Grading Cleveland Cavaliers' Final 15-Man Roster

The 2014-15 NBA season is nearly upon us as teams have hurried to finalize their opening-night rosters.

Among the 30 squads eagerly awaiting the fresh new year, perhaps none has as much talent squeezed into it as the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Coming off an historic offseason, the Cavs' roster is now complete thanks to new general manager David Griffin. While some of the stars are household names, Griffin did a nice job rounding off the roster with some lesser-known veterans and young talent.

While some have crowned Cleveland's trio of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving the next great "Big Three," James has been quick to dismiss such a moniker.

"We're not a Big Three, we're a team," James told Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "We're a Big Fifteen."

While that may be hefty praise for even the deepest NBA crews, does James have a point?

Here's how every position grades out on Cleveland's finalized 2014-15 roster.

Point Guard

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Starter: Kyrie Irving

Reserves: Matthew Dellavedova, A.J. Price

Last season, the Cavaliers tried to insure Irving with a $25 million proven veteran and an undrafted free agent rookie.

Guess which one is still on the roster?

While Jarrett Jack struggled with the Cavaliers and was ultimately traded this offseason, Matthew Dellavedova has been promoted to Irving's primary backup.

"Delly," as he's so affectionately referred to in Northeast Ohio, is a strong defender and distributor who collected 4.3 assists per game this preseason.

A.J. Price is a five-year veteran who shouldn't see much action this year, assuming the gentlemen ahead of him stay healthy.

The strength of the position, naturally, falls on the shoulders of Irving.

Fresh off a summer where he signed a $90 million max extension and then proceeded to win MVP of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, expectations are now raised for Irving.

Can he live up to the money? Is he truly a max player? Can Irving continue to fit in with star teammates while shining on his own?

Only time will tell, but for now, the Cavs' point guard position appears to be in good hands.

Grade: B+

Shooting Guard

David Liam Kyle/Getty Images

Starter: Dion Waiters

Reserves: James Jones, Joe Harris

This is where positions become less defined.

For the Cavaliers, Waiters, Jones and Harris will all man the 2-guard, with Mike Miller able to step in when needed. Both he and Jones can play small forward as well.

That being said, shooting guard is the ultimate X-factor position for this Cavs team.

We know what Jones brings to the table. He's an 11-year veteran who helped the Miami Heat capture two championships with his outside shooting.

With so many ball-dominant players occupying other positions, whoever suits up at shooting guard for Cleveland needs to be able to play off the ball.

Jones has already proved he can do just that, knocking down 52 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers last season, tops in the NBA with a minimum of two attempts per game, via NBA.com/Stats.

Harris, the Cavs' second-round pick out of Virginia, thrived in college in such situations. He completed 40.7 percent of all three-pointers during his four years.

Waiters is the wild card here.

While he's finally getting the chance to be a starter, Waiters now must sacrifice touches and the spotlight. With a possible extension looming next summer, will he continue to be a true team player?

Waiters' potential career path has swung from James Harden to Rip Hamilton circa 2004 Detroit Pistons—running off screens, spotting up and not letting the ball stick when it eventually swings around to him. These are all things Waiters has struggled with in the past, yet must quickly master now.

Grade: B

Small Forward

David Liam Kyle/Getty Images

Starter: LeBron James

Reserves: Mike Miller, Shawn Marion

It doesn't get much better than this.

Not only is James the best small forward in the league according to NBA GMs, he's also the fourth-best power forward.

His backups aren't too shabby, either.

Miller and Marion have both been key pieces to championship teams in the past. Both bring different skill sets to the table and can play multiple positions as needed.

For Miller, his game is built around outside shooting. Able to play either wing spot, Miller brings a 40.9 percent career three-point mark into his 15th pro season. Unfortunately, that shot looked a bit rusty this preseason. In seven games, Miller connected on just 17.6 percent of his attempts from deep. Mechanically, everything looked alright, and panic should be avoided for now.

Marion can play both forward spots and still has some athleticism left in those 36-year-old legs. He plays the passing lanes better than most in the league, skills that have helped him rack up over 1,700 career steals.

James enters into a bold new venture.

Set to turn 30 on Dec. 30, will we see any big changes in his game?

Running with two elite scorers now, James seemed more interested in deferring than scoring this preseason. His 5.0 assists tied with Irving for the team lead, yet his 9.6 field-goal attempts were just third on the Cavs.

While Cleveland won't need his scoring like they did in the past, James will still have to provide plenty of passing, defense and leadership for the Cavs to win a title.

Grade: A+

Power Forward

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Starter: Kevin Love

Reserves: Tristan Thompson, Lou Amundson

Love headlines a talented power forward group that provides a nice blend of scoring and hustle with an awful lot of rebounding.

Despite trading for arguably the game's best 4 in Love, the Cavaliers are still trying to figure out his role in coach David Blatt's offense, notes Chris Fedor of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

"

Love, the three-time All-Star, had been the focal point of the Timberwolves' offense for six years before coming to Cleveland. He had more room inside. He got as many shots as he wanted. This preseason, Love spent a lot of time roaming around the three-point line.

"

In his six preseason games, Love averaged 14 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 24 minutes. While his three-point shooting was on point (43.5 percent), a whopping 42 percent of his shots came outside the arc. Last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Love scored 26.1 points per game while attempting less than 36 percent of his shots from the outside.

"My entire life I've played the game from inside-out," Love explained, via Fedor. "So the more touches I can get inside to get myself going, the better. I'm not accustomed to starting out a game shooting a three."

While Cleveland still needs to figure out Love's best offensive situation, Thompson and Amundson should provide plenty of defense and hustle off the bench.

Thompson lost out on the starting center job, but will still see heavy minutes as the Cavs' best reserve big man. He averaged 13.2 points and a team-best 9.2 rebounds during the preseason.

Amundson's minutes will be limited. His energy will primarily be relied upon in practices to challenge players like Love and Thompson.

Grade: A

Center

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

Starter: Anderson Varejao

Reserves: Brendan Haywood, Alex Kirk

The success of the center spot relies on the shoulders of Varejao's shaky body.

The 32-year-old Brazilian won the starting job in the preseason, and seems like a perfect fit with his rebounding, hustle and defense.

Given Varejao's injury history, the Cavs can't afford to play him big minutes anymore. He needs to be capped somewhere between 26-28 a night, at the max.

Haywood returned earlier than some expected from a broken foot that caused him to miss all last season with the Charlotte Hornets. He averaged 3.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in just 9.4 minutes this preseason, and could be Cleveland's best rim protector.

As Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, the Cavaliers will need his 7'0", 263-pound frame against some of the Eastern Conference's bigger centers:

"

Brendan Haywood will be used as a backup in games when the Cavs face a tall center such as Indiana's Roy Hibbert or Toronto's Jonas Valanciunas. Against teams with smaller and quicker big men, the 7-foot Haywood has problems. The Cavs are happy that his broken foot (out all last season) has healed to the point where he can play.

"

Kirk, an undrafted free agent out of New Mexico, played on the Cavs' summer league team and also posseses great size at 7'0" and 265 pounds. He's very raw but could turn into a serviceable defender down low.

Cleveland has to hope Varejao can stay healthy, and will likely use Thompson at this spot quite a bit as well.

Overall, there's just too much uncertainty for this position to grade out very high.

Grade: C+

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 RealGM.com unless otherwise noted.