The Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA Championship last night, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The Celts actually put away both the Pistons and Lakers in six contests, after a tough seven game series against the Cavaliers. Now, we are not going to proclaim that the wine and gold is the second best team in the NBA since the Cavs took them to a seventh game, a game in which Cleveland could have won, but you can easily imagine LeBron James and company getting back to the Finals if they had gotten past Boston.
The reason for the success the Cavs had against the World Champions was their defense. There is no question that after they eliminated Cleveland, the green breathed a sigh of relief that they were finished with Mike Brown’s defensive schemes. Even Mike Fratello said in an interview on “The Jim Rome Show” that the Celtics were happy to be done with the Cavalier defense. For example, look at Ray Allen. He was a total non-factor against the Cavs, but played and shot very well against Detroit and Los Angeles.
This is not to suggest that the Cleveland Cavaliers are an elite team, nor should they stand pat this off-season. It does point out how good the wine and gold is defensively. It also shows that the Cavs were indeed pretty close to a return trip to The Finals. With the correct moves and/or a solid draft pick, one can definitely envision the Cavs playing for a title as early as next season. The Celtics will be a year older, and so will the Pistons. The Magic and Hawks could be up and coming teams, but do not have the experience that Cleveland has.
GM Danny Ferry needs to improve the offense. He needs to get another dependable scorer to go along with his superstar, LeBron James. Getting that piece of the puzzle, together with the dependable Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and hopefully, the continued improvement of Daniel Gibson, will give the wine and gold a more balanced attack. As much as the management thinks they don’t need a point guard, getting someone who can run the offense well will help the team in the times where the attack bogs down.
The Cavs have expiring contracts in Eric Snow, Wally Szczerbiak, and Damon Jones to dangle to teams looking for salary cap relief. Rumors have been rampant since the team was eliminated in the playoffs that Ferry is interested in using these playoffs to get the second scorer the team so badly needs. It is doubtful he will include the Cavs’ pick at #19 unless he can secure another first round pick in exchange. The front office believes, and rightly so, that choice is needed to bring in a young player to develop for the future.
A total rebuilding process is not needed. The Cavs cannot win a title as they are currently constituted, but they aren’t that far away either. They took the champions to a seventh game, and could have won that game. Defensively, they are good enough to the title, so it is clear that the front office and coaching staff have to get some help when they have the ball. This team needs a second scoring option, and they need it before the 2008-09 season starts.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 