Remember when I was sitting up there at the Boys & Girls Club in 2010? I was thinking, this is really tough. I could feel it. I was leaving something I had spent a long time creating. If I had to do it all over again, I'd obviously do things differently, but I'd still have left. Miami, for me, has been almost like college for other kids. These past four years helped raise me into who I am. I became a better player and a better man. I learned from a franchise that had been where I wanted to go. I will always think of Miami as my second home. Without the experiences I had there, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing today.
I went to Miami because of D-Wade and CB. We made sacrifices to keep UD. I loved becoming a big bro to Rio. I believed we could do something magical if we came together. And that's exactly what we did! The hardest thing to leave is what I built with those guys. I've talked to some of them and will talk to to others. Nothing will ever change what we accomplished. We are brothers for life. I also want to thank Micky Arison and Pat Riley for giving me an amazing four years.
I'm doing this essay because I want an opportunity to explain myself uninterrupted. I don't want anyone thinking: He and Erik Spoelstra didn't get along... He and Riles didn't get along... The Heat couldn't put the right team together. That's absolutely not true.
I'm not having a press conference or a party. After this, it's time to get to work.
When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Out city hasn't had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what's most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.
I always believed that I'd return to Cleveland and finish my career there. I just don't know when. After the season, free agency wasn't even a thought. But I have two boys and my wife, Savannah, is pregnant with a girl. I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn't going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy.
To make the move I needed the support of my wife and my mom, who can be very tough. The letter from Dan Gilbert, the booing of the Cleveland fans, the jerseys being burned -- seeing all that was hard for them. My emotions were mixed. It was easy to say, 'Ok, I don't want to deal with these people ever again.' But then you think about the other side. What if I were a kid who looked up to an athlete, and that athlete made me want to do better in my own life, and then he left? How would I react? I've met with Dan, face-to-face, man-to-man. We've talked it out. Everybody makes mistakes. I've made mistakes as well. Who am I to hold a grudge?
I'm not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We're not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I'm realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that. I'm going into a situation with a young team and a new coach. I will be the old head. But I get a thrill out of bringing a group together and helping them reach a place they didn't know they could go. I see myself as a mentor now and I'm excited to lead some of these talented guys. I think I can help Kyrie Irving become one of the best point guards in our league. I think I can help elevate Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters. And I can't wait to reunite with Anderson Varejao, one of my favorite teammates.
But this is not about the roster or the organization. I feel my calling here goes above basketball. I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously. My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more where I'm from. I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there's no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get.
In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.
I'm ready to accept the challenge. I'm coming home."
"I'm coming home." Those were the poignant words of LeBron James, detailing his return home to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a first-person letter as told to Lee Jenkins of sports illustrated, a letter, which was really more like an official announcement or declaration, that can be easily characterized as courtly and dignified. LeBron's letter on his departure from the Miami Heat to return back to his roots in Northeast Ohio will be recognized as one of the greatest sports moments in Ohio history along with anytime Jim Brown touched the ball for the Browns, the Big Red Machine's championships in the mid 1970's, and Ohio St. beating Miami in the Fiesta Bowl in 2002 for the title, and will live on in sports lore for not only its significance with the best player in all of sports picking the Cavs in free agency, but also the grace and elegance in which it was deftly written. In sports, it is nearly impossible to do anything with universal approval because there will always be those critics out there, especially when you are a free agent (LeBron left Cleveland to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and was criticized from all angles for not trying to win in the right manner and needing to join forces with other players to do so, but Carmelo Anthony stayed in New York this year and has been getting killed over the past few days for taking the money and not looking for a championship because he turned down the possibility to play with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in Chicago). However, LeBron's letter actually received widespread acclaim and praise because of the heartfelt nature of the piece and the fact that he was able to explain everything about his decision in an uninterrupted manner in an announcement full of refinement and urbanity. You don't always say classy and anything about an NBA player in the same sentence, but LeBron handled his free agency announcement with nothing but class and there is no arguing that point no matter how much LeBron loathing some people still have lingering in their body.
In 2010, LeBron James handled his free agency about as poorly as you possibly could with his 75-minute ESPN program The Decision, a TV special that has been heavily lambasted over the years due to its totally unnecessary narcissistic and egocentric feel. LeBron's announcement that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers after 7 seasons with the team and joining the Miami Heat came off as plain unprofessional and improper to anybody that watched the show because the special, and especially LeBron's interview with Jim Gray, seemed like a distasteful shrine to the man himself. Although I understand the idea behind having the Boys and Girls Club of America there at the telecast and the 2.5 million dollars the event raised for the charity, the whole spectacle was patronizing and objectionable to fans and media alike. LeBron also failed to let the Cavs or any of the other teams know of his decision to head for Miami and hung the organization out to dry on national television without any prior warning at all. Essentially, if somebody could put together the worst possible way to go about a free agency while making yourself look like a self-centered athlete that is as tasteless as any sane person out there, it was LeBron's TV special and ESPN announcement in a nutshell. It rubbed everybody the wrong way and LeBron's team made a really ill-fated decision to air the special once so ever, as it was about the most excruciating 75 minutes of TV you will ever watch in your life.
LeBron James's "The Decision" Interview
I can totally understand people being upset at the egotistical and tasteless decision show that LeBron held and the manner in which it went down, but to this day, I vehemently disagree with people like Knicks legend Walt Fraizer that detest not the pompous manner of the program but solely LBJ's literal decision to leave the Cavs for the Heat. Many fans blamed LeBron for deserting the Cavaliers and leaving the team when things got tough in 2010. Now, should LeBron have done more in that 2010 Conference Semifinals series against the Boston Celtics? I think the answer to that question has to be a yes, but the team around LeBron was not nearly good enough and he recognized that a starting lineup of Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Antawn Jamison, and an old Shaq, and Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, and Daniel Gibson coming off the bench was not going to get things done when it mattered in the postseason. LeBron was a free agent and he absolutely had the right to choose the destination where he thought he could best win a championship and I don't think there is anything wrong with him wanting to play in Miami with two other star players as much as people may disagree. Every basketball player that has ever went on to legendary status and won at least one title did not do so alone and had a much better supporting cast than Mo, Anthony Parker, Antawn Jamison, and a near 40-year old Shaq. Russell had Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, and Bill Sharman early on in his career and then Sam Jones and John Havlicek later on, Jerry West had Elgin Baylor at the beginning and then Wilt and Gail Goodrich towards the end, Oscar had Lew Alcindor and Bob Dandridge, Moses had Julius Erving and Maurice Cheeks, Bird had the end of Nate Archibald, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale, Magic had Kareem, Jamaal Wilkes, and James Worthy, Hakeem had Clyde Drexler, Jordan had Pippen and Rodman, and Shaq had Kobe with the Lakers and D-Wade with the Heat, so I do not fault LeBron for leaving at all and put it more so on the Cavs inability to put anything around the king. I understand that Magic would never team with Bird and that some people think LeBron took the easy way out, but he was getting absolutely no help in Cleveland. I look down on the decision, just as everybody else, because the manner in which it played out was dreadful and callous but I do not blame him for wanting to be apart of a team that could surround him with some actual legit NBA level talent.
In LeBron's first season with the Heat in 2010-2011, he tried to prove all of his critics and haters wrong and he seemed to play with a lot of bitterness, rage, and resentfulness in his basketball game. As much as America loves itself a good fairy tale story and a nice hero, it is also enamored with good villains whether it be the joker in The Dark Knight, Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Jack Torrance in The Shining, Biff Tannen in Back to the Future, or Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas and LeBron was seemingly the biggest villain in the entire sporting world during the 2010-2011 sports season. As if the decision wasn't bad enough, LeBron and the big three then had a big welcome party at American Airlines Arena where LBJ declared Miami would win "not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 [championships]," making him the biggest sports villain since practically Ty Cobb because of the entire way he handled his free agency and his move to South Beach. LeBron played with way too much anger and hostility for the Heat and it clearly hurt his mental game on the floor, as it was too much for him to try and take on the role of a villain while trying to proving everybody wrong in one fell swoop. LeBron never seemed comfortable on the court in his first season with the Heat, a year in which they would go on to shockingly lose to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals in 6 games, and the king got too caught up in the fans and everything around him that he lost sight of his own game and just trying to play without all the distractions.
After the Heat feel in the 2011 NBA Finals to Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks, LeBron's second loss in the final round of the playoffs, the king hit his ultimate low in Miami when he said, "All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point." LeBron was really just overwhelming upset with himself for his poor play in the world's biggest basketball stage, but his words of criticism for his haters once again came off as arrogant and full of disdain for everybody around him. It was a point in time when LeBron was so frustrated with himself and trapped within this idea of trying to be a villain, somebody he is not, that he lost himself like a teenage girl in high school and it represented just how much the hatred and abuse from had gotten to LeBron.
Highlights Of The Heat's Game 6 Loss To The Mavericks
However, so much changed with the king over the past three years with the Miami Heat and he has grown immensely since his free agency back in 2010 and since his rocky first season in South Beach at the start of the decade. Rather than constantly trying to prove everybody wrong in all of his actions and playing this persona of a villainous character, LeBron went back to basketball and made several drastic strides in his play from his first season in Miami. He greatly improved his jump shot, especially from three point range, an area of his game that he had struggled with over the years and was on clear display against the Mavericks in the NBA Finals when Dallas practically let LeBron take outside jump shots because of his inability to make the club pay from outside the key and his own lack of confidence in his jumper. After shooting 33 percent from three in 2010-2011, LeBron was all the way up to 40.6 by the 2012-2013 year and he hit more than 100 three pointers in that season for the first time since he was back in Cleveland. In his first year in Miami, LeBron had a true shooting percentage of 59.4 and an effective field goal percentage of 54.1 and in the three seasons since then his true shooting percentage has been 60.5, 64.0, and 64.9 and his effective field goal percentage has been 55.4, 60.3, and 61.0. Just to emphasize just how much LeBron has improved his shooting ability to extend defenses just that little bit further out, LeBron was 44.3 percent on field goals from 10 to 16 feet from the basket in 2010-2011 and all the way up to 48.1 percent on those same field goals in 2011. LeBron not only improved his shooting, but he dedicated himself to getting better in the low post and worked with Hakeem Olajuwon in order to help him assert his physical nature as a small forward down in the blocks. Although LeBron's percentage from outside greatly improved because of the strides he had made in his shooting stroke, he was more assertive in attacking the basket and getting into the post after his first year in Miami. In 2010-2011, LeBron's average field goal distance was 12.7 feet from the basket and in 2012-2013, that number was all the way down to 11.2 feet from the basket for his average bucket. With LBJ being more focused on using his body down low and taking more shots around the paint, he was able to shoot 62.2 percent on two point field goals in 2013-2014 after hitting just 55.2 percent of those same shots in his first year in South Beach.
As much as America is enchanted by cinderella stories and underdogs doing well against all odds, we love a winner more than anything else. In the NCAA tournament, we marvel at a Florida Gulf Coast beating Georgetown, a Lehigh or Mercer beating Duke, or a Norfolk St. knocking off Missouri, but at the end of the day, people watch when we have teams like Kentucky, Louisville, or Kansas in the Final Four. It is a good story in golf when an aging veteran like Stewart Cink wins at Turnberry or when Dareen Clarke wins at Royal Liverpool, but Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods are who we want to see in the hunt on Sunday. Winning changes everything and it did for LeBron after he was finally able to get over the hump in helping the Heat beat the Thunder in a tight 5 game Finals series in 2012. Winning cures all evils and it certainly does so in a season in which you join Michael Jordan as the only two players in NBA history to have a player efficiency
rating better than 30.0 for the 4th time in your career (LeBron's 30.74
PER in 2011-2012 was the 11th best all-time for a single season), win the regular season MVP, the NBA Finals MVP, and then go on to win the Gold Medal in the Olympics for Team USA for the second straight tournament and the fifth time in the last six competitions. As if that wasn't good enough, LBJ came back the next year and won the NBA MVP for the second straight year to capture his fourth overall and put him behind only Russell, Kareem, and Jordan in total MVPs, scored 14 points in the 4th quarter of game 6 against the Spurs in the NBA Finals, got fortunate enough that Tim Duncan was not in the game for the Ray Allen three that kept the Heat's season alive in that same game, nailed the dagger against San Antonio in game 7 to help Miami defend their championship, and once again took the NBA Finals MVP to join only Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq, and Kobe to win the award in back-to-back years since they began to give out the trophy in 1969 for the best player in the finals.
Highlights Of The Heat's Game 7 Win Vs The Spurs
The LeBron James that seemed angry and annoyed on the court in 2010-2011 has been completely thrown aside and he has seemed much more comfortable and relaxed with himself on and off the hardwood over the past few years. The most ostensible difference between the LeBron then and now is how he handled his past two free agencies, as "The Decision" in 2010 and "The Letter" in 2014 are pretty contrasting ways to go about announcing your intentions to switch teams in the upcoming season. As much as people castigated LeBron for everything that happened with his departure from the Cavs and his arrival in South Beach, and deservedly so, LBJ needed all of that to transform and mature into the person and player that he is today, as he even said in his letter, "These past four years helped raise me into who I am. Without the experiences I had there [in Miami], I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing today." LeBron has admitted on several occasions over the past couple years that he wished he would have done things much differently in 2010 and that he understands why everybody in Cleveland was so devastated over his departure. While it may sound like one of the biggest cliches you will ever hear, it often takes failure to breed future success and LeBron needed his wrongdoings with "The Decision" and some of his adversity in Miami to morph into the basketball player and person that he is today (that lesson is so true with athletes whether it be Michael Jordan not making his high school varsity team as a sophomore and then proving that coach wrong I guess you could say or Phil Mickelson finishing with 17 top 10s in majors before winning one in 2004 at Augusta). In fact, if LeBron wasn't the subject of all the criticism and hate that he received in Miami, which made him grow up the way he did, I'm not sure he would have ever returned to Cleveland at all.
So, the question is why LeBron left Miami to return home to Cleveland? The answer to that inquiry may be more layered than you think.
As much as the idea of returning to Cleveland must have enticed LeBron to change teams in free agency, the problems in Miami and some of the shortcomings of the Florida team must have been just as big of a reason for why LBJ ditched Micky Arison, Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra, and crew despite winning two championships with the group in four seasons and joining the 1989-1990 Detroit Pistons, 1991-1993 and 1996-1998 Chicago Bulls, 1994-1995 Houston Rockets, and 1987-1988, 2000-2002, and 2009-2010 Lakers as the only teams to repeat as NBA champs in the last 45 years. The Heat team that got obliterated in 5 games in the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs this year looked much more like the 2007 Cavaliers team that LeBron dragged to the last round of the postseason than the club that was so impressive against the Thunder in 2012. LeBron had to be getting tired of bringing an entire team through the regular season and postseason as if he was back in his earlier Cleveland days. His usage percentage of 31.0 was the 4th highest in the NBA behind only Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, and Carmelo Anthony and he must have hurt his back having to carry the Heat all the way to the Finals with limited help from his co-stars or elderly role players. At times, we even saw a LeBron James that seemed very frustrated on the floor because of all that he had to do each and every game in order for the Heat to compete, which he was not expecting when he came to a much better team in Miami than Cleveland. Any time the Spurs came up the court in the NBA Finals all five guys for San Antonio were always a threat to score or dish off the killer pass whether it be their stars in Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Kawhi Leonard or their key role players like Boris Diaw and Patty Mills while the Heat did not have those same options at all offensively and were slow on the other end of the floor. LeBron must have been growing tired of some of the Heat limitations from a pure basketball perspective. We will never know each and every reason behind why LeBron left Miami but we do know that the Heat have very little chance of becoming the first professional sports team since the 1980-1984 Islanders with Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, and Billy Smith to make five straight finals appearances now that they no longer have LBJ down in South Beach.
Let's start with Dwyane Wade, a player that was so good in his prime a few years ago that LeBron was compelled to come to Miami so that he could play along side Flash. There are some athletes in the world who seem to be exempt from condemnation no matter what happens to them or their team and that they are so popular amongst the fans and media that you can't say anything against their play or their personality without being ostracized and D-Wade is one, if not the only, guy like that in the NBA. Whether it be dating back to his college days when he took Marquette to a surprising Final Four in 2003 after putting up a triple-double against Kentucky in the elite eight, his heroic performance in the 2006 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks that any fan of the game can appreciate for its greatness, or just that he seems like a genuinely good guy, Wade has built up this air of invincibility in Miami, one that practically puts him beyond any criticism or questioning like no other player in the league. Nonetheless, the fact that Wade's body is physically breaking down and that his knees seem like they can no longer hold for a full season and are as fragile as Penny Hardaway's knees must have been really concerning for LeBron and one of the reasons why he saw from a basketball standpoint that his move back to the Cavs made sense. As much as LBJ and D-Wade are close friends and all, Wade is nowhere near the player that he once was with Miami during the mid to late 2000's and is barely even a true all-star caliber talent anymore, as James Harden and Klay Thompson are probably better shooting guards right now than Wade. Dwyane Wade is to the Heat as Tom Brady is to the Patriots or Cal Ripken was to the Orioles in that he has done more for that organization than any player in the past. Wade brought Miami their first NBA title in franchise history in 2006 by averaging 39.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists over the final 4 games of the series, completely sacrificed his personal stats and playing style so that LeBron could step in and lead the Big 3 era team (his usage percentage shrunk from 36.2 in 2008-2009 all the way down to 27.9 this past season), and battled through countless injuries to his shoulders and knees to be on the floor for the Heat. LeBron, though, had to see that Wade is in a serious decline and that he would no longer get the help he needed from his old sidekick.
In the NBA, you can certainly win a championship with two star players and a bunch of role players around those two guys, but Wade is no longer anywhere near a top 5 or even a top 15 player in the association. D-Wade missed 28 games last season because of his chronic knee issues and even came off the bench in a game against the Spurs in January for the first time in six years after he had missed four straight games that month because of the lingering problems he was still feeling in his weak knees (backup point guard Norris Cole played more minutes than Wade and Shane Battier nearly did as well). Wade only played in 2 back-to-back games all season long on consecutive nights and after playing against the Mavericks on December 15th and then again versus the Bobcats on November 16th, he had to sit out a week before he could play again because his knees tightened up at the end of the Charlotte game. The idea of not playing Dwyane on back-to-back nights after he underwent shock-wave therapy procedure on his knees in the off-season made sense on paper because it would be the best way to try and limit the wear-and-tear on his knees and help him rest and recover rather than having him attempt to play through pain in his knees. However, as much as LeBron said he agreed with exercising caution over Wade's knees and not having him put to much stress on those legs in games in January and February that don't hold any real significance, it is very hard for a team to establish continuity when one of their top guys misses more than 35 percent of the regular season. Even more importantly, it puts way too much pressure on LeBron to carry a team through a very long 82 game season when a club's second best player is constantly on the bench and has limited minutes when he is on the floor. LBJ knew he was not going to get that help on a consistent basis from D-Wade and it has to be very mentally and physically tiring having to grind through a season without a guy that should be picking you up on any given night.
Although the idea within the Heat organization all season long was to rest Wade during the regular season so that he could be fresh and ready to go for the Heat in the postseason, he still looked like a shell of himself in the playoffs outside of game 5 against the Nets at home and game 1 vs the Pacers in Indiana. In the NBA Finals, Wade could not guard anything that was moving and he looked like he was defending everybody on the Spurs in quicksand because guys were getting by him with ease all series long. He lost defensive coverages and assignments all over the place in the Spurs 5 game thrashing of Miami and let Danny Green and Manu Ginobili kill him from behind the arc, the same Manu Ginobili who looked like a walking zombie in the 2013 NBA Finals (the argument that Wade could have a Manu-like resurgence next year is also flawed since Ginobili was only asked to play 22 minutes per game on a much more balanced Spurs team while the Heat need Wade to be a top all-star caliber guy to help LeBron out). Wade's inability to stay in front of anybody from the Spurs, including Boris Diaw, caused more defensive rotations in that series than any other player in NBA Finals history. You know you are playing some bad defense when somebody makes an 11-minute YouTube video of your atrocious play on that end of the floor, so now James Harden suddenly has some company in that respect (Harden somehow got two votes for the all-defensive team, which is the most awful job of voting since Ken Wood had a -2.2 WAR for the St. Louis Browns in 1950 and got two points in the AL MVP race or since the United States elected James Buchanan as President back in 1857). Wade wasn't much better on the offensive end of the floor and he lacked the explosive and slashing to the rim that once made him one of the best players in the league. LeBron looked gas in the NBA Finals and that has a lot to do with the fact that not only did D-Wade sit out so much of the regular season and force LeBron to exert way too much energy throughout the year, but also that he was not there to carry any of the load in the playoffs to help LBJ when he needed it, which had to be extremely concerning for the king when he mulled over his decision in free agency.
Dwyane Wade's Poor Defense Against The Spurs
Chris Bosh was a very nice complimentary piece for LeBron in Miami and worked well with him when the king would drive to the basket and attract defenders and then kick it out to Bosh for open jump shots around the elbow or on the wings for threes. Bosh was able to extend defenses because of his shooting abilities, especially the last two seasons when his productivity from behind the arc began to increase, and he made it very difficult on teams to defend him when he would play the five position because most clubs did not have a center that could protect the rim when LeBron drove the lane and then recover to Bosh when he was standing open for jump shots. For example, in the final three games of the Heat's series against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, Roy Hibbert really struggled to contest Bosh's jumper, which allowed him to score 25 points in game 4, 20 points in game 5, and 25 points again in the clinching game 6 in Miami in just 29 minutes of play. However, Bosh is more of a finesse and skilled forward with the ball rather than a power big man down in the blocks, so the Heat never had a guy who could score in the post - aside from LeBron - and get some easy buckets for the team without running through an entire offensive set. In other words, LeBron really never got a break from practically setting up every single play for Miami in the regular season and the playoffs. To make matters worse for LeBron, the rest of the Heat's roster was full of aging veterans and guys that were in the twilight of their careers, as Ray Allen, Shane Battier, Chris Andersen, Rashard Lewis, and Udonis Haslem all played significant minutes for the Heat last season and they are all in the mid to late 30's (Ray Allen is so old that he played on the Milwaukee Bucks when they were actually good and made the Conference Finals).
The reason LeBron left the Miami Heat to go to the Cavs may have had nothing to do with the Heat at all and more so his yearning to return home to Northeast Ohio and undo some of the wrong that he had done to his hometown back in 2010. Nonetheless, it would be a little negligent to think that the various deficiencies of the Miami Heat and all of the difficulties LeBron would have had to face with an aging team around him and a broken D-Wade if he stayed in Miami did not factor into his decision to leave for Cleveland once so ever (I'm sure the signings of Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger did not exactly tempt LeBron to change his mind and stay in South Beach for another couple of seasons). Remember, this is a Heat team that came out of a historically weak Eastern Conference without facing any real competition and got clobbered by the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals (I think that all eight teams out west could have possibly beaten the Heat in a 7-game series, as the Mavericks were the 8 seed out there and took the Spurs to a final game in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs). LeBron had to be perturbed over what he was seeing in Miami with a very weak supporting cast around him and a team that had really played poorly all season long despite making it out of the East by beating the Bobcats, who two years before had just 7 wins all season long, the Nets, who were the worst team in the history of sports to have a luxury tax of 90 million dollars, and the Pacers, who hit the self-destruct button in the middle of March. There is no way LeBron is leaving the Heat for Cleveland if Miami has a great season, Wade stays healthy and returns to the D-Wade of old that LeBron signed to play with back in 2010, and the team wins their 3rd title in a 4-year span since the big three came together.
So, LeBron is taking his talents not to South Beach, but to Cleveland this time (from South Beach to Cleveland is not something that you hear to often unless somebody is being exiled). Looking at this from solely a basketball perspective, I actually think the move from the Heat to the Cavs makes total sense for LBJ because not only do the Cavaliers have a much younger and athletic roster than Miami, but they also have a ton of assets to help them bring in more personnel to help LeBron this year and in the near future. As weird as this sounds, the Cavs, who won just 33 games all of last season and are 97-215 in the four years since LeBron originally left, may be in a better position to win with LeBron than the Heat with LeBron, who made four straight NBA Finals appearances with him, with just a little bit of tinkering with their roster to make them a championship caliber team. LeBron is clearly the best player in the NBA and he can single-handedly bring any team into playoff contention because he is just that special of a player and a guy that only comes around once in a generation like a Oscar or a Jordan. The Cavs have such a young roster that it is a little unrealistic to say championship or failure for this team because it does take some learning and experience on how to win in the NBA postseason and it is impossible to know how some of their guys will play when it all matters in a big playoff game in June. However, this is a team that has the potential to be very dangerous in the Eastern Conference and beyond because of its quickness and youth, and could be even better than the teams that LeBron played on in Miami the past four years. With a little veteran help and some shooting to space the floor, and possibly a huge blockbuster trade, the Cavs are ready to build a dynasty for the next decade, which may be the biggest reason why LeBron left for Cleveland, even more so than to return home.
At the point guard position for the Cavs, Kyrie Irving, who the club took with the number 1 overall selection in the 2011 NBA draft after they acquired the pick from an earlier trade with the Clippers in the Mo Williams deal, is shaping up to be one of the best back-court players in the entire NBA. The 22-year old point guard has some of the best shake-and-bake moves with the ball in the entire league and can break down a defense because of his ball-handling ability on the perimeter. His quickness on the bounce and his ability to change directions with his exceedingly good ball-handling allows him to constantly attack the rim because it is so difficult to stay in front of him on the outside. Kyrie's handles are really as good as anybody you will ever see, and he can dribble and finish in the lane with both hands, which is actually rare to see in the NBA nowadays. Since Irving is so good at changing his pace on the floor and setting up guys for his crossovers from left to right or from right to left, it allows him to get into the lane with ease and get to the rim. Last season, Kyrie was 7th amongst point guards in free throws made per game at 4.1 because of his ability to penetrate into the key and get fouled when attacking the bucket. In fact, only 26.7 percent of Kyrie's 2-point field goals were assisted by another Cavs player on the court last season, once again demonstrating his capacity to create his own shot off the dribble with his great handles (last season 28.1 percent of Kyle Lowry's 2-point field goals and 29.0 percent of Deron Williams's 2-point field goals were assisted). Kyrie is also an above average catch and shoot three point guy, which is so valuable to have on a team with LeBron James because of his Magic Johnson-like vision to find open teammates all over the floor when he attracts multiple defenders, especially when he gets the ball down in the post and commands double teams because of his physicality. Irving was tied for 9th amongst point guards in three point field goals made per game at 1.7 last season and can put on a three point barrage when he has enough time to set his feet and fire away at the basket. Although Kyrie was forced to take way more contested jumpers last season because the Cavs did not have a lot of offensive help around him, he did shoot 39.9 percent from three in his rookie season and 39.1 percent from behind the arc in his second year before dropping a bit this past season when his three points attempts went from 183 and 279 in his first two years to 344 in 2013-2014.
For as good as Kyrie is with the ball in his hands and breaking down defenses with his unreal handles in one-on-one situations on the perimeter, the jury is still out on the very talented, young point guard out of Duke. Kyrie is a score first and pass second point guard and is not the best distributor of the ball to set up an offense and get other players involved, which is why he and Dion Waiters never seemed to work last season because the ball movement in the team just wasn't there. On a club with LeBron James, Kyrie is going to have to play off the ball much more than ever before because LBJ is clearly going to be the focal point of the Cavaliers offense under new head coach David Blatt. So often in Miami we saw James bringing up the ball in the Heat offense and setting up other guys with his passing ability and size to see the entire court. While LeBron will surely feel some relief in coming to Cleveland and having help from a point guard that can also penetrate and knife through a defense unlike Mario Chalmers, he still likes to have the ball in his hands as much as possible so that he can create for others as much as for himself. Irving will have to get used to playing off the ball a little more than he has done the past three seasons in Cleveland and pass up some jump shots from behind the arc when guys are in his face in order to help the Cavs be more efficient on offense. Kyrie will also have to show that he can run a team and look to get others involved as much as himself when he beats a guy off the dribble or comes off a screen from a big man. Aside from the ever looming presence of injuries, which has haunted Kyrie in college and in the pros, he will also have to be more committed on the defensive end of the floor to locking down the opponents point guards. Although the Eastern Conference is not littered with great guard play as Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, and Isiash Thomas are all out in the west, Kyrie's defensive wins shares was just 2.1 last season (in comparison, fellow point guard George Hill had a 4.0 defensive win shares in Indiana). Kyrie is more than talented enough to be a great 1-2 punch with LeBron in Cleveland, but he has never been on a winning team before and will have to more the ball a little more often and not settle for threes in order to push the Cavs to a title winning level. The potential, though, is there for Kyrie to become one of the next huge stars in the NBA, which is something that LeBron had to see in his move back to the Cavs.
The really exciting youth doesn't end with Kyrie though in Cleveland, as no other team in the NBA has as much young talent as the Cavs because of just how fortunate the team has been in the lottery since LeBron bolted for Miami four years ago. At the two guard position, Cleveland has a very dangerous scoring threat and three point shooter with former Syracuse star Dion Waiters. Waiters, who the Cavs took with the number 4 overall pick in the 2012 Draft, is a guy that is always looking for his shot because of his really good shooting ability from anywhere in the half-court, especially from the corner, as he made 37.3 percent of his three point attempts from the left and right corners of the court this past season. Waiters is always looking for his shot when he comes off screens or gets a pass on the wing and as important as it is on a NBA team to have a good ball distributor, a guy who sets hard screens, a good rebounder, and a fierce rim protector, every club also needs a guy that can flat out score and get a bucket on his own when he wants with his ability to separate from the defense, which is what Waiters can do at the shooting guard position. DeMar DeRozan was the only two guard in the Eastern Conference to average more points per 48 minutes than Waiters last season since Waiters did average nearly 16 points per contest in roughly 30 minutes per game under Mike Brown in 2013-2014. Obviously, with a guy like Waiters that is constantly looking to shoot from the perimeter, he can sometimes force up threes and not be patient enough to swing the ball around and get a better opportunity for a teammate on the other side of the floor. Waiters is a volume shooter and is a guy that needs to cut down on how many contested jumpers he does put up from outside, but his scoring ability can not be denied at the shooting guard spot for Cleveland. I like Waiters coming off the bench for the Cavs because he can provide instant offense with his scoring ability with the second unit and not take some of the stars for Cleveland out of the game when he gets a little too shot happy with his jumper.
The Cavs are also fortunate enough to have two really promising young players at the power forward position with 23-year old Tristan Thompson and 21-year old Anthony Bennett even though there are trade rumors around Bennett at the moment. Thompson, who the Cavs took with the number 4 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has a really good feel in and around the basket and can finish with both hands on offensive put-back attempts and layups. As crazy as this sounds, Tristan actually changed his shooting hand from lefty to righty during the off-season in 2013 and his free-throw percentage went up from 60.8 to 69.3, his true shooting percentage went from 51.6 to 52.8, and he hit 37.1 percent of 2-point field goals from outside 16 feet as compared to the 27.3 percent he made when he was shooting lefty from that same distance back in 2012-2013. Thompson's offensive game has not evolved nearly as quickly as most people expected it would when he came out of Texas as a one-and-done freshman because of some of the struggles he has had with his jump shot from outside and his hesitation around the basket to go up strong when he is in traffic with his sub-par finishing ability. Thompson could surely get a little bit stronger so that he could be a little better finisher when opposing defenders are draped all over him down low, as he shot 43.5 percent on field goals inside of 3 feet and just 37.8 percent on field goals from 3 to 10 feet last season with the Cavs. Thompson is still a very intriguing player because of his athletic ability since he does have very good vertical jumps for a power forward and is very long with his more than 7-foot wingspan and 9-foot standing reach and is another young guy that LeBron must have seen as a encouraging player to run with in Cleveland. Meanwhile, Anthony Bennett, who the Cavaliers took with the number 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, had a very poor first season in Cleveland, averaging just 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds all year long and having just 6 double-figure scoring games the entire season. However, Bennett looked much better in Summer League with his outside shooting and had lost some weight from the year before - granted it is Summer League, a league the Kings actually won - and is a very good asset to have as trade bait since he he did only play one year in college and is still developing his overall game on both ends of the floor, which gives the Cavs even more leverage to put the pieces around LeBron that he wants.
As much as the idea of playing with so many young and athletic players must have enticed LeBron to consider going back home to Cleveland, the Cavs already had some veteran pieces in place on their roster and have since brought in some more older role players to help out LeBron since he committed to the team. Chief amongst those Cavs veterans is the poor man's Joakim Noah with Brazilian center Anderson Varejao (for LeBron's sake, hopefully he is better than his compatriots this season because I'm sure he doesn't want to see another 7-1 type performance). Varejao, who played with LeBron from 2004 until LBJ left in 2010, is the kind of hard-working, defensive minded played that every team needs in order to function at its highest possible potential. Varejao does not look for his own offense unless it comes to him around the rim on dish offs from driving guards or forwards, but he is so valuable to a team because of his rebounding and defensive toughness. Over the last four years, Anderson's rebounding totals per game has been 9.7, 11.5, 14.4, and 9.7 again last year, as he is a guy that will scratch-and-crawl and dive on the floor for every rebound on both ends of the floor. Although Varejao is not a shot blocking presence in front of the rim because he is only 6-10 and has limited jumping ability, his defensive rotation is really good because of his lateral quickness and intelligence on the court and he isn't afraid to throw a few flops in there to get some class from the refs. Varejao is a hustle player, particularly on defense, and is a guy that somebody like LeBron loves to play with because of his willingness to work so hard. The other veterans that the Cavs have brought in since LeBron signed with the team are all LBJ favorites, which is a smart move by the front office because you always want to satisfy your best player and put guys around him he likes to play with and knows are a good fit for the team. Despite getting better offers from the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets, Mike Miller turned down the money in order to team up with LeBron in Cleveland, who he played with for three years in Miami before getting amnestied in 2013, a move LeBron did not like because the Heat only did it to reduce their luxury tax bill. Miller, who has dealt with some back injuries over the years, was vital to the Heat's victory over the Thunder in the NBA Finals in 2012 when he hit 7 threes in game 5. He is a guy that can stretch the floor and knock down the three ball on catch-and-shoot opportunities when LeBron attacks the lane and draws defenders to him. The Cavs also brought in three point specialist James Jones, who is such a LeBron James favorite that he questioned Erik Spoelstra about not playing him more last season. Jones is another guy that can help Cleveland because it is of the utmost important to have guys around LeBron that can shot the basketball and space the floor so that defenders can not completely forget about their man and help on LeBron.
Andrew Wiggins stumbled right into the laps of the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the Cavs acquired their 3rd number one overall pick in the last 4 NBA drafts when they won the lottery with just a .017 chance of getting the top selection (the Pistons lost four more games than the Cavaliers in 2013-2014 and got the 9th pick in the draft, which they then had to trade to the Hornets because it fell outside of the top 8, while the Cavs got the number one overall pick in the best draft class since 2003. Since 2000, no team other than Cleveland has had multiple number one overall picks while the Cavs have amazingly had four such selections over that stretch). Now, we get to the biggest question in the NBA right now: do you give up 2014 number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins in a trade to land Minnesota Timberwolves big man Kevin Love (the deal would also include Anthony Bennett and a future first round pick going to Minnesota and possibly some of the T-Wolves bad contracts like Kevin Martin - 3-years, 21.255 million dollars left on his deal - and J.J. Barea - 1 year, 4.520 million owed to him this season - going to the Cavs or a third team that would get into the trade like the 76ers, Celtics, or Nuggets). This is a decision that can make or break the future of a team, and ultimately if I were in the Cavs position, as tough as it is to give up a player with Wiggins's future potential, and I would wait a little bit before during anything, I would eventually take the all-star forward in Kevin Love and pair him with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland.
Wiggins was the most hyped player coming out of high school since LeBron himself and there is no doubt in my mind that he can come into the NBA right away and shine on the defensive end of the floor with his freakish athletic capabilities and anticipation skills, which will enable him to guard the various players he will see on the wing in the league like James Harden, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, Monta Ellis, Bradley Beal, Carmelo Anthony, and Rudy Gay. Wiggins is a good 6 foot 8 inches tall and combines his ability to jump out of the building to disrupt jump shots with his lateral quickness to stay in front of driving offensive players to be a menace on defense. Since he is so long and athletically gifted, Wiggins should be able to become one of the top perimeter defenders in the association along with guys like Paul George, Andre Iguodala, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, and Tony Allen. LeBron, who is a 5-time all-defensive first team member, has been one of the best defenders in the NBA for a long time, but to have a guy like Wiggins, who can guard any opposing teams best scorer, is so valuable because it allows LeBron to not have to kill himself on both ends of the floor each and every game as he enters the second stage of his career going into his 30's. Wiggins could do a lot of the heavy lifting on defense and allow LeBron to have more of a free, roaming role to step into passing lanes and switch off screens to trap ball handles to try and start the fast-break.
On the offensive end of the floor, Wiggins has a lot of potential and room for development, but he never really showed the signs at Kansas of being a guy that can take over a game with his ability to score the basketball or set up the players around him with his dribble penetration (we heard a lot of the same things said about former Kansas two-guard Ben McLemore although Wiggins possesses all the physical tools in the world to grow into a more established scorer). Only in a few games towards the end of the season when Joel Embiid went out for the Jayhawks did Wiggins truly step up and dominate a game like when he scored 41 against West Virginia and got to the free throw line 19 times or when he put up 30 against Oklahoma St. in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. Wiggins is a right hand ball dominate dribbler, so consequently, his handles are not good enough to always create separation from defenders and his jumper was inconsistent at Kansas, as he shot just 34.1 percent from three all season long and only had two games with more than three, three point field goals made. Wiggins is more of a slasher than anything else at this point, which is why Jabari Parker, the number 2 overall pick in the draft, is much more of a finished product offensively coming into his rookie year in the NBA. Although Wiggins is not as refined on the offensive end as some other rookies in the past, he is just 19-years old and it is so hard to give up on a guy with so much potential and room for growth in his game, especially in learning from a guy like LBJ.
However, to have the opportunity to team up a top 10 NBA player like Kevin Love with LeBron, Kyrie, and the rest of the young crew in Cleveland, I would give up Wiggins, even despite all of his future potential, to get the big man from Minnesota and put the Cavs right at the top of the NBA. Blake Griffin and Anthony Davis are the only power forwards or centers in the league I would take over Kevin Love for the upcoming season with Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol, and LaMarcus Aldridge just behind the forward from the T-Wolves. Although it is sometimes worrying that Love seems to care a little bit too much about his statistics and has thrived in Minny as the lone focal point of the offense, Love is one of the best scorers in the game period. Love was 4th in the NBA in scoring in 2011-2012 with 26.0 points per contest, 4th in the league once again last year, averaging 26.1 points per game for the Timberwolves, and his 8.4 field goals made per game were the 7th most in the league this past season. Love is one of the best in the NBA at keeping the ball high above his shoulders off passes from driving guards and forwards and also offensive rebounds so that smaller defenders cannot swat the ball away from him and so that his shot does not get blocked, especially since he is only 6-10 and does not have an exceptionable leaping ability. Kevin is really good at absorbing contact with pump fakes and power moves in the post, as his 6.8 free throws made per game were only behind Kevin Durant and James Harden in the league in 2013-2014. However, the biggest reason why Love and LeBron would be so dangerous together is because of Love's deadly shooting ability from anywhere on the floor. K-Love made 190 three-pointers last season (2.5 per game), tied for 8th most in the NBA, and Channing Frye was the only other power forward or center to make at least 140 threes in the league. As has been previously discussed in this post, having shooters around LeBron is so vital to the success of a LBJ team because guys who can space the floor open up lanes for the king, especially stretch power forwards that don't sit and clog the paint area with their defenders there for help coverage. Furthermore, shooters like Love allow LeBron to kick the ball out for three point opportunities and chances to reverse the ball around the floor and make the defense move and rotate. Love has a really quick release on his jumper and anybody that plays with LeBron gets open jump shots, but Love would get more than most because power forwards would have so much trouble trying to help on LeBron and also getting out on Love to contest his shot, which he loves to hit from the top of the key.
Love does bring some concerns on the defensive end of the floor, where he has certainly not flourished on a Minnesota Timberwolves team that has not been to the playoffs since 2003-2004 and had its best season in 2013-2014 in 9 years and still finished under .500 with a 40-42 record and were 8 games behind the Suns for the 9th spot in the West and 19 games back of the Thunder in the Northwest Division (here are the T-Wolves loss totals over the last several seasons: 49 in 2006, 50 in 2007, 60 in 2008, 58 in 2009, 67 in 2010, 65 in 2011, 40 in the lockout shortened season in 2012, 51 in 2013, and a great year for their standers in 2014 with 42 defeats). At times last year, it seemed like Love was reluctant to be really physical with opposing players in the post and really commit himself defensively for Rick Adelman, who was honestly just going through the motions out there in Minnesota last season, almost like Love was concerned about accumulating too many fouls and having to sit or just being plain uninterested in working hard for a bad T-Wolves team once again. If the Cavs were to trade for the 25-year old Love, which I still think they should do to intersect his prime with LeBron's, Cleveland would be playing Love with Anderson Varejao, two big man that are not shot blockers at all, no matter how much Varejao runs like a maniac out there on the floor (Love's career high in blocks per game is 0.6). Nonetheless, in the current NBA, so few elite clubs have true rim protecting giants in their team because the league is a faster, shooting game nowadays (Serge Ibaka, DeAndre Jordan, Marcin Gortat, Roy Hibbert, when he was playing like he knew how to play basketball, and Dwight Howard were the only dominating shot blockers in the whole NBA playoffs last season). Love could improve on the defensive end of the floor with more focus on his court awareness and physicality when bumping with other guys down low, but to even things out, he is already one of the game's most dominant rebounders. Kevin is so good at locating players around him in the paint on missed shots and boxing out opposing big man with his very wide body by pushing hard into their chest with his butt and back. Love was 3rd in the NBA in 2013-2014 with 12.5 rebounds per game and top of the league in defensive rebounds per contest with 9.6 because of just how good his positioning is under the hoop when a shot goes up from outside. His quick outlet passes off of those rebounds would also potentially let Cleveland break out on the fast-break, and it is impossible to stop LBJ in transition unless you give him a bear hug and send him to the line like the Spurs did in the NBA Finals. Love is a guy that fits perfectly with LeBron and as nice it would be to play Wiggins and LeBron together and have the most athletic wings in the world, Love is a top 10 player that could get LeBron, Kyrie, and the Cavs to the top right away.
Aside from the basketball reasons for LeBron returning to Cleveland because of all of their young players that are full of potential and their multitude of trade assets to get another star - whether they pull the trigger on the Kevin Love deal or not - the most obvious rationale for LBJ picking the Cavs is clearly his desire to return home. LeBron has always called Northeast Ohio home and each off-season he returns to his mansion in Akron, where he grew up and went to high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary, to train and get ready for the new season, so he has never really left Cleveland even if the fans dissociated themselves with him in a very public manner after "The Decision" in 2010. In fact, LBJ has always hinted at wanting to finish his career where everything started for him in Cleveland, and while it is a little surprising he returned so early at just the age of 29 when he is still in his prime, most people knew the day would always come when he would want to return home, and it makes even more sense now that the Cavs have such an up-and-coming roster with all of their youthful talent. The idea of LeBron coming back to Cleveland solely for redemption and to repair his image from when he left Cleveland in the first place back in 2010 is way too overblown because although LBJ is certainly returning to bring a title back to Cleveland, which he couldn't do the first time around, his decision to come back to the Cavs comes more down to his desire to return home to everything he knows than to be looked at in the right manner by everybody in the public and get some complete absolution from the media. I'm sure, however, that it also plays into his thinking that he would like to satisfy everybody back in his hometown if he can. Obviously, with his return to the Cavs, LeBron had to get over Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's now infamous Comic Sans letter to the team's fan base after the king left for Miami in 2010, where he mocked LeBron for his "cowardly betrayal" of the team, called his program a "narcissistic, self-promotional buildup," and said in all caps, "I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE." The extent to which LeBron has sincerely forgiven Gilbert will always be unknown as well what happened in the meeting between LeBron and his inner circle and Gilbert, but it is clear that LBJ has at the bare minimum moved past all of the venomous hatred he received from Cleveland and Gilbert and was still willing to come back home.
At the point guard position for the Cavs, Kyrie Irving, who the club took with the number 1 overall selection in the 2011 NBA draft after they acquired the pick from an earlier trade with the Clippers in the Mo Williams deal, is shaping up to be one of the best back-court players in the entire NBA. The 22-year old point guard has some of the best shake-and-bake moves with the ball in the entire league and can break down a defense because of his ball-handling ability on the perimeter. His quickness on the bounce and his ability to change directions with his exceedingly good ball-handling allows him to constantly attack the rim because it is so difficult to stay in front of him on the outside. Kyrie's handles are really as good as anybody you will ever see, and he can dribble and finish in the lane with both hands, which is actually rare to see in the NBA nowadays. Since Irving is so good at changing his pace on the floor and setting up guys for his crossovers from left to right or from right to left, it allows him to get into the lane with ease and get to the rim. Last season, Kyrie was 7th amongst point guards in free throws made per game at 4.1 because of his ability to penetrate into the key and get fouled when attacking the bucket. In fact, only 26.7 percent of Kyrie's 2-point field goals were assisted by another Cavs player on the court last season, once again demonstrating his capacity to create his own shot off the dribble with his great handles (last season 28.1 percent of Kyle Lowry's 2-point field goals and 29.0 percent of Deron Williams's 2-point field goals were assisted). Kyrie is also an above average catch and shoot three point guy, which is so valuable to have on a team with LeBron James because of his Magic Johnson-like vision to find open teammates all over the floor when he attracts multiple defenders, especially when he gets the ball down in the post and commands double teams because of his physicality. Irving was tied for 9th amongst point guards in three point field goals made per game at 1.7 last season and can put on a three point barrage when he has enough time to set his feet and fire away at the basket. Although Kyrie was forced to take way more contested jumpers last season because the Cavs did not have a lot of offensive help around him, he did shoot 39.9 percent from three in his rookie season and 39.1 percent from behind the arc in his second year before dropping a bit this past season when his three points attempts went from 183 and 279 in his first two years to 344 in 2013-2014.
A Kyrie Irving Crossover Compilation Video
For as good as Kyrie is with the ball in his hands and breaking down defenses with his unreal handles in one-on-one situations on the perimeter, the jury is still out on the very talented, young point guard out of Duke. Kyrie is a score first and pass second point guard and is not the best distributor of the ball to set up an offense and get other players involved, which is why he and Dion Waiters never seemed to work last season because the ball movement in the team just wasn't there. On a club with LeBron James, Kyrie is going to have to play off the ball much more than ever before because LBJ is clearly going to be the focal point of the Cavaliers offense under new head coach David Blatt. So often in Miami we saw James bringing up the ball in the Heat offense and setting up other guys with his passing ability and size to see the entire court. While LeBron will surely feel some relief in coming to Cleveland and having help from a point guard that can also penetrate and knife through a defense unlike Mario Chalmers, he still likes to have the ball in his hands as much as possible so that he can create for others as much as for himself. Irving will have to get used to playing off the ball a little more than he has done the past three seasons in Cleveland and pass up some jump shots from behind the arc when guys are in his face in order to help the Cavs be more efficient on offense. Kyrie will also have to show that he can run a team and look to get others involved as much as himself when he beats a guy off the dribble or comes off a screen from a big man. Aside from the ever looming presence of injuries, which has haunted Kyrie in college and in the pros, he will also have to be more committed on the defensive end of the floor to locking down the opponents point guards. Although the Eastern Conference is not littered with great guard play as Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, and Isiash Thomas are all out in the west, Kyrie's defensive wins shares was just 2.1 last season (in comparison, fellow point guard George Hill had a 4.0 defensive win shares in Indiana). Kyrie is more than talented enough to be a great 1-2 punch with LeBron in Cleveland, but he has never been on a winning team before and will have to more the ball a little more often and not settle for threes in order to push the Cavs to a title winning level. The potential, though, is there for Kyrie to become one of the next huge stars in the NBA, which is something that LeBron had to see in his move back to the Cavs.
The really exciting youth doesn't end with Kyrie though in Cleveland, as no other team in the NBA has as much young talent as the Cavs because of just how fortunate the team has been in the lottery since LeBron bolted for Miami four years ago. At the two guard position, Cleveland has a very dangerous scoring threat and three point shooter with former Syracuse star Dion Waiters. Waiters, who the Cavs took with the number 4 overall pick in the 2012 Draft, is a guy that is always looking for his shot because of his really good shooting ability from anywhere in the half-court, especially from the corner, as he made 37.3 percent of his three point attempts from the left and right corners of the court this past season. Waiters is always looking for his shot when he comes off screens or gets a pass on the wing and as important as it is on a NBA team to have a good ball distributor, a guy who sets hard screens, a good rebounder, and a fierce rim protector, every club also needs a guy that can flat out score and get a bucket on his own when he wants with his ability to separate from the defense, which is what Waiters can do at the shooting guard position. DeMar DeRozan was the only two guard in the Eastern Conference to average more points per 48 minutes than Waiters last season since Waiters did average nearly 16 points per contest in roughly 30 minutes per game under Mike Brown in 2013-2014. Obviously, with a guy like Waiters that is constantly looking to shoot from the perimeter, he can sometimes force up threes and not be patient enough to swing the ball around and get a better opportunity for a teammate on the other side of the floor. Waiters is a volume shooter and is a guy that needs to cut down on how many contested jumpers he does put up from outside, but his scoring ability can not be denied at the shooting guard spot for Cleveland. I like Waiters coming off the bench for the Cavs because he can provide instant offense with his scoring ability with the second unit and not take some of the stars for Cleveland out of the game when he gets a little too shot happy with his jumper.
Dion Waiter's Highlights From This Past Season
The Cavs are also fortunate enough to have two really promising young players at the power forward position with 23-year old Tristan Thompson and 21-year old Anthony Bennett even though there are trade rumors around Bennett at the moment. Thompson, who the Cavs took with the number 4 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has a really good feel in and around the basket and can finish with both hands on offensive put-back attempts and layups. As crazy as this sounds, Tristan actually changed his shooting hand from lefty to righty during the off-season in 2013 and his free-throw percentage went up from 60.8 to 69.3, his true shooting percentage went from 51.6 to 52.8, and he hit 37.1 percent of 2-point field goals from outside 16 feet as compared to the 27.3 percent he made when he was shooting lefty from that same distance back in 2012-2013. Thompson's offensive game has not evolved nearly as quickly as most people expected it would when he came out of Texas as a one-and-done freshman because of some of the struggles he has had with his jump shot from outside and his hesitation around the basket to go up strong when he is in traffic with his sub-par finishing ability. Thompson could surely get a little bit stronger so that he could be a little better finisher when opposing defenders are draped all over him down low, as he shot 43.5 percent on field goals inside of 3 feet and just 37.8 percent on field goals from 3 to 10 feet last season with the Cavs. Thompson is still a very intriguing player because of his athletic ability since he does have very good vertical jumps for a power forward and is very long with his more than 7-foot wingspan and 9-foot standing reach and is another young guy that LeBron must have seen as a encouraging player to run with in Cleveland. Meanwhile, Anthony Bennett, who the Cavaliers took with the number 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, had a very poor first season in Cleveland, averaging just 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds all year long and having just 6 double-figure scoring games the entire season. However, Bennett looked much better in Summer League with his outside shooting and had lost some weight from the year before - granted it is Summer League, a league the Kings actually won - and is a very good asset to have as trade bait since he he did only play one year in college and is still developing his overall game on both ends of the floor, which gives the Cavs even more leverage to put the pieces around LeBron that he wants.
As much as the idea of playing with so many young and athletic players must have enticed LeBron to consider going back home to Cleveland, the Cavs already had some veteran pieces in place on their roster and have since brought in some more older role players to help out LeBron since he committed to the team. Chief amongst those Cavs veterans is the poor man's Joakim Noah with Brazilian center Anderson Varejao (for LeBron's sake, hopefully he is better than his compatriots this season because I'm sure he doesn't want to see another 7-1 type performance). Varejao, who played with LeBron from 2004 until LBJ left in 2010, is the kind of hard-working, defensive minded played that every team needs in order to function at its highest possible potential. Varejao does not look for his own offense unless it comes to him around the rim on dish offs from driving guards or forwards, but he is so valuable to a team because of his rebounding and defensive toughness. Over the last four years, Anderson's rebounding totals per game has been 9.7, 11.5, 14.4, and 9.7 again last year, as he is a guy that will scratch-and-crawl and dive on the floor for every rebound on both ends of the floor. Although Varejao is not a shot blocking presence in front of the rim because he is only 6-10 and has limited jumping ability, his defensive rotation is really good because of his lateral quickness and intelligence on the court and he isn't afraid to throw a few flops in there to get some class from the refs. Varejao is a hustle player, particularly on defense, and is a guy that somebody like LeBron loves to play with because of his willingness to work so hard. The other veterans that the Cavs have brought in since LeBron signed with the team are all LBJ favorites, which is a smart move by the front office because you always want to satisfy your best player and put guys around him he likes to play with and knows are a good fit for the team. Despite getting better offers from the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets, Mike Miller turned down the money in order to team up with LeBron in Cleveland, who he played with for three years in Miami before getting amnestied in 2013, a move LeBron did not like because the Heat only did it to reduce their luxury tax bill. Miller, who has dealt with some back injuries over the years, was vital to the Heat's victory over the Thunder in the NBA Finals in 2012 when he hit 7 threes in game 5. He is a guy that can stretch the floor and knock down the three ball on catch-and-shoot opportunities when LeBron attacks the lane and draws defenders to him. The Cavs also brought in three point specialist James Jones, who is such a LeBron James favorite that he questioned Erik Spoelstra about not playing him more last season. Jones is another guy that can help Cleveland because it is of the utmost important to have guys around LeBron that can shot the basketball and space the floor so that defenders can not completely forget about their man and help on LeBron.
Andrew Wiggins stumbled right into the laps of the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the Cavs acquired their 3rd number one overall pick in the last 4 NBA drafts when they won the lottery with just a .017 chance of getting the top selection (the Pistons lost four more games than the Cavaliers in 2013-2014 and got the 9th pick in the draft, which they then had to trade to the Hornets because it fell outside of the top 8, while the Cavs got the number one overall pick in the best draft class since 2003. Since 2000, no team other than Cleveland has had multiple number one overall picks while the Cavs have amazingly had four such selections over that stretch). Now, we get to the biggest question in the NBA right now: do you give up 2014 number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins in a trade to land Minnesota Timberwolves big man Kevin Love (the deal would also include Anthony Bennett and a future first round pick going to Minnesota and possibly some of the T-Wolves bad contracts like Kevin Martin - 3-years, 21.255 million dollars left on his deal - and J.J. Barea - 1 year, 4.520 million owed to him this season - going to the Cavs or a third team that would get into the trade like the 76ers, Celtics, or Nuggets). This is a decision that can make or break the future of a team, and ultimately if I were in the Cavs position, as tough as it is to give up a player with Wiggins's future potential, and I would wait a little bit before during anything, I would eventually take the all-star forward in Kevin Love and pair him with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland.
Wiggins was the most hyped player coming out of high school since LeBron himself and there is no doubt in my mind that he can come into the NBA right away and shine on the defensive end of the floor with his freakish athletic capabilities and anticipation skills, which will enable him to guard the various players he will see on the wing in the league like James Harden, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, Monta Ellis, Bradley Beal, Carmelo Anthony, and Rudy Gay. Wiggins is a good 6 foot 8 inches tall and combines his ability to jump out of the building to disrupt jump shots with his lateral quickness to stay in front of driving offensive players to be a menace on defense. Since he is so long and athletically gifted, Wiggins should be able to become one of the top perimeter defenders in the association along with guys like Paul George, Andre Iguodala, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, and Tony Allen. LeBron, who is a 5-time all-defensive first team member, has been one of the best defenders in the NBA for a long time, but to have a guy like Wiggins, who can guard any opposing teams best scorer, is so valuable because it allows LeBron to not have to kill himself on both ends of the floor each and every game as he enters the second stage of his career going into his 30's. Wiggins could do a lot of the heavy lifting on defense and allow LeBron to have more of a free, roaming role to step into passing lanes and switch off screens to trap ball handles to try and start the fast-break.
On the offensive end of the floor, Wiggins has a lot of potential and room for development, but he never really showed the signs at Kansas of being a guy that can take over a game with his ability to score the basketball or set up the players around him with his dribble penetration (we heard a lot of the same things said about former Kansas two-guard Ben McLemore although Wiggins possesses all the physical tools in the world to grow into a more established scorer). Only in a few games towards the end of the season when Joel Embiid went out for the Jayhawks did Wiggins truly step up and dominate a game like when he scored 41 against West Virginia and got to the free throw line 19 times or when he put up 30 against Oklahoma St. in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. Wiggins is a right hand ball dominate dribbler, so consequently, his handles are not good enough to always create separation from defenders and his jumper was inconsistent at Kansas, as he shot just 34.1 percent from three all season long and only had two games with more than three, three point field goals made. Wiggins is more of a slasher than anything else at this point, which is why Jabari Parker, the number 2 overall pick in the draft, is much more of a finished product offensively coming into his rookie year in the NBA. Although Wiggins is not as refined on the offensive end as some other rookies in the past, he is just 19-years old and it is so hard to give up on a guy with so much potential and room for growth in his game, especially in learning from a guy like LBJ.
Andrew Wiggins Highlights From His 2013-2014 Season With Kansas
However, to have the opportunity to team up a top 10 NBA player like Kevin Love with LeBron, Kyrie, and the rest of the young crew in Cleveland, I would give up Wiggins, even despite all of his future potential, to get the big man from Minnesota and put the Cavs right at the top of the NBA. Blake Griffin and Anthony Davis are the only power forwards or centers in the league I would take over Kevin Love for the upcoming season with Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol, and LaMarcus Aldridge just behind the forward from the T-Wolves. Although it is sometimes worrying that Love seems to care a little bit too much about his statistics and has thrived in Minny as the lone focal point of the offense, Love is one of the best scorers in the game period. Love was 4th in the NBA in scoring in 2011-2012 with 26.0 points per contest, 4th in the league once again last year, averaging 26.1 points per game for the Timberwolves, and his 8.4 field goals made per game were the 7th most in the league this past season. Love is one of the best in the NBA at keeping the ball high above his shoulders off passes from driving guards and forwards and also offensive rebounds so that smaller defenders cannot swat the ball away from him and so that his shot does not get blocked, especially since he is only 6-10 and does not have an exceptionable leaping ability. Kevin is really good at absorbing contact with pump fakes and power moves in the post, as his 6.8 free throws made per game were only behind Kevin Durant and James Harden in the league in 2013-2014. However, the biggest reason why Love and LeBron would be so dangerous together is because of Love's deadly shooting ability from anywhere on the floor. K-Love made 190 three-pointers last season (2.5 per game), tied for 8th most in the NBA, and Channing Frye was the only other power forward or center to make at least 140 threes in the league. As has been previously discussed in this post, having shooters around LeBron is so vital to the success of a LBJ team because guys who can space the floor open up lanes for the king, especially stretch power forwards that don't sit and clog the paint area with their defenders there for help coverage. Furthermore, shooters like Love allow LeBron to kick the ball out for three point opportunities and chances to reverse the ball around the floor and make the defense move and rotate. Love has a really quick release on his jumper and anybody that plays with LeBron gets open jump shots, but Love would get more than most because power forwards would have so much trouble trying to help on LeBron and also getting out on Love to contest his shot, which he loves to hit from the top of the key.
Kevin Love Offensive Highlights From The 2013-2014 Season With The Timberwolves
Aside from the basketball reasons for LeBron returning to Cleveland because of all of their young players that are full of potential and their multitude of trade assets to get another star - whether they pull the trigger on the Kevin Love deal or not - the most obvious rationale for LBJ picking the Cavs is clearly his desire to return home. LeBron has always called Northeast Ohio home and each off-season he returns to his mansion in Akron, where he grew up and went to high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary, to train and get ready for the new season, so he has never really left Cleveland even if the fans dissociated themselves with him in a very public manner after "The Decision" in 2010. In fact, LBJ has always hinted at wanting to finish his career where everything started for him in Cleveland, and while it is a little surprising he returned so early at just the age of 29 when he is still in his prime, most people knew the day would always come when he would want to return home, and it makes even more sense now that the Cavs have such an up-and-coming roster with all of their youthful talent. The idea of LeBron coming back to Cleveland solely for redemption and to repair his image from when he left Cleveland in the first place back in 2010 is way too overblown because although LBJ is certainly returning to bring a title back to Cleveland, which he couldn't do the first time around, his decision to come back to the Cavs comes more down to his desire to return home to everything he knows than to be looked at in the right manner by everybody in the public and get some complete absolution from the media. I'm sure, however, that it also plays into his thinking that he would like to satisfy everybody back in his hometown if he can. Obviously, with his return to the Cavs, LeBron had to get over Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's now infamous Comic Sans letter to the team's fan base after the king left for Miami in 2010, where he mocked LeBron for his "cowardly betrayal" of the team, called his program a "narcissistic, self-promotional buildup," and said in all caps, "I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE." The extent to which LeBron has sincerely forgiven Gilbert will always be unknown as well what happened in the meeting between LeBron and his inner circle and Gilbert, but it is clear that LBJ has at the bare minimum moved past all of the venomous hatred he received from Cleveland and Gilbert and was still willing to come back home.
A Segment Of Dan Gilbert's Open Letter To Cavs Fans After LeBron's Departure in 2010
No matter what LeBron's true intention is for returning home, the bottom line is that he is coming back to Cleveland and it is a historic move. This is the second time LeBron has switched teams in his career, putting him in a select group of players to win a MVP with a team and then leave that same club in their 20's featuring Wilt Chamberlain, who won a MVP with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1960 when he set a NBA record with 27.2 rebounds per game and then got traded to the 76ers in 1965 due to financial problems, Bob McAdoo, who received a MVP with the old Boston Braves in 1975 when he averaged 34.5 points per game and then went to the New York Knicks in 1976, Bill Walton, who won a MVP with the Trail Blazers in 1978 in the year he first began to suffer serious foot injuries and then ditched them for his hometown San Diego Clippers in 1979, Kareem Abudl-Jabbar, who won three MVPs with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, 1972, and 1974 and then went to the Lakers in 1975, and finally Moses Malone, who got two MVPs with the Houston Rockets in 1979 and another in 1982 when he averaged 31.1 points and 14.7 rebounds per game and then left them for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1982. Of those players, Wilt would go on to win three straight MVPs with the Philadelphia 76ers from the 1965-1966 season to the 1967-1968 NBA year, Kareem would win three more with the Lakers including back-to-back trophies in 1975-1976 and 1976-1977 with the other MVP coming during LA's championship season in 1979-1980, and Moses would win one with the 76ers in his first year there in 1982-1983 in the "Fo, Fo, Fo" title winning year in Philadelphia.
The rightful king is returning to his throne, and that king is not Stannis Baratheon but LeBron James (you could argue that Daenerys Targaryen has the real right to the throne, but that is for another time for my fellow Game of Thrones fans). I know LeBron always wanted to return home to Cleveland and finish up his career in his hometown, but to think that LBJ is coming back to the Cavs in the middle of his prime is a little bit surprising, especially after the Heat made the NBA Finals in all four of the years he was there and won two NBA titles along the way (they joined the 1957-1966 Boston Celtics, 1984-1987 Boston Celtics, and 1982-1985 Los Angeles Lakers as the only four teams to make at least four straight NBA Finals). The sheer magnitude of LeBron's decision can not really be underestimated because it is so rare in sports for the best player in the world to switch teams at the peak of his playing powers. It has happened before in the past like when Wayne Gretzky got traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, when Patrick Roy was dealt to the Colorado Avalanche from the Montreal Canadians, when Eric Dickerson went to the Indianapolis Colts from the St. Louis Rams, when Reggie White left the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency for the Green Bay Packers, or when Greg Maddux ditched the Chicago Cubs for the Atlanta Braves, and each time it happened, it sent shock waves through the entire sporting world. However, even more so than hockey, baseball, and football, basketball is a sport where one player can change the entire landscape of the league and can determine which team will win it all each and every year because the team with the best player usually wins the series in the playoffs, and that statement is accentuated when that player will likely be in the conversation with Michael Jordan for the best basketball player of all-time when it is all said and done. LeBron's desire to return home and play for Cavs is one of the most important decisions in recent sports history and its level of importance can not be slighted because it will change how we look at everything in the association for the next decade.
With LeBron's move to the Cavs and all of the subsequent dominions that resulted because of his return to Cleveland, the Eastern Conference may not be nearly as strong as the Western Conference once again next year, but it should be just as interesting. The Cavs figure to be a top 2 seed in the East with the addition of LeBron and the young nucleus around him in Cleveland. With the Bulls signing power forwards Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic, who they got in a draft day trade in 2011, to three year contracts and drafting sharpshooting Doug McDermott out of Creighton, they should have much more offense and floor spacing to go along with their always tenacious defense under Tom Thibodeau. Gasol is a really good passing big and should be a better fit in Chicago's offense with his ability to play from either the elbow or in the post than when he was misused by Mike D'Antoni in LA. The Bulls probably have the deepest team in the NBA with Kirk Hinrich, the improving Tony Snell, Doug McDermott, Taj Gibson, and Mirotic likely all coming off their bench, but the x-factor for the club if they want to get to a championship level is obviously Derrick Rose. Since Rose won the MVP in 2010-2011, he has played in just 50 of the Bulls' 253 games over the past three years and he has basically missed the entirety of the last two seasons with a torn ACL in his left knee in 2012 and then a torn meniscus in his other knee in 2013. Even if Rose still has trouble getting back the explosiveness that made him such a threat when attacking the rim in his MVP year, Chicago is deep enough where they should be a top three seed in the East no matter what happens with D-Rose. The Pacers, who got the one seed in the conference last year with a 56-26 record, are the real question mark because they finished the season in totally disarray and were a mediocre 17-15 in their final 32 games of the regular season. Indiana lost Lance Stephenson to the Charlotte Hornets (goodbye Bobcats) and as annoying and maddening as Lance can be on and off the court, he was such an important creator for Indiana in setting up their sometimes lackluster offense. Paul George needs to assert himself more on the offensive end of the floor and hopefully Roy Hibbert doesn't turn into Benoit Benjamin, but the Pacers are too good on defense to miss out on the postseason and should finish in the top five of the Eastern Conference even with a small decline from last season.
The Washington Wizards won a playoff series for just second time in the last thirty two season in their 5 game romp of the Chicago Bulls last year and look to be one of the few teams in the Eastern Conference, along with the Cavs, on the rise. The Wizards overpaid to re-sign Marcin Gortat to a five-year, 60 million dollar contract this off-season as you have to do with all decent big men in the NBA nowadays (see Roy Hibbert, Tyson Chandler, David Lee, JaVale McGee, Andrea Bargnani, or Tiago Splitter), which will likely hurt them in the long term but was a key move in the interim to give them rim protection and a good rebounding big down low to balance out with Nene at the forward and center positions. With a good back-court pairing of the speedy, rim attacking John Wall and the really good shooting Bradley Beal, and the experience and leadership of Paul Pierce to add to the mix, the Wizards should finish somewhere in the top 6 in the East. Meanwhile, when LeBron James left the Cavaliers, fans in the city were devastated by the news and felt betrayed by their ideal that they burned his jersey in the streets and gave him the most hostile return to an arena you will ever see in sports, especially since the team was completely destroyed after his departure in 2010. As upset and bitterly disappointing as they were in Miami when they learned that LeBron was returning to Cleveland, things are different in South Beach because not only are the fans are little bit more fair-weather down in Miami, but they were able to regroup right away unlike the Cavs. Obviously, the Heat will not be near championship caliber next season because losing LeBron is an impossible task to recover from the next season. However, they are bringing back Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, Birdman, and will be adding the stretch four ability of Josh McRoberts and the always underrated Luol Deng, who can defend any wing player in the NBA with his length. Heat fans are clearly very discouraged and distressed over the loss of an all-time great like LeBron, but they still have a playoff team in store for next season.
The 76ers are still in deep rebuilding/tanking mode and general manager Sam Hinkie is planning for future years to come with his acquisition of second round draft picks in 2017 and his drafting of Joel Embiid, who may miss the whole year with a foot problem and be the second straight first round pick of the 76ers to miss their entire rookie season with an injury. Jason Kidd left the Brooklyn Nets for the Milwaukee Bucks, as unethical as it was for him to displace Larry Drew while he still held the head coaching position in Milwaukee, because of a power struggle with Nets general manager Billy King and was upset with not having a bigger say in player personnel in Brooklyn, but the only thing he will be upset with in Milwaukee is their rather sub-par team on the floor. The Bucks do have some promise and potential in the future with the Greek Freak Giannis Antetokoumpo, a NBA ready scorer in Jabari Parker, and a very solid rim protector in Larry Sanders, but they are more than a couple years away from contending in even a weak Eastern Conference. Another team that is steadily improving but still a few seasons away from getting into the playoff mix is the Orlando Magic. They did sign Channing Frye to space the floor with his three point shooting ability, which should fit very nicely with the rebounding dominance of Nikola Vucevic, and Tobias Harris, Maurice Harkless, and Aaron Gordon are all guys that have exciting futures with the Magic because of their athleticism and versatility. Nonetheless, the Magic have some real questions in the back-court in setting up the offense and being able to knock down the three ball, as they were 22nd in the league in assists per game and 21st in three pointers made per game last season. After waiving Jameer Nelson and trading for Elfrid Payton on draft night, Orlando is giving the keys to their team to a point guard out of Louisiana-Lafayette and it doesn't help that he is paired with Victor Oladipo, an elite defender but another guy that struggles to shoot from the perimeter. The Celtics finished 25-57 last season in their 3rd worst full campaign in the last 64 years as a franchise and as much as I like Brad Stevens, they are in for another tough year in Boston. The C's seemed to have drafted well because Marcus Smart is a bulldog and a fierce competitor and James Young is a very good slasher that can really stroke it from behind the arc. However, they still have Gerald Wallace and his terrible contract, a front line that is one of the weaker ones in the NBA with Brandon Bass and Tyler Zeller, and who knows how motivated Rajon Rondo will be to play for a poor team. To make matters worse, the trade market for Rondo seems to have softened up over the past year and their desire to get Kevin Love in a trade seems like a fleeting hope at this point with Cleveland closing in on the forward. Finally, the Pistons are a really intriguing team because Andre Drummond is a monster down low and one of the rising stars in the league, but playing Josh Smith at the three doesn't work at all and needs to stop immediately. Detroit should miss out on the postseason for a 6th consecutive season and make Stan Van Gundy growl with anger.
The Cavaliers, Bulls, Pacers, Wizards, and Heat all seem to be locks to make the postseason out of the Eastern Conference while the 76ers, Bucks, Magic, Celtics, and Pistons are all teams that should be outside of playoff contention for another year. If all goes according to plan and there are no real surprises or big disappointments, that leaves the Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, and Atlanta Hawks fighting for the final three playoff spots in the East. The Raptors had a very nice season last year in winning the Atlantic Division and getting the 3 seed in the conference after missing out on the playoffs for 5 straight seasons and never having a season with as many wins as they did in 2013-2014 in franchise history. Plus, in the Raptors seven game series against the Nets, Drake was shown on TV and discussed more than the game itself and Toronto has the legend that is Rob Ford if Drake isn't good enough for fans. After losing so many free agents in the past to bigger markets like Chris Bosh in 2010, the Raptors were able to retain Kyle Lowry in signing him to a four-year, 48 million dollar contract, a great deal considering that I would only take Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Damian Lillard, and possibly Kyrie Irving and John Wall over him at the point guard position. DeMar DeRozan is the big scoring threat that the Raptors have on the wing and they are good enough in their interior defense to make the playoffs for a second straight year. The biggest question mark in the Eastern Conference, outside of the Indiana Pacers, is the Brooklyn Nets because of all the older players that they have in their squad and all the injuries that their starting lineup is trying to overcome for the upcoming season. Deron Williams got surgery earlier this off-season on both of his ankles and has looked nothing like the player the Nets signed to a five-year, 98.7 million dollar contract in 2012 when they thought he would be their franchise player that they could build around in the future. Brook Lopez has missed almost the entirety of two of the last three seasons with a broken right foot and right ankle injury in 2011-2012 and another broken right foot in 2013-2014 and is a walking injury ready to happen. So much for the Nets depends upon how Deron and Brook recover from their injuries, but they do have the players around them with the mid-range game of Joe Johnson, the shooting of Mirza Teletovic and Alan Anderson, the defense of Andrei Kirilenko, and rim protecting ability of Kevin Garnett and Mason Plumlee to make the postseason for the third straight season with their massive payroll. The last team I see sneaking into the playoffs as one of the bottom three Eastern Conference teams is the newly named Charlotte Hornets. Bringing in Lance Stephenson on a three-year, 27 million dollar contract should provide a lot of energy for a Hornets team that already has some quickness in the back-court with Kemba Walker and some legitimate scoring in the front-court with big Al Jefferson. The only question for the Hornets is playing Lance and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist together, who both struggle to shoot the ball at times, but they do have Gary Neal and Gerald Henderson to help in that respect off the bench. Sorry Knicks and Hawks fans, but it could be another long season for them if the Raptors, Nets, and Hornets beat them out for the last three spots in the East.
LeBron's return to the Cavs could not mean much more to Northeast Ohio, as Cleveland sports fans have not exactly had a lot to cheer about over the past 50 years, as being a supporter of teams from "The Forest City" has been about as miserable as Chris O'Donnell's career following his role as robin in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin. The Browns have not won a title for the city of Cleveland since they beat the Baltimore Colts 27-0 in the 1964 NFL Championship Game - two years before they even started playing the Super Bowl - behind the offense of Frank Ryan, Jim Brown, and Paul Warfield. In fact, since the modern era began following the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Browns have never been to a Super Bowl, they have only had 14 winning seasons in 44 years, they have been to playoffs just once since 1995 and have a horrendous record of 82-174 over that span, and they were not even apart of the league for three seasons from 1996 to 1998 because Art Modell was so sick of Cleveland that he moved the team to Baltimore and left the city in the dust like Bob Irsay did with the Baltimore Colts back in 1984. They have also had to deal with 4 incompetent coaches in the last 9 years (Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Surmur, and Rob Chudzinski), and on the day after they drafted Johnny Manziel and there was finally some hype and excitement back in Cleveland football, the sports world learned that Josh Gordan, who led the league in receiving yards in 2013 despite playing only 14 games, could be suspended for the entire season because of failing his second drug test.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series in 65 years ago, since all the way back in 1948, when they had Hall of Famers Joe Gordon, Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Bob Lemon, and Bob Feller and beat the old Boston Braves in 6 games (a World Series so long ago that the Boston Braves would still have to move to Milwaukee before they would arrive in their current home of Atlanta). Remarkably, the Indians somehow went from 1955 until 1994 without playing postseason baseball or winning a major league pennant, which did not help them get any closer to ending their current World Series drought (the second longest in baseball behind, of course, the Cubs). Nowadays, the Indians regularly boast one of the worst attendance in all of baseball at Progressive Field and have been one of the most mediocre team in the majors for decades.
Finally, the Cleveland Cavaliers have not won a NBA Championship since they began playing as an expansion team in 1970, and their 44 year title winning drought only trails the Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, and the Sacramento Kings for the longest in the association. The most famous player in Cavs history, aside from LeBron James, is likely Brad Daughtery or Mark Price and while Daughtery was a good scorer and Price was one of the best point guards in the late 1980's and 1990's in a time with great lead guards like Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Mark Jackson, Tim Hardaway, Penny Haraway, and Kevin Johnson, they are not typically what you think of as franchise greats. The Cavs have also had some of the single worst seasons in NBA history including when they went 15-67 in 1970-1971 and 1981-1982, 17-65 in 2002-2003, and 19-63 just back in 2010-2011 in the first year after LeBron James left.
Cleveland has not seen a sports championship in almost half a century - Cleveland really hasn't seen much of anything in 50 years if we are going to be honest - but plenty of cities across the country have been deprived of pro sports titles for years (Milwaukee's title drought has gone on since they won the NBA title in 1971 with Oscar and Lew Alcindor and San Diego has not seen a championship since the Chargers won the AFL in 1963 behind Paul Lowe and Lance Alworth). However, no city has seen heartbreak, disappointment, and near misses in excruciating games quite like Cleveland since the great city of Gotham.
God Has Hated Cleveland In The Past... Until Now
I don't really believe in curses or sports curses in particular, which is saying something since I am a Red Sox fan and had to hear about the Curse of the Bambino every day until the 2004 World Series, but with that being said, I wholeheartedly believe that the Cleveland Browns are cursed (their owner's company just had to pay a 92 million dollar fine as if things couldn't get worse). In the 1981 AFC Divisional Playoffs, the Browns were trailing the Raiders by 2 points and were on Oakland's 13 yard line when Brian Sipe threw an interception while looking for Ozzie Newsome in the end zone on "red right 88" to cost the Browns a shot at the Chargers in the conference title game. How bout when the Browns were up on the Broncos 20-13 with 5:32 left to play in the 1987 AFC Championship Game and Elway led "the drive," a 15-play, 98 yard drive for a touchdown to put a dagger through all of Cleveland with the game-tying score and then twist that dagger with an eventual overtime victory in that game. Then there was "the fumble." Down by 7 points and two yards away from scoring the game-tying touchdown in the 1988 AFC Championship Game, Earnest Byner fumbled on a strip from Jeremiah Castille and the Browns saw their history of brutal suffering continue, as the Broncos advanced to the Super Bowl once again at their expense.
The Indians had some very good teams in the mid to late 1990's with guys like Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Eddie Murray, and Kenny Lofton at the plate and Charles Nagy, Orel Hershiser, and Jose Mesa on the mound, but they somehow did not win a title with that talented core despite getting to the World Series in 1995 and being a Jose Mesa save in the 9th away from winning game 7 of the series in 1997 over the Marlins. In 2007 when the Indians had Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Cliff Lee, and CC Sabathia and were up 3-1 on the Red Sox in the ALCS, they did the most Indians thing possible and lost the series in 7 games (just the 7th team to blow a 3-1 series lead in the ALCS or NLCS along with the 1985 Blue Jays, 1986 Angels, 1996 Cardinals, 2003 Cubs, 2004 Yankees, and 2007 Indians). Even Willie Mays's "the catch" in the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds was against none other than the Cleveland Indians, a series the Giants would sweep for the title (one of just four World Series sweeps from that date until 1988 along with the Dodgers beating the Yankees in 1963, the Orioles defeating the Dodgers in 1966, and the Reds over the Yankees in 1976).
Finally, the Cavs were the victims of one of the most memorable moments in NBA history on behalf of Michael Jordan, a play that is literally shown in every montage of the league and epitomizes both Jordan's greatness under pressure and Cleveland's constant inability to finish anything. In the first round of the playoffs in 1989, Jordan hit "the shot" over Craig Ehlo to send the Bulls to the next round at the expense of the Cavaliers in the decisive eastern conference game 5. It is pretty fitting how a city with a sports curse like Cleveland was the receipt of one of the most heartbreaking buzzer-beaters of all-time and a play in which the whole city fell to their knees, just like Craig Ehlo. MJ's shot is always called "Jordan over Ehlo," but it was really "Jordan rising up and putting down the entire city of Cleveland in one fell swoop." As if things weren't bad enough for Cavs fans, Jordan would then go on to knock out the Cavs in three straight postseasons from 1992 to 1994, thanking the people of Cleveland for helping him create the first chapter on his ride to greatness.
If LeBron is able to bring a championship back to the city of Cleveland for the first time since 1964, he may actually be anointed the King of the entire state and be the most popular man in a single city since Elvis graced the streets of Nashville. As dismayed as Heat fans must be to have lost LeBron to the Cavs, his return back home was always the best story and possible outcome to his free agency and we are now all just witnesses to his journey ahead in Cleveland.
