Well, LeBron James has gone to Los Angeles. No complaints from my end; he led the 2016 Cavaliers to Cleveland's first title in my lifetime. If he wishes to go out the the Lakers, more power to him. Good luck against the Warriors- they've managed to get even better.
Most of my fellow Cavalier fans want the team to tank- they lose their 1st round draft pick if it's not in the top 10. But so many teams are tanking that I don't think they can get into the bottom 10 teams. Instead, I have a suggestion that could make the team interesting, and might be crazy enough to work.
First, understand that the Cavs have a lot of decent players, each with their strengths and weaknesses. Last year, every player was used as a complimentary player to LeBron. Now, that worked- they got to the NBA Finals. But without LeBron, coach Tyronne Lue needs to think differently.
Here's my suggestion: Two teams, each one getting about half the playing time.
The first team:
PG- George Hill
SG- JR Smith
SF- Kyle Korver
PF- Kevin Love (spelled by Larry Nance Jr.)
C- Tristan Thompson
These are the starters. They are the veterans. Love and Korver aren't great defenders, but it's the best defensive group. When this team is on, the play slows down.
Lue keeps this group together. Then, after 8-10 minutes, he swaps out 4 of the players:
PG- Collin Sexton
SG- Jordan Clarkson
SF- Cedi Osman
PF- Kevin Love (spelled by Tristan Thompson)
C- Larry Nance Jr.
Here, you keep Love in... but replace the other four with younger, faster, more athletic players. And you let them RUN. It's a radical change of pace when this team is in- basically, a turbo boost.
You keep Love in most of the time because he's the best player, and because Sexton-to-Love is a great Pick and Roll team.
Ideally, as the younger players get used to playing together, later in the year they take up more and more minutes.
But you keep the two teams playing as their units, and use the change of pace to throw off teams.
Will this beat the Warriors? No. But I think this team can make the playoffs.
