Report: Cavs called players-only meeting to address accountability issues

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not shy about holding players-only meetings. They had one before a preseason game against the Toronto Raptors back in the middle of October, then another one following a loss to Toronto on Nov. 25.

According to Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe, the Cavaliers conducted their third players-only meeting of the season, this time after the firing of former coach David Blatt back on Jan. 24.

Similarly to their previous meeting, a lot of what was mentioned revolved around the team's effort. However in this particular meeting, the main idea of this meeting addressed accountability, both as a team and from their star players -- LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

From Windhorst and Lowe:

"It was like ripping off a scab," one team source said. "And it was exactly what needed to happen, I think it was what [Griffin] was hoping for."

"It was very healthy for the team," another source said. "It probably needed to happen weeks ago."

A central issue in the discussion, sources said, was the need for accountability within the team. One of the issues that was keeping the team from enjoying some of the successes of the season was the different set of rules for some players compared to others.

In what could turn out to be a key moment in their tenures together, James, Irving and Love came to an understanding that they needed to police each other on certain matters and use their influence within the team to set a standard for accountability, sources said. That was frequently a missing component over the last season and a half, sometimes creating friction.

As it was with their previous meeting, veteran forward James Jones was the one at the forefront of this meeting. Whereas Jones had made his own decision to call the meeting following the loss to Toronto, Jones this time was approached by general manager David Grffin, according to Windhorst and Lowe.

Since the meeting, the Cavs are 4-1, including wins over the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers, both by double digits.