Everybody (that just read the title): HAHAHAHAHA!!! (as they roll on the floor and tears stream from their eyes)
Me: No seriously! I really think they are still a good team!
Everybody: HAHAHAHAHA!!! (the laughter gets stronger and they gasp for air)
Me: Stop laughing! This Cavs team could be pretty damn good!
Everybody: HAHAHAHAHA!!! (the laughter still increases in intensity but everybody appears to be physically hurt from laughing so hard)
Me: Honestly, the Cavs are good and can make the playoffs!
Everybody: (Silence. Everybody has died from a combination of extreme laughter, disbelief and too much LeBron Kool-Aid)
While I don't think anybody will actually die from laughter from me saying the Cavs will be good this year, I also don't think it's too far fetched. Seriously, NOBODY is giving Cleveland a shot at being good this year. In my honest opinion, the people who don't think the Cavs can play playoff basketball this year don't know their history, they don't watch basketball and they definitely don't KNOW basketball. You heard it here first, ladies and gentleman, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a playoff team.
People forget that basketball is TRULY a TEAM game. Individuals don't win championships in the NBA. They never have. The Cavaliers won 61 games last year, not just LeBron, the Cavaliers. They had the best record in the league last year. It doesn't matter the situation, you can't lose just one player in this era of the NBA and drop 40 wins. Historically it's rare; recently, unfounded. LeBron James is a great player and might be one of the best ever, but he's still one of five. LeBron can't guard 5 guys (or one in some cases, honestly) and LeBron can't score on 5 guys either. He needs talent around him to win games just like every other star. Kobe needs Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza/Ron Artest, Derek Fisher etc., and Paul Pierce needs Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins. So the argument here is that LeBron didn't have what Kobe or Paul had while in Cleveland...but he still won more games. Why is there somewhat of a deadlock in the Kobe/LeBron debate? Shouldn't LeBron be regarded as infinitely better if he played with a team of scrubs and won 61 games while Kobe played with all-stars and only managed 57 wins? Isn't LeBron WAY better than Kobe?
That's where it gets really funny and people become super hypocrites. People say on the one hand that Kobe is better than LeBron but on the other that LeBron needs more help in Cleveland as...wait for it...wait for it...LeBron is WINNING MORE GAMES THAN KOBE! It makes my brain hurt. Kobe > LeBron; Kobe's support > LeBron's support; LeBron's wins > Kobe's wins. Yeah, the playoffs were different and the conferences were different, but how is LeBron's supporting cast so weak if he's worse than Kobe and his team wins more than Kobe's? By the way Kobe IS better than LeBron (at this point for sure). So take Kobe off this Lakers team and do they make the playoffs? I think they do. Do they win the championship, no, but are they in the playoff mix, YES! You subtract LeBron from the Cavs and everybody assumes it's equal to a bomb going off under Quicken Loans Arena. General consensus is Cleveland will suck without LeBron. It just doesn't make sense to me. It's absurd!
Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever. He's better than LeBron without question to this point. He's also better than Kobe. Let me (re)tell a story about Michael Jordan in case you've forgotten. Jordan leaves the Bulls after the 1992-93 season and the Bulls are destitute without him. Wait...they weren't?...they were contenders in 1993-94 even without the G.O.A.T.?! Yes. While Michael Jordan was pretending to be a baseball player the Bulls won 55 games (only two less than the previous year). They definitely folded in the playoffs in '94 but, damn they were still good. The argument was that they still had Scottie Pippen (valid argument really, Scottie was better than OK) but they were still contenders without the best player ever. Outside of Pippen, there wasn't exactly a bunch of superstars on that team (seriously Horace Grant and B.J. Armstrong are the next best). That team was still REALLY good minus their unquestioned superduperstar.
If the Bulls in 1993-94 can compete for the championship, why can't the 2010-11 Cavs be in the playoffs in a talent diluted era? They can! Did Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao die? No, they are still breathing and can still ball. Is this a team that has tasted victory? Is this a team of playoff experienced veterans? Is this a team with an outrageously large chip on their shoulders? YES IT IS! These guys didn't come in off the street, they were part of a 61-win team less than 5 months ago. They aren't going to roll over and play dead! The Cavs weren't just about LeBron, and maybe the shadow he cast covered the true talents of this team. These guys can step up and play!
Look at a guy like Leon Powe; just over two years ago this guy was HUGE in the playoffs and couldn't really be stopped for the Celtics as they WON the championship. By the way he's healthy and motivated this upcoming season for the first time since then. Look at J.J. Hickson who averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds more a game than previously (with similar minutes mind you) when his role was expanded in February because of injuries on the team. He got the opportunity to be a bigger part of the team and seized it with both hands and he's only 22! Ramon Sessions is only 24 and less than two years ago he was setting Milwaukee ablaze with his play. When he finally got a shot to play in the 2008-09 season with the Bucks he averaged a 18.5 ppg and 7.4 apg in all of February (where he got his biggest chance). He also had a win share per 48 minutes (an estimate of how many wins a player contributes per 48 minutes) of 0.123 (league average is 0.100). Put it this way; he was responsible for more wins that season than Carmelo Anthony, Joe Johnson and Allen Iverson (you know, guys on the All-Star team). When Sessions had the opportunity to play he was a winner and he's only 24. This feels like a 'where the hell did these guys come from?' team. We know all their names, to an extent, but they never had the chance. I wish they were in Indiana so they could be the Hoosiers.
This team scares the hell out of me. They are sneaky talented and young, they have players that never got a good chance to shine, they have experience in the Playoffs/Finals, they have the 'Nobody Believes In Us' card/HUGE chip on their shoulders, and they're fighting with the Bobcats, Knicks, Pacers, and NOBODY ELSE for the 7th and 8th seeds in the East. It's ridiculous to think they can't grab one of those seeds.
Michael Jordan got cut from his high school team. The Cleveland Cavaliers are being cut by everybody for the 2010-11 playoffs. Michael made everybody pay, the Cavs might just do the same.
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