Trouble with Dion Waiters and/or Kyrie Irving? (David Richard-US PRESSWIRE)
According to Brian Windhorst, there was a confrontation during a player’s only meeting after the Cavaliers’ 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves this past Wednesday. According to Windhorst, “the meeting got contentious, and players confronted each other.”
It certainly isn’t a good sign early in what looked to be a promising season that there seems to be chemistry issues with the young Cavaliers. Perhaps the fact that the Cavs are the second youngest team in the NBA has something to do with it, but either way, the Cavs seem to be behind the eight ball heading into their next 72 ballgames.
Windhorst tweeted his story a few minutes ago.
Cavs players confront each other at player’s only meeting: http://t.co/fuhIU68q7r
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) November 16, 2013
It’s unknown who was involved in the confrontation up to this point, but two players that have been mentioned by what I can only deem as unsubstantiated sources are Dion Waiters and perhaps, Kyrie Irving. Fox Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico was reporting that his sources are saying it was Dion Waiters that was involved.
Confrontation between Cavs players reported by ESPN involved Dion Waiters, source says. Waiters sat out last night, didn’t travel today. — Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) November 16, 2013
Waiters was reportedly out on Friday night because of an illness. Perhaps there was more to his illness than meets the eye. Anthony Lima, using more conjecture than anything else, believes that Kyrie Irving may be at the center of all the issues.
If you don’t think that contentious Cavs players’ only meeting was a mutiny against Kyrie, you’re fooling yourself. Players sick of his act
— Anthony Lima (@AnthonyLimaFAN) November 16, 2013
Past the initial report from Windhorst, the former beat writer for the Cleveland Cavaliers for both the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, there are no real substantiated reports from the current local writers. Windhorst, currently a columnist for ESPN, broke the story this morning.
There were character questions regarding Waiters heading into his rookie season coming out of Syracuse, but after doing their due diligence, the Cavs selected the enigmatic guard with the fourth selection in the first round of the 2012 NBA draft. Waiters came into that camp out of shape, and ultimately struggled with health and with stamina during his rookie year, but came into this 2013 season looking healthy and in shape.
There had been no reports of any trouble with both Waiters or Kyrie Irving prior to the report today, other than some unsubstantiated reports of some prima donna behavior by Kyrie over the past couple of season.
Just a sidenote…am I the only one that sees it as odd that I’m looking forward to Bynum returning to bring some sanity to the lineup? Yeah, it sure could be a long season.
Obviously, we’ll have more on this as the day progresses, heading into the game with the Wizards.
Cleveland Sports Insiders 