It was Sunday, June 14th and the Cleveland Cavaliers arrived at Oracle Arena tied 2-2 with the Golden State Warriors. The Cavaliers had ridden LeBron’s historic NBA Finals start to a 2-1 series lead before dropping game 4 by 21 points.
During the first 3 games the Cavs had lost a very winnable Game 1 in overtime, LeBron had the opportunity to close the game out in regulation but took an ill-advised jump shot. They went on to take home court advantage from the Warriors by winning the next two games. Golden State had played their best game of the series in Game 4 but the Cavs were feeling good knowing that LeBron was coming off 3 days rest for Game 5.
The energy in Oracle Arena was more electric than ever before, which is hard to believe given its reputation. The Warriors and Steph Curry had a tough practice the day before and Steph himself barely hit a shot during pregame warm-ups but that all changed when the ball tipped off. The Cavs never threatened the Warriors in that game and were run out of the series in 6. Since then Golden State has lost only 4 games, has the runaway NBA MVP and have figured out how to turn Draymond Green from role player into the most versatile man in the NBA.
The Cavs on the other hand endured an offseason of uncertainty. Kyrie Irving was recovering from a knee injury he suffered during the NBA Finals, Kevin Love was an outcast free-agent that was entertaining other teams and LeBron was playing puppet master in the background. LeBron decided to flex his power by negotiating the Love deal personally and forcing the team to give perennial 8pt-8reb Tristan Thompson a mega-deal.
That disorganization carried into the regular season and even though the Cavs had an above-average record their flaws were highlighted when they played elite level competition. This led to the firing of head coach David Blatt and the promotion of assistant coach Tyronn Lue.
The Cavs have looked better under Lue but much of that is attributed to the improved health of Kyrie Irving and the hot streak J.R. Smith is currently on. Smith had a similar hot streak heading into last year’s playoffs but cooled off tremendously in the Finals. The Cavaliers, and above that LeBron, realize that they don’t have the talent to compete with the major players in the Western Conference.
Thus, we hear new rumors daily about the Cavaliers combing thru the NBA trading block. The latest report places the Cavs as a possible trade partner for the Knicks and Celtics in a deal that’ll ship off Kevin Love and bring in Carmelo Anthony.
Carmelo has played well as of late but he’s been injured more often than not the past two seasons and bringing in an older veteran wreaks of desperation on the part of the Cavs.
LeBron re-signed with the team in 2014. On that day he sold the city of Cleveland on a dream that included bring them a NBA title but that was only if the organization gave him the pieces he needed to do so.
He pushed the front office into trading a #1 pick packed full of potential, Andrew Wiggins, for the oft-alienated Love. He’s since recruited “his guys” to play with him in Cleveland and trading players before the NBA deadline would be an admission of failure on the part of LeBron the GM, not the player.
LeBron the player was nearly good enough to overcome the failures of Lebron the GM’s front office moves last season but he’s ageing and every misstep makes his pursuit of a 3rd championship tougher.
The best move for the Cleveland Cavaliers would be for them to stay put at the deadline and hold LeBron accountable for his actions. The organization has yielded to LeBron’s every desire and it’s time for him to make good on his end of the bargain.