Mo Williams shows up late, might be acting out over minutes reduction
The Cavaliers signed Mo Williams in free agency as an insurance policy of sorts. The team knew that Kyrie Irving would miss the first part of the season as he recovered from a knee injury, and Williams would be a more than serviceable replacement until Irving could return to the Cleveland starting lineup.
Well, that time has come, and Williams has seen his on-court minutes drastically reduced. This should have been expected all along, but ESPN's Dave McMenamin pointed out that he may not be handling it as well as he should.
To James' point, if there was anything to be concerned about with Saturday's outing, it was seeing Mo Williams report to the locker room just 63 minutes before tipoff and then being late to join his teammates, if he joined them at all, as they got up off the bench and onto their feet to cheer several plays as Cleveland built its big lead.
"Guys got to understand, and I've told them this, only so many guys can play," Blatt said before the game. "That's just the reality of the limitations of the game."
This isn't likely to be a long-term concern. The Cavaliers have veteran leaders in the locker room like LeBron James and James Jones who will give Williams a stern talking to if his behavior continues. But it does show just how fragile chemistry can be, even on a team as good as this.
