Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers: 10 Bold Predictions for Upcoming Season

Well ladies and gentlemen, training camp hasn't even officially opened up yet and we've already had the major storyline of the preseason go down with David Stern's unfathomable vetoing of the Chris Paul deal to send him to the Lakers.

This is something that could change the NBA forever, as it sets a precedent for the future, basically giving power to the commissioner to stick his finger into the pot of gumbo that is day-to-day basketball business.

However crazy this story may be, the thing I've got my sights set on is the opening of training camp this afternoon, especially for my Cleveland Cavaliers. There are quite a few interesting things to think about when the Cavs report to training camp and the season eventually begins.

The thing that's interesting me right now is how this Cavs season is going to shape up. We all know there are going to be quite a few growing pains, but we don't know how much they're going to hurt.

That's what I've come here to take a look at.

Kyrie Starts from Day One

It seems a bit more of a slam dunk now that Kyrie Irving will be the starter from Day One, after reports have come out that the Cavs are planning to use their amnesty on Baron Davis, however, it wasn't always a certainty.

If this were a full season, I wouldn't think that Irving would start from Day One, as he would probably spend the first handful of games on the bench. However, now that the season has been shortened to 66 games and Davis seems to be gone, Irving should be the starting point guard on December 26th when the Cavs play the Raptors in their home opener at the Q.

Cleveland Gets off to a Relatively Hot Start

Compared to the rest of their schedule, the first few weeks for the Cleveland Cavaliers is relatively easy.

They don't play a team who finished with a winning record last season until they meet the Portland Trail Blazers on January 8th. Before that their schedule plays out as follows: against Toronto, at Detroit, at Indiana, against New Jersey, against Charlotte, at Toronto, at Minnesota. Then, following their game at Portland, they visit Utah and Phoenix.

Having not seen the team play a lick of basketball together, I would say they could potentially win five of those games, putting them at a 5-5 start. That sounds too good for the team that won 19 games last season, but remember they started with a 7-9 record a year ago.

Ramon Sessions Gets Cleveland a Draft Pick

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a few options with point guard Ramon Sessions, both of which would be beneficial to their team.

Sessions staying on the team would give Cleveland a good backup point guard and let them develop a young player.

However, if the Cavs decide to trade him, they have a player who they paid a low price for and would be able to sell high. There are quite a few teams out there who would be interested in a point guard, as the free agent market is rather barren at this point. They should be able to wriggle a draft pick out of a contender along with a young player to make salaries match.

Word on the street is that the Lakers are in the market for a point guard. 

Too soon?

Christian Eyenga Breaks Loose

Last year, the only way you saw the brilliance that was Christian Eyenga was if you watched the Cavs every day.

There were a lot of struggles with Skyenga in his rookie season, but there were the flashes of brilliance every once in a while, too.

This season will be better for Eyenga. He'll get more minutes and will be able to hone his skills on the court, and should make an appearance every now and then on the SportsCenter Top 10. The world will know who he is by the end of this season.

Cleveland Goes 2-1 Against Miami

The Cleveland Cavaliers play their nemesis Miami Heat three times this season, all before the end of February. That means three chances to take LeBron James down a peg.

They play Miami twice in South Beach, once January 24th and once on February 7th, and then finish out their series with Miami in Cleveland on the February 17th.

Obviously, I'm of the belief that they will win the game in Cleveland, which comes on the last day of a road trip for Miami, which they may be exhausted for. Then I'm assuming the team will be able to play up to the competition to win one of the games in Miami.

It may be high hopes, but I think the team can pull it off.

Omri Casspi Has His Best Season

Omri Casspi was drafted by the Kings back in 2009, but he was never really a part of a system that fit him. He was playing in an offense where there were few times when players were creating shots for each other, which would have benefited Casspi, who isn't great at creating his own shot.

Now that he is going to be playing in a Byron-Scott-style Princeton offense that thrives on player and ball movement, he should be able to ratchet up his production. Plus, he's going into a city where he will be able to play off the emotions of the crowd, something that has always made him ratchet up his intensity whenever Sacramento was actually rocking.

Nobody Wants Antawn

Another player that the Cavaliers should be attempting to get rid of by the time the trade deadline rolls around is Antawn Jamison.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are going to be any players biting to get a piece of Jamison.

I'm just not sure how many teams are going to want to trade for a power forward who has no interest in playing defense and is shooting the worst percentage of his career, as he shot just 42 percent last year.

There's always the possibility that I'm wrong, but it just seems that there won't be many teams banging at the door for a broken-down Jamison unless they give him away for 10 cents on the dollar.

No Ridiculous Losing Streaks

While I don't see the Cavaliers having a miracle season this year, I think it will be more tolerable than last season, partly because we're expecting this year to be bad.

If you guys can go in the way-back machine with me, you'll recall the period last season where the Cavs lost 26 games in a row and won just one game in a stretch of 37 games. That was unbearable.

I don't see any horrifyingly long streaks like that going down this season, as Cleveland will run into teams playing them on the last night of a back-to-back-to-back or a four-games-in-five-nights streak. With the condensed season, they should be able to take advantage of tired teams from time to time, although they will probably have some horrifying blowouts when they are on their tired nights.

Tristan Thompson Surprises People

When the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Tristan Thompson, people were baffled, it seemed like they picked him up so they could trade down, but he ended up being the guy they wanted to go with.

Thompson wasn't as high as the Cavs selected him on anyone's draft list, and it seemed like a reach drafting him as high as they did. However, as the months went on I came to accept, and even like the pick.

I think Thompson will struggle offensively, as it's not the strong part of his game. But he will play tough defense and look like a good young player that can easily be a part of their future.

The big Canadian should be able to use his size to muscle his way into the starting lineup at some point throughout the season and will keep it by working harder than his competition, which happens to be the complacent Antawn Jamison.

Final Record: 16-50

While the record may not be very impressive, it's an improvement over last season when they won just 19 games in an 82-game schedule.

The Cavaliers will struggle mightily throughout this season, obviously as they have two rookies who will play big roles and many players who wouldn't make the roster on other teams playing major roles.

They should end up with another good shot at a No. 1 pick in next season's deep draft and will be able to continue to rebuild.

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