This offseason, we at Gino's Jungle would like to think we have covered everything from A to Z when it comes to the Boston Celtics. With the regular season tip-off quickly approaching we decided it was time to take a look at the enemies. For the next five weeks we will be giving you the down low on all thirty teams in the NBA. We'll be doing this somewhat in conjunction with Celtics Blog's NBA team previews.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team Name: Cleveland Cavaliers

Last Year's Record: 61-21

 

What did they do this offseason?

 

Not a whole heck of a lot happened in Cleveland this offseason. As most of you know, they were unable to resign big man Shaquille O'Neal, who later decided to come to the Celtics. They also lost sharp shooter (no pun intended) Delonte West, who also became a member of the Celtics. Besides that not much went on.

 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, they also lost this guy named LeBron James. I'm sure none of you knew that yet. I can't believe the lack of publicity that outlined James' offseason and the decision to leave the city that loved him. It's almost like LeBron was trying to act like a professional and take care of his business quietly.

 

End of sarcasm.

 

In all seriousness, a simple one-hour ESPN special completely destroyed the Cavaliers chances of being a successful franchise in years to come. With LeBron gone, there was absolutely no incentive for any other players to go to Cleveland. That's why they got stuck with Ramon Sessions and Joey Graham as their key acquisitions.

 

What will they be good at? Bad at?

 

I had to dig really deep to find a positive for this year's Cleveland Cavaliers squad. Could they be a good defensive squad? Probably not. Will they be a good scoring team? Probably not. Are they deep? Not really; however, there is one position in particular that the Cavs are loaded at. The power forward position. Anderson Varejao, Antwan Jamison, Leon Powe, and J.J Hickson all find themselves as true power forwards on the depth chart. Don't be surprised if one or two of these guys are used as trade bait to bring in someone or something to help the Cavs down the road.

 

As I was typing out the weaknesses I thought of one more positive for the Cavs, locker room cohesion. Without LeBron and Delonte in the same locker room the rest of the team should be able to focus on the task at hand.

 

Not a lot of digging had to be done when it came to finding weaknesses for the Cavs. The first thing on the checklist: Talent. The Cavaliers are one of the worst teams in the league talent wise this season. Who's going to pick up the majority of the scoring load in James' absence? Jamison, Mo Williams, Varejao? That doesn't seem to promising for Cavs fans.

 

The Cavs are also going to lack leadership this season. As much as we have all grown to despise LeBron James, when he was on this team they had a leader on the court. They had someone to give the ball to when things weren't going right. This year they don't have that, and that could be a huge problem.

 

What should we expect from the Cavaliers this season?

 

On the court, not a whole heck of a lot. Face the facts, the Cavs are going to struggle without LeBron James. As much as Dan Gilbert would like to think positive about his team, I'm sorry to tell him but they're going to (for lack of better words) suck. There have been some talks about whether the combo of Jamison, Williams, and Varejao can squeeze this team into the playoffs. Again, I hate to break it to you but they can't... and they won't.

 

Instead of getting so worked up over this whole LeBron James situation, Dan Gilbert needs to sit down, relax, and assess the situation at hand. Does he want to be an OK team this year, and a bad team down the road, or does he want to trade away some pieces (Williams and Jamison) in order to provide a better future for the team? I know what I would do but then again I'm not a general manager, and unless I get this Sport Management degree soon it doesn't look like I'll ever be.

 

The Expert's Take: (Waiting for Next Year on goals for this year’s squad)

Those of us who have watched this team night in and night out the past few seasons know the truth. We know that this team was more than just LeBron James and a bunch of scrubs. We know that while the formula for winning was working, it was also allowing LeBron to stunt the development of pretty much everyone else’s game as they were asked to stand around and wait for LeBron to get them the ball. That should be good enough. Who cares what everyone else thinks? LeBron is gone, it’s time to move on and not worry about trying to retroactively prove anything. This franchise can either wallow in the past or move on to the future. Moving on should be goal #1 for this franchise.

Final Prediction: 25-57 (14th in Eastern Conference)