first off i am happy that the cavs got some more talent around lebron, even though i believe the squad they had the past two year should have been sufficient to get in to the playoffs in the east. now with the acquisitions of hughes,marshall and jones people have them pencilled in as a top 4 team in the east. granted on paper they have the team but last time i checked on paper really doesnt mean too much. first of all jones thinks he is a lot better than he is and wont be nearly as productive as last year when he had shaq to have him get those open threes. hughes is another man who needs the ball to be effective granted lebron will be able to get him involved. also hughes' defensive is not as good as it shows, sure steals are great but the man to man d is suspect. but my biggest problem with the cavs is the coach. i hate to look on their website to see who their coach is (btw check out the website they have a swimsuit thing w/ the dancers ) and i may not know much about coaching but i dont think a no-name coach will be able to manage the egos on that team. look what happened last year when silas left they stumbled all the way out of the playoffs. honestly i think the nets will be the fourth spot after the big 3 in the east and the cavs are going to be a first round exit
they'll be better but people need to stop putting them as one of the league's top 10 teams. they haven't even MADE the playoffs in who knows how long. no matter what they did everything happens in steps. they added a bunch of new players and that will take awhile to jell together and players find their roles. i like the hughes addition but jones and marshall are a little scary because both of those guys are high volume shooters and think they're the first option and with lebron, big z, and larry hughes they will be 4th at best. i'm with you on this. cleveland becoming this top 10 caliber team and even one of the top 5 seeds in the east doesn't happen overnight. they should DEFINITELY make the playoffs but i think they're more of a 6 or 7 seed than a 4 like some people think.
The Cavs will be much better. They will be the 4th seed behind the Heat, Pistons, Pacers. They got a lot better with Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, Damon Jones, a healthy Luke Jackson. They also are close to signing Jahadi White and Alan Henderson. They also have a new head coach in Mike Brown. He is a defense-minded coach who coached under Rick Carlisle, Gregg Popovich, and Bernie Bickerstaff.
I don't get it. Why is it such a stretch to put the Cavs in the NBAs top ten? If they hadn't completely fallen apart last year, they could have gotten a top 4 seed with a very suspect roster. The coaching change is a good thing. Silas' best years are clearly behind him. I've read enough about him to conclude he is a very flakey/quirky individual. The team got tired of him last year, and the new owners, however clumsily, had to get rid of him. Their skid started before Silas left and he had to go IMO. Sacrificing the season by hiring Brendan Malone to finish the year so they could hire someone from scratch left a bad taste at the end of the year but may have been the right thing. Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall will get plenty of open looks from outside with LeBron & Hughes slashing and Big Z standing in the middle. Damon should do quite nicely. Both he and Marshall know their place on that team so I would be surprised if either presents a chemistry problem. Neither one is a "high volume" shooter. To me, they are perfect 4th and 5th options after their big 3. Name a team in the NBA with better 4th/5th scoring options in their starting five. On defense, the Cavs could have some problems. They will win by outscoring people which means a short playoff run. Besides the Heat, Pistons & Pacers, who in the East is clearly better? They were 42-40 last year. You tellin' me they can't add 8 more wins with their improved roster? Problem is being in the same division as the Pacers and Pistons probably guarantees them the 5th seed for the playoffs and a 1st round matchup (and loss) with the 2nd place team. The cloud over that franchise is Big Z's fragile health. If he goes down, they could be in trouble. I don't think he's worth the big contract he will be signing shortly.
I think the Cavs will be pretty good. And their new coach is pretty good and stresses defense. I think he will do well there. They added some pretty good role players around LBJ. Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall to shoot the outside shot and Larry Hughes to help with the defense and be another scorer. They need to get a health Varejo back though and then perhaps move Gooden.
They did mortgage their future in order to keep Bron-Bron. So they better improve dramatically. They did a decent job, but they should have grabbed an outside shooter at guard (granted, they tried, but missed out on Redd and Allen). And damn, what a division they're in. All that work, all those signings, and still probably only fourth in their own division: Detroit, Indiana, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee. Put in the two other division winners (Miami and New Jersey, more than likely) and Cleveland sits no better than sixth seed. Still, that's enough to make the playoffs, and that's where they'd better be, because if LeBron has the balls (the hubris, the moxie, the whatever), he could leave the Cavs. Since he's an Ohio native and has an entire franchise riding on his shoulders, he might not, but then again, is the future Michael Jordan going to stick around in a small market? You know that the Fakers and the Knicks will have their sportswriters penning stories about how LeBron will join either of them between now and when he signs his extension.
Define not much better, this team didn't even make the playoffs last year. It was probably a good thing that that they didn't sign Michael Redd, they were able to take that money and spread it around for a few more decent players. I think there will be a team that disappoints (Pistons) and a team that surprises in the east and I think the Cavs have a good chance to be that team that surprises in the east. I like their depth and their ability to both play inside and outside, they have an outstanding combination of guys that can slash and shoot from the perimeter. Now they need to learn to play defense.
I agree that they had the talent to make it to the playoffs for the past two years now. But yoyo, you are significantly underestimating the impact Hughes will bring to the team. He has always had the talent, but the past two years he has stepped it up with regards to how he approaches the game mentally. Donyell and Damon are not spectacular, but they are solid, and are upgrades from last year. I don't know about top 4, but their team should be much more entertaining on the court this year.
They improved dramatically. They aren't contenders and they aren't elite, but they're a lock for the playoffs if LeBron stays healthy. Their pick ups were pretty savvy. The idea is that LeBron will facilitate the offense. His playmaking and eagerness to share the ball will set up Marshall and Jones for jumpers. Hughes gives them a dynamite runner on the wing to join James on fastbreaks. Hopefully, the competition for PT at PF will light a fire under Gooden and get him to show up more than three times a month. It's true that they will be suspect in their halfcourt defense, but this is a pretty loaded and diverse offensive squad. My only other question is whether they have enough hardhat guys that'll set picks and do the rest of the dirty work. He's actually been pretty reliable since the 01-02 season (only missed 3 games since). I'd be more worried about his decreasing footspeed and his disinclination to play defense. Evan
They improved more then most other teams and Lebron is a year older. Just as I believe Yao will get better, Lebron will continue to improve. Also, Larry Hughes is a very good player. The coach could be a problem though, I don't even know who it is.
I don't know if they really mortgaged their future, they signed a great young guard in Larry Hughes who is a core player along with LeBron.
