Mo Williams has given the Cavs another reason to worry about bouncing back from the loss of LeBron James, sports columnist Bud Shaw writes.
It appears that the worried and depressed look that Mo Williams wore in the second half of Game 6 in last May's Eastern semifinal against Boston has remained on his face throughout the off-season. That's not a good thing for the Cavaliers, writes Bud Shaw.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Alarm bells should be sounding for the Cavaliers.
OK, that's sort of obvious.
I mean more alarm bells, louder alarm bells.
In separate communications recently -- one a tweet and the other an old-fashioned interview -- Mo Williams hardly comes off sounding like a guy new head coach Byron Scott can count on to lead a Cavaliers' resurgence.
Williams alludes to "family problems" in his latest Twitter feed. He calls this summer "the worst time of my life." He says everything with the team -- and you know, based on previous tweets he means LeBron James' departure and the firing of Mike Brown -- "has been very hard."
And he signs off by saying, "keep me in your prayers."
Williams often shares his thoughts 140 characters at a time, but the limited word count doesn't hold him back.
First came his plea for the Cavs not to trade him in June. Then his reaction to James' decision -- "The only thing, and I mean the only thing I disagree with is ... If he knew somewhere else was the destination. He should have spared cle."
That's as close as he came to finding fault with James. Understandably, he fell far short of Dan Gilbert's angry and defiant statement after James' self-absorption on ESPN spilled over and created a tsunami of hard feelings by the lake.
Williams didn't agree with Gilbert's decision to fire Brown. Danny Ferry's departure was another detonation for a team that won more regular season games than anyone over the past two years.
Gilbert's statement succeeded in rallying a city. Everyone knew it would take much more to rally the teammates James left behind, but not to the extent Williams hinted at in an interview with Yahoo Sports.
Williams says he was so depressed over the Cavaliers' upheaval he thought about retiring.
Even if you chalk that up to Williams being overly dramatic and emotional, he should've put that behind him by now. Training camp is about to start.
It's difficult to blame any Cavaliers' player for the urge to grab on for dear life in July. The franchise floor shifted. The deck chairs slid completely off the cruise ship.
It's September now, late September. This is not the message you want a veteran player broadcasting a week before training camp opens.
The public venting you expect from one of your veteran leaders is chastising prognosticators for selling your team short.
You'd like to read that Williams made a dart board of his LeBron James Fathead. That he planned to lead a state-wide boycott of talcum powder or that he immediately called Gilbert to pledge his support in recruiting free agents to Cleveland.
That's the way fans think. Players relate to players. Even so, you don't want to hear Williams say depression moved in and refused to leave.
"That's how bad it got," Williams told Yahoo. "I contemplated it. I really sat down and envisioned life after basketball. ... I really saw myself not playing."
The guy isn't 37. He has three years and $26 million remaining on his contract.
Maybe it speaks well for him that he didn't just react to James' departure with a "I'm still getting mine" shrug. But there's a lot of middle ground between that and being so crushed you consider retirement.
He's being honest, I suppose.
If you're Scott, though, you're hopeful Williams, who's had shrinking performances under playoff pressure, embraces an old slogan: "Rise up" -- this time from the ashes.
That doesn't sound promising.