CHICAGO — It’s been more than a week since the Cavs’ supposed reset – a break in the schedule that allowed them to exhale, reflect and reassess.
They looked in the mirror. They preached accountability. They had uncomfortable conversations. Allegedly discovered new life.
Since then, Cleveland is 1-2, with a ghastly point differential (-6.3) despite playing three of the league’s dregs — Washington, Charlotte and Chicago — who have a combined record of 23-53 and are collecting ping pong balls for the draft lottery.
Inexcusable. Inexplicable. But here we are.
Each night, there’s a new contender for “worst loss of the season,” with Wednesday staking its claim — [a 127-111 romp by underdog Chicago](https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/12/cavs-lineup-change-doesnt-work-fall-to-chicago-bulls-127-111.html), which entered the game losers of eight of the last nine.
The slumping Bulls led the entire second half, by a game-high 19 points late in the fourth quarter. It’s the third consecutive bottom-feeder that has built an advantage of at least 17 points against the Cavaliers — the league’s most expensive roster expected to contend for an NBA championship. They have now lost seven of their last 10 games and Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson continues to search for solutions that may not even exist.
At some point it’s fair to wonder what — if anything — can be done to snap out of this prolonged rut.
“I never think that way,” Atkinson said late Wednesday. “I think that’s our job is to keep trying and keep tweaking, move lineups around, try different guys, give different guys chances. We’ve got some guys in a funk, some guys that are not grooving right now. Try to find a way to help them. Try to create lineups that can help them the most. I don’t think staying the status quo is the way to go when you’re struggling. You’ve got to keep looking at different things. I always say during these times, you discover a lot about yourself, discover a lot about your team.”
Atkinson’s latest change — removing struggling De’Andre Hunter from the starting lineup and replacing him with second-year forward Jaylon Tyson — didn’t produce immediate results. But Atkinson plans to see it through and collect more data — at least, until some of the rotational players come off the injured list.
The idea: strengthen Cleveland’s flimsy bench with Hunter’s scoring prowess and give the starting group a defensive jolt.
“He plays hard,” Atkinson said of Tyson. “Makes mistakes like a second-year player should, but his mistakes are usually in the play hard game. He’s gonna be a really good defensive player as soon as he tightens up a little bit with the coverages and being on the same page with the other guys. But the effort, that’s where defense starts. Effort, toughness, determination. He’s got all the intangibles to be a heck of a two-way player in this league.”
It’s not a surprise that Atkinson made a defensive-minded decision. It’s been a point of emphasis since last Tuesday’s harsh film session. And when players are repeatedly asked about the team’s identity, that’s the first thing that gets uttered.
It may be time to drop that. Where’s the evidence that this group can be an elite defensive outfit?
Top-ranked Oklahoma City is a defense-first team. Same with former coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s Detroit Pistons. Flip on a game with either one of those teams and it’s obvious.
Offense is a chore. Passes are difficult. Dribbling is dangerous. The paint is a fortress.
Those two teams run a clinic on screen navigation, closeouts, decisiveness, rotations, communication, extra effort, helping the helper and physicality at the point of attack.
That’s how a defense-first team should look. Not like Cleveland.
Last week, the Cavs allowed the short-handed Wizards, missing four of their top eight leading scorers, to have their third-best offensive night all season. Two days later, the Hornets — minus LaMelo Ball, Collin Sexton and Tre Man — put up 119 points. On Wednesday, the Bulls assaulted Cleveland’s paint with dribble drives, blow-bys, slick entry feeds and sharp outlet passes. Chicago finished with 68 points in the paint while shooting 72.3% on those attempts.
What’s the opposite of guard your yard?
“We gave up 127 points,” Mitchell said when asked what went wrong. “They were in our paint. At the rim. We played well in spurts. Just too free flowing for them.”
The Bulls shot 56.2% from the field and 38.9% from beyond the arc. They finished with an offensive rating of 118.7, becoming the 11th different opponent to post a 118 offensive rating or better. That happened just 19 times in 82 regular season games in 2024-25.
Everyone has a different take on the continued struggles.
Some point to offensive woes carrying over to the other end. Some talk about an alarming lack of consistent effort and focus. Some have identified mental mistakes and lapses in concentration. Some say it’s about taking on an individual challenge. Some wonder if the Cavs have adapted to the new NBA. On Wednesday, Atkinson lamented Cleveland’s 20 turnovers that Chicago turned into 21 points — an abnormally high number that sabotaged its chances. The injury absences don’t help either.
Mobley is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, the team’s mistake eraser. Max Strus is one of the most competitive players on the roster — despite some physical limitations. Sam Merrill ranks in the 82nd percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus. Larry Nance Jr. has been a plus-defender all but one year in his career.
These missing players matter. They play a role in Cleveland’s underwhelming record. But the ceaseless gaffes are becoming harder to ignore, no matter who is available.
Transition. Half court. It’s all bad. Far too easy for opponents.
Six of their 10 worst defensive showings have come in the last three weeks, dropping the Cavaliers outside the top 10 in the most important metric — defensive efficiency. And this team doesn’t have the offensive weaponry to counterbalance that.
“Everybody thinks of everything that could be going wrong, but at the end of the day, I’m going to stick with the team,” Jarrett Allen said. “That’s the easiest thing to do — think bad about what’s going on. You can give up, but at the end of the day, if you keep trying, keep fighting, things are going to go right eventually.
“Sometimes we play like the number one seed like we were last year, and then sometimes we just play like a team who’s trying to figure it out. We are trying to figure it out right now.”
So, what will it take to finally turn it around?
“Stick with it,” Mitchell said. “If we’re going to sit here, and I’m not saying we are, I’m saying if we sit here and feel sorry and be all woe is me in December … stick with it. I’ve been in this position before. It’s a lot of season left. A lot of time left. It sucks. It’s not great. But stick with it. Keep your spirit. Keep your togetherness. Go from there."
Following Wednesday’s shootaround, as a sleep-deprived and under-the-weather Mitchell had a hard time even holding his head up while downing fluids, he drew on some of his past experiences in Utah. As he discussed those early-season stumbles during his first few years, Mitchell mentioned the importance of remaining even-keeled and trying to ignore the outside noise. He said there’s no reason to panic.
Twelve hours later, as he was left to process another bad loss, he stayed true to that mentality.
“I believe in everybody in this locker room.” Mitchell said. “We believe in each other and it’s going to turn. You can’t sit here and tuck your tail between your legs and be sad just because we’re getting booed and we’re not playing well. There’s an expectation. An expectation to be a championship team and we’re not even close to playing like it. This is what it is. I would always rather this today than a few months from now.
“We know who we are as a complete group. We saw it in training camp. We had a really good belief coming into the season. We played well to start the season. Obviously, it gradually became inconsistent, but I believe in everybody in this locker room as we should because we’ve shown that we can be that team.”
Have they? This team? This collection of personnel? There’s not much proof of that. And there won’t be until they start to defend at a higher level — their professed identity.
It’s the only path to a turnaround.