Now this is what I’m talking about. This is the stuff that I’ve been looking forward to since LeBron came back. The Sprite commercial was OK, the Beats By Dre commercial was good. But this… I’m speechless. Nike knocked it out of the park. It is tipoff yet? After watching that there’s no doubt in my mind the Cavs are going 82-0. Book it. Larry O’Brien Trophy here we come.
Just saw someone point this out on Twitter. Check the length of the video… 2:16. Nike absolutely killed this.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 2nd team for the first time in awhile this past season but look for him to regain his 1st 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
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.
Look for Part 3 coming tomorrow. See you guys at the game!
Editor’s note- I had my roommate write a Cavs preview because season previews take FOREVER to do and I didn’t want to do it. If it sucks, blame him (it doesn’t suck)
Hello. How bout that ride in? On October 30, the Cleveland Cavaliers tip off one of the most anticipated seasons in Cleveland sports history. But how did we get here? Why is this the most anticipated season in Cleveland’s history? Let’s first recap the insanity that was the 2014 NBA offseason:
May 19th – The eve of the 2014 lottery. The mood surrounding the Cavs was dismal at best. The team was coming off a 33 win season and were looking at the 8th or 9th slot in the lottery.
May 20th – David Griffin pulls of a Nick Gilbert-esque MIRACLE and wins the NBA lottery with a 1.8% chance. The third time in four years. Honestly I still can’t wrap my head around that.
June 26th – With the #1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select: Andrew Wiggins, University of Kansas. Game changer. The debate begins – keep him or trade him.
(whoa)
July 10th – Cavs officially announce Kyrie Irving has signed a 5-year $90 million contract extension. This was big news because there were plenty of rumors during the year that Kyrie was unhappy and that he would leave to play elsewhere (NY or Brooklyn)
(Cue the music)
(still get chills)
July 11th – The Decision Part 2. The Letter. The Return of the King. Whatever you want to call it. The best basketball player on the planet decided to leave South Florida and come home to Cleveland.
August 5th – LeBron recruits two former teammates in Mike Miller and James Jones to join the team. Big time boost for our outside shooting and playoff experience.
August 7th- Adrian Wojnararowkoskhiskslfjgowski drops a BOMB saying that the Cavs have agreed in principle to trade for Kevin Love in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett…. Uh oh. It’s happening! It’s happening!
August 8th- A “Welcome Home LeBron” rally is held at the U. of Akron’s Infocision Stadium
August 9th – The Matrix, Shawn Marion, agrees to join the Cavaliers. We add another wing defender and another player with a championship ring on his resume.
August 23rd – Kevin Love. Cavalier. Officially official. Cavs trade a 200lb 19 year old (Wiggins) and the most disappointing #1 pick in history (Bennett) for the best power forward in the league. Adding him to the best small forward in the league, and a future top 3 point guard. Have a day, Griff!
(Whoa. Is it hot in here? Is this a GQ photo shoot or a press conference?)
August 24th – Season tickets sell out. Cleveland went from the Mistake on the Lake to the center of the sports universe in a matter of months. In less than 4 months the team added: LeBron James, Kevin Love, Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, and James Jones. David Griffin locked up executive of the year before training camp.
So now that we covered the uneventful summer of 2014 let’s get to the players who won’t be in the starting lineup come Thursday:
The Unsung Heroes. Introducing the Reserves:
First things first. This group needs a catchy name. The Tribe has the Goon Squad and I want something to refer to these guys as. Leave your suggestions in the comments.
This isn’t your dad’s Cavs bench. There’s no Semih Erden. No Luke the Puke Harangody. No Henry “The Junkyard Dog” Sims. This group has a combined 9 NBA championship rings, and 14 all-star appearances (ASSUMING RAY ALLEN SIGNS SOMETIME). When people talk about this team having limited playoff experience or not “knowing how to win” my answer is going to be laughter. Head tilted back loud maniacal laughter. These guys could probably go out and beat 6-7 teams in the league on their own. That’s a luxury we’ve never seen in Cleveland. It will pay dividends late in the season because we’ll be able to control the minutes of the big three (need to call them something different BTW) so they are fresh when we get into the later rounds of the playoffs. So here they are:
Matthew Dellavedova – #AussieStrong.
Mike Miller – One of LeBron’s best friends in the league. He’s your white shooter. 2x NBA champion. 1x NBA 6th Man of the Year. Former owner of great hair.
Joe Harris – Best player on Virginia during their Final Four run last year. Our other white shooter in the event Mike Miller isn’t up to the task. Might make an appearance on Cleveland’s hottest athlete list (coming soon).
James Jones – Former 3-point contest champion. Shot 51% last year in limited playing time. 2x NBA champion.
Shawn Marion – The Matrix. 4x NBA all-star. 1x NBA champion. Plus defender who can guard three postions.
(this is hilarious now)
Brendan Haywood – 7-foot+ big body. He gets 6 fouls and will probably use most of them when he plays. 1x NBA Champion.
(also hilarious now)
TBD – – – Ray Allen – Jesus Shuttlesworth. NBA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter. 10x NBA all-star. 3x NBA champions with Boston and Miami. Former 3-point contest champion.
Alex Kirk – If you’re Alex Kirk how psyched are you to be alive right now? You just spent four years in New Mexico probably cooking meth with Walter White when you weren’t playing basketball and now you’re on the beach in Brazil smoking cigars with Kevin Love and LeBron. You’ll probably get cut or spend eternity playing for the Charge but, by all means, enjoy it while you can, man… Some guys just have all the luck. Also has a bad chest tattoo.
Look for Part 2 on Wednesday highlighting the Starters and naming Preseason Superlatives
Bottlegate 