Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 obstacles to contending in 2017-18

5. Cohesiveness

Last year, the math was simple: LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on the floor in crunch time, and whoever is hot joins them. Head coach Tyronn Lue didn’t have to think. The 2017-18 season will be different.

Blending a hodgepodge of personalities, talents, playing styles and experience levels will be challenging. For example, a lineup of James, Love, Derrick Rose, Isaiah Thomas and Dwayne Wade have a combined 34 All-Star appearances and played for a total of 14 teams between them. That’s a lot of success in many different systems.

The supporting cast consists of players with specific roles. Tristan Thompson is a bruiser, while J.R. Smith and Kyler Korver are strictly sharpshooters. Jae Crowder, although an underrated shooter, is a defensive specialist. Iman Shumpert might be the most versatile of the bench squad. Each one will need to be coddled into a lineup that specifically fits their playing style.

A LeBron-led team will likely have great chemistry. He’s already started trying blend with his guys on Twitter.

The Cavs can have all the chemistry they want. But if the playing styles don’t jell and the lineups don’t mix, there will be problems.

The Cavaliers have lacked depth dating back to LeBron’s first season. It’s a different story this season. But as Peter Parker, or somebody once said, with great depth comes great responsibility. Lue has the tools this season. Let’s see how he uses them.