CLEVELAND, Ohio — The disconnect between the Cavs’ self-belief and their on-court performance continues to widen with each passing game.
Following Wednesday’s disappointing 127-111 loss to the Chicago Bulls, cleveland.com beat reporter Chris Fedor questioned the foundation of players’ confidence on the latest Wine and Gold Talk podcast.
When asked directly why he believes the team’s issues can be fixed, star guard Donovan Mitchell pointed primarily to health concerns.
“We asked Donovan tonight, what do you see that tells you that it can be fixed? And he paused for a minute and he said he didn’t want to make an excuse, but he said point blank, period. We’re not healthy,” Fedor recounted on the podcast. Mitchell elaborated that missing players like Max Strus, Sam Merrill and Evan Mobley impacts many areas where the team is struggling.
Mitchell’s rationale included a telling statement: “We have shown that we can be that team.” This claim particularly caught Fedor’s attention, prompting him to challenge it on the podcast.
“When have they shown that? I don’t think we have any clue who this collection of Cavs players can be because we haven’t seen that,” Fedor countered.
The credibility gap extended to other players as well.
Center Jarrett Allen made similar claims about the team’s potential that Fedor found questionable.
“Jarrett Allen even said it earlier tonight. He said, you know, we’ve shown flashes of being the number one team in the Eastern Conference like we were last year,” Fedor noted. “Have they? Am I missing something? I haven’t seen that.”
This growing divide between player perception and reality comes at a critical juncture for Cleveland.
After starting the season with legitimate Eastern Conference championship aspirations, the Cavaliers have stumbled to a 15-13 record — a far cry from last season’s pace when they didn’t suffer their 13th loss until their 69th game.
Podcast host Ethan Sands highlighted just how much the team’s statistical profile has slipped, noting that Cleveland has now dropped out of the top 10 for both offensive and defensive rating. This middling performance represents a significant underachievement.
While Fedor acknowledged it’s too early for “definitive declarations” about who this team is or can be, he emphasized that the Cavaliers simply haven’t provided evidence supporting their confident claims.
“All I’m saying is they have not provided evidence to this point that this group, this collection of players can be \[that team\],” he concluded.
As Cleveland prepares for a quick rematch against Chicago on Friday, the pressure continues to mount.
With each passing game, the Cavaliers must either start backing up their words with consistent on-court performance or face the reality that their self-perception doesn’t match their capabilities. Until then, the credibility gap between what players believe and what fans are seeing will only continue to widen.
Here’s the podcast for this week: