Bottlegate’s Cleveland Cavaliers Season Preview pt. 2- Starters and Superlatives

It feels like Christmas Eve, doesn’t it? Here’s Pt. 2 of our Cavs Season Preview. We’ll tackle the starting lineup and give our picks for preseason awards and superlatives. You can find part 1 HERE

In 2010 it was this.

A slight upgrade I guess

Starting Lineup –

PG – Kyrie Irving: There is no denying the talent Kyrie has. At the age of 22 he’s already made 5 (I think) game winning shots, dominated every corner of all-star weekend, and recently brought home a Gold Medal and MVP trophy from the FIBA world cup. Despite all that, he has yet to lead the Cavs to the playoffs. But I have an idea! Let’s take this young phenom point guard, remove the marginal talent he’s had around him, and add two of the top 5 players (and scorers) in the league to his team. With the burden of having the team on his back gone, Kyrie is going to look like a different player this year. It’s inevitable that his scoring will take a hit this season. All three of our stars will see a drop in points. But I expect his assist total, and more importantly his defense to improve immensely.

Projected Stats: 17.6 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 8.6 APG, 1.9 SPG

SG – Dion Waiters: The key with Dion is attitude. It’s easy to see the ability but Waiters has got to channel his bulldog attitude into his play and not into the locker room. Last year this team lacked leadership and it was an issue. This year we are going to have one of the most stable locker rooms in the league. If anyone tries to disrupt it they can answer to LeBron, Shawn Marion, Brenden Haywood and the rest of the veterans. With that stability in place I expect Dion to find a nice role as a spot up shooter and slasher when his man leaves to double LeBron. Or Love. Or Irving. Dion won’t score as many as last year (15.9 PPG) but his field goal percentage should take a big jump up.

Projected Stats: 11.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.4 APG, 47.3% FG

SF – LeBron James: LeBron James back in the wine and gold wearing #23. It just feels… right. When LeBron is on your team you are automatically expected to at least reach the NBA finals. When LeBron is on your team AND you have Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving on your team you better not just make the finals, you better win it in 5 games or less. (Editor’s note: this is cocky as fuck and I love it) I make it sound easier than it’s going to be but come on, this Big 3 is individually as talented as Miami’s was when they came together but we fit better. This group reminds me more of the Pierce-Allen-Garnett trio in the way they will mesh.

Projected Stats: 24.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 8.5 APG, 2.3SPG, 57.4% FG

PF – Kevin Love: When I think of Kevin Love I think “30 and 30.” No, not the awesome ESPN docs. 30 points and 30 rebounds. In one game. Kevin Love is the first guy to do that since Moses Malone in 1982. Ya know what, check this out. Here are Kevin Love’s top 10 games:

10) 42 points and 11 rebounds
9) 24 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists
8) 33-13-9
7) 36-14-9
6) 42-16
42-16
37-12-10
40-14-9
43-19
45-19-6

By the way, those are not the top ten games of his career. They are from JUST LAST SEASON. The dude is a machine. Oh, and he shoots 40% from 3 and made more of them than Kyle Korver last year. Good luck NBA. Good fucking luck.

Projected Stats: 22.9 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 4.4 APG, 38.7% 3FG

C – Tristan Thompson: This is the one “weak” spot on this team. Tristan is definitely playing out of position at Center, but when you look at the rest of the lineup who the hell really cares. The number of traditional centers left in the league is as low as it’s ever been in league history. Tristan will be able to match up and hold his own against most of the 5s in the league. Plus, all we are going to ask him to do this year is play serviceable defense, rebound, and dunk the ball. If double T does those things and isn’t a liability on defense we should be just fine.

Projected Stats: 8.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 1.1 BPG, 51.4 FG%

(he’s SO awkward)

C – Anderson Varejao: When healthy, the Wild Thing is in the top third of defensive big men in the league. He’s a hairy, sweating, grunting, spinning, flopping mess out on the floor but damnit he gets it done. The key part of that is “when healthy.” If the Cavs are able to keep his minutes down a bit this year there is a better chance we will see Andy finish a season healthy for the first time in a while. That will be paramount for this team come playoff time because he is far and away our best defensive piece in the front court. The other thing Varejao has going for him that few guys on this team do is chemistry with LeBron. One of his first comments after the Cavs began practice was that it felt like LeBron never left and they picked up right where they left off. That will mean a LOT of easy buckets off LBJ dimes.

Projected Stats: 7.6 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.4 BPG, 29 charges drawn

Preseason Awards and Superlatives:

Team MVP: Kevin Love

LeBron is the obvious choice here but I’m going to take the road less traveled. Kevin Love has been putting up video game numbers on a bad team for a few years. Now that he has an incredible supporting cast I think it’s his time. Look for Kyrie to be an improved distributor now that he has teammates and LeBron has always been a great passer. I’m willing to bet Kevin Love will be on the receiving end of A LOT of those passes and will torch the nets all season long. Couple that with his rebounding and a winning record and you’re looking at a league MVP type season.

Team Defensive Player of the Year: LeBron James

Who else is it going to be? He’s been on the NBA all-defensive team every year since ’08. He fell to the 2^nd team for the first time in awhile this past season but look for him to regain his 1^st team form this year after he lost that weight this offseason.

Team Sixth Man of the Year: TBD

This all depends who starts. This will be a toss-up between Varejao/Tristan, and Shawn Marion. I like Varejao/Tristan considering they will probably get the most minutes as part of the big man rotation. (Editor’s note: it’s Marion’s award to lose)

Best Bench Celebrator: Mike Miller

Have you seen the shoulder tattoos? This guy is a wildcard the minute he gets out of bed. He had a hippie haircut for a while but he definitely isn’t going to be chill on the bench when his teammates are throwing 40-foot crosscourt ally-oops to his best friend, LeBron. Mike Miller is definitely going to be “arms-out-fake-holding-back-his-teammates-guy.” Every team needs one.

Most Likely to Haze Rookies: Kevin Love

Well LeBron already got them at the scrimmage and had them lead the team out of the tunnel only to hold the rest of the team back so only the rookies ran out. Fantastic prank by the way. But I’m going to go with Kevin Love here. He seems like a nice guy but he’s got a little bit of that dick-ish air about him too. Defintely the kind of guy who leaves his bag in the locker room on purpose to make a rook get off the bus to go back and get it. Or he’ll leave his shoes untied while he’s sitting at his locker just so he can tap the rookie on the shoulder and point to his shoes. You know what to do rook. Tie ’em, bitch.

Worst Humongotron Segments: Tristan Thompson

100% and it’s not even close. Tristan is such a cornball. He has the goofy kinda funny but not really funny sense of humor. A lot of his comments just leave you half smiling but thinking inside “aww man, that really hurt.” Doing fake interviews with Moondog has never helped that type of humor.

National NBA reporter most likely to be offended by the Cavs cheerleader outfits because they’re too tight: Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo Sports

He’s a dork. Plain and simple.

Bench player most likely to lead the team in scoring for a single game: Shawn Marion

His season high for a single game last year was 32 points. I can definitely see a game where LeBron, Kyrie, and Love all have around 20ish points and Marion finishes with 25+.

(that’s suggestive)

Most likely to break the backboard on a dunk: LeBron

No brainer here. It might happen Thursday night.

First player to get into a fight with the opposing team: Dion Waiters

Easiest pick in the world here. Dion doesn’t back down from anybody. You need those types of players when you know some asshole in the Eastern Conference (Lance Stephenson) will try and take a cheap shot at LeBron.