LeBron James shocked much of the basketball world when
he announced his return to Cleveland. This signing will inevitably turn the
Cavs from a bottom feeder into a playoff team, but how good they will be is up
for debate. Despite the joy Cleveland is feeling at the moment, adjustments
must be made in order to win a title. This means there are still questions to
be answered.
Kyrie Irving will have a dramatically different role.
He will still be the starting point guard obviously, but he will be forced to
share ball-handling duties with James. Irving has not had to play off the ball
much in his career, but he will now. This will test his toughness and
basketball IQ, when skill and athleticism was getting him by before. Ability to
play off the ball was what allowed Patrick Beverly to beat out the more
talented Jeremy Lin at PG in Houston last year. He also needs to improve his
shooting percentage, which will be tough now that he will be getting less
shots. His shooting percentage has decreased in each of his three seasons.
(.469, .452, .430) Kyrie is a special player, but he will need to learn to play
a different game.
Dion Waiters has recently tweeted that he will reject
a backup role. I believed he would still be the starting SG, but things have
changed. Since the Cavs plan to play James at SF and Tristan Thompson at PF,
that would push #1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins to SG. One would like to think
that Waiters would be happy that the roster is better, but personal pride is a
factor too. He did score 15.9 ppg last year. Maybe he gets traded, which leads
me to my next point.
Anthony Bennett has to go. I gave him the benefit of
the doubt last year after having a immensely disappointing rookie season as the
#1 pick. (4.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.3 apg) The acquisition of James, however, leaves
no room for him to grow. Bennett has not been hostile yet, but I bet he will
eventually if he feels like he is not being given a fair chance. This is where
Kevin Love enters the picture. The Timberwolves star PF, who will be a free
agent after this year, has said he will sign with Cleveland long term if traded
there. ESPN’s Chris Broussard claimed that Cleveland offered Bennett, Waiters,
and a first-round pick for Love. This would be ideal for Cleveland. I also
believe, however, that Minnesota will do everything it can to extract Wiggins
instead. This would surely complicate things. They should use this same package
to try to acquire another star if Minnesota does not accept the trade. Getting
rid of Bennett and Waiters for something good should be top priority.
This will be an interesting experiment. The Cavs must
improve defensively, which LeBron will demand of his teammates. This team will
be in the playoffs, but they are two or three years away from winning a title.
