Should Cleveland Cavaliers Already Be Considered Eastern Conference Favorites?
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be the best team in the Eastern Conference this season.
Or will they?
While many feel the Cavs are the cream of the crop on paper, we've seen what can happen to offseason "paper champs."
The Brooklyn Nets added Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Andrei Kirilenko last summer but finished with just 44 wins after securing 49 the season before.
In 2012-13, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired All-Stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to pair with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Despite these additions, they wound up seventh in the Western Conference, undergoing two head coaching changes in the process.
Crowns awarded too early often fall off. We know the Cavs will be talented, but East favorites already?
Especially with a team like the Chicago Bulls that could be deeper, more playoff-tested and with a proven head coach?
Absolutely.
Here's why the Cavaliers should win the Eastern Conference and how they can overcome what's plagued "super teams" before them.
Level of Competition
The East once again appears to be the weaker of the two conferences and may have gotten even worse this summer.
In 2013-14, just two teams (Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat) cracked the 50-win plateau. Those same two squads arguably had the worst offseasons of any in the league, losing the likes of LeBron James, Paul George, Lance Stephenson, Shane Battier, Ray Allen and James Jones to free agency, injury or retirement.
The Cavs, fueled by the acquisitions of James, Kevin Love, Shawn Marion and others, will certainly be at the top. Who else will join them?
Chicago appears to be the favorite.
The return of former MVP point guard Derrick Rose should bode well for a team that struggled to score last season. The Bulls upgraded at power forward, signing Pau Gasol to replace Carlos Boozer. Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler are some of the best defenders at their positions, while Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic round out a deep bench.
Chicago isn't without their own concerns, however.
Rose has played just 10 total games the past two years following knee injuries. Gasol, 34, has witnessed his offensive rating drop from 123 to 102 over the past three years.
While the team's defense should once again be excellent, can these two be depended on to lead the Bulls' offensive attack?
Other East teams will have their say, but none possess the talent level of either Cleveland or Chicago.
The Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets are all nice, young teams on the rise. One can't rule out the Pacers or Nets quite yet, either.
Compared to the West, however, the East is about as competitive as an elementary school playground.
In the West, some would peg the Cavs fourth behind the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers.
In the East? Cleveland has a much easier path to the NBA Finals and should only truly fear Chicago in a seven-game series.
Star Power, Talent is Abundant
While some NBA teams have won it all without a true superstar (see Detroit Pistons, circa 2004), none have made it to the top without a significant amount of talent.
The 2014-15 Cavs have both.
James makes any team he's on an instant playoff contender. He took a Heat squad with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to four straight NBA Finals, capturing two titles. As good as Wade and Bosh were, are Love and Kyrie Irving not just as good or better?
Throw in a supporting cast of Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, Mike Miller and Marion, and this is an incredibly versatile and deep roster.
Scoring shouldn't be a problem whatsoever. James (27.1) and Love (26.1) finished in the top four in points per game a season ago. Irving came in at 14th with 20.8. Waiters averaged 15.9, primarily as the team's sixth man.
While Chicago may struggle to crack 100 points, Cleveland should easily reach this total and then some. Coach David Blatt runs a very player-friendly offensive system, one that's already drawing rave reviews from some Cavaliers.
Marion, a 15-year veteran and four-time All-Star, is a fan of the new offense, telling Slam's Brendan Bowers:
"It’s a good offense. It’s really good. We’re picking it up slowly but surely. Guys are moving and comfortable in it so far. It’s an offense where we’re looking to attack early if it’s there. But it’s really free-flowing, like I said. The ball really moves. By moving the ball like that, we should be able to keep some offensive pressure up on teams.
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Through their first two preseason games, the Cavs have responded to Blatt's system. As of Oct. 12, Cleveland was scoring at a 114.5 point-per-game clip, best in the East.
Defensively, the Cavs should be at least average.
Yes, two of their best three players are notoriously bad defenders. Love and Irving will both need to make improvements to their games for Cleveland to truly take the next step as a team.
That's not to say they don't have some good examples to follow. James is a six-time All-Defense team member. He can guard four different positions, helping to take pressure off Irving and Love. Marion, Varejao and Matthew Dellavedova are all above-average defenders as well.
Because the team doesn't have a true shot-blocker on the roster, Blatt has used some zone defense to help cover up this weakness.
Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal notes that while Cleveland won't use the zone exclusively, they've already had some early success with it:
"The Cavs aren’t expected to ever become a zone-dominant team, but rather use it as a changeup defense every now and then. One of their biggest liabilities defensively right now is Love, although he looked better on Saturday (against the Miami Heat in Brazil). The Cavs’ best defensive quarter Saturday was the second, when they limited the Heat to 5-for-18 shooting and smashed them in rebounding 13-3. Not surprisingly, the Cavs won the quarter 32-23.
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At that point in the game, the Heat were still very much using their starters. Bosh, Wade and Luol Deng all struggled at times against Cleveland's zone in a quarter that ended with Waiters blocking a Wade layup attempt.
While the Cavs may not be one of the top defensive teams this season, they should be capable enough. Even on nights they allow 100 or more points, the offense is certainly capable of covering up those defensive miscues.
While it may be a bit off balance, Cleveland is loaded with talent and star power on both ends of the floor.
Avoiding the "Paper Champs" Title
We've seen stars align and later fail on teams before, so why should the Cavaliers be different?
It all has to do with their individual games.
James is the best overall player in the NBA today. He can score, defend, pass, rebound and perhaps most importantly lead. His teams have been crowned Eastern Conference champions the past four years and five times overall.
While James and the Heat originally struggled to a 9-8 start to their first regular season together, this Cavaliers' team should be better prepared coming out of the gate.
A major reason for this being: James has been here before. He's joined a so-called super team that had to manage talent and personalities while sacrificing for the team's success.
As good as Wade and Bosh were, they had to adjust to James' game. Wade was used to handling the ball and struggled to play off it at times. Bosh rarely shot three-pointers with the Toronto Raptors but had to eventually transform into an outside shooter alongside James, notes Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal:
"In his final year with the Raptors, half of Bosh’s shots were within 8 feet of the basket and he attempted a grand total of 22 3-pointers. By last season, his fourth with the Heat, he attempted 218 3-pointers – or 50 more than he shot in SEVEN YEARS in Toronto. Only 36 percent of his looks were within 8 feet and 23 percent were 3-pointers. That’s the LeBron adjustment.
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It took Miami's other stars two years to make these changes and adapt to James.
It should take Love and Irving far less time.
Both are already excellent and willing shooters from the outside. Love has averaged 2.1 made three-pointers the past three years while shooting 36.2 percent from deep for his career. Irving has knocked down 1.7 a night on 37.8 percent during his first three seasons.
Compare these numbers to pre-LeBron Wade (0.5 on 28.9 percent) and Bosh (0.1 on 29.8 percent), and it's easy to see Love and Irving are already better equipped to complement James.
Another reason why the Cavs should contend right away and not crumble like others is their mixture of youth and veteran leadership. James, 29, is probably in the prime of his career. Love (26) should be just about hitting his, while Irving (22) is just starting to scratch the surface of his potential.
Cleveland does have some key pieces that are still growing and developing such as Waiters, Thompson, Dellavedova and rookie Joe Harris. General manager David Griffin did an excellent job of surrounding them with well-respected and accomplished guys like Miller, Marion, James Jones and Brendan Haywood. Cleveland's offseason acquisitions have won 10 combined NBA titles and Olympic gold medals.
Griffin didn't just want guys with experience—he needed them to have experience with success. He's pieced together a roster that should work extremely well right off the bat.
Bleacher Report's Josh Martin tabs the Cavs as the highest-rated team in the East. According to Basketball Insiders, five out of five experts picked Cleveland to win the conference.
The talent, early chemistry and weak competition level is all there.
The Cavaliers should be title contenders for years to come and should already be considered the 2015 Eastern Conference favorites.
Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers for Bleacher Report since 2010. Connect with him on Twitter for more basketball news and conversation.
All stats provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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