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2014-15 NBA preview: Cleveland Cavaliers

By James Makula

Sep 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) does an interview with Sir CC and Moondog during media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) does an interview with Sir CC and Moondog during media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Any team with the world’s best player is automatically placed in the championship or bust group. The Cavaliers are clearly the favorites in the East and maybe even to win it all. Kyrie Irving hasn’t shown a lot of improvement over his first few years, especially on defense, but with Kevin Love and LeBron James joining the squad, just becoming the 2nd or 3rd option instead of the 1st will allow Kyrie to emphasize skills and parts of the game that he wasn’t previously able to emphasize.

It will be interesting seeing if David Blatt (great overseas coach) does anything interesting or creative in his first season in Cleveland. There shouldn’t be too many big lineup decisions for Blatt to make, but there are always creative lineups to be found. The Cavs could have some small lineups that are impossible to defend. Blatt could bring Waiters off of the bench in a 6th man role, which I personally think is a good fit for Waiters. It will allow him to create with the ball in his hands more often.

The Cavs could face a few problems this season, such as Varejao’s health, but I’m in hopes that Blatt goes the Popovich route and doesn’t pound his players into the ground from playing so many minutes (Thibodeau style). If he does go the Popovich route, it may cause the Cavs to drop a few extra games, but having healthy vets (Marion, Miller, etc.) available for the playoffs far outweighs those few extra losses that may occur.

Best case: 64-18

People quit talking about Kevin Love not being able to carry a terrible team to the playoffs in the toughest conference (this will probably happen in the worst case, too, but a lack of stupidity flowing out of the mouths of talk radio’s “finest” will be lessened, and that’s a victory for everybody).

Yes, this would be the same record as the Bulls if their “best case” takes place. Both of these teams could be juggernauts. The Cavs prove that they were rightly crowned Easter Conference favorites during the preseason, and they blow through the competition and take out the Western Conference survivor. The city of Cleveland finally gets to hoist a championship trophy into the air after waiting for so long.

Worst case: 52-30

Even as a worst case, 52 wins seems unlikely with the talent on this team, but with a coach who changed leagues and a crop of veteran players, some who have had injury issues, there could be some rough stretches during the 14-15 season.

The Cavs two stars changing cities to join another star have issues figuring out how to play together (sound familiar), and the lack of that NBA experience in Blatt will leave the Cavs struggling early in the season. Even with LeBron’s leadership and experience, he isn’t able to prevent some of his teammates from feeling a bit cavalier. The Cavs aren’t able to jell as a team, and the fall in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Bulls.

Prediction: 57-25

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