CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs have a solution sitting right on their bench, but they refuse to use it for an extended stretch.

In the latest episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, beat reporter Chris Fedor exposed a troubling disconnect: while the coaching staff openly praises the energy and compete level of their bench players, they won’t use these high-effort athletes to hold underperforming stars accountable.

Following another disappointing loss, this time to the 9-13 Portland Trail Blazers, Fedor highlighted comments from acting head coach Kenny Atkinson that reveal a clear distinction between the effort levels of Cleveland’s rotation players versus their bench.

“Kenny Atkinson was talking about how the compete level of Jaylon Tyson, the compete level of Thomas Bryant, Craig Porter

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