2016-17 Record: 51-31
Players Added: Jose Calderon (free agent), Jeff Green (free agent), Cedi Osman (draft rights), Derrick Rose (free agent), Jae Crowder (trade), Isaiah Thomas (trade), Ante Zizic (trade), Dwyane Wade (free agent)
Players Lost: Dahntay Jones(free agent), James Jones(free agent), Deron Williams(free agent), Derrick Williams(free agent), Kyrie Irving (trade), Kay Felder (trade), Richard Jefferson (trade)
Projected Team MVP: LeBron James
In the most obvious pick in the world, the MVP for the 2017-18 Cleveland Cavaliers is LeBron James. As it turns out, the most valuable player on a team that has the best player in the world is going to be the best player in the world. What’re the odds of that one?
The big question with LeBron this year is whether he’s going to take his foot off the gas during the regular season or if he’ll go all-out all season. It’s LeBron, and he knows all that matters is the postseason (we’ll get to this in a second), so that first thing is more likely.
But in 2017-18, could LeBron try to prove something in the wake of Kyrie Irving’s departure from Cleveland? It seems unlikely, even if Petty ‘Bron is the best version of LeBron James. But if we get to mid-February and LeBron is playing 44 minutes a night, something might be up.
Team X-Factor: Derrick Rose
With Isaiah Thomas expected to be out until January, and with Dwyane Wade not really being a point guard, getting anything out of Rose would be massive. Well, what if they’re able to get a guy who finds his old MVP form?
It’s really unlikely, but if Cleveland could get an All-Star caliber season out of Rose — which he hasn’t done in years, but he showed flashes of as a member of the Knicks — that would be massive as the franchise tries to replace Kyrie Irving. A rough year out of Rose they can survive until Thomas comes back, a decent year out of him is what the team should expect, and a performance that reminds people why Rose was the most dangerous point guard in the NBA for some time would make the Cavaliers an even bigger favorite in the east than they already are right now.
Best Case Scenario: The regular season happens, the Cavs beat the Warriors and the Celtics every time they play, and the rest does not matter as long as Cleveland makes it to the postseason. Obviously getting the one seed is preferable, but we saw this last year — the Cavs are able to walk into just about any gym and not be phased, because it’s a roster comprised of guys who have been in big games before.
But yeah, Cleveland’s best-case scenario this year is dependent on three things:
1. Get to the conference finals against the Celtics and run them off the floor. Just a total annihilation of Irving and co. The “rivalry” of sorts between these two teams was great last year, as they were the two best teams in the east. Now that Irving is in Boston and Thomas/Crowder are in Cleveland, and there are some hard feelings between both sides, this is an honest-to-god rivalry between the two best squads the conference has to offer. A conference finals between the two would rule.
2. Get to the NBA Finals against the Warriors. This time, come back from a 3-0 lead. Also this time, when LeBron tries to dunk on Draymond Green to put an explanation point on Game 7, he makes it.
3. Right after Game 7 ends, while he is on the stage holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy, LeBron announces that he intends on coming back on a lifetime deal with the franchise. In a mostly symbolic move since it won’t be official yet, LeBron signs that contract at the end of the Cavs’ victory parade through downtown Cleveland.
In the midst of all of this, Kevin Love looks like the superstar everyone knows he is, Wade and Rose are a dynamic 1-2 punch at guard, and once Thomas comes back, he gives the team a stellar scoring punch. All of the pieces around them do their jobs a little better than everyone expects. And when the draft rolls around, Brooklyn’s first-round pick nets (no pun intended) them a potential building block next to LeBron like Michael Porter.
Worst Case Scenario: I have gone back and forth on this in that I don’t know if losing to Boston in the conference finals or Golden State in the NBA Finals would be worse. The answer is probably the Celtics, seeing as how Cleveland has already fallen to the Warriors twice in the Finals and watching Irving carry Boston to the promised land would probably be awful.
But there is one thing that is undeniable: The single worst thing that can happen to Cleveland this year is LeBron leaving once the season ends. That would lead to some kind of a chain reaction, as there’s no way that Wade would want to stick around, either. With the hopes of having some sense of stability, the team would respond by giving Thomas a max deal, which he deserves, but it’s risky to give that kind of money to an undersized guard with a bum hip.
As for the one piece that provides some hope in the event LeBron leaves — Brooklyn’s 2018 first-round pick — they got rid of that at the trade deadline to get DeMarcus Cousins. He ended up leaving, too. So basically, entering next season, the Cavs are going to trot out a team that looks nothing like this one, mostly because LeBron is gone.
The good news is the last time that happened, he eventually came back. So, uh, just be patient, Cleveland. I guess.
