It’s Basketball Season!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:40 am by Displaced Cleveland Fan
The Cleveland Cavaliers open the regular season tonight against the Boston Celtics. This is the team’s 40th season and perhaps their best chance thus far to win a championship.
To see the Cavaliers win the NBA Finals would be huge for their fans and the city of Cleveland. I grew up in Cleveland and have been following Cleveland sports as long as I’ve known what they were. Like many fans, I have yet to witness a team from Cleveland win a championship. The Cavs have never won. The Browns won a championship in 1964 before the Super Bowl era and long before I was born. The Indians have not won a championship since 1948. We keep holding out hope that one day it will happen. Right now, the Cavs give us the best chance.
Last year’s Cavs team produced the franchise’s best regular season with a 66-16 record. Unfortunately, they were knocked out of playoffs in the conference finals by Orlando.
So GM Danny Ferry got to work improving the team this offseason. The most notable addition was Shaquille O’Neal. Just the thought of Shaq in a Cavs uniform playing alongside of LeBron James makes me excited. But there were other important additions as well – Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Leon Powe and rookie Danny Green.
On paper, this team is much better than last year. But time will tell if that translates into actual success. There are certainly issues with this team that will have to be addressed – potentially minor problems like how Shaq and LeBron will play together and issues that could become major problems like Delonte West’s personal and legal problems. Every team has to face adversity. We’ll see how the Cavs respond to these concerns.
So as we are about to begin what could be the Cavaliers’ first championship season, I think there are three things that need to happen for them to have a shot:
- The players have to be a team. I really don’t think this will be a problem. But with as many new players as there are, there will be some period where everyone will have to adjust to their roles, rotations will have to be figured out, etc.
- The team needs to be healthy for the playoffs. They had a great regular season last year. But it’s not about the regular season. This team is built to make a run at a championship. To do this, they need to be healthy at the end.
- The team needs to figure out how to handle the situation with Delonte West. Ideally, West will overcome his personal struggles and be able to contribute like he did last year. But there’s no guarantee that will happen. No one knows right now how long it will be before West is able to significantly help the team. He needs to get his life straightened out first. Hopefully, for his sake, he is able to do that. Whether he is able to contribute this year or not, the team needs to prepare for little or no help from West. This is why the addition of Anthony Parker is so important. Whatever happens with Delonte, if the Cavs are to shoot for a title this year, they need to be able to win with or without him.
Right now it’s a balancing act looking forward to this season. You don’t want to get your hopes up (this is Cleveland sports after all), but there’s no reason to pessimistically expect the Cavs to blow their shot this year. Let’s just be realistic - the Cavaliers genuinely have a shot to win a championship this year. Whether they will or not, who knows? But we ought to enjoy the ride, wherever it goes.
-dcf
Tags: Anthony Parker, Cleveland Cavaliers, Danny Ferry, Danny Green, Delonte West, Jamario Moon, LeBron James, Leon Powe, Shaquille O'Neal
