To lose to the lackluster 76ers is something that’s going to happen to some high-expectation team at least a few times this season, because that’s the beauty of basketball – on any given night, any given team can be blessed by the Roundball Gods and win against a team that on paper seriously overmatches them.
However, when you’re the rebounding Cleveland Cavs you can not allow these types of loses to happen. After dropping six straight when the King was sidelined with a damaged hand, the Reclamation of the Throne by LeBron James isn’t going to be an easy march. Consider the fact that the Cavs have lost two of the last three since the King’s return – and players like Larry Hughes are saying that the team is still trying to get into the swing of things, get into a rhythm; what like a month in a half into the season? What was the purpose of training camp and pre-season for the Cavs to get the summer rust off? Is the strategy to start forging the team into a cohesive unit during the first half of the season? That’s a strategy that beckons failure at crunch time… which is exactly what we saw last year, and the year before when the Cavs lost to the Pistons in the East Conference Finals.
Mark my words, LeBron will want out after this season if he doesn’t perform better in the Finals – yeah, which means he has to get past Boston. So GMs need to start figuring out what deals they can make to pick-up LeBron in the off-season. Although, the King might be an idiot like Kevin Garnett and remain on a perennial losing team for multiple years, hoping that management will bring the needed pieces to the team – like Sprewell and Cassell were going to be the elements required to get back the Lakers and the Spurs.
It’ll be a shameful day for the Mistake on the Lake if they can’t get the players they need to help LeBron, and many marquee or semi-marquee players just don’t want to play in Cleveland – that is live in Cleveland; that ghost town in the heart of the Rust Belt. As a Cleveland/Northeast Ohio native like LeBron, I understand the weird sense of pride that one has from that part of the country – but basketball isn’t about anything more than playing for a Championship (or more), as a NBA player you’re already getting more money than most people can conceive of for a game – so we’ll see how long this skid continues for the Cavs (‘cause until they put together a 5 or 6 game winning streak there are skidding) before the Coach gets the axe.
