Are They Relevant Again?
Why in God's name am I writing about the Cleveland Cavaliers right now? They were so terrible they ended up with the first pick in the draft, again. Here's a quick step down memory lane. Now that you've watched the video you can realize that three years have passed, LeBron James has won two rings and the Cavaliers have won the lottery twice. Seems like David Stern did Cleveland a couple of good deeds after LeBron left Cleveland for dry to hang out with Dwyane Wade and Little Foot in South Beach.
With the first pick in the 2013 NBA Draft the Cavaliers went out and drafted Anthony Bennett. Not the name anyone expected besides ESPN's Tim Legler. Then they made two signings that have potentially set them up well going forward in Andrew Bynum and Jarrett Jack. Jack basically left a Golden State team where he was the sixth man behind two young stud guards for Cleveland which is basically the same thing, just slightly younger. Don't be shocked if Jack's the sixth man of the year this year.
The Cavaliers went out and signed Andrew Bynum after he didn't play a single game last year. As much as I think you stay away from players that have injury problems the year before he was arguably one of the top five centers in the NBA when he posted 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. In eight seasons he's only played more than 60 games only twice so if they can get 70 games out of him this season then I think the Cavaliers could be headed for a spot in the playoffs.
I might be getting ahead of myself, but I'm guessing that come April they won't be worrying about what lottery pick they are getting. They might actually be heading for the playoffs again in Cleveland.
The Draft:
When the Cavaliers got the first pick in the draft most people wondered if it would be a smart decision to draft Nerlens Noel number one. Noel had surgery to repair his knee after getting injured at Kentucky and will miss half of this year's NBA season. The Cavaliers along with 4 other NBA teams all passed on the chance to draft him and when he finally got drafted he was traded so it's starting to appear as most teams weren't big on a guy who already has an injury history.
If you told me the Cavaliers weren't going to draft Noel I would guess they'd go with either Ben McLemore or Victor Oladipo who both have the potential to be great shooting guards in the NBA. Oladipo is the better defender and McLemore is the better scorer, and either would have been good picks at number one, just not if you are Cleveland. The Cavaliers already have Irving and Waiters at guard so it made plenty of sense for why they passed on the both of them.
With the first pick the Cavaliers shocked everyone especially ESPN's Bill Simmons when they drafted Bennett. I'm going to be completely honest, I hadn't actually heard of him until about two weeks before the draft. I didn't watch a lot of UNLV during the year as they aren't showed all that frequently and come March I didn't have a lot of time to get to know him as the Running Rebels were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by California.
With the little that I have seen of Bennett he reminds me a lot of another former UNLV player, Larry Johnson. Both were drafted with the first pick of their NBA Drafts, both could play either forward position, and they are almost the exact same size (Bennett is 6'8" and weighs 240, Johnson was 6'7" and weighed 235).
Was this the right move? At the time it didn't look like it. Now with the roster they have assembled by adding Jack and Bynum, it looks like going with a combo forward was the best choice for them. I don't really know how good he is or how good he might end up being, but if the best he ends up is Larry Johnson, I think the Cavaliers made the right pick for what they have on their roster.
The Coach:
Timeline:
June 2005: Cavaliers hire Mike Brown as head coach
May 2010: Cavaliers fire Mike Brown as head coach
April 2013: Cavaliers rehire Mike Brown as head coach
Sometimes teams actually realize that maybe it wasn't the coaches fault that the team didn't succeed like they wanted to and it looks like the Cavaliers finally realized that with Mike Brown. Brown was fired after the Cavaliers were knocked out of the playoffs in 2010 and may have been fired to hopefully convince LeBron James back to stay in Cleveland.
LeBron ended up leaving anyways and Brown is then hired by the Lakers a year later. Brown struggled to do as well as the Lakers expect and was fired after the first five games of last season (Who the hell fires a coach through five games in a season by the way? Why couldn't they fire him in the offseason if they didn't want him to come back). Then the Lakers made the great hire of Mike Antoni (if you don't coach D you don't deserve the D in your name).
So when Byron Scott got fired it took the Cavaliers only a week to re-find the man that got them to the NBA Finals with LeBron James and ... (I'm not a LeBron fan but the man played with nobody in Cleveland, this is the first time I think I'm actually admitting it.).
Now that the Cavaliers have Brown back I think he might be the right coach to get this young team going in the right direction. He took the Cleveland LeBron's to the Finals so expect him to turn this young team into something good in a couple of years. I'm not expecting them to do too much this year, but just imagine a playoff series against the Miami Heat.
This Season:
Potential Cavaliers Starting Lineup:
Point Guard: Kyrie Irving
Shooting Guard: Dion Waiters
Small Forward: Anthony Bennett
Power Forward: Anderson Varejao
Center: Andrew Bynum
Key Bench Players:
Guard: Jarrett Jack
Guard: C.J. Miles
Forward: Alonzo Gee
Forward: Tristan Thompson
Center: Tyler Zeller
2013-2014 Cleveland Cavaliers = 2012-2013 Golden State Warriors. Yes I know this is a bit of a stretch but look at the rosters and tell me why I should think any differently. On paper they also look like they are a better defensive team compared to the Warriors of last year (Addition of Iguodala makes Golden State a much better defensive team now).
The main question Mike Brown will have with this team is who sits between Anthony Bennett, Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson? I know neither Varejao or Bynum are going to be healthy all season long, but when they are one of those three is going to have to come off of the bench. My guess is that Thompson will end up being the guy off of the bench for now as the Cavs might look to trade Varejao down the road.
^
I hope he never gets rid of this hairdo.
Bennett won't likely come out and be the Rookie of the Year this year, but I still see him being a 12 points and 5 rebounds a game guy from the start. He will be splitting too many minutes to get enough looks to average 15 a game as a rookie.
If the Cavaliers are able to play as well as I expect them to then Irving and Brown might have to be in consideration for MVP and Coach of the Year respectively. Here's a look at his stats from his first two years in the NBA and what I'm projecting for the next.
Uncle Drew's Stats:
2011-2012 - 18.5 pts, 5.4 ast, 1.1 stl
2012-2013 - 22.5 pts, 5.9 ast, 1.5 stl
2013-2014 - 25.0 pts, 7.0 ast, 2.0 stl (Projected)
If Irving and the Cavaliers can get this team back to the playoffs it will definitely help Cleveland move back in the right direction and help them forget "The Decision" all that much more. With how bad the Browns are and how likely the Indians are to fall apart in the second half of the season, the Cavaliers are going to have to be the team to bring the city of Cleveland back to their feet. I couldn't imagine being from Cleveland and rooting for all three of those teams over the last 25 years.
But, if for any reason that the Cavaliers end up in the lottery again next season, Dan Gilbert better have his son ready to go when the lottery comes around. He's either really good luck or the lottery might already be predetermined.
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