Why another rebuild may be necessary for dysfunctional Cavs

With the Cavaliers in endless disarray, a scandalous new story regarding an unhappy player seems to pop up every day. There were stories earlier in the season about a divide between Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, a story just last week that Irving already wants out of Cleveland, a story that Waiters was recently kicked out of practice and most recently, a New York Daily News article that cited a close friend of Deng's saying the former Bulls All-Star called the situation "a mess."

Deng has denied the report, as expected, but anyone who has watched this Cavs team operate over the last few years, both on the court and as an organization, knows that 'mess' doesn't even begin to describe the laughingstock that the franchise has become.

Through 47 games, a 2013-14 team that entered the season with playoff hopes and grand visions of luring LeBron James back to town this summer sits at 16-31, four games back of a playoff spot in the miserable Eastern Conference. Making up four games in the standings with 35 still to play, in a weak Conference no less, may not sound like much, but the eighth-place team in question (Charlotte) plays defense and the ninth-place (Detroit) and 10th-place (New York) teams that 11th-place Cleveland also has to leapfrog, while flawed, are more talented than the Cavs.

Since Deng joined the team, the Cavs are 4-8, a .333 winning percentage that nearly mirrors the .343 clip the team had posted before the trade with Chicago. With Deng on the court, Cleveland is better, yet still terrible. The team is outscored by 9.7 points per 48 minutes without Deng and by 5.2 points per 48 with him. They have a net rating (offensive rating minus defensive rating) of -6.5 on the season overall and a net rating of -6.4 with Deng on the floor, according to NBA.com's stats database. In other words, there have been few signs, if any, that the Cavs are going to look any better or different as Deng settles into Cleveland than they did before he arrived.

12 games is obviously a small sample size, but newsflash, assuming Deng walks as a free agent come July, his entire Cavs career will be a small sample size, and there's less than half of a season left for him to move the needle on a terrible team.

At this point, with the Cavs among the eight worst teams in the league during a season that will reward such futility with an awesome draft class, the best thing for the franchise would be to keep losing, lock up a top-five pick, hope that Kyrie Irving makes the still likely decision to accept a maximum extension this summer and then hope that Irving, that top pick plus any assets acquired by a potential fire sale this month can form a legitimately promising core to move forward with.

That step forward can only be taken with a completely revamped front office, however, as the current regime under GM Chris Grant (who took over after Danny Ferry resigned in 2010) has bungled virtually every decision and opportunity afforded them since LeBron James left town in 2010 and Kyrie Irving was taken No. 1 overall in 2011.

Since then the Cavs have taken Tristan Thompson over Jonas Valanciunas, have taken Dion Waiters over Damian Lillard, Harrison Barnes and Andre Drummond, among others, have taken Anthony Bennett over everybody, have rehired a way in-over-his-head Mike Brown, and have signed and since traded Andrew Bynum. It's a ridiculous list of missteps for just a three-year period, and it's enough to make any Cavs fan who has seen the team somehow screw up having four top-four picks over that time question what another rebuild will even solve.

But that rebuild, under competent management this time, unless Dan Gilbert misfires on another GM pick, is necessary. And with Irving and the additional potential assets to come in the Draft/trades, it may not be as slow and painful as fans fear.

The collection of those assets and the hope that Gilbert would hire a competent executive are not guaranteed. Nothing about initiating another rebuild before the current rebuild even peaks is. But what is certain is that continuing along the same path the Cavaliers are currently on is asking for continued failure and an increasingly apathetic fanbase, a toxic combination for a professional sports franchise.

Taking everything into consideration, including the success, competence and accountability Deng experienced first hand in Chicago before moving on to Ohio, it would be a heck of a lot more concerning if he didn't think the Cavaliers were a mess.