Cleveland Cavaliers: Best Case Scenarios For 2016-17
Chemistry Growth After Championship
The journey of chasing an NBA title isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Along the way there is adversity that hits and can force a team to question their ability and potential.
From October to February, there were constant rumors that Kevin Love would be traded. Even still today, those rumors still linger. Love continued to play through the chatter and tried to find his niche with this team. He did so on the biggest stage possible.
All of the frustrating plays that Love made were forgotten when he played perfect defense on Stephen Curry in Game 7 of the Finals:
If Love can continue to put forth maximum effort defensively and help Tristan Thompson dominate the glass, he will help this team the most. Offensively, Love somehow has to become an efficient outside shooter.
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Playing alongside James and Irving alone means for a ton of kick-out threes. Love shot just .360 from deep last season. Ideally, he should be shooting at least .400. If he can do that, this team will be even more difficult to contain.
Assuming that Mo Williams doesn’t retire, the Cavaliers currently have nine players from the playoff roster set to return. Smith will make that 10 as he is expected to sign sometime before the regular season.
They’ve been battle-tested and proven to themselves that no obstacle is too big to overcome. With their backs against the wall down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, it’s the perfect time to point fingers and fold as a team by accepting defeat.
But what did they do? The Cavaliers came together with a laser-focus on their goal and fought back to achieve the impossible.
That bond will only grow as time goes on. They’ll face the same scrutiny and criticisms this season, but there will be peace of mind knowing they have been through it before and came out on top.
Next: How Far Can They Go?