They had 11 year years of Lebron and a ton of finals appearances..so ya I don't feel bad. Hell feel bad for hornets, pelicans, kings, bucks...lol
Over the last decade they have went to more finals than the celtics and they won the same amount of rings.
This. Compare to a reality where Lerbon did not come back. They've been very fortunate beneficiaries of his hometown sentiments. Now it's back to the long normal, starting w an awful hangover.
They're a small market and had a chance to do something really great with a hometown prodigy . LeBron ran them through the shredder, plotted his move to a bigger city while he played for them twice, and with over a decade of the 21st century GOAT (no one comes close) they only have 1 title to show for it. He forced them to give out one bad extension after another to mediocre players then complained none were good enough. The 1 good player, Irving, was forced out. More trades, more changes and it was still just a 1 man team when things got tough. Now they don't even have Kyrie entering his prime. 1 title and plenty of finals appearances is a great run over a decade, but it feels like a huge underachievement. they won't taste anything close for a very long time.
^ what you just posted is more than the history of the Pelicans, Kings, and Hornets combined. It is hard for me to feel sorry when a) They won a championship more recently than us plus went to all those finals b) They have an absolute ass hat of an owner in Dan Gilbert
Utterly incompetent organization that LeBron gifted a title. They deserve their irrelevance. On top of that Gilbert seems like a tool of the highest order.
They DID do something really great. How is 1 title an underachievement? That’s 1 more than they never had and will ever have again in our lifetime. Heck they shouldn’t have even gotten the 1. It’s incredibly difficult to win an NBA title. There’s still 13 teams with a big fat ZERO championships and the majority of the rest of the teams have gone multiple decades since their last title. It’s pointless debating whether Lebron purposely screwed their future or not. It was totally worth it whether he did or didn’t.
It's about taking the opportunities that come your way. 1 title after all the obvious hype for the greatest player this century is an underachievement. It's a disappointment, a small town had huge expectations, got a small taste, but ultimately, it was a dynasty unfulfilled and they'll never get back there.
1 for Cleveland and multiple for Lebron. 1 is more than enough for Cleveland. He didn’t even have to come back to Cleveland anyways. He owed them NOTHING. Especially after that Micky mouse BS letter Dan wrote. He wasn’t supposed to beat the Warriors. Cleveland does NOT feel sorry for themselves and neither should you.
The main reason it was an underachievement is because the Cavs were so stupid during LeBron's first run there. It really all comes down to that. Sure LeBron wasn't as good a player then, but the Cavs personnel moves were straight up idiotic and Mike Brown was not a worthy coach.
I think Cleveland has to tank for the next two years. Their draft pick next year was traded to the Hawks (part of the Korver trade) but it is top 10 protected for 2 years. So they need to tank for two years straight and if it survives then its converted into two second round picks. And given the need to rebuild, the Cavs have to tank for two years to keep their 1st round picks. So the Korver trade has locked the Cavs into tanking.
And what Senator is forgetting is that the 1 title that Cleveland won, they did it by coming back from a 3-1 deficit and against a team that had broken the all-time single season record for most wins in a season with 73. That is a pretty damn impressive accomplishment.
