Sporting the famous #23 jersey, the King is back in Cleveland. But can he finally win a championship for his hometown?
Armed with four-time MVP LeBron James, former Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, and arguably the best power forward in the league right now in the shape of Kevin Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers have never had a better chance at winning their maiden NBA title.
The Cavs backroom staff are not making the same mistakes as they did in LeBron’s last tenure at the club, abruptly ended by the infamous ‘Decision’ in 2010, when they failed to build a team around their star and hope he would win it all on his own. Since acquiring James in early July, Cleveland traded number one draft pick Andrew Wiggins, and last year's number one pick Anthony Bennett, for three-time All-Star Love, as well as bringing in a whole host of veterans including Shawn Marion, James Jones and Mike Miller to add some stability to the roster.
The transition would not be complete without the addition of a new head coach, though. Following the firing of Mike Brown (for the second time), owner Dan Gilbert and general manager David Griffin looked further afield for their man and hired David Blatt from Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. Blatt recently led Maccabi to the Euroleague title, and Cavs fans will be hoping his costless flowing style of basketball will transfer across to the NBA.
Similar to the San Antonio Spurs style of play under Gregg Popovich, which LeBron has always said he is a fan of, the quick offensive style of moving the ball around and using all the space on the floor should only serve to benefit the Cavs. Whether it’s finding Love for three or in the post, getting LeBron open just about anywhere, giving Irving room to drive to the basket, allowing Dion Waiters space to take long jumpers or making sure Tristan Thompson has room to back down in the low post, Cleveland’s offense seems set to make a huge impact on the NBA this season.
With the attack part of the game seemingly nailed down, provided everyone is willing to share, the other issue is defense. This is not actually an issue. LeBron has long been considered one of the best defenders in the game with five appearances in the NBA All-Defensive Team of the Year to his name, Irving averaged 1.5 steals per game last season, Anderson Varejao has clocked over 1.1 steals per game for the last three years and backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova’s on-ball defense is by far the best in the entire roster. The Australian’s plus/minus was at +47 after Cavs’ first four games of pre-season, showing just how important his hustling defense is despite the fact he scored just 23 points in those games. He added five assists per game, too.
It seems the Cavs are set for a glorious return to the playoffs after what will be a five year absence, with anything less surely deemed a failure. But how far will they get? Considering how weak the Eastern Conference is, only a handful of teams realistically stand in their way. A rejuvenated Chicago Bulls, a hurting Miami Heat, and an inconsistent Indiana Pacers are all hoping to make the Finals too, but whether any will be able to stop Cavs’ ‘big three’ remains to be seen.
The Finals itself is a whole different story though, with the scourge of LeBron’s career, the Spurs, favourites to represent the West once again. Having already beaten him twice whilst boasting an 8-1 Finals record against him, James would probably like the chance to level things up against the Texas franchise after beating them in the 2013 Finals. Should Cleveland get that far though, and they so easily could, they will be confident of beating anybody. And rightly so; they don’t have three current All-Stars for no reason. If Coach Blatt can get them playing together well and not let any egos get in the way of each other, Cleveland may just get its first major sports trophy in over 50 years.