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Cleveland Cavaliers: Best Case Scenarios For 2016-17

By Colby Giacubeno

Jun 19, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) celebrates with the Bill Russell MVP Trophy after beating the Golden State Warriors in game seven of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 19, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) celebrates with the Bill Russell MVP Trophy after beating the Golden State Warriors in game seven of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Cleveland Cavaliers reached the pinnacle of winning a championship just three months ago. What are the best case scenarios for 2016-17?

Jan 6, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) celebrates with Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) after their game against the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center. The Cavaliers won 121-115. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 6, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) celebrates with Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) after their game against the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center. The Cavaliers won 121-115. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off the most successful season in franchise history. It included winning the organization’s first NBA championship and the city’s first championship since 1964.

The dark cloud that used to hang over Cleveland is now gone … well, at least for the NBA team it is.

The good thing is there wasn’t any real drop off throughout the off-season for the Cavaliers’ roster. Timofey Mozgov signed a huge contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, but considering he played just 76 minutes throughout the postseason, his production won’t be hard to make up for.

Matthew Dellavedova scored a four-year $38 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. His numbers don’t match that kind of deal, but his presence and invaluable effort helped getting paid. Besides depth at point guard, this move won’t hurt the Cavaliers too much.

Related Story: 25 Best Players to Play for the Cleveland Cavaliers

They hope rookie Kay Felder can step up and be a solid backup behind Kyrie Irving. Felder is a small, but explosive guard who was last year’s Horizon League Player of the Year and a third-team All-American last season for Oakland University.

More from Cleveland Cavaliers

J.R. Smith

remains unsigned, but all indications are he will be back with the team after multiple posts from

LeBron James

on different social media that hint he will be staying put. It’s still a matter of concern over whether or not the team and Smith can meet in the middle for a contract.

He is expected to get around $13 million per year.

With that being said, they will return pretty much the same roster as last season, which only means for better team chemistry and understanding of what it takes to win a title. Still, defending your title is one of the hardest things to do in sports.

Even the reigning champs have best-case scenarios that need to break their way.

Let’s take a look at them.

Next: Irving Becomes Elite

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