Cleveland Cavaliers: Hope For Another Day?

If we thought that The Decision was a bad idea, LeBron James seems to be making a point with The Indecision.  But rather than announcing his choice on a poorly thought-out national television special, LeBron has decided to take the entire league captive.

Fans everywhere are frantically refreshing Twitter as often as physically possible. People in Cleveland are camping out in front of LeBron’s house, while the police prepare for possible riots (either for angry or celebratory reasons).  The Houston Rockets have to sit and wait for Chris Bosh to decide upon their offer of a max contract, while Bosh has to wait to know whether he can continue to play with LeBron in Miami.

In a lot of ways it feels like the NBA championship could be drastically altered by this one moment, all based on what team LeBron chooses. One person is effectively holding the NBA and its fans hostage…and there is no clear end in sight.

Each day the tension builds, and each day there is no further clarity given.  Things seems to just get murkier with every passing hour.  But despite the unknown of it all, the Cleveland Cavaliers are still proceeding as if LeBron is coming home.

From pre-emptively trying to recruit shooters such as Mike Miller and Ray Allen (both former teammates of James in Miami), to the trade of Jarrett Jack to the Brooklyn Nets, the Cavaliers are making plans based on hope in order to clear the necessary cap space.  And this shouldn’t be lost on people: the Cavaliers have a realistic hope for a return to prominence.

That alone should be celebrated among the Cleveland faithful.  Coming into the offseason, this was everything that fans and management desired…to simply have a legitimate chance at bringing home the prodigal son. This fact should be enough to placate our desires as we wait for an announcement.

Four years of painful rebuilding and three years of draft lottery luck are already worth it.  The Cavaliers have an exciting young core that can grow together for years to come, a star point guard who just signed an extension and a lineup that is intriguing enough to tempt the greatest player in the world to join.

None of this is meant to dismiss the significant impact that LeBron would assuredly have in Cleveland.  He would automatically take a talented but lacking roster, and turn them into legitimate threats in the Eastern Conference…perhaps even the favorites.

But with the real possibility of getting stomach punched in the coming days, it is important to keep in mind that all is not lost if LeBron goes elsewhere.

At least, that’s what I’m telling myself in an effort to try and get some sleep.  And as was reported last night, we should know soon enough:

All that remains is another 24 hours…so I guess sleep can wait another day.