to turn it around and figure out how the Cavs can get on the right side of 500 and by a couple of games, by game 20 to 25, in my opinion. A lot of things to figure out for this team and if you want to stay updated with any updates regarding the Cavs and throughout the regular season, make sure to subscribe to Cavs Digest. It's much appreciated. As always, thank you for watching and go Cavs!