Dwyane Wade: 'Nobody Afraid' to Play Cavs, 'Teams Come in Here to Whip Our Butt'

In the wake of a disappointing 3-5 start, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dwyane Wade commented Friday on the lack of mystique surrounding the team.

Despite the fact the Cavs have reached three consecutive NBA Finals, D-Wade noted that teams aren't worried about facing them right now, according to ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin: 

"Ain't nobody afraid. Teams come in here to whip our butt and they're whipping our butt. One thing I did notice at Miami, teams were afraid of us a little bit. Ain't nobody afraid. Maybe at some point it will get there, but not right now. Everyone's playing free, it's early in the year, and everything's going right for everybody but us. And we've got to figure it out."

Cleveland entered play Friday tied for 12th place in the Eastern Conference ahead of only the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.

The Cavaliers have lost four in a row since starting 3-1, and all of their losses have come against teams that weren't expected to contend in 2017-18.

In fact, the Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks were expected to be some of the NBA's worst teams.

The Cavs are 27th in the NBA defensively, allowing 111.9 points per game. Perhaps even more alarming is the fact that they ranked fourth in scoring last season and are currently just 17th with 105.0 points per contest.

Wade mentioned how teams feared the Miami Heat during their string of four straight Finals appearances when he, LeBron and Chris Bosh were at the forefront.

Although LeBron is still "the guy" in Cleveland, this year's team has a different feel than the previous three seasons because of the trade of Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics.

The team is largely unchanged otherwise, though, with the additions of Wade and forward Jae Crowder as the noteworthy exceptions. 

Cleveland is missing some of the backcourt dynamism Irving brought to the table, and while Isaiah Thomas' eventual return could change that, there doesn't appear to be any help on the way for the struggling Cavaliers in the near future.