CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs have a Cavs-versus-Self problem, and right now, Self is running up the score.
That’s the harsh reality exposed in the latest Wine and Gold Talk podcast, dissecting the team’s baffling inconsistency following a humiliating 123-112 home loss to the tanking Utah Jazz.
How does a team go from arguably its best performance of the year against the Minnesota Timberwolves to getting embarrassed by one of the league’s worst teams just days later? It’s a pattern that’s defined this high-priced, underachieving roster through the season’s first half.
“This Cavs team continues to take one step forward and two steps back.” said podcast host Ethan Sands, highlighting a troubling cycle that’s become all too familiar.
What makes this inconsistency particularly maddening is that it’s not a new development but rather a hardened identity.
At the season’s halfway point, Cleveland sits as a play-in team despite championship aspirations and the NBA’s most expensive roster.
“The Cavs act like a team that has earned the right to diminish the regular season when they haven’t earned that right. They haven’t done anything to earn that right,” Fedor said during the heated discussion. “The Cavs act like a team that has accomplished something and they haven’t accomplished anything.”
This identity crisis runs deeper than just effort or execution. The podcast revealed a team that’s fundamentally confused about who they are and how seriously they should take regular-season games after last year’s 64-win campaign ended in a second-round playoff exit.
“This is not a serious basketball team right now through 41 games,” Watkins stated emphatically. “And whether it’s personnel or Cavs versus self. The Cavs are like, 0-100. Self is running up the score.”
The pattern is becoming impossible to ignore: Cleveland builds expectations with impressive performances against contenders, then immediately squanders that goodwill against inferior competition. This isn’t just a bad habit—it’s their DNA.
“The Cavs have so many bad habits that just aren’t going to be broken because Max Strus happens to come back,” Fedor explained. “The Cavs have so many bad habits that just aren’t going to be broken because they’re going to look at the schedule, see March and be like, hey, the playoffs are right around the corner. Let’s just fix everything that has gone wrong in the first half of the season.”
The podcast painted a picture of a team that’s becoming increasingly hard to believe in. Their inconsistency isn’t just frustrating fans — it’s raising existential questions about whether this core group can ever achieve what they were assembled to accomplish.
For a franchise that’s poured resources into building a contender, the fundamental question remains unanswered: Is this just who they are? Are these Cavaliers destined to remain a talented but fatally flawed team that continues to hover around .500?
As the podcast made abundantly clear, until the Cavaliers solve their internal battle, no external opponent matters nearly as much. In the war of Cavs versus Self, Self continues to dominate — and time is running out for Cleveland to flip the script.
Want to hear more about the Cavaliers’ identity crisis and internal struggles? Listen to the full Wine and Gold Talk podcast for even more fiery analysis and insider perspective from the cleveland.com team.
Here’s the podcast for this week: