While the Cleveland Cavaliers' contractual impasse with J.R. Smith has been well-publicized, it seems another deadlock with Tyronn Lue's assistant coaching staff has frustrations rising.
Assistant coaches Phil Handy, Damon Jones, Jim Boylan and James Posey are all without deals despite being expected to return. Larry Drew, who is currently under contract, was also expected to receive a raise thanks to his promotion to associate head coach, but the team has not yet done so.
The Cavaliers are developing a reputation for dragging their feet with certain contracts. Last summer, Tristan Thompson hung out on the free-agent market all the way until October. Smith is seemingly headed for a similar fate unless he and the Cavs get a deal done soon. There haven't been any reports of major progress between the parties for some time.
Even Lue guided the Cavaliers to a championship while not technically under contract as a head coach.
It's at least a curious way of doing business and risks alienating those in the locker room. Assistant coaches often spend more individual time with players than the head coach behind the scenes. While management might not be worried about its frustrated coaches, it's risking making players unhappy in the process.
If the team plans to bring all the assistants back—Haynes said Lue wants to retain his guys—it's unclear what the logic is behind holding things up. None of them seem particularly hasty in looking to find other jobs, so it would appear they're on board with returning.
These also aren't contracts like Smith's or Thompson's where the two sides are haggling over tens of millions of dollars. Haynes said the situation has "reached the point of hostility," which isn't the ideal mood you want to have when going to battle with the superpowered Golden State Warriors.
Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.
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