Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Biggest Questions Entering Training Camp
The Cleveland Cavaliers still have LeBron James. In fact, he's one of four returning starters from last season's NBA finalist.
And yet with the 2017-18 campaign fast approaching, this feels like a franchise in flux.
Since enduring a five-game loss in the championship round, Cleveland has traded away its All-Star second option and reworked its front office. Oh, and it will play this campaign under the nuclear threat of a second LeBron defection.
Otherwise, everything is going swimmingly.
But the first sentence of this slide is the most important—as long as James is around, the Cavs are heavyweight contenders. That doesn't quiet the multitude of questions around them, though, so we're here to analyze the five biggest ones, ranked by significance.
5. Are There Any Position Battles Worth Watching?
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The Cavs rotation is less stable than one would think after three consecutive Finals trips. But between their major trade and minor free-agency additions, their deck has been substantially shuffled.
That won't mean much to the starting lineup when this group is healthy.
LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas and Kevin Love are clear-cut openers, and J.R. Smith's potential competitors are one-way contributors (Kyle Korver and Iman Shumpert) or an unproven freshman (Cedi Osman). Tristan Thompson's job is safe for now, head coach Tyronn Lue told Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon, although it's possible Jae Crowder forces some discussions down the line.
The second unit is far more fluid, although Derrick Rose is locked into the backup 1 spot and Crowder will man the 3 unless he's promoted. When Shumpert's three ball is falling, he'll push Korver for floor time. Korver's minutes figure to be more stable, but he'd be an obvious sacrifice when Cleveland needs to get defensive.
Richard Jefferson and Jeff Green will subsist off the same forward minutes unclaimed by James, Love and Crowder. Jefferson has two seasons in the system and a surer jump shot, but Green's age (31), athleticism and familiarity with Lue all give him a puncher's chance to earn the heavier share of action.
"Lue likes Green and took him under his wing in Boston," Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor wrote. "After his worst statistical season, Green will try to reinvent himself, and if he becomes more consistent, a problem throughout his career, Green may cut into Jefferson's minutes."
If Cleveland starts out slowly, Osman and Ante Zizic could crack the rotation. Osman has youthful energy the Cavs' other wings can't provide, while Zizic would bring more interior force—albeit at the expense of spacing—than Channing Frye.
4. Can Kevin Love Pick Up the Offensive Slack?
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Worrying about a LeBron-led offense always feels like an exercise in futility, especially when Cleveland's attack has posted a top-four efficiency rating each year since his return in 2014. But the absence of Kyrie Irving—first in field-goal attempts, second in scoring last year—coupled with Thomas' uncertainty (more on that later) leaves a void at second option.
Unless Love regains the mojo that produced a pair of 26-plus-point campaigns over a three-year stretch.
The good news is his stock trended up last season, with his most points (19.0), most triples (2.4) and highest true shooting percentage (57.3) as a Cavalier. And with Cleveland likely to deploy him less as a spot-up specialist and more as an attacker from the elbows and low block, his output should continue creeping closer toward his Minnesota Timberwolves levels.
"Kevin is going to have the best year that he's had here," Lue told ESPN.com's Zach Lowe. "I thought he was great anyway. ... But this year is going to be a big opportunity for him. We're going to play through him more. He's going to get those elbow touches again."
That has to be music to Love's ears since the All-Star hasn't had the most comfortable transition down the offensive pecking order.
It's less clear, though, how much this will help the Cavs. The more interior chances he gets, the less room other players will have to drive and cut around him. Plus, the Association's increasing emphasis on athleticism and quickness means Love's old tricks won't necessarily be as effective.
But he's the obvious candidate to help replace the lost scoring, and Cleveland will explore every way to make that work.
3. How Is Isaiah Thomas' Hip?
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News of Thomas' hip ailment has been hard to come by and even more difficult to decipher. The Boston Celtics didn't even make mention of it until May 20, more than two months after it was initially injured during a March 15 contest with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Diagnosed as a torn labrum—but perhaps something even worse—it nearly derailed his move to Cleveland. Now, no one seems to know how long it will affect him.
"No one is willing to put a timeline on when Thomas might return to the court," Jason Lloyd of The Athletic wrote. "The fact he isn't running yet certainly is not a good sign. One source with experience dealing with the type of hip problems Thomas is facing predicted it could be January or even the All-Star break before Thomas returns to game action."
Thomas told ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski, "I'll be back, and I'll be the same player." But sources told Lowe "there is at least a slight chance" Thomas could miss most of the upcoming campaign.
Under the cloud of LeBron's lingering 2018 free agency, the Cavs are desperate to convince him to stay by raising their second championship banner in three seasons. That's a tall task for any team that shares a league with the superpower Golden State Warriors and one that would require Thomas to regain last year's All-Star, second-team All-NBA form.
If he's right, he's a potential facsimile of Irving, from the isolation scoring and perimeter sniping down to the defensive concerns. But if Thomas isn't himself, Cleveland could see its championship window boarded shut.
2. Are They Any Closer to Catching the Warriors?
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The past three seasons have seen both the Warriors and Cavaliers separate from the rest of the pack. But two of the three championship bouts have gone Golden State's way, and Cleveland could be falling further behind its rival.
The Warriors offseason was defined by chemistry and cohesion. Thanks to Kevin Durant's nearly $10 million sacrifice, the Dubs were able to retain all but three players from last season's 67-win championship squad. And their three newcomers should all be upgrades over their predecessors—Nick Young, Omri Casspi and rookie Jordan Bell in; Ian Clark, Matt Barnes and James Michael McAdoo out.
The Cavs, on the other end, bookended their summer with organizational upheavals. Ex-general manager David Griffin departed just before the draft, and his replacement, Koby Altman, wasn't put in place until late July. The Irving-Thomas swap was finally consummated in late August, with Cleveland's biggest prizes being a hobbled All-Star and a coveted draft pick that won't move the needle before next summer.
"James is about to embark on a season without a star by his side for the foreseeable future," USA Today's Sam Amick wrote. "... Recent history be darned, in other words, it's the Warriors and everyone else."
Some projections no longer even see Cleveland in control of the Eastern Conference. ESPN's Basketball Power Index ranks the Boston Celtics higher (plus-4.9 to plus-3.8) and gives them a much greater chance of winning a title (12.1 percent to 6.4).
James may have something to say about that since his squads have ruled the East for seven years running. But he's long been evaluated using the championship-or-bust scale, and earning a passing grade looks as daunting as ever.
1. Will This Be LeBron's Last Season in Cleveland?
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Does pre-training camp seem too early to talk about next summer's free agency? It shouldn't. Not when it's the King's free agency and it's been a trending topic for months.
That's what should happen. James is one of the league's true transformative talents. The Cavs lost 49 games the season before he returned and won 53 and advanced to the Finals the next. In 2010-11, the Miami Heat followed a first-round exit with their first of four Finals appearances.
The lone requirement for escaping the East is rostering James. So how much longer will the Cavs enjoy that perk?
Quite possibly just this season if you believe the prognosticators.
"I'm comfortable now in stating unequivocally LeBron will leave the Cavaliers a second time and join the Lakers and return the team to L.A. Lore status," longtime NBA scribe Peter Vecsey wrote on Patreon (via HoopsHype).
Multiple executives told Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher they think James is gone. Several sources told The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor that L.A. is a viable destination. Four NBA.com writers gave numerical odds on James' departure, and each had him more likely to go.
That doesn't mean James has made up his mind. But he's keeping his options open—something Cleveland considered during the Irving deal—and has the freedom to do what he wants next season.
The Cavs have no control over his future. But if they could add to his championship jewelry collection, they might make it awfully hard to leave.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats from Basketball Reference or NBA.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.
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