Hardwood Paroxysm: What does the future hold for the Cavaliers and Warriors?

What does the future hold for LeBron’s “Supporting Cast”?

by Seth Partnow (@sethpartnow) — Nylon Calculus

At a press conference during his first title run in 1991, Michael Jordan responded to a question about how much better his Bulls teammates were than in years past. He responded by referring to them as “my supporting cast,” seemed to realize how that turn of phrase sounded, shrugged his shoulders and went with it. LeBron James dressed it up a little better, bestowing his still-active compatriots with the sobriquet of “Grit Squad,” but he wasn’t fooling anyone.

Despite the unseemly attention lavished on Matthew Dellavedova (no problematic coding here, nope, none at all), this was a group of largely nobodies two weeks ago. They might as well have gotten their warm-up jackets emblazoned “The Jordanaires” for all the individuality they projected to the public.

Then a funny thing happened. Delly did, yes, a credible job not getting undressed on live television by the league’s MVP every night. Tristan Thompson hoovered every rebound in sight, and I can’t decide quite which high fantasy giant-creature to best compare Timo Mozgov. (The final two are Treebeard and Enormous Angry Snowman Guard from “Frozen”.)

Heading into next season, these guys now have some profile. Some are even arguing the emergence of Thompson and Moz makes Kevin Love an expendable luxury. The expectations laden upon them, especially with new contracts in tow for Thompson, Delly and presumably Iman Shumpert will be framed by the afterglow of a barely but surprisingly competitive Finals. These expectations are a curse.

Much the same way a few good games in the NCAA Tourney can unrealistically raise draft stock (apologies to the entire Dekker family), a few good outings on the biggest stage in the sport offer an inflated view of their talents.

Delly’s manic intensity left him spent by halftime of Game Four. Thompson’s offensive rebounding prowess won’t forestall murmurings about being overpaid after his 40th or 50th miss on an easy putback.

Of course for the Cavs to be legitimate contenders for the 2016 title, they can’t be in a position to need these guys to drift into the express lane again. That won’t stop the questions about why LeBron’s Supporting Cast remains so far to the back of the stage, and that’s a shame, because the world needs keytar players and backup singers too.

Next: What does the future hold for the Warriors?