The NBA season will be here before you know it and FanSided is here to get you ready. In the lead up to Opening Night, we’ll be previewing two teams each day, reviewing roster changes, discussing important players and challenges, and hearing the perspective of our FanSided site experts. Let’s get ready for basketball!
Roster changes
Inputs: Kay Felder (PG, NBA Draft pick No. 54); Mike Dunleavy (SF, traded from the Chicago Bulls); Chris Andersen (PF, signed for one year, $1.5 million); DeAndre Liggins (SG, signed for one year, $1 million); James Jones (SG, signed for one year, $1.5 million); Dahntay Jones (SG, signed for one year, $1.5 million)
Outputs: Matthew Dellavedova (PG, signed with Milwaukee Bucks); Timofey Mozgov (C, signed with Los Angeles Lakers)
Retained: LeBron James (SF, unrestricted free agent); Richard Jefferson (SF/PF, signed for two years, $5 million); J.R. Smith (SG, signed for four years, $57 million);
Biggest strength: Playing in the East
Winning it all is hard. Winning it all again is harder. While runner-up Golden State went out and bought the biggest baddest nuke on the market, Cleveland, as befits the current crownholder, looked around and said “We good.” One reason they can afford this cavalier attitude (pun not intended but I’m happy I stumbled across it): they play in the East. Let’s look at the East.
Boston keeps getting better, and deeper, forever on the verge of landing the next big star who forces a trade. Until that happens, they can’t beat Cleveland. Toronto? Sustained Atlantic dominance is the best they can achieve. The Pacers appear to be pirouetting into a nice little pace-and-space operation. New York should be better. Chicago will have some interesting nights. Some team always comes out of nowhere to level up. Milwaukee? Orlando? I just listed half the teams in the East. You see one that could beat the Cavs three times out of seven? Much less four?
As champs, the Cavs will face someone gunning for them 82 times this season. Complicating matters: as champs, their summer vacation was shorter than everyone else’s (J.R. Smith is not renowned for bouncing back after celebrating). Cleveland’s entering uncharted territory. The good news? LeBron James has won the conference six years in a row, unprecedented in the modern NBA (the 1957-69 Celtics won 13 straight Easts when the conference had only seven teams). No Eastern foe poses a remotely credible threat to an LBJ seven-peat.
Most important addition: The Larry O’Brien Trophy
Championship teams spend nine months and around 100 games proving to themselves and the world that they can win. Teams that repeat? Three-peat? They’re past we can and onto we will. A ring raises everyone up. Dime-a-dozen bench players become valuable, savvy vets. Good players stop having every flaw placed under a microscope (Kevin Love’s defense) and instead get GIFs celebrating these same flaws (Love’s Game 7 last-minute defense vs. Steph Curry). And LeBron? This close to falling to 2-5 in career Finals and being forever sullied in the eyes of the blind? Flip the script: after leading both finalists in every statistical category, he’s now 4-2 in career Game 7s, including 2-0 in NBA Finals. Now, maybe he finally is the G.O.A.T.
The Cavs will need all that muscle memory from last year title run. Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova are gone; while not upper-end talent, they brought toughness and familiarity, knew their roles, and fulfilled them. New blood Mike Dunleavy Jr. will help, but the big guns will be asked to do more. Kyrie Irving was June’s breakout star; is he ready to shine as brightly on drab, cold nights in Brooklyn come February, when LeBron needs a break? Love, a tangible and irrefutable contributor to Cleveland’s title, should be able to breathe and just play the game, and not endure another year decoding a certain teammate’s Twitter posts. The 2016 Cavaliers winning the trophy freed the 2017 Cavs to chase even higher heights.
Related Story: Milwaukee Bucks Season Preview
What does success look like?
— Aaron Ferguson, @KJG_NBA, King James Gospel
The Cleveland Cavaliers come back younger, fresher, deeper and ready to defend their championship. Coach Tyronn Lue has had his first full offseason as head coach and the team looks committed on the defensive end of the court more than ever before. Iman Shumpert looks like a different player after last year’s poor season, which is a huge help to add depth. Acquiring Mike Dunleavy is an underrated move by the Cavs to add three-point shooting and a versatile player. That will help with the Cavs trying to limit the number of minutes LeBron James play, but it also asks more of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and fan-favorite J.R. Smith.
The two biggest concerns are the backup point guard position and the lack of size at center. Kay Felder is capable of making big plays as a scorer, passer and defender, but there will be some growing pains. He plays similarly to Damon Stoudamire, but doesn’t have as good of a three-point shot. Tristan Thompson will anchor the center position and newly-signed Chris Andersen will back him up, but the Cavs lack size to bang with bigger centers.
Cleveland is the favorite in the East, but will look like a different team next season as they are more committed to one another, a big part of what Lue has done.