The Point Four-ward: Giving Thanks

Four things I’m thankful for about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) This team actually likes each other (most of the time). I first noticed it on Media Day. LeBron James, who had spent much of the previous five years as… let’s just say “as not the most likable version of himself”… seemed happy. As he sat at a table taking questions from reporters, James seemed as relaxed about this team, its coaches, and its ability to win now as I could remember seeing him, well, ever. As I watched that, I caught myself thinking “Wow. I’d forgotten what it was like to actually like this guy.” This wasn’t Cryptic LeBron, or Moody LeBron, or even Leader LeBron, a character the Cavs and their fans have gotten to know more over the last couple weeks. This wasn’t a guy trying to figure out how Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters would fare as his running mates, wondering how the Cavs were going to get tougher or how long it would take them to learn to win together. This was the best player in the world comfortable with his team’s chances at winning a title and ready (even excited) to go out and do just that.The glossy film of Media Day gave way to a regular season that, while successful so far, hasn’t been free of trials. Due to injuries, the team is still not whole and James has had some curious moments (publicly calling out center Timofey Mozgov following a loss in Detroit and stepping over a fallen Kevin Love rather than stopping to help his power forward up come most quickly to mind).

Last year, either of those stories would have dominated SportsCenter for an entire week.

This year, they come and then they also, somewhat I familiarly, go. James has even gone so far as to heap praise on head coach David Blatt who, this time last year, some were already starting to wonder would even be around to see 2016. This team is shockingly and refreshingly drama free… at least, for now.

2.) This team knows how it needs to play to be successful… and has already shown it can do it. One of the Cavaliers’ biggest concerns heading into the season was whether or not the defensive-minded identity the team forged during their rugged and injury-riddled 2015 playoff run would return from summer vacation along with their players. The Cavs became a defensive juggernaut out of necessity, sothere was legitimate concern that the team’s defense would drop off with the return of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to the starting line-up.
What’s more, some wondered, with Irving expected to miss, at least, the first month of the season, would the team just put the ball entirely in the hands of James for the first couple of month and watch him try to ISO the league until either it or his aching back gave in?

What’s actually happened has been nothing short of a revelation. The Cavs are whipping the ball around on offense, currently ranked fourth in the league in assists at 25.1. On Monday night against the Magic, the Cavs recorded 34 assists on 43 made field goals. Put another way, nearly 80% of the team’s baskets against the Magic were assisted… when the team was missing its starting point guard Irving, his back-up Mo Williams and with the third point guard, Matthew Dellavedova, nursing a sore leg.

The team has also show that it can recapture some of their Finals feistiness on defense when necessary… though, too often this year, the Cavs have been forced to play lock-down defense late as a result of playing loose early and falling behind. Still, they’ve shown that the ability, willingness and understanding necessary to play great D is there.

The best part of already seeing the Cavs executing at a high level on offense and defense is that now, when they don’t play that way, James gets on them and the real dips haven’t lasted beyond just a couple of games.

3.) Likely (and hopefully), we have not seen the best of this team. The Cavs are now 2-0 missing four of their top eight players in Irving, Williams, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov. They are 10-3 while missing their starting backcourt. This team’s depth is for real and they’ve already proven they need it. Hopefully, everyone gets healthy soon and Cavs fans can start to see just what their team is capable of this year.

4.) The Golden State Warriors. I know… I know. I might regret saying this down the line, but I think it’s great that both the Cavs and the Warriors have looked this good this early in the season.

It’s still November, of course, and both clubs will (or, in the case of the Cavs, will continue to) face adversity. The West still has the Spurs, who should only get more formidable as LeMarcus Aldridge gets more comfortable in their system and Kahwi Leonard gets more comfortable with the fact that he’s an absolute beast and the East is pluckier top-to-bottom (if, outside of Cleveland, arguably weaker at the top than a year ago). But, if I gave you a pencil and a bracket now, tell me you wouldn’t write in a Cavs/Warriors Finals rematch for 2016. And tell me you wouldn’t pencil in the Dubs to win 70 games and flirt with the Chicago Bulls 72 wins mark from the 1996-97 season… a record most thought darned near unbestable.

So, you know what, I’m tired of prematurely worrying about the Warriors, as so much of the rest of the NBA is already doing. When the Cavs were flagging a bit against Milwaukee and Detroit a week ago, James compared his team to the Warriors, noting that the focus and intensity displayed by The Splash Family in this early season was the bar his own team had yet to live up to. While James sees value in dangling the Warriors’ success in front of his teammates like a carrot at the end of a stick, neither team is winning a ring before New Year’s.

So, I’ll stop looking at every Warriors win as a measure of the Cavs. I’d rather enjoy the incredible basketball show being put on by Steph Curry and Golden State right now… and think about what an amazing series a Finals rematch between these two teams when fully healthy could be.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Cavs fans!