NBA Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers Target First Championship

2009 déjà vu anyone? The Boston Celtics traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to pair him with Paul Pierce to bring forth the new era definition of a big three apart from the 80s big three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The Celtics jelled well during the regular season, got the best record in the conference and went on to win the championship over their biggest rivals Los Angeles Lakers. From missing the playoffs, the Celtics turned the off-season into a massive haul and won the championship the next year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be headed that way too. After four dismal years of missing the playoffs and being unceremoniously rewarded with two back to back top picks in the draft after sporting a 33-49 record last year, the Cavaliers got their Christmas gifts early when prodigal son LeBron James chose to bring back his talents to Ohio and give the city of Cleveland a chance to taste its first championship in any major sports league. With the season debut just a full two weeks away, take a look at the key components of the team and where it is headed:

Projected Roster (in bold are the starters)

Point Guard: Kyrie Irving, Matthew Dellavadova, AJ Price

Shooting Guard: Dion Waiters, James Jones, Joe Harris

Small Forward: LeBron James, Mike Miller, Shawn Marion

Power Forward: Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Lou Amundson

Center: Anderson Varejao, Brendan Haywood, Alex Kirk

Offseason Additions:

LeBron James, Kevin Love, Shawn Marion, James Jones, AJ Price, Mike Miller, David Blatt (coach), David Griffin (General Manager)

Offseason Losses:

Luol Deng, Jarrett Jack, C.J. Miles, Tyler Zeller, Anthony Bennett, Spencer Hawes, Sergey Karasev, Mike Brown (coach), Chris Grant (General Manager)

Season Outlook

As LeBron said in his unprecedented essay with Sports Illustrated, the team will need time to find chemistry and be even considered for championship contender status. In the on-going pre-season games, the team is showing how much the players love the Princeton offence being introduced by European coach Blatt. Expect James and Love to contribute some of the set plays effective when they were under Erik Spoelstra and Rick Adelman. The Cavaliers can use most of the misdirection plays the Spoelstra mastered with his no-position lineup in Miami and for Love to show Blatt how effective pick and pops can be in a system that produces elite shooters.

In the defensive end is where the question marks lie for this team. Love and Irving are unproven defensive stalwarts. Waiters has the physical specimen but lack the dedication to commit whole heartedly on the defensive side of things. The Cavaliers have no shot blocking presence in the middle with Love and Varejao and with only Thompson and Haywood backing them up, the frontcourt is thin especially that Varejao is injury prone. Expect the team to add another big man by the trade deadline or trade for one using the trade exception it acquired in the Keith Bogans exchange with Philadelphia.

For now, they are projected to go to the top of the eastern Conference with only the Chicago Bulls which is also reliant on a healthy and productive Derrick Rose ready to challenge for the top spot. Expect 50 to 60 wins for this new Big Three.