OT: What makes Cleveland so good ?

[polishph22]

JHTruth you're at it again.

"The rest of that team is junk. I'm sorry."
"Mo Williams, Delonte, Wally, etc were borderline NBA players before Cleveland."

Outside of Allen, Pierce and Garnett, what do you think of Boston's roster? NBDL players? How good would we be if we had just one more hall of famer besides Lebron?

"Varajeo is just awful...."

It's Varejao by the way and you'd be lucky to have him on your roster.

[Fencer reregistered]

LeBron is just a monster. A total freak. Now that he can shoot, it's even more difficult to stop him or even slow him down. However, I have seen him look pretty mortal against us at times. They're not unbeatable. The rest of that team is junk. I'm sorry. They look so good playing with the King but on other teams. Nothing. Mo Williams, Delonte, Wally, etc were borderline NBA players before Cleveland. Varajeo is just awful. And Z is calcified. However it all works when you put LeBron on the team...

Williams and Varejao both have salaries demonstrating that some NBA GMs disagree with you. Ilgauskas hasn't fallen as far as you say. Wally has always been Ray Allen lite, which isn't a wholly bad thing. Delonte is young enough that to say he was highly inconsistent before doesn't say much about him now.

That's the nice form of my rebuttal.

[GuyClinch]

This is kind of a futile argument. I think without Lebron that Cavs don't win more then 35 games. The C's OTOH would win 50+ without KG. That's why of course Lebron is MVP. Of course even a 35 win team has some guys that can play West, Mo Williams, Z but for the most part they aren't very good without Lebron.

[vct33]

Yeah, I think 35 is a very generous number. I think the Cavs are about a 20-24 win team without LBJ.

I honestly believe that LBJ and 10 NBDLers would win more games than the rest of the roster.

[humblebum]

Eh, give Lebron a Pippen level star alongside a solid defense supporting cast and he wins the next 6-10 championships...

For instance, imagine Lebron playing alongside Pierce?!? That team would NEVER lose a playoff series.

[humblebum]

But that's not to say that Lebron doesn't have a good supporting cast now. He plays with 7-8 solid-good players. The Cavs roster has almost no holes or weaknesses, excepting a frontcourt post scorer. They're rock solid but simply lack that second very good - great player.

[Mahoney_jr]

I praised them on page 1, but I think a concern (read: hope) should be pointed out as well:

As good as LeBron is, I really think the more a team is reliant on a single player the more vulnerable it is, if the opponent "figures them out" and is step in front of them on a tactical basis.

Even though LeBron is still awfully good when he's off (in contrast to Bryant [scnr]), there should be a possibility to make the Cavs pay for the onesided playbook. Therefore I still see the Celtics or Nuggets as teams that could beat the Cavs.

[UGA Hayes]

Eh I think we aren't giving the teammates enough credit. Most of the guys on that team are pretty good scorers, so I think they can survive a bad shooting night from LeBron. Whats amazing about that team is they became such a good defensive team with guys with only avg to below avg reputations.

[MyInsatiableOne]

The Cavs are an injury away from being a 30 win team. The Celtics won 62 games without KG for 2 1/2 months...and are on the cusp of the ECF without him (and Powe)...the Cavs w/no LeBron get swept in the playoffs, plain and simple...

[Jimmy103]

The boys have to take care of business on Saturday, but if they can do so then here's what I think of a matchup with the Cavs:

The Cavs have not been challenged yet and will be coming off a week's worth of rest. 4 weeks of unchallenged basketball can't be good for a team. The Celtics on the other hand, while they would appear worn down, do have the Championship swagger still. They were supposed to be tired last season after 2 seven game series but they handled their business quite well over the following 12 games. To me the level that Rondo is playing at matches what KG brought to the table last season and Baby's play is matching what Rondo brought to the table last season. Pierce may have a chip on his should for getting 2nd team All-NBA to LeBron's 1st (he's the one who said he's the best wingman in the world, not me). Ray has to start clicking again, I'm not worried. Hopefully Perk's should can hold up. I think the C's can steal game 1, win both at home and close out in 6. This has the smell of a vintage 2001 New England Patriots "nobody believed in us." They're the Champs, they've flat out refused to quit, and they're being given NO chance at beating Cleveland. I believe.

[polishph22]

"The Cavs are an injury away from being a 30 win team. The Celtics won 62 games without KG for 2 1/2 months...and are on the cusp of the ECF without him (and Powe)...the Cavs w/no LeBron get swept in the playoffs, plain and simple..."

You guys are frustrating.... You're amazed that you're still a good team w/o KG....You still have 2 future hall of famers on your roster outside of KG. I wish I could say we had another hof'er on the Cavs' roster.

[D-WestFan]

The boys have to take care of business on Saturday, but if they can do so then here's what I think of a matchup with the Cavs:

The Cavs have not been challenged yet and will be coming off a week's worth of rest. 4 weeks of unchallenged basketball can't be good for a team. The Celtics on the other hand, while they would appear worn down, do have the Championship swagger still. They were supposed to be tired last season after 2 seven game series but they handled their business quite well over the following 12 games. To me the level that Rondo is playing at matches what KG brought to the table last season and Baby's play is matching what Rondo brought to the table last season. Pierce may have a chip on his should for getting 2nd team All-NBA to LeBron's 1st (he's the one who said he's the best wingman in the world, not me). Ray has to start clicking again, I'm not worried. Hopefully Perk's should can hold up. I think the C's can steal game 1, win both at home and close out in 6. This has the smell of a vintage 2001 New England Patriots "nobody believed in us." They're the Champs, they've flat out refused to quit, and they're being given NO chance at beating Cleveland. I believe.

I hate the 'the cavs haven't been challenged' argument, guess what, we have

Remember the semi-finals last year? We were challenged then, everything since then has been perseverance with that in the back of our heads, home court advantage, and so on, have resulted from our 'one goal', and thats why the cavs want the boston celtics...

Also, if you can go 16-0 in the playoffs, its infinitely better than being 'challenged' by mediocre teams and going 16-12 and risking a loss in game 7's...

[jt142]

Simple answer: Lebron.

I don't like him, but he's the best player in the world. Without Lebron, the Cavs would have trouble making the playoffs. He's that good.