Predicting the final records of each NBA team

Cleveland Cavaliers

LeBron James is still LeBron James, and his mere presence transforms the Cleveland Cavaliers into a title contender. Adding Kevin Love to the mix, however, makes Cleveland the undisputed favorite for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

It is silly to even reference the overall team numbers for the Cavs last year (the team finished 33-49), simply because of the massive overhaul. LeBron is the best player on Earth, with apologies to Kevin Durant, and there is no reason to think that he will regress from a season in which he averaged 27/7/6 while dragging a flawed Miami team to 54 wins and an NBA Finals appearance. The addition of Love is, quite obviously, a huge one as well, as the former T-Wolves forward is one of the best rebounders on the planet (12.5 per game last season) who happens to be a high-level scorer (26.1 points per game) and shooter (37.6% on threes).

Cleveland’s backcourt has received a lot of “interesting” attention this season, and I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a fan of Dion Waiters. However, Waiters is clearly the fourth offensive option on this roster, which is just fine, and regardless of what you think about Kyrie Irving’s ceiling as a superstar player, he is immediately the best “third option” in the NBA, and the removal of scoring pressure should theoretically assist his development as a facilitator and defender.

There is one enormous issue with Cleveland’s roster, and it comes in the form of rim protection. Both Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson are more than serviceable players, but neither is a center that can protect the rim with any regularity, and it will be up to the Cavs to simply out-score opponents, especially in the early stages of the season. However, the roster is already quite deep, with players like Shawn Marion and Mike Miller ready to contribute off the bench, and if the Cavaliers can convince Ray Allen to join the ranks, their second unit becomes one of the best in the NBA.

It is very difficult to project what the Cavs will do coming out of the gate, but on talent alone, this is probably a team I would project in the mid-60’s in terms of wins, and even after a deduction for a slow start, they should be in line for homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Projected Record: 60-22, 1st in East