Close your eyes and imagine another time and place. Cleveland: early last December, stuck in the lull between the Indians almost-was in the American League playoffs, to the impending disaster for the Buckeyes in their second straight national championship game, one story could prevail above the rest.
King James is in street clothes, watching his teammates stumble to a fifth straight loss, dropping the defending Eastern Conference champions to a dismal 9-12 through the first quarter of the season.
As in most cases, the stories began to surface on whats wrong with Cleveland. This is a team led by arguably the best young star in the league, on the rise, fresh off their first finals berth. LeBron and the Cavs seemed to be squandering a chance to begin their push to greatness.
Fast Foward to the present: the trade deadline has come and gone. James has missed just one game since a 101-95 loss to the lowly Sonics, while carrying Cleveland up to the fourth position in the Eastern Conference.
To make matters better the Cavs pulled of a monster three team 11 player deadline deal, bringing in a scorer in Wally Szczerbiak, point guard Delonte West, to go along with front court help in four-time defensive player of the year Ben Wallace and former #1 overall pick Joe Smith.
This forced them to give up little more than the trigger happy Larry Hughes, and banger Drew Gooden the Cavaliers appear to have added adequate depth to their equation.
So after 250 or so words, lets start the controversy. It's time to pencil in Cleveland as the favorite to come out of the East.
Back to the Cavs, barring any unforseen injuries over the season final six weeks the Cavs figure to finish as the four or five seed in the Eastern Conference, setting the table for a first round matchup with the Toronto Raptors.
Buried in the land to the North, GM Bryan Colangelo has put together an impressive bunch of players capable of competiting with any team on any night. The continued emergence of big man Chris Bosh along with pure point guard Jose Calderon being thrust into a starting role give the Raptors a strong one-two punch.
Looking beyond the cover however, question marks surround the rest of the Toronto roster. With roleplayers such as Anthony Parker, Carlos Delfino and Jamario Moon not proving consistent enough to carry the load, coupled by TJ Ford's ongoing injury troubles and Andrea Bargnani's disappointment in what could have been his breakout year, the Raptors seem to be easily overmatched in the opening series.
On the the second round, and the three-headed monster that is the Boston Celtics. We've already gone over what the Celts bring to the table, so looking at the matchup, you can see where the Cavs can exploit the Eastern Conference champions.
Against Boston, the acqusition of Big Ben figures to prove its value the most. In Wallace, the Cavaliers have a man who on top of his game has always proved able to slow down the best big men in the league.
3 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Anonymous about 1 year ago
Kobe ain't Michael Jordan!
LeBron owns Kobe. Kobe fears LeBron.
Kobe will not surpass MJ but LeBron has now surpassed Kobe.
LeBron's only 23 years old, yet he still dominates Kobe every single time.
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Jerico Gonzales about 1 year ago
I'm a Cleveland fan, but I can't see them coming out of the East this time. You're right, they probably can handle Boston but they'll definitely need 7 games to beat them. And guess who'll be waiting for them in the EC finals? Fucking motivated-not-so-cocky-anymore Detroit.
Remember that what set up last year's major upset was the fact that LeBron and the Cavs CRUISED past an injury-depleted Wizards (I think Arenas' mouth was the only healthy body part that time) and an unmotivated Nets. LeBron had the energy to put up that historical game 5 because he was hardly putting up any effort the last 10 or so games.
Another factor that played into their favor was the perception that Detroit's invincible. The dogs of Detroit are at their best when the odds are stacked against them. They have this us-against-the-world flair and it gives them that "drive" to win. Against Cleveland last year they shed this "underdog" image and counted on beating Duncan before even going past LeBron. I don't see this happening this season.
But like you, I'm still hoping that LeBron and the new "LeBrons" (they're in Laura category right now) mesh up well and put up another magical run. LeBron, as great as he is, seems to have just began showing us his competitive edge - the main attribute lacking in him last year and the main reason he settled for all those jumpers against the Spurs.
Go CAVS!!!
And oh, yeah to quote anonymous:
"
Kobe ain't Michael Jordan!
LeBron owns Kobe. Kobe fears LeBron.
Kobe will not surpass MJ but LeBron has now surpassed Kobe.
LeBron's only 23 years old, yet he still dominates Kobe every single time."
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Bradley Jenkins about 1 year ago
Don't be mistaken, diehard Pistons fan here just think they have a lot of questions and I although I'm not a fan I think I may have been slipped the LeBron koolaid
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