The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off just about the best offseason imaginable, luring LeBron James back home and trading for another superstar in Kevin Love. According to ESPN’s player rankings, the Cavs now have three of the top 23 players in the NBA (James No. 1, Love No. 8 and Kyrie Irving No. 23).
A franchise that went 33-49 a year ago is now considered a title favorite in 2014-15.
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Cleveland’s situation is reminiscent of the Boston Celtics in 2007–the Celtics acquired
Kevin Garnettand
Ray Allento team up with
Paul Pierce, and a 24-win team rebounded to take home a championship the following season. However, a variety of injuries helped prevent Boston from ever again reaching the mountaintop with Pierce, Garnett and Allen.
The Cavaliers seem poised to win multiple titles in the years ahead, but there are a lot of things that could go wrong. And since this is Cleveland, a place that hasn’t won a major pro sports championship in 50 years, here’s a brief look at some of the obstacles that could extend the city’s run of futility:
Injuries: LeBron has been a pillar of durability over his 11-year career, never once playing in fewer than 75 regular season games (except during the lockout of 2011-12). Love was relatively injury-free in five of his six years in the league, but he did miss 64 games in 2012-13 after breaking his hand.
Irving has undergone some minor setbacks, but hasn’t been out for an extended period of time since joining the Cavs (although he did play just 11 games in college due to foot problems). An injury to one of its stars in’t likely to be a major concern for Cleveland going forward.
A healthy Derrick Rose: The last time Rose played a full season he was the league’s MVP and his Chicago Bulls went 62-20. If Rose can finally maintain his health, are the Bulls, coached by defensive-guru Tom Thibodeau and featuring Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah, a threat to keep this edition of the Cavs from ever winning the East?
Maybe, but even with home court advantage in 2010-11 Chicago still fell in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat in LeBron’s first year there.
LeBron James lost weight: This may sound silly, but it’s possible the new slimmed-down version of LeBron won’t be quite as effective a player as he used to be. One of the things that makes James practically impossible to guard is that he’s always bigger than whoever is covering him.
LeBron is a master at using his size and strength to bully his way through the lane, often finishing at the rim despite excessive amounts of contact. It’s only logical to wonder if he won’t be as good at these things now that he has less total body mass.
What if they just don’t mesh?: Love and Irving have experienced a grand total of zero NBA playoff games between the two of them. Both have spent their entire careers as the biggest name on a bad team. Now they will have to settle for being the second and third options in Cleveland.
Winning tends to cure a lot of problems, but it’s still going to be a major transition for each of them. LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh figured it out with the Heat eventually, but not before getting upset by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals (in which LeBron was terrible).
Had that happened with the Pierce-Garnett-Allen Celtics, they might never have won a championship.
Contracts: Here’s where things could get really serious. Remember, James is on a two-year contract with a player option for 2015-16. Love also has the ability to be a free agent at season’s end. What if any of the above things become and issue and one of them decides to leave town?
Maybe Love cracks under the pressure of huge expectations. Or what if LeBron isn’t given the level of control over the team that he expects to have? Such scenarios are unlikely, but stranger things have happened.
Do I actually anticipate any of these dilemmas holding the Cavs back from taking home a title or two in the near future? No, but we’re talking about worst-case scenario here. And after all, it is Cleveland.