Saturday, May 16, 2009

A.L Casoni Presents: Where would the Cavs be right now if they were LeBron-less?

A View From the Burgh...

I know its not a popular topic of discussion, but where would the Cavaliers be right now without LeBron James? Exactly where they are now? Recently eliminated from the playoffs? 24 beers deep in Cancun on vacation? The Cavs are rolling through the playoffs like a freight train. The Hawks and the Pistons were like a gigantic piece of cake in front of a fat kid, without a chance of survival. All this possible without the King? The Cavaliers certainly improved their squad in the offseason. The addition of Mo Williams has added another legitimate scorer to the lineup, and guys like Varejao and West have certainly earned their paychecks. But really, 8 games in to the playoffs without a loss? Truth of the matter is this, LeBron proved 1 man can take a team to the NBA finals a few years ago. He single-handedly put the team on his back, and carried them to the NBA finals. If you doubt this, please refer back to Game 5 against the Pistons. Regardless of the fact the Cavs were swept by the Spurs, it does not downplay how truly amazing this run was for LeBron and his minions. I think you know where I am going with this. With that said, the Cavs, in my opinion, would have limped in to the playoffs a 5 or 6 seed without the King, and would be sitting on the beach right now. They may have given someone a test, but they wouldn't have been a factor in the East. Reality is though that Cleveland is in the best position right now in the East, actually make that in the entire NBA. They are at home kicking it on their Lazy Boys in preparation of watching tomorrow's contest between the Celtics and Magic. Their biggest threat in the West is in a 7 game struggle, and their opponent is without the most coordinated guy to ever come out of China. The Celtics are a different team without Garnett, no doubt. They are even giving minutes to Brian Scalabrine? Seriously, Brian Scalabrine? So 2010 is obviously the year we are not looking forward too as Clevelanders. If we want to continue to watch the Cavs in to June, LeBron must stay. If not, we better hope the Tribe comes out better than they did this year...

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1 comment:

Rad said...

Nice post man, I'm a Knick fan so I'm hoping he comes to NY and that we somehow draft Ricky Rubio. But I think Lebron is better off in Cleveland. He has helped resurrect an entire franchise and should see it through to the end. After his retirement, he can make a comback and wear #45 for a different team...deja vu lol