It's no surprise the Cavaliers are falling apart

Calling a team meeting is the universal sign of desperation in the NBA.

The Cleveland Cavaliers gathered everyone from players to coaches to management on Monday after hitting rock bottom by allowing 148 points at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder on national television over the weekend.

By all accounts, the meeting was an emotional affair that amounted to little more than bruised egos and finger-pointing, which was the last thing Cleveland needed. Kevin Love was targeted for taking a sick day, old friends turned on each other, and the immediate result was more of the same on the court.

The Cavaliers lost to a skeleton San Antonio Spurs side without Kawhi Leonard, Pau Gasol, and Manu Ginobili on Tuesday night. Cleveland's porous defense conceded 114 points to a team that started Davis Bertans and Kyle Anderson.

Having recorded their 10th loss in 14 games, the Cavaliers continue to scramble for answers. But none of this is particularly surprising given they were set up to fail.

No matter how Tyronn Lue realigns his lineup - which the coach finally said he'll do following the Spurs loss - he will still have the oldest roster in the league, and worse yet, he'll have a squad that's completely disinterested in playing defense.

Cleveland's best defender is Tristan Thompson, who's more of a reality TV star than a basketball contributor. Then there's a 33-year-old LeBron James, who doesn't overextend himself in the regular season, nor should he have to. Iman Shumpert is a serial gambler on defense, but his hyperactivity counts as a positive given the circumstances. Alas, Shumpert missed months with an ankle injury and is now on the trading block. Jeff Green might be Lue's best bet.

Beyond that, the Cavaliers are limited. What can Lue do?

There's Dwyane Wade, who hasn't played defense since 2013. There's Jae Crowder, who was never quite as advertised and is now a shell of himself. There's Love, who tries hard but is ultimately a terrible defender playing out of position at center. There's J.R. Smith, who was briefly a capable defender during the last three title runs but now appears utterly broken. There's Isaiah Thomas, who was the worst defender in the league last season, and that was before his injury. And there's Derrick Rose, who might somehow be worse than Thomas when it comes to allowing blow-bys.

Everyone else is either too old or too young. Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, and Jose Calderon have aged enough to enjoy early-bird dinners, while Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic are too inexperienced and too unproven to siphon any minutes from the more established names.

Defense was always going to be a problem for the Cavaliers. Not only were they bottom-10 last season, but they somehow downgraded their defensive talent while getting even older. That was a recipe for disaster from the jump.

And nobody should be surprised that this collection of personalities turned on one another when adversity hit. There's just too many conflicting agendas.

The problems start at the top. Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert made the rash decision to let general manager David Griffin, who had the public support of both Kyrie Irving and James, walk last summer.

Griffin's successor, Koby Altman, hasn't taken much heat, but the players don't have a relationship with him, hence whispers that they're complaining about a lack of communication. They don't know who they're accountable to.

James, being their other boss, also isn't offering much by way of leadership. His impending free agency is hanging over the organization like a guillotine, and it's hard for anyone to commit when the entire situation could change in a few months. James shouldn't be pressed into a firm decision since he doesn't owe anything to anyone, but that goes both ways.

Lue should be able to take charge, but that was never his responsibility. Since taking over the head coaching job, he's been subverted by others amid his reputation as more of a chaperone than a commander. With a team full of egos, his role was to stay down and keep everyone in the boat.

Except, the Cavaliers just kept adding more players with more agendas, putting Lue in an impossible position.

Wade is practically untouchable since he's James' best friend. He's also a three-time champion who took a discount to chase a ring, so he's not exactly invested in the day-to-day grind. Wade played his part in fracturing the locker room in Chicago, and reports suggest he and Thomas were the main instigators during the Cavaliers' recent meeting.

Speaking of Thomas, the Cavaliers evidently caught a live grenade from Boston. Not only was he carrying a major injury, but he's also a prideful player in a contract year who swore up and down he was going to seek the max. Thomas was expected to fill Irving's shoes on the court and was always going to command a large share of the offense, but the Cavaliers' laissez-faire attitude when it comes to skipping practices left the point guard to find himself during games. Throw in Thomas' defensive shortcomings, and integrating him was always going to be a concern.

Worse yet, existing role players toting inflated swagger from the 2016 championship didn't take well to their demotions. Smith and Thompson were pushed to the bench to accommodate Wade and Crowder, and while that rift has been rectified at times, the trio of Smith, Thompson, and Crowder have looked demoralized all season. The result is that they're soldiers fighting without heart, which makes them fairly useless.

There's just too much going on inside Cleveland's locker room. Without somebody to lead them, it's everyone for themselves.

Altman has already reached the conclusion that the roster he inherited was flawed, hence all the trade rumors.

George Hill's arrival from Sacramento appears imminent. The 31-year-old will be expected to be a stopper at the point of attack, although he hasn't done it much this season for the only team defense worse than Cleveland's.

DeAndre Jordan could also walk through that door, depending on whether or not Gilbert has the stomach to go all-in by coughing up the Nets' first-round pick in the coming draft. Cleveland is 27th in defensive rebounding percentage and allows the sixth-most points in the paint, so Jordan would have his work cut out for him.

Gilbert's apprehension is understandable, given what happened when James left the first time in 2010. Cleveland was essentially scorched earth - dropping from 61 to 19 wins - and only rebounded as a franchise through the successive miracles of winning three No. 1 picks plus the return of James. Gilbert doesn't want to be left holding the bag, again.

His caution might also be wise given the imbalance of talent atop the league. Gilbert needs to assess if the Cavaliers, even after their upgrades, have any hope at all of beating the Golden State Warriors. There was optimism after 2015, as the Cavaliers clung to the excuse of being injured in the Finals. They weren't the better team in 2016, but caught just enough breaks to barely pull off the greatest comeback in NBA history.

But, after a gentleman's sweep by the Warriors last season, and given Cleveland's recent slide, unnamed Cavaliers players are already pessimistic about their chances. If the players don't believe in this team, why should management?

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)