Thanks to the addition of LeBron James and Kevin Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room will look much different than it did last season.
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That’s a very good thing considering Sam Amico of Fox Sports says things were toxic in the Cavs locker room during the 2013-14 season.
"I’m in the locker room. Trust me, please, when I tell you Grant’s approach, regardless of the assets they obtained (and he obtained many) was toxic, T-O-X-I-C. If you want to debate that, OK. But I know, I was there. One example: He would tell players if they didn’t get their act together he was gonna trade them. Griffin had to come in and tell them “You’re not getting traded. It’s all OK> Let’s have some fun.” Then, despite a coach who was overmatched and the players didn’t like playing for, the Cavs finished 17-16 and made a run to the playoffs."
While that seems a bit over-the-top, it’s not difficult to recall that Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett, Tristan Thompson and more were all at some point said to be on the Cavs’ trade block last season. That doesn’t include those veteran talent on the team who seemingly were never taken off the block and some were eventually traded, jiving with the sentiment displayed above.
Was it really as toxic as it’s being made out to be? It’s unlikely we’ll ever know just had bad it really was though it’s pretty clear it was not a fun environment to be part of and it sounds like all are ready to move on.