How the Cleveland Cavaliers can be champs next year
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by user Wizardman
Well, the NBA season is over (or just starting, whichever you want to call it), and it's time to look ahead at the upcoming season. Everyone's talking about Oden and Durant, how they will be. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Portland and Seattle aren't winning the title, so I'm not going to delve into the draft all that much. Now, The Cleveland LeBrons were Eastern Conference Champs, first time ever. Nice buzz around Ohio as a result of that, even though most of us didn't think we'd beat the Spurs. But, it'll be a new season coming up, and the Cavs certainly have a shot, as they are still a team on the rise. What do they need to do?
1. Make LeBron work on his Jump Shot!
This is priority 1, and for good reason; it's his Achilles heel right now. Having an Achilles heel like not great at passing behnd your back is one thing (which he is), but not having a good jump shot is harmful. When LeBron's great and get make great plays, the Cavs win. If they stop LeBron inside, what happens? They lose. Four times in a row to the Spurs. You can't have that. I mean, Zydrunas Ilgauskas was regularly shooting mid-range jumpers and making them, yet the franchise boy isn't? That's a problem.
2. Re-sign Anderson Varejao.
Sure, it doesn't seem like it's too difficult, but he's one of the main playmakers off the bench. If Z or Drew's not playing very well then he's able to light a fire under the rest of the team and get them going. Plus, he's a flopper, which people don't like but you at least have to admit it helps. Plus, Z's aging, you need a Wild Thing running around in the center position.
3. Let Sasha Pavlovic go.
Really? But he was a decent #2 guy last year. True, however, that's our problem. He's not quite good enough for a championship team, though he'd fit in well on some of the playoff bubble teams. Daniel Gibson has been surprisingly great in the playoffs, so if Hughes can improve his game at point then we can just plug in Gibson at #2. And if he doesn't work out there, then we just move Hughes to Shooting guard again and plug in Eric Snow, who can still play even though he seems to have disappeared. There's still other options available though.
4. Sign a big name, or at least pretty good, free agent guard.
Yes, a guard and only a guard. If Hughes has playoff problems again we need someone who can step in no problem. Chauncey Billups would be the ideal guy since despite playoff woes this year, he does have finals leadership. Assuming that doesn't work, there are some options out there. I actually like Steve Blake, he's got a reliable shot. You could even sign Jalen Rose to a small contract, but he may be past his prime. Eddie Jones came to mind as well, but again, kinda past his prime. In fact many free agent guards seem to be past their prime or very young, not too many good catches there. I'm gonna say that the best option is probably Maurice Williams of Milwaukee. Very good player, nearing his prime, could be a potential playmaker, would fit in well with a team that needs another scorer.
5. Trade Damon Jones or use him.
If they listen to me and nab Mo Williams, they'll have at PG Williams, Jones, Snow, possibly Brown, occasionally Hughes. This is a stacked position, so why not take one that probably has a lot of trade value. Jones shoots the three well enough that there will be plenty of teams that would dangle some decent offers. If it's one we can work with, then there we go, problem solved. If there aren't really any takers for a very good 3 point shooter though, then let's try using him. A near 40% career shooter rotting on the bench is not going to do a low-scoring team good, start using the jones-marshall bench combo like they used to do and things will be fne.
6. More teamwork.
LeBron could be the next Michael Jordan to me, but to me he's more of the next Oscar Robertson, which is just as good. Oscar could shoot, rebound, and pass to opponents as well as anyone, and so can LeBron. How much better would this work if the teammates were better and worked harder? Yes, LeBron's great, but if the team lives and dies with LeBron's shooting, it's not gonna get anywhere. Learn from the Spurs and utilize the different players more. If Lebron can get 25, 10-15 shooting and a W, it's better than LeBron scoring 30, 10-25 shooting and the L.
7. Hope history's on their side.
What does this mean? Well, in the past five years, despite the West clearly being better, the champs were: SA, DET, SA, MIA, SA. Based on this, Cleveland could be next in line. Plus, LeBron's already ahead of MJ's learning curve. Or is he? The "Bad Boys" of today appear to be the Spurs. The Spurs have 3 titles in 5 years. The Pistons beat MJ's Bulls 3 times before he overcame that.
Just a few things to think about. Sure, there's some other things I didn't cover, but this would hopefully be enough. Ideally, the starting lineup would be Williams, Hughes, James, Gooden, Ilgauskas. Gibson, Varejao, and Marshall (and Jones if he's there) would be the main bench players. To me that sounds like a pretty dangerous team.
