Confetti somersaulted down from sky. Tears careened down the face the emotional gladiator as the Akronite made his acquaintance with Mr. Larry O’Brien for the third time. Over one million people lined the streets of America’s most tormented sports city, torment which often served as a reflection of the land itself. All of it felt like nothing more than a distant, fleeting dream…
Only it was all too real.
It happened. It really happened.
The Cavaliers won the NBA Championship, as predicted by HHSR at the start of last season and confirmed again before the Finals. Four months later, it’s still hard to believe, even if on paper the Cavs were the logical choice. The Eastern Conference was not built to prevent the Cavs from sliding into the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. But will 2017 be any different?
HHSR has taken a different approach to previewing this NBA season. This year, we’ve decided to spotlight four teams and their quests to ascend to varying levels of each conference— the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors. As the Cavs and Warriors each attempt to reach the Finals for the third straight year, the Knicks and Timberwolves are both appealing teams — albeit constructed very differently — looking to crash the playoff party once again. We’ll be profiling each of those teams individually, followed by a separate preview of the teams in each conference that have an opportunity to derail their postseason plans.
Sidebar: Because, ya know, season previews can be boring, right? So if you’re tired of HHSR only being right about football, and if you’re sick of other websites being wrong about everything, you’ll be reading these NBA previews like nerds read Harry Potter. For now, we’ll start with the kids from Cleveland.
The reigning champs return 10.5 players from last year’s team. “Ten and a half”, you ask? Well the “half” in this case refers to the hobbled Mo Williams, who cannot seem to decide if he’s pissed at the team or loves the team, and whether or not he’s done playing ball altogether. With one foot on the Cavs’ roster and the other in retirement, Williams’ soap opera has created a bit of a quandary as to who will back up top-flight point guard Kyrie Irving. All-world irritant Matthew Dellavedova is in Milwaukee. That leaves rookie second round pick Kay Felder (who with his 5’9″ frame resembles Chocolate Droppa when on the court) to run the second team.
If that weren’t enough, J.R. Smith was (somehow) without a contract up until late last week. Nobody else vied for his services, but this all too frequent game of contractual chicken became a bit of a drag for Cavs fans and players. After coming to the realization (I guess) the Cavaliers cannot repeat without him (even if it is fun watching Jordan McRae aka “Garbage Time Kobe” blossom), “Swish” and the Wine & Golders agreed on a four-year, $57 million deal.
While we’re on the subject, lets just plow through the negatives. Here are the five reasons why the Cavs won’t win the East (in order):
1) Injuries
2) Complacency
3) Chemistry Issues
4) Kevin Love Scapegoating
5) Another East Contender Make a POWER Move
Obviously, all bets are off if LeBron (year 14) goes down. And while this team has proven it can still make the Finals without Kyrie and Kevin Love, but that route is far from ideal. The chemistry issue and the inequitable scapegoating of Love for the Cavs’ day-to-day failures go hand-in-hand. Ignorant fans and media will point to a Love trade as the magic bullet at any point Cleveland hits a three-game skid. But Tyronn Lue should have this group focused enough to not let that nonsense swallow up the locker room.
In what was widely considered a “down year” that should’ve got him dealt, Love averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds per game as Cleveland’s third option last season. For perspective, Draymond Green averaged 14 and 9.5 in 2015-16, with a virtually identical Player Efficiency Rating. Ray Allen averaged 17, 4 boards and 3 assists in 2008. Chris Bosh put up 17.3 and 7.4 averages in Miami’s two championship seasons, while shooting far worse from three than Love. The false narrative’s about Kevin Love’s contribution to this team must cease immediately; Love’s production as a third option is on par with third options of other “super teams” of recent years (Draymond’s identical production had people ready to put him in their top 10 — granted stats don’t tell the whole story, but still). And since Jan. 13, 2015, the Cavs are an astonishing 85-22 (.794) in games where Love, Irving and James all suit up (regular season and playoffs combined). They won a championship and could’ve won another if not for his shoulder injury in 2015. So why is there still K Love trade chatter? Why all the Love hate?
More importantly, what makes this incarnation of the Cavs so dangerous? All of the pressure, that weighed on this team like an unwanted car note, has now vanished.
No pressure on Love for being a disappointment. No pressure on Kyrie for being a selfish point guard. No pressure on Ty Lue that he’ll get fired midseason, even if he’s in first place. No pressure on the organization for failing to put a championship-worthy team around The King. And no pressure on LeBron because by delivering his home region a title, he did what Jordan and Kobe never did. All the league’s pressure now lies resides in Oakland, CA.
Complacency is Cleveland’s biggest nemesis— even more than the Warriors. Knowing the rest of the conference hasn’t caught up, can the Cavs stay engaged enough during the season to avoid developing bad habits before the postseason? This is the double-edged sword that comes with playing carefree basketball.
The Cavs did add another veteran shooter (Mike Dunleavy — as if they needed that), and and real rim protector (Chris “Birdman” Andersen). However, they’ll miss they daily backcourt toughness and intensity on the defensive end Delly brought to the table. And overall, this team is not as deep as a year ago…but they still have #23.
After a spellbinding performance in the Finals, James is ready to cash in on all the dopes who mistakenly handed the unofficial title of “Best Basketball Player in the World” to Stephen Curry. With Kevin Durant now a Warrior, the two will likely cancel each other out for MVP votes (you can forget about Draymond as well). Russell Westbrook is the sexy preseason Most Valuable Player pick. Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are sleepers. But the correct answer may be LeBron.
If he’s truly chasing Michael Jordan as he claims, another MVP on the mantel wouldn’t hurt he cause— he would then tie MJ with five MVPs apiece. On the Bill Simmons podcast, Joe House recently floated the idea that after convincingly re-staking his claim as the NBA’s alpha dog in the Finals, we may see a media mea culpa for going overboard with the Curry praise. If the Cavs win around 60 games (doable) and LeBron puts up his normal LeBron numbers (27, 7, and 6 or thereabouts) in 70-ish games, wouldn’t that be enough?
It may be just enough to keep LeBron locked in, which will therefore force him to keep the Cavs locked in. Cleveland will have to lean on Love, Irving — who appears to have cemented himself as a top 10 player, regardless of what SI.com thinks — and of course James, even if in reduced minutes, to keep this team on track as it bides its time until the third week in April.
Which teams in the Eastern Conference can put an end to a potential Cleveland dynasty before it begins? Stay tuned! Although if the Cleveland Indians have anything to say about it, Cleveland, Ohio already is title town.