I no longer cover the Cavaliers on a full-time basis for a number of reasons. The first is they don’t generate much interest on this very website.
Of most of the stories we post here, the Cavs are typically among the least-read. Unless it involves a trade rumor centered on Kevin Love or Andre Drummond, it’s usually considered non-news.
But that’s actually bad news for the Cavs. People seemingly have become apathetic about the franchise.
Now, I say that knowing there is also plenty of passion surrounding the team. The Cavs have been around for 50 years and have developed a real following in Cleveland. There is a pretty entrenched group of die-hards who support the team through thick and thin.
Lately, it’s been through too much thin. And I don’t know that anyone knows the Cavs’ plans — or even what the immediate future holds.
My fear is the front office has become too OK with losing in an effort to “build” and toot its horn about “growth.”
But know what that often becomes? It often becomes the Cavs serving as little more than a developmental team for everyone else.
The Cavs draft young players, develop them, lose a lot, and create an environment in which those young players can’t wait to leave.
Some people will tell you that you can’t build and sustain a winner if you trade for veterans and “spin your wheels” with a lower playoff seed. There is some truth to that.
You also can’t keep willingly being bad and expect to build a sustainable winner. Players don’t want to be here when the front office is tanking for picks. If the front office doesn’t care about winning, why should the players?
I’m not saying that’s where general manager Koby Altman and his team are today. But I do worry. Because all of one thing is never a winning formula.
ENTERING THE UNKNOWN
The Cavs open the season Wednesday at home vs. the Hornets (7 p.m. EST). I’ve covered the team at least on a part-time basis for 21 years. I’ve never seen this little interest entering a season.
Part of that is because of the way the world is today. COVID-19 has our attention elsewhere. The holidays have started. There is already a lot on our plates.
But we also don’t know what to make of the Cavs. They have a veteran frontcourt in Love, Drummond, Larry Nance Jr. and JaVale McGee. They have a wildly young (and undersized) starting backcourt in Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, with second-year man Kevin Porter Jr. as again their greatest hope off the bench. Somewhere in there, Cedi Osman, Dylan Windler, Dante Exum and Matthew Dellavedova will play a role or two.
There is definitely some excitement over rookie small forward Isaac Okoro, based on a couple of preseason performances. But Okoro is likely to face his share of first-year ups and downs. That’s just the way it goes in this league. Veteran teams win. Young teams almost never do.
The Cavs are a mix of veterans and youth. The issues will be that it’s the young guys doing the majority of the ball-handling and setting up the offense. Again, it’s tough to win regularly when that’s the case.
I do think coach J.B. Bickerstaff will turn the Cavs into a cohesive and determined bunch in spite of it all. I’m a big Bickerstaff fan and explained why on a recent podcast. Finally, it seems the Cavs have the perfect coach for their current situation.
Because of Bickerstaff, I might even say the Cavs could surprise. But there is too much working against him. I think the Cavs very well could (again) look to trade Love, and given Drummond’s expiring contract, I have very little faith he’ll still be in Cleveland at the end of the season.
Believe it or not, those sorts of things rarely impact a team on the court. Drummond and Love will play hard and likely produce when they’re out there.
But there is uncertainty with the team’s winningest players. There is uncertainty with the team’s plan. There is uncertainty with where the Cavs hope to be even a year from now.
Until they answer those questions, and show their fans (and players) the type of team they want to be, it’s likely to be more of the same — limited success and a limited following.
