Cleveland Cavaliers: Your 2015-16 East Champs

By Joshua Howe | Jul 16, 2015

May 12, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) celebrates after a 106-101 win over the Chicago Bulls in game five of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

It’s early, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are set to rule the Eastern Conference again next season. They’ve brought back almost everyone (they’re still waiting on Tristan Thompson before they decide what to do with the likes of J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova), are probably going to be way over the luxury tax and brought in Mo Williams to help fill in their weakest point.

It really boils down to these two factors: chemistry and opponents.

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Cleveland will be better next season. There won’t be any 5-7 start like what happened in year one. The Cavs exploded leading up to and after the All-Star break; and, when everyone was healthy, were decimating teams left and right with the devastating offensive force that was predicted of them.

Some of the teams they squashed during their 12-game streak in January:

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Clippers (2X)
Bulls
Thunder
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Cleveland only lost two games in a row once after their streak, and it was when they were attempting to deal with fate by gifting the Celtics a couple wins so that they could meet them in the first round of the playoffs.

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving started to figure out how exactly to play with each other, just as James and his old pal Dwyane Wade did back in Miami. They started off with a lot of my-turn, your-turn play, but that has since begun to develop into something more fluid.

Kevin Love too, while still the most awkward fit, has become less so. It took him longer than anyone else to sort of figure out his role with the team, and he dealt with a lot of minor injuries during the regular season that he just didn’t have time to rest because of his teammates being out completely.

The Cavs finished the season third in offensive rating and 18th in defensive rating. That’s pretty danged good for a team that looked like they didn’t know who they were for half of the year.

Even in the playoffs, despite their numerous injuries, Cleveland managed to turn up the heat on defense and win games in a grind-it-out style. They should be much better than 18th come next season, while their offense could easily end up being the best in the league.

It all banks on health though, and the Cavs pay a few players who have had issues staying on the court. Still, if you’re management, you take that chance every time.

As for opponents, the East did get marginally better this summer. The Heat, Bucks, Wizards, Pistons, Bulls, Raptors, Hawks and Magic all have a great shot at the playoffs. It’s not hard to see the Celtics, Pacers and Hornets being in that chase either.

But can any of these clubs truly challenge the Cavs?

The Bulls gave Cleveland the best run for their money in the (East) playoffs this past postseason, and the Cavs ended that series in six games without a good portion of their roster available.

They swept the 60-win Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Heat, Bulls, Wiz and Bucks are the four clubs with the best shot to bring down the defending Eastern Conference champs, but none of them come across as exceptionally threatening.

The Bulls are the Bulls, though they lost Thibs, so it will be interesting to see how they do next season. The Wiz will also be pretty much the same team (i.e. not enough to take down Cleveland), but with an ever-improving John Wall–Bradley Beal duo. The Bucks need a couple more seasons, but are growing well.

The Heat jump out at me as the most dangerous playoff squad of the bunch, but the problem for them is staying motivated in the regular season and actually making the postseason. They have two aging stars in Dwyane Wade (who won’t give you more than 60 games anymore) and Chris Bosh (also coming off an injury).

But they did reload by adding scoring-minded bench players in Amar’e Stoudemire and Gerald Green. They also drafted Justise Winslow, who might be the steal of the draft being taken at 10th overall. And who knows what will happen with Hassan Whiteside.

This group is similar to what I thought the 2012-13 Nets would be, but better: a mediocre regular season team but a dangerous playoff team. No one is going to want to draw them if they make the playoffs.

If I’m a Cavs fan though, none of these teams are quite good enough to send a shiver running down my spine. They’ve all got a work-in-progress feel to them. But not Cleveland.

Might as well give them the banner right now. It’s over.

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