LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers delivered on their promise to bring an NBA championship to the city last season. Where do they go from here? The Cavaliers reloaded in the offseason with the intent on defending their title but their spotlight was reduced by the fact that the Golden State Warriors added a top-five player in this league in Kevin Durant. Cleveland will ultimately be judged by whether they are able to win another championship and it won’t be a surprise if they locked up the top seed in the Eastern Conference along the way.
Offseason Changes
The Cavaliers brought back their core players from a year ago but a lack of salary cap space prevented them from adding to that group. Cleveland re-signed LeBron James, Richard Jefferson and James Jones but they lost Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova and replaced them with Chris Andersen and Mike Dunleavy. The Cavaliers never seemed at risk of losing LeBron this offseason but his three-year, $100 million deal left them with little room to add to their championship roster.
Strengths
LeBron turned it on in the NBA Finals and what he did was nothing short of legendary. LeBron and Kyrie Irving teamed up to lead Cleveland back from a 3-1 series deficit and then delivered on the road at Golden State in game seven to win the title. That experience will carry over to this season and there is no doubt the Cavaliers should have plenty of confidence about getting back to the NBA Finals. The decision to bring back Kevin Love was met with some skepticism but Cleveland’s starting five is clearly the best in the Eastern Conference right now. Love will need to continue to forge a role as the third option at the offensive end of the floor while improving his overall defensive play. LeBron, Irving and Love make up the most talented big three in the East.
And we have to reference the conference because that’s what is really important here. If the Cavaliers had to get through the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder before getting to the NBA finals, that likely would have impacted significantly – maybe they would have even lost. But since they’re in the East, they can cruise to the NBA Finals as there is no other team in the conference that should really challenge them at any point.
Weaknesses
The only weakness the Cavaliers will have to deal with is the lack of depth behind their starting five with Dunleavy, Andersen, Channing Frye and Mo Williams all set to play important roles in reserve. That’s a pretty weak bench but as we saw last year, the Cavs can get by with that.
An injury to any one of the five starters could force any one of those veteran bench players in to the starting lineup and that would really hurt. Cleveland has a strong combination of inside-outside talent but their depth is extremely suspect heading in to the 2016-17 season.
The other main issue for this roster is that shooting guard J.R. Smith is still unsigned. He’s a free agent and everyone expects him to be back in a Cavaliers uniform next season. However, we’re getting close to training camps and he has not come to an agreement with the Cavs or anyone else. There’s a chance that he ends up signing somewhere else and that would leave the Cavs with a big hole in their starting lineup.
Outlook
Ultimately, the Cavaliers are going to be judged by their ability to get back to the NBA Finals and match up against a Warriors team that is even better than they were a year ago. Cleveland will have an uphill climb trying to take down Golden State but there is little reason to doubt their ability to get back to the Finals. The Cavaliers should have no problem navigating their way through the Eastern Conference as long as they can stay healthy and we are banking on that happening with LeBron set to once again led this team to the top seed.
Prediction: 1st in Central Division; 1st in Eastern Conference
