No More Excuses For The Cleveland Cavaliers

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LeBron James’ last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers was during the 2009-2010 NBA season. In that season the Cavaliers won 61 games in the regular season and they advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. After that season ended, James left Cleveland as a free agent to sign with the Miami Heat where he has gone on to win a pair of NBA Championships. In the aftermath of James leaving Cleveland, it took the Cavs nearly three seasons to match their win total during his last season there. When James left Cleveland, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert went on a tirade for the ages in the attempt to belittle James while guaranteeing that his team would win a title before James would be able to in Miami. Obviously Gilbert’s dream has not turned into a reality as the Cavaliers are 97-215 since James took his talents to South Beach. Since then the NBA has gone above and beyond the call of duty to “reward” Gilbert and the Cavaliers as they have “won” the NBA’s Draft Lottery an unprecedented three times in the last four years. In spite of being the first team get a crack during the NBA’s Draft buffet, the Cavs have not been able to grasp success and how many more free layups will they receive from the league?

The past few seasons have seen the Eastern Conference of the NBA be extremely weak. This past season saw the Atlanta Hawks qualify for the postseason with a losing record. The Eastern Conference was also home to four teams last season that won 25 games or less. With a team loaded with young players such as point guard Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers were unable to snatch a playoff spot. The Cavaliers were 33-49 last season and their lowest point came on February 5 when they suffered a 119-108 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers only dressed eight players for the game and for a good portion of the second half they only had five players available, but a full Cavaliers squad was unable to run them out of the gym.

After the season the Cavaliers fired Mike Brown and recently hired David Blatt as their new head coach and he’ll be the team’s third head coach in as many seasons. At last week’s NBA Draft, the Cavs selected former Kansas University shooting guard Andrew Wiggins who has tremendous potential, but how will he fit in with this team?

Last season Irving led the Cavaliers in points per game (20.8), assists (6.1), and steals (1.5). During the season Irving was accused by Cavaliers shooting guard Dion Waiters of playing “buddy ball” with power forward Tristan Thompson which led to a rift between them. If Irving cannot spread the ball around enough between Waiters, Thompson, and himself, then what will he do with another mouth to feed when Wiggins joins the party? Not to mention that last year’s number one overall pick by the Cavaliers, small forward Anthony Bennett only appeared in 52 games last season without making a single start. Bennett would only average 4.2 points per game which are paltry numbers for someone who was the league’s top pick. Being the first overall pick of the NBA generally entails being a player that can immediately come in and be a difference maker; not a player that sits towards the end of the bench.

The NBA began the draft lottery in 1985 in the attempt to prevent teams from “tanking” the season on purpose in order to obtain a higher slotted draft pick. The only instance previous to the recent luck of the Cavaliers in which a team won the NBA’s lottery in consecutive seasons was when the Orlando Magic got lucky in 1992 and 1993. In 1992, the Magic were coming off of a 21-win season and they needed a boost. The Magic were able to get that boost when they used the first overall pick of the 1992 Draft on center Shaquille O’Neal. In O’Neal’s first season in Orlando, the Magic went 41-41 and missed the postseason by one game. In 1993, the Magic selected power forward Chris Webber who they immediately traded to the Golden State Warriors for point guard Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. In 1994, the Magic made their first playoff appearance and by the next season they were able to make their first appearance in the NBA Finals.

When the Magic got “lucky”, they didn’t go backwards, but instead they were able to go forward. But unfortunately for the Cavaliers they still have been unable to figure out how to succeed without LeBron James.

Source: Basketball-reference.com

 

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