CLEVELAND, Ohio — In a candid moment on the latest Wine and Gold Talk podcast, cleveland.com beat reporter Chris Fedor revealed what NBA insiders are saying behind closed doors about the Cavs: they might be too nice to win a championship.
The conversation between Fedor and host Ethan Sands exposed a harsh truth that could explain the team’s early-season struggles and potentially their playoff ceiling. It’s not about talent or coaching — it’s about mentality.
“The one thing that has been brought up to me over and over and over again, and I had one person say it to me last night, said, ‘I don’t know that the Cavs have enough MFers’. I guess we’ll wait and see,” Fedor revealed on the podcast, sharing an unfiltered assessment from his NBA sources.
This blunt evaluation gets at something that statistics can’t measure but championship teams invariably possess: a certain edge, an enforcer mentality, players who strike fear into opponents and create uncomfortable situations when necessary.
Fedor elaborated on what NBA insiders are seeing when they look at Cleveland’s roster: “There are people outside the Cavs locker room that are looking at the Cavs and saying to themselves, ’they don’t have the right kind of roster makeup to win a championship.’ And it’s not from a skill set standpoint. It’s from a mentality standpoint.”
Sands highlighted comments from ESPN analyst and former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins who recently criticized the team in similar terms: “I just don’t understand how the Cavs talked about how embarrassed they were this offseason. But still playing without any sense of urgency. And most importantly, soft as hell.”
This conversation about the team’s identity isn’t happening in a vacuum. It follows Cleveland’s humbling playoff exit last season and connects to their early struggles this year, particularly on defense where they’ve fallen outside the top 10 in defensive rating despite having the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Evan Mobley.
When Fedor was asked by another NBA source who the “meanest” player in the Cavs locker room was, he suggested Max Strus, the former Miami Heat player known for his toughness. The source’s response? “It can’t be Max. It’s got to be somebody else ... That’s a bad sign.”
The podcast exchange revealed that this perception isn’t new. Last season, according to Fedor, an anonymous NBA source described the Cavs as “too nice” with a locker room “filled with too many nice guys.” When national reporters later asked Cavs players who the “a-hole” was in their locker room, the consensus answer was again Strus.
In an era of “player empowerment” and friendly superstar relationships, there’s a belief that something more primal is still required to win at the highest level.
“I’ve had other people in the past say you need a couple of you need like at least one psycho in your locker room,” Fedor explained. “Like somebody who is just going to make things really, really difficult.”
For Cavs fans, this raises an uncomfortable question: Does the team need to get less nice to get more playoff wins?
Here’s the podcast for this week:
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