Cavaliers in need of a big offseason
As the Cavs end another disappointing season the question now is, what will they do in this important upcoming offseason? Will they commit to bringing back LeBron to the North shore? Will Mike Brown return for a second year as the Cavaliers head coach? Maybe they decide to keep the money and lock down Kyrie Irving for the next five years with a maximum contract. These are all the questions the front office is confronted with this offseason, so which one or ones will they answer?
First off the problem on the inside needs to be answered immediately! The Cavaliers ranked dead last in shooting percentage within five feet of the basket, hitting about 54.5 percent of those shots and on the defensive side the Cavs blocked just 3.7 shots per game ranking them 29th in the league. Varejao led the team in shots blocked per game with a with a whopping 0.6 blocks a contest, leaving him ranked 70th in the league. Needless to say the Cavaliers have to correct this.
Secondly, could there be a return of the king? There have been LeBron James rumors for returning home all year! He has so called even hinted that he would like to return and bring the city a well deserved championship. Since he is the number one free agent available Cleveland would have to offer him a max contract and hope that the home town pitch works in the negotiations just for him to consider a return to the North shore. LeBron has gave away he would love to play with Kyrie Irving saying he is something special, and when they teamed up in the all star game they flat out played great together! They had chemistry and looked liked they have played together for seasons. But all of this is just to good to be true and we cant get caught up in spending all of our time on LeBron returning because the chances are very slim for a reunion between the Akron native and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Then there’s the lottery, the Cavaliers have gotten very lucky in the lottery selection coming up with the number one pick twice in a three year span but they have only hit on one of the picks which was Kyrie and miserably failed in last years pick with Bennett. The key to this upcoming draft is hitting big on our lottery pick, the Cavs could possibly take care of the inside problem with being able to select Embiid the center from Kansas. How ever that can only happen if the Cavs get a high pick in the lottery or they trade up for easily the number two pick, there are better chances in getting Cauley-Stein out of Kentucky where he currently lies at number 12 in the draft rankings. So in this upcoming first year players draft look for the Cavs to hit big and give Kyrie a reason to stay!
Getting Kyrie to stay is a huge deal for Cleveland, so how do they do it? it would have to come in a mixture of free agent signings, a good draft, and most importantly a hefty contract extension that he cant refuse. The only contract big enough would be a maxed out five year deal, if that kind of deal goes through say goodbye to signing any other big named free agents such as LeBron. Locking down Kyrie is hugely important because if he leaves we will enter the rebuilding stage yet again and would be now living in a post Kyrie era. But for now he is still locked down on the roster for the 2015 season so this could actually be handled later on. However the front office will try in all they’re power to get a deal done now so there’s no worrying about it later.
Lastly will Coach Brown still be around? Even though Brown has improved the Cavs defensive stat line significantly we still didn’t make the playoffs, mostly because of how horrible the offense was. It was way to simple for the opposing team to pickup, giving the opposing team an advantage because they could read the plays and knew what was coming. Though Brown did improve Cleveland’s record this year by nine games which led them to actually play games that were meaningful throughout April which hasn’t happened in the post LeBron era, totally a full four years now! Brown is also going to have to light a fire underneath the team because the low enthusiasm and lack of consistent play was the biggest reason for another loosing season. But when it comes down to if he will still be around or not I believe he will because a young team like the Cavaliers will not progress if they get a third coach within the same amount of years.
In closing the Cavs have a lot ahead of them this upcoming offseason and the big keys to success is to bring in help for Kyrie via free agents and the draft. Brown bringing in a more complex offense while keeping the defensive side tight, and keep his team energetic about playing by keeping the intensity level up. Lastly fix the hole on the inside to were they will be productive and competitive on both the offensive and defensive side of the court. The Cavaliers are heading in the right direction its just the matter of getting the right players in the draft and making intelligent signings this off season that will help Kyrie around the court and most importantly bringing some wins to Cleveland.
-Cameron T. Lopez
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