The Cleveland Cavaliers’ top-to-bottom rebuild at this year’s trade deadline refocused their roster around LeBron James, a necessary step that will give them a puncher’s chance for a title this postseason. But there’s a downside to that, too, something seen on Sunday when the Cavaliers fell 110-94 to the San Antonio Spurs.
In that game, James played 40 minutes, scored 33 points, gathered 13 rebounds, recorded nine assists, and shot 56 percent from the floor. It wasn’t enough. Cleveland is missing Kevin Love, but they’re missing a Kyrie Irving type even more. The new Cavaliers role players are much more LeBron friendly than the ones on the roster to start this season, but they also ask more from him. No one will save James if he’s having an off night. Sometimes, even a 33-point near triple-double isn’t enough.
This team will be better with Love, and better in the postseason. Let’s consider both options.
Cleveland has been without their second-best player since the end of January, and he still won’t be back until late March. They need him to reprise his early season role before Isaiah Thomas showed up, sent the Cavaliers into crisis mode, and ultimately self-owned himself by talking shit and getting traded. That Love, pre-Thomas, was an efficient 20-point, 10-rebound machine that even hit 40 percent of his three-pointers. Love still won’t be the elite offensive creator that James craves, but his occasional post moves, knack for finding cheap buckets, and spot-up shooting will be welcomed.
On Sunday, the Cavaliers curiously closed out their loss to San Antonio with Jeff Green at center. Tristan Thompson still isn’t cutting it — The Athletic’s David Zavac succintly described his defensive issues here — and Larry Nance Jr. will only work in certain matchups, though I do like his hustle and good knack for smart ball movement. Love would have surely closed Sunday’s game against traditional big men like LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol. His return will help head coach Tyronn Lue’s rotations. James becomes a different player in April, May, and June. It’s not necessarily that he’s better on any given play, but he’s engaged on more of them. If an opponent can’t stop James in the pick-and-roll, then postseason James will run it 10 straight times, where regular season James sometimes might cede the offense to teammate for stretches. The more LeBron’s involved, the tougher it is to beat Cleveland. He’s surrounded with three-pointer shooters and two-way athletes, and that’s the exact terroir needed to produce a full-bodied, well-aged LeBron. It’s a better supporting cast than James had in the 2015 Finals, for example. But this is a deeper Eastern Conference and starrier Golden State Warriors, James is four years older, and he still lost in 2015, anyway. Cleveland has still won four of their last six outings despite falling to San Antonio, and three of five with their new roster. Love would help, but this team should finish their final 23 games well over .500. That’s important, since Cleveland hangs onto the No. 3 seed with just a one-game lead. (Though the seeding probably doesn’t really matter at this point.)
As long as a handful of these role players around James can be productive this postseason, and at least a handful should, then the Cavaliers are back in a familiar position: they’ll go as far as he’ll take them. That’s not ideal — James has never won a championship without a secondary star, something you can say about nearly every superstar that has ever played this sport — but it’s the best position that Cleveland could put themselves in. In that way, their roster rebuild has succeeded.