Cleveland Cavaliers: A Look at Their Competition for a Playoff Berth
On the NBA’s opening night, the Cleveland Cavaliers took down the Brooklyn Nets 98-94. The Nets had a wild offseason, hiring Jason Kidd as their new head coach and acquiring Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry from the Celtics. The Nets, along with the Heat, Pacers, Bulls and Knicks, seem like a lock to grab one of the eight playoff spots in the East. Meanwhile, the Cavs have their eyes set on their first postseason berth in the post-LeBron era. The 76ers, Magic, Bobcats and Celtics have all embraced tanking or rebuilding–some teams may join them if they falter early on–but the Hawks, Pistons, Bucks, Raptors and Wizards should all compete for one of those three remaining playoff spots. Here’s a look at each team’s strengths, weaknesses and likelihood of reaching the postseason.
Atlanta Hawks
Al Horford leads an Atlanta Hawks team that seems too thin for a playoff run. Photo Credit: Mark Runyon, Basketball Schedule
The Hawks always seem to find a way to be good, but never great. For the past five years, they’ve been somewhere from the third to sixth seed in the East, never making it past the second round. In the offseason, they lost out on Chris Paul and Dwight Howard and said goodbye to several players, most notably Josh Smith. Meanwhile, Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver all decided to call the ATL home.
The Hawks will likely be more of the same this year, remaining competitive in the Eastern Conference. Their three offseason acquisitions, along with Al Horford and a healthy Louis Williams, give the Hawks one of the better starting fives out of the teams competing for one of the last three playoff spots. The bench, however, seems a bit underwhelming. Ultimately, I see the Hawks missing the playoffs, with younger and more balanced teams entering the mix, ending a great run of being consistently above-average, but never elite.
Detroit Pistons
Andre Drummond is part of an imposing frontcourt in Detroit. photo credit:
via
Of all the teams I’m examining, I think the Pistons are the one lock for the playoffs and could potentially grab the fifth seed if the Knicks underperform. They already had a strong frontcourt with André Drummond and Greg Monroe, who could both be in the mix for their first All-Star appearances, and in the offseason signed Josh Smith to play small forward. They also signed Brandon Jennings and hired Maurice Cheeks as head coach.
Jennings and Smith are both extremely reckless and erratic shooters and could derail this team offensively. Jennings never played with a team this good in Milwaukee, so Detroit has to hope that with all the other scoring threats his shot selection will improve. The team’s biggest strength, though, lies with in its frontcourt, something that very few teams in the league can contain.
Milwaukee Bucks
Larry Sanders has emerged as a solid NBA center for the Milwaukee Bucks. Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com
Uhhhh, what to say? The Bucks are consistently very average. For the past five years, they’ve floated between the sixth seed and 12th seed in the East. This offseason they replaced Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings (AKA “The Backcourt Most Likely to Make You Start Drinking”) with O.J. Mayo and Brandon Knight. Larry Sanders has also developed into a solid starting center. But the thing is while the Bucks have a bunch of solid and decent players, they lack a truly great player. This is another team that is purely average on paper. The Bucks seem like a prime candidate to start tanking after two months. They’re in no place to contend and won’t be in a while, so deciding to rebuild or tank seems to be the best move. Let’s just see if the Bucks front office is smart enough to realize this.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors’ biggest offseason acquisition was none other than Drake, who will help promote the team’s brand and image. He has already begun to take care of business, making headlines with this extremely melodramatic promotional video.
We all know Drake will be up until 5 a.m. in Toronto working hard to lure in players for the future, but this team right now is not in a position to make much noise, and no amount of practice will fix this. Lord knows what moves specifically the Raptors will make, but trading Rudy Gay seems most likely. Gay has a player option for the 2014-15 season and has little purpose in Toronto now. While he is an incredibly ineffective shooter, at least one team chase after him. The Raptors should feel content with building through the draft; they won’t be bad enough to grab the league’s worst record, but they could find value around the eighth to 10th pick in this upcoming deep draft. The Drake era of Raptors basketball is upon us and I’m happy to go along for the ride. Nothing was the same in the Air Canada Centre.
Washington Wizards
John Wall and Bradley Beal will provide a lot of excitement for the D.C. area this season. Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com
After having one of the top three picks in three of the past four drafts, the Wizards finally will contend for a playoff berth. They have a complete core built around John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr. Look for Wall to make the jump to All-Star this year. The Wizards also recently acquired Marcin Gortat from the Suns to complement Nene in the frontcourt. Trevor Ariza, Martell Webster and Al Harrington off the bench give the Wizards a great rotation.
The Wizards remind me a lot of the Cavs. They’re both built around a young point guard with a core of good young players, a few of whom could potentially become great this year. Like the Cavs, they’re poised to play postseason basketball, which would be their first berth since 2008.
Final Predictions
I think the Cavs will finally snag a playoff berth. This is how I see the six through 11 seeds ending up:
"6) Detroit Pistons7) Cleveland Cavaliers8) Washington Wizards9) Atlanta Hawks10) Toronto Raptors11) Milwaukee Bucks"
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