Analyzing Kyrie

For most of the last two seasons, basketball fans in Cleveland have focused on two players when things have gone bad for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, David Blatt is no longer the team’s head coach, and although Kevin Love’s value is still misunderstood by many who claim to know the game, the spotlight has been deflected from him recently.

More and more people are taking a look at Kyrie Irving.

There is no question that Irving, the first player taken in the draft in 2011, is uber talented, and also a highly decorated player.

He was the Rookie of the Year in 2012, the All Star MVP in 2014, USA Basketball’s player of the year, and last year was named to the third team All-NBA squad.

He may have the best ball handling skills in the league, and can seemingly get to the basket anytime he wants to.

But for many of the basketball cognoscenti, there is something missing.

First of all, it’s Irving’s effort and ability on the defensive end of the floor. As Coach John Wooden once said there is no excuse for a good offensive man not to be a good defensive man.

The same quickness that Irving uses to get to the rim on a nightly basis can certainly be used to stop his defensive assignment.

The second problem is his tendency to show off his handle. He loves to dribble.

After Irving scored 33 points in a win over Dallas on Wednesday, he was being praised by some because “someone has to score”, but meanwhile his teammates were said to be upset by his monopolization of the ball.

The guard’s big hoop in the last two minutes came from giving up the ball, and getting it back on a pass from JR Smith as he cut to the basket.

Meanwhile, Dallas came back from a 20 point deficit because Irving dribbled the shot clock down to expiration and then had to take poor percentage shots.

There is no doubt the Cavs need him to score, but it can be done by giving it up and moving without the ball to open spots where his team can find him.

Players are human. They don’t like to go up and down the floor without ever touching the basketball. It is understandable that professional players are frustrated playing with a ball dominant player, especially when the coach and the best player on the team stress that style of play.

The other issue with Irving is that he doesn’t seem to be improving as a player.

His shooting percentage hasn’t gotten appreciably better since entering the NBA ( career high 46.9% as a rookie, now 46.2%), nor has he become a better passer (5.4 assists as a rookie, career best 6.1 in last year without James, now 4.5).

His player efficiency rating (analytics!) was 21.4 as a rookie, peaked at 21.5 last season, and is now at 21.0). Here is how that stacks up against other in their first five seasons–

Stephen Curry: 16.3, 19.4, 21.2, 21. 3, 24.1
Damian Lillard: 16.4, 18.6, 20.7, 23.3 He is now in his fourth year.
Derrick Rose: 16.0, 18.6, 23. 5, 23.0, hobbled by injuries since.

We picked these players for the following reasons. Curry and Lillard are players compared most to the former Duke standout, and Rose was also a one and done player, while the others played more college basketball than did Irving.

While Irving started out better than the other three, he hasn’t taken the step up in his game that the other three have. The Cavs need him to take that next step because he is that talented, and LeBron James is getting older.

Irving is the one who needs to “fit in”, and stop listening to a player like Kobe Bryant, who tells him to be more aggressive.

He needs to remember that in Bryant’s first three championships, he was NOT the best player on those teams, Shaquille O’Neal was.

The Cavs need him to win, but he needs to share the ball, and get it back to score. Oh, and to pick it up on the defensive end too.

He can do all of that. It’s just a matter of actually doing it.

The Case For Naquin

When Abraham Almonte was suspended for using a performance enhancing drug at the beginning of spring training, it created a void in the middle of the outfield for the Cleveland Indians.

Not that Almonte is Willie Mays or Ken Griffey Jr. in their primes, but he did enter the off-season with a leg up on the starting job after hitting .264 with a 776 OPS in August and September of last season.

He also played solid defensively.

The front office didn’t really bring in a great deal of competition either. Sure, they signed Rajai Davis as a free agent, presumably to be a platoon partner for Almonte, who is much better from the left side of the plate, but they filled the spring training roster with a much of back up types for the outfield.

Of course, part of the reticence to bring in a veteran is the impending arrival in 2017/2018 of Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier, both of whom have played CF in the minor leagues.

So, who gets the bulk of the time in center when the 2016 season opens?

Many speculate Davis, but at 34 years old, can he handle the job on an everyday basis or defensively?

Jose Ramirez has seen some time there in the exhibition games, but he will have to play some 3B too, spelling another player with some age, Juan Uribe.

Although we believe Ramirez can certainly be an everyday player in the major leagues, it seems the Tribe brass likes him more as a guy who can fill in all over the diamond.

That’s where Tyler Naquin comes in.

Cleveland’s former first round pick in the 2012 draft, the left-handed swinging Naquin has enjoyed a very good spring, and should be given the first shot at the position when the regular season opens at Progressive Field on April 4th.

Yes, we know that he has played only 50 games at the AAA level, hitting .263 with Columbus last season, but he did have a .353 on base percentage, and a 784 OPS.

That followed a stint at Akron where he hit .348 in 34 games (887 OPS), improving on his numbers at the AA level in 2014, when he hit .313 (795 OPS).

Although the AAA experience isn’t great because Naquin has had problems staying healthy, you have to remember he also played in the Arizona Fall League in 2013, where he broke out, batting .339 with a .400 on base percentage.

The AFL attracts a lot of top prospects, and Naquin acquitted himself very well against that high level of competition.

However, there are two reasons Naquin should be the CF come Opening Day unless he falls flat on his face the rest of this month.

First, he’s going to be 25 during the first month of the season. There’s no reason to protect his service time because by the time he can be a free agent, he will be 31 years old, and supposedly on the downside of his career.

Second, he has the most upside. The other contenders for the job, guys like Collin Cowgill, Shane Robinson, and Will Venable are proven players, and all would fall in the average to below average categories.

Why not put the kid out there and see if he can do the job? At the very worst, he won’t be much below the three players we just mentioned.

The Indians should bet on the success of a player they developed. Coupled with his defensive ability, he’s the best choice for Terry Francona to open the season with.

Why Losing Free Agents Isn’t That Big Of A Deal For Browns

Since the NFL calendar year started a week ago, the Cleveland Browns have once again become the butt of jokes in the national media because five of their six free agents have left the team.

Included in those five players are four starters, including Pro Bowl offensive lineman Alex Mack and RT Mitchell Schwartz.

In our eyes, the latter was the biggest and really only loss from a team that went 3-13 a year ago. Schwartz showed he was one of the best right tackles in the league, and he would have entered this season at 27 years old.

And apparently, according to some reports, he left because Sashi Brown and the new regime showed stubbornness in the negotiations, telling the lineman the offer they had made went away if he left the room.

While many football writers are hammering the Browns for losing the four players, although we would have kept Schwartz, we can see the front office’s thinking.

In losing the two starting lineman, you can be sure Hue Jackson’s team will be near the bottom of the NFL in running the ball and in protecting the passer.

Oh wait, that’s where Cleveland ranked in 2015 with Mack and Schwartz. So, how big of a loss is the duo?

It could be that the front office thinks there is a losing attitude within the entire roster and they are going to have to start from scratch to establish a winning culture.

If that’s true, then we can definitely see the Browns trading their All Pro left tackle, Joe Thomas, as well. We have often said that although Thomas is undoubtedly going to the Hall of Fame, he seems to accept defeat easily.

He doesn’t think losing is unacceptable, he thinks it just stinks. We always say that everyone likes winning, but we would rather have players who hate to lose.

We aren’t sure the Browns have enough players who have become sick of what has gone on here over the last five years, let alone since 1999.

We would not be opposed to trading Thomas, but only if the Browns can get a first round pick this year in return. As we have advocated before, if you are going to start over, then get rid of all players over 30 years old (outside of perhaps punter Andy Lee), and accumulate as many draft picks as possible.

That will accelerate the process.

As for the pursuit of Colin Kaepernick, we believe it does not change the Browns’ intention to get a quarterback early in the draft, but it may allow them to wait until the 32nd pick to do so.

Kaepernick has struggled over the past year and a half, but the guess here is the front office views him as an upgrade to 37 year old Josh McCown.

Really, the Browns are saying if we are going to have a mediocre veteran at the position, we would rather have him be 29 years old instead of 37.

However, we believe a third round pick is way too high for a player who was benched a year ago. We wouldn’t give up anything more than a fourth rounder to San Francisco.

After over 15 years of terrible football, it looks like the Cleveland Browns are basically starting over, and that starts by getting rid of players who aren’t still in improving mode.

That might hurt for now, but it’s really the only thing they haven’t tried.

Why not give it a shot?

Love Needs Kyrie To Help Him “Fit In”

As the Cleveland Cavaliers season continues to befuddle basketball fans around town, we pause to remind everyone that since the beginning of last season, supporters had two whipping boys when things didn’t go well.

David Blatt was one of them, and he was fired half way through the 2015-16 schedule, with a record of 30-11 on the season.

So, now to falls on Kevin Love to be the problem whenever anything on the Cavs doesn’t go well.

Our belief is that Love is a very good NBA player, one that the coaching staff and his teammates still haven’t figured out how to use to the best of his abilities.

We will concede that the former UCLA standout misses too many wide open looks from beyond the three point line, but he is not as bad of a defender as is purported, that is as long as he isn’t asked to guard centers.

Our comment when fans tell us Love needs to go, or the Cavs should trade him after the season is over is too say that the power forward isn’t being used right.

After Tyronn Lue took over as coach, he made the comment that he wanted Love to get touches at the elbow, where he had been successful at Minnesota, but there hasn’t been much evidence of that.

Sure, it has been used from time to time, but not on a consistent basis.

It appears from watching games and listening to post game press conferences that LeBron James understands that Love can contribute and is important to the team, however, the third member of the “Big Three” doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

Think about it, how many times do we ever see Kyrie Irving find Love, or really James for that matter, on the court?

Many writers have written about a “disconnect” between James and Irving, but the latter seems to be playing his own game a lot.

Look, Irving is supremely talented, and we are not suggesting that the Cavaliers should trade him. He is simply too good of an offensive force, although we can all agree he needs to work harder on the defensive end of the floor.

However, if anyone needs to make adjustments on the court, it is Irving not Kevin Love, and it is Irving that needs to start getting Love involved, and not just standing on the perimeter waiting for open threes.

We have before that when Lue said upon getting hired that he wanted to play Love with the second unit to make him the focal point, that the role should go to Irving, who wants to play that way anyhow, and is very effective at doing it.

After all, James and Love appear to be able to play together, and it doesn’t seem that LeBron and Kyrie have high chemistry on the court together.

We see Matthew Dellavedova finding James on cuts to the hoop all the time, do you ever see the same with Irving?

If the Cavaliers are going to get back to The Finals, they need an improved Kyrie Irving and a more efficient Kevin Love.

That can happen if the two can learn to play off each other on the offensive end, and Irving stops playing the one on five style he is becoming more and more enamored with.

The only problem with Kevin Love is that the Cavaliers are putting him in the best position so he can help them the best.

Maybe he can’t fit in because of the talents of James and Irving, but wouldn’t it be nice if the latter at least attempted to make it work better?

Who Has Early Leg Up For Tribe?

The Cleveland Indians have played eight exhibition games and while it is way too early to make solid statements on individual players, we can see some trends and indications on who will make the Opening Day roster.

For example, one of our favorite whipping boys, Zach Walters, hasn’t helped his cause by starting the spring 0 for 10, with five strikeouts.

On the other hand, Tyler Naquin seems to have played his way into the conversation to open the season in Cleveland.

He has started 8 for 18 with a double and two triples and has only struck out twice. It’s another three weeks before decisions have to be made, but the rookie has caught the attention of people with his solid performance thus far.

Giovanny Urshela will start the season in Columbus because of the acquisition of Juan Uribe, but he has made the people who wanted him to have the job proud with 2 home runs and six runs batted in.

Perhaps his offensive struggles a year ago were the result of being nicked up with some minor injuries.

Out of the veteran outfielders on minor league contracts, Joey Butler has done the best job at the dish, going 3 for 9 with a homer. We felt the guy who broke up Carlos Carrasco’s no hitter last year was the guy we thought was the frontrunner going into camp.

The rest of the candidates have been largely unimpressive. Robbie Grossman is 2 for 15. Collin Cowgill, the favorite of the stat people, is 1 for 12. Will Venable is 0 for 6, and James Ramsey, who had a poor year at AAA last season, is 0 for 11.

Again, we know it is early, and today, one of these guys could get three hits and their numbers will be much better. We are writing about players who are making early impressions.

Another area of competition for Terry Francona is the bullpen. We all know that Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, and Zack McAllister are locks for the relief corps, and unless Jeff Manship is terrible he will make the team as well.

We think Tito will keep two southpaws, and the guy who has made a good impression so far is veteran, non-roster invitee Tom Gorzelanny, who has made three scoreless appearances.

He held left-handed hitters to a .222 batting average last season with the Tigers.

The other lefty out of the bullpen spot is up for grabs between Kyle Crockett, Giovanny Soto, and Joe Thatcher.

One player who will not make the team, but has looked great so far is Mike Clevenger, one of the organization’s top prospects. The youngster throws hard and has thrown four scoreless innings in two outings.

He could be an option down the road is something happens to one of the five starters. Luckily for the Indians, they will also have Cody Anderson, who pitched well in 2015, in reserve at Columbus too.

Clevenger was another guy we were high on over the winter based on the way he finished last year at Akron and Columbus, particularly in the International League playoffs.

Right now, the players we mentioned have taken the lead in the clubhouse for the jobs that are open.

Now, they have to keep those spots, and there is a lot of spring baseball yet to be played.

Cavs Still Seem To Lack Toughness

The Cleveland Cavaliers fired David Blatt on January 22nd with a record of 30-11. This means Tyronn Lue has now been at the helm for roughly six weeks, and the wine and gold have a 14-6 record with him at the helm.

What, if anything has changed?

The most obvious thing is the scoring is up. Cleveland has scored more than 110 points in half of the games with Lue as the head man, while they did the same just nine times in Blatt’s 41 contests as coach.

On the other hand the defense seems to have slipped. The Cavs have allowed more than 100 points in 11 of Lue’s 20 games at the helm, compared to only 17 in the 41 where Blatt was running the show.

Some of that is due to the faster pace the Cavaliers want to play at, but there is no question that the defense, particularly on the perimeter, has taken a step in the wrong direction.

And the other question that needs to be answered is whether or not Cleveland is better off playing faster. Based on the won-lost record, the answer appears to be no.

The one thing that we thought Lue wanted to change with this team was some toughness, making the players accountable for what occurred on a game by game basis.

That is still a work in progress.

In the last couple of weeks, we have seen Kyrie Irving remove himself from a game due to a bout with bedbugs in an Oklahoma City hotel, a deplorable effort without LeBron James on the road against Washington, and several players complaining about the need for “an enforcer”.

This has to drive Lue insane.

The odd thing about the Irving issue was the team did rally and despite having only eight players available scored a huge win over the Thunder, one of the league’s best teams.

But it doesn’t say a lot for Irving’s toughness that he took himself out, especially with Mo Williams out with a knee issue and Matthew Dellavedova on a minutes restriction due to a balky hamstring.

Put this together with Irving’s seemingly indifference on the defensive end, and you have a problem for the head coach and the organization.

It didn’t help with the giant egg laid against the Wizards. Let’s face it, even without James on the floor, Cleveland has two “max” players in Irving and Kevin Love, so to get blown out is inexcusable.

Particularly when the effort seemed to be lacking, something JR Smith addressed to the media after the game.

However, the weirdest issue is the players bringing up the loss of Kendrick Perkins in the off-season, someone who barely played when he was here.

That made us sit back and think the players need to just shut up and play. They seem to be worried about things that could and have gone wrong, rather than having the mindset that they are very talented and should be able to win a title.

The team did take a positive step on Saturday when they fell behind against Boston early, but then overcame the deficit to win the game going away, and against a quality opponent.

Maybe this could be the thing that pulls this team together and pulling in the right direction.

On the other hand, someone might get a hangnail tonight, and the wine and gold will focus on that.

Will Tribe’s Strengths Override Weaknesses

We remember reading Bill James’ Baseball Abstracts in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and his essays about the Montreal Expos, a talented team that just couldn’t get over the hump and win the division.

If we recall correctly, James’ theory was that even though the Expos had some great players like Gary Carter, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, and Warren Cromartie, all near the top at their positions in the major leagues, the team was weighed down by the spots where they didn’t have great players.

The Cleveland Indians remind me of those Expo teams right now.

The Tribe has some of the best players in the game at their respective positions: Michael Brantley and Francisco Lindor were both ranked by MLB Network’s Shredder as the best left fielder and shortstop, respectively.

And Jason Kipnis and Yan Gomes are among the best second basemen and catchers in baseball too.

In fact, the network had five Indians among the game’s Top 100 Players Right Now: Brantley, Corey Kluber, Kipnis, Lindor, and Carlos Carrasco.

That’s a good place to start for any team. The hope is the weaknesses at the other positions don’t drag the Indians’ win-loss record down.

Without Brantley, it is well documented that Terry Francona has a lot of question marks to deal with in his outfield. Since Abraham Almonte was suspended, and he isn’t a great answer to any question either, the starting OF looks like Lonnie Chisenhall in RF, Rajai Davis somewhere, and the other spot is wide open.

And outside of prospect Tyler Naquin, the upside for Joey Butler, Shane Robinson, Robbie Grossman, and/or Collin Cowgill isn’t exactly awe inspiring either.

At the infield corners, the Tribe is going with veterans on the wrong side of 30 years old in Mike Napoli and Juan Uribe. Both have been productive recently, so it’s not exactly a huge risk, but neither is it etched in stone that these two will be productive.

The bedrock of this team is it’s outstanding starting pitching. But the question that most national pundits have is did the front office get enough offense to take real advantage of arguably the best rotation in the American League.

Look, because of their arms, the Tribe is going to be in most games barring an injury or two. Kluber, Carrasco, Danny Salazar, and Trevor Bauer give you a chance to win every night, and Cody Anderson and Josh Tomlin aren’t bad either.

However, we’ve seen what the Indians record over the years is when scoring three or fewer runs per game, even with this pitching staff:

2015 18-61
2014 25-56
2013 17-53
2012 16-63

In the last four years, the trend has been an offense scoring three runs or less in about half the Tribe’s games.

Imagine how good this ballclub would be with a consistent and more potent batting attack?

They would be the team to beat in the American League, and perhaps all of baseball.

The front office is also fortunate they don’t have to pay a king’s ransom for that rotation right now. Kluber, Carrasco and Tomlin are under affordable contracts, and the rest of the hurlers are under club control.

The story of this season is will the weaknesses in the outfield and the possible age on the corner infield outweigh all of the good things the franchise has going for it.

Or can the talented players on the Cleveland roster make up for the weaknesses.

Lue Said Sacrifice, Are The Cavs Doing It?

To put it mildly, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have a good week.

After an impressive victory a week ago Sunday against a title contending Oklahoma City team on the road, the Cavs looked lethargic in losing three out of their next four.

They lost at home to Detroit, lost a game they had a nine point fourth quarter lead at Toronto, and then lost a game without LeBron James at Washington, in a contest that was a blowout until garbage time.

Yes, James is one of the two best players in the sport (we still think the best), but there is no way a team that still has two of the best 15-20 players in the NBA in Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, should be getting smoked by the Wizards.

And as we have pointed out before, since the wine and gold tried to speed up their tempo, their defense has suffered greatly especially on the perimeter.

That puts the spotlight squarely on Irving, who has never been a great defensive player, but seems to have regressed this season.

Opposing point guards have been skewering Cleveland, getting dribble penetration and forcing big men to help, and no one is picking up their men in return.

The result is a bunch of layups and dunks, and it appears the interior defense is terrible too.

Irving simply must do a better job if this team is to get where they want to go, which is hoisting an NBA Championship trophy.

There is no reason why Irving can’t be better on that end of the floor, the same quickness that allows him to get to the basket at will allows him to be better on defense, the problem is he seems to be more interested when the ball is in his hands.

When Tyronn Lue took over as head coach, he spoke about the need to sacrifice, and we believe almost everyone can agree that no one has done that more than Kevin Love, who is scoring about eight points less per game a night, and doesn’t get the touches he should based on his ability to score.

Irving seems to be in the same mode as always, showing off his handle, and driving to the basket with a mindset of scoring first, and setting up a teammate second.

That’s a good attitude on a squad devoid of talent, but not on these Cavs.

It seems lately that at least once or twice a game, Matthew Dellavedova finds a cutting James for a layup. When was the last time you saw Irving make the same pass?

Even James could afford to give up something for the greater good. He could stop forcing three point shots, because right now, his long range shot is a liability.

He could also give maximum effort on defense in less minutes, and show the rest of his teammates, including Irving, that he is walking the walk, and they need to follow suit.

By the way, that’s being a leader. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

We can’t use the excuse that it’s still early, there are only 23 games left on the schedule. Improvement defensively needs to be seen by the middle of this month.

That the path to a title for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have to be strong on the defensive end, and that starts with improvement from Kyrie Irving.

Comments on Tribe Drawing Fans

We were discussing the state of the Cleveland Indians a few days ago, and of course, the subject of eliminating seats, bars in right field, and dynamic ticket pricing came up.

As long time followers of the Tribe, since the late 60’s (yes, we remember Sam McDowell, and when Ken Harrelson played for Cleveland and wasn’t the obnoxious voice of the White Sox), we realized that fans of our age group are not in the Indians’ demographic anymore.

They want young people, who sit around in a bar, and occasionally check outside to see what is going on with the ball game.

We are speaking generally of course, there are many young fans, and many women, who follow the game very closely, and love to watch games at Progressive Field.

So, most of the changes that the front office have made to spruce up the now 22 year old building have been along the lines of making the ballpark an entertainment place, not a sports venue, at least in our opinion.

The problem for the Indians is that it’s not working. Attendance has declined, not for the last three years (using the wild card berth as a starting point), but rather over the past five seasons, starting with drawing 1.84 million in 2011.

That’s our issue with the organization, they are slow to change. So, with all of these renovations and such, less and less people continue to show up to Indians’ games.

The people who do go will tell you they have a good experience. The food is good, the atmosphere excellent, and actually The Corner is a great place to meet with friends before or during the game.

The challenge is getting more people into the park, and the organization doesn’t seem willing to try different things.

Local sports talker Les Levine consistently says the team should discount tickets for the second and third games of the season, and it should ask fans buying (or trying to buy) tickets for Opening Day on the site. That makes total sense.

Why not?

We advocated last season, allowing fans who had tickets to the NBA Finals, when the games started at 9 PM, to stop into the Tribe game for $5. Let those fans eat and drink at the ballpark before going over to The Q.

Of course, this week, the Indians changed their High Achiever program for students. To be fair, they replaced it with another program, but limited it to 40 schools.

Our question is do they not realize those students usually bring a parent or two, and those people have to buy tickets?

Really, a team who has problems getting people to the stadium is limiting a program designed at giving kids free tickets?

We have been around long enough to realize the best way to draw fans in Cleveland is to win, no gimmicks, no promotions.

Yes, the Indians have had three consecutive winning seasons, but outside of the end of the 2013 season, they haven’t had that exciting period that gets fans talking about the team.

That’s why a good start to the season is necessary. That 2011 season where 1.8 million saw the Tribe? They started 30-15, but couldn’t sustain it.

That’s what is needed the most, get off to a quick start, it doesn’t have to be 30-15, and keep it going.

Show fans you are going to be right in the thick of it all season.

But early on, give people some deals to come and see this team. Let them get to know Francisco Lindor. Promote when Corey Kluber or Carlos Carrasco are going to pitch.

The Tribe needs to market their players and winning baseball. Promoting the non-baseball stuff, although it is nice, just isn’t working.

Enjoy The Cavs. Ignore the Warriors

You would think for as much sports angst as we see in Cleveland, we would be enjoying the outstanding season the Cleveland Cavaliers are having.

They currently sit at 41-15 on the season, and seem well on their way to a 60 win regular season, and either the first or second seed in the Eastern Conference standings.

We watched the wine and gold dismantle one of the league’s top teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday afternoon, in Oklahoma, and we felt good for a day.

The next day, the Cavs lost at home to Detroit, and immediately people were down in the dumps, seemingly questioning everything the franchise is doing.

People were even freaking out because the team’s newest addition, Channing Frye, did not pass his physical instantly, so the fear was we traded Anderson Varejao for nothing.

Of course, shortly before the game on Monday night, Frye was cleared and added to the roster.

We have a cure for this situation. Ignore the Golden State Warriors.

In most NBA seasons, the Cavaliers would have either the best record in the league at this point of the season, or they would be very close. They are a very, very good basketball team.

However, it seems that no matter what Tyronn Lue and his team do these days, they are compared to the defending champions. The champs should be a measuring stick, because they have what the Cavs want, but people should understand that normally, the best team in the NBA wins between 60-65 games.

Over the last five complete NBA seasons (ignoring the lockout shortened season), here are the league’s best record and in parenthesis the number of teams that won 60+ games

2014-15: Golden State 67-15 (2)
2013-14: San Antonio 62-20 (1)
2012-13: Miami 66-16 (2)
2010-11: Chicago 62-20 (2)
2009-10: Cleveland 61-21 (1)

So, over the last five seasons, just eight teams have won more than 60 games, and only two have won more than 65 in a single season.

And you can also see that this year is a huge outlier, with perhaps four teams getting to the 60 win mark (Golden State, San Antonio, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City).

Part of that is the huge imbalance in the league this season, as it appears there are four or five (Toronto/Los Angeles Clippers) elite teams, and a lot of mediocrity.

Again, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a very good basketball team, and fans need to relax and watch the balance of the season.

We wrote a few weeks ago that there are very few games of meaning on the schedule for Lue’s crew, and two of them were the first two games out of the All Star break against the Bulls and Thunder, which they won both, and tomorrow night’s tilt in Toronto.

If the Cavs keep winning those types of games, that has more meaning than a loss to Detroit.

In the meantime, here is our advice. Ignore the Warriors until the Cavaliers have to play them again.

That may be in June in the NBA Finals, or it may be the 2016-17 season. They are setting an incredible pace, but as LeBron James has pointed out, it doesn’t really mean anything once the playoffs start.

Don’t freak out until this team loses four in a row, or has a major injury. All in all, they are doing quite well right now.