Isaiah blames Cavs' struggles on trust issues, not lack of toughness

Fresh off a 12th loss in 18 games, Isaiah Thomas shot down the idea that a lack of toughness is plaguing his Cleveland Cavaliers, and instead chalked up their struggles to something much worse.

"We can't just say it was toughness. All (the Rockets) do is shoot threes. I don't know what's so tough about that," Thomas said after Saturday's 120-88 loss to Houston, as quoted by ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

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"We're not together on both ends. There's a lot of one-on-one on the offense end, maybe because we don't trust each other. And then on the defensive end, it's the same thing. Guys are put on islands and there's no trust. I mean, if you don't trust something ... I don't know. I think it has a lot to do with trust on both ends."

Since their Christmas Day loss to the rival Golden State Warriors, the Cavaliers have seen their offensive production plummet, scoring 103.6 points per 100 possessions (seventh-worst in the league) while their defense remained abysmal (third-worst).

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Coming off a hip injury, Thomas is averaging 15.2 points on just 36.4 percent shooting from the field and 23.7 percent from deep to go along with 4.1 assists, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.8 turnovers over 13 games - regression he expected.

Contrary to the All-Star point guard's opinion, it was reported that friction between LeBron James and the team's front office and ownership weighs on the players more than trust issues.