Who May Not Be Back For The Cavs Next Fall.

The NBA playoffs have started over the past weekend and for the first time in five seasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers are not participants.

That’s not really a surprise to many who figured the wine and gold’s contending days ended when LeBron James departed for Los Angeles.

As expected, Larry Drew and the Cleveland front office parted ways. Drew would like to catch on with a contending team as an assistant, while GM Koby Altman’s preference for head coach would be a younger man with a background in player development.

We have already talked about who would be our core group heading into the 2019-20 campaign, the 50th season for the Cavs.

We would build around Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Cedi Osman, and David Nwaba. Collin Sexton showed enough in the second half of the season to be here as well, although if Cleveland happened to draft Ja Morant, we could see pursuing a deal for the rookie guard. (Notice we didn’t say point guard).

And our preference would be for Ante Zizic to be on the roster too, although we question whether or not we will ever be a solid interior defender. You can learn to position yourself properly to minimize your lack of quickness with experience.

We all are aware of J.R. Smith’s situation, his contract, because it is not fully guaranteed is a much better asset for teams if he is moved prior to the end of June. Because of that, he will likely be moved prior to the NBA Draft.

Notice we have not mentioned two key members of this year’s roster, including someone who was a key piece of the championship team.

We would bet Tristan Thompson will be moved before the next season begins. Thompson’s contract expires after the ’19-’20 schedule ends, which makes him a valuable piece.

Plus, his skills fit much better with a team contending for a title. He’s a solid defender inside, a tireless rebounder, particularly at the offensive end, and he has a lot of playoff experience.

Besides, the Cavs have Love, Nance, and Zizic who we are sure they would rather give more minutes to going forward, and don’t forget John Henson as well. And we would bring Marquese Chriss back on a smaller contract if he is amenable.

The other member who received a lot of playing time this season is Jordan Clarkson.

Clarkson provided scoring (16.8 PPG) for a team that at times needed it badly. But we still don’t know if he is anything more than a guy who can score points for bad teams.

He’s been in the association for six years, and made one playoff appearance, last season with the Cavs, where he was frankly, terrible.

His shooting numbers this season weren’t anything out of his norm, and he’s not a great passer or defender.

His contract also expires at the end of next season.

Our guess is Altman would be willing to move either and take back a bad contract with perhaps two years remaining if first round draft picks were included.

Nick Stauskas is also a free agent, but we believe the organization picked him up after he was waived to fill a roster spot, and they don’t have plans for him next season.

We believe the Cavs will be very active before the draft and when the free agency period kicks off, looking to make more moves like they did in getting Brandon Knight.

And of course, they will have a high draft choice as well. The floor is all yours, Koby Altman.

Love Reminding Us How Good He Is

Especially in Cleveland, we believe everyone has forgotten what a great basketball player Kevin Love is.

The first four years Love was in Cleveland, he was the whipping boy whenever the Cavaliers didn’t perform up to expectations. If the wine and gold were not dominating opponents, the blame usually fell on him, mostly because he wasn’t putting up the gaudy numbers he did in Minnesota.

It is ridiculous that even when he was out earlier this season, there were some in the media who felt no other NBA team would be interested in this guy.

You see, Love averaged 26 points per game twice with the Timberwolves, and in different seasons, grabbed an average of 14 rebounds two different seasons in Minnesota.

However, there is no question that no player on the Cavs sacrificed more in the four years LeBron James was the leader on the roster than Kevin Wesley Love.

In those four seasons, Love’s highest scoring season was 19.0 in 2016-17, which was his best year during those campaigns. He averaged 11.1 boards, and shot 37% from three point range.

Playing up north, Love’s lowest percentage of shots close to the basket (0-3 feet out) was 25.3% during his last season with the Wolves. In Cleveland, his highest number in the four years the Cavaliers went to The Finals was 24%.

By the way, this year? He’s back to 29%.

Love became a “stretch four” as James’ teammate, and as he has shown throughout his career, he is so much more than that.

He is one of the best 25-30 players in the sport, and because he played with James and for three of the years, Kyrie Irving too, people have forgotten what a talent he is.

He’s a five time All Star, and had he not been hurt much of this year, probably would have made a sixth.

Think of how the 2015 Finals would have been different had Love and Irving been healthy for the entire series.

Since Love has returned from his foot injury, the Cavs have gone 3-2 in the five games he has participated in. Now, while they aren’t beating the elite teams in the NBA, while the big man was out, they were 11-41.

And in one of the games they dropped, he played just six minutes in his first game back.

Last Saturday, Love scored 32 points and grabbed 12 caroms in a win over Memphis, his best night of the season. And because he is still coming off the injury, he didn’t see the court in the last six or so minutes of the game.

In the last three of those games, he’s made 12 of 23 shots from beyond the arc, showing that his shooting is returning.

He’s also averaging 11 rebounds a game in the last four contests.

Just his presence on the court, has made the other players on the roster better too. They seem to play with more confidence, and Love’s outside shooting threat has opened up the lane for others.

We all know the Cavs are in tank mode this season, but we forget that a big reason they will likely have one of the three worst records in the league (and therefore, the best chance for the first overall pick) is Love’s injury.

Had Love been healthy this season, Cleveland probably wouldn’t have been a playoff team, but they would likely be sitting around the 7th to 9th pick area.

If the Cavs are able to get one of the top three picks this June, and keep Love, they will have a ready made one-two punch to start the season.

We have said this before, if you don’t think Kevin Love isn’t one of the games’ best players, you don’t know the game.

We think he will remind everyone of this over the last six weeks of this season.

Cleveland’s A Three Sport Town, No?

It is not a secret that Cleveland is one of the smallest cities in the United States with three major professional sports teams. We are using the traditional four major sports of baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.

If you figure in Green Bay as part of the Milwaukee market, only that area would be smaller than “The Land” in terms of having three major league franchises.

It struck us the other day that if you listen to sports talk radio in the area, it would be hard to discern that indeed, there are other teams here besides the Browns.

Certainly, fans of the Indians and Cavaliers are envious of the attention received by the NFL team, especially now that the Browns appear to be emerging from a decade’s long slumber.

After all, the Cavaliers ended the title drought in Cleveland, winning the area’s first professional sports championship since 1964 when LeBron James and company won the 2016 NBA title.

And the Indians have been one of baseball’s best teams since 2016 when they went to the seventh game of the World Series that season. They’ve been to the post-season four times since Terry Francona was hired as manager in 2013, and since baseball went to the current three division set up in 1994, only the Yankees and Red Sox have made more playoff appearances in the American League.

We understand that northeast Ohio is first and foremost a football area, but how did the sports conversation around here become almost Browns-centric, and how much does it affect the other teams?

First, the Browns were genius in making both sports talk stations in town (WKNR and 92.3 The Fan) broadcast partners. Both stations proudly call themselves “Home of the Browns”, and when the team plays, it is difficult to find a station not broadcasting the game (at least in our car).

WKNR has a daily show called Cleveland Browns Daily, while the other station broadcasts virtually every press conference the head coach has, which during the season is pretty much every day.

We have said in the past that the Tribe should have learned from the Browns and made on of these two stations their flagship station. Instead, they stayed with WTAM and their large 50,000 watt power.

And that’s their right, but would the team generate more conversation, and therefore more interest, if their games were on that station pretty much every night from April through September?

We would bet yes.

As for the Cavs, when they were title contenders, they were the second option, but now that they are at the bottom of the standings, the commentary is “they are terrible, we don’t watch”, which is ludicrous since the hosts are supposed to covering Cleveland sports teams, no?

The poor won/lost record doesn’t hold weight either, because the Browns were 1-31 over a two season span, and they were still the topic for most shows on a daily basis.

Cleveland is a “Brownstown”, no debating that. However, many Browns’ fans are also supporters of the Indians and Cavs, so why not cover those teams more often?

We thought because the Browns were not picking at the top of the NFL Draft that the conversation would subside during the spring, but instead there are other subjects to delve into, like “Are the Browns better than the Steelers, right now?”

The sports talk stations used to send hosts down to spring training to cover the Indians. That rarely happens now.

It’s great that people are excited about the Browns, but as a city, we should feel lucky to have three major professional sports teams. And it’s okay to have conversations about all three as well.

Tank Or Not To Tank For Cleveland Teams?

After it was announced that Manny Machado signed a $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres, the conversation around town quickly turned to Francisco Lindor, and the possibility of the Cleveland Indians keeping him after he can become a free agent following the 2021 season.

Being Cleveland, we heard many fans saying if the Indians weren’t going to try to sign the star shortstop, then they should trade him now and start rebuilding for the future.

Which brings us to the question of the day: Tank or not to Tank?

With the Indians having the starting rotation they have along with two of the best position players (Lindor and Jose Ramirez) in baseball, a total rebuild is the last thing on the minds of the front office.

Especially with Lindor still here for three more seasons.

Now, if prior to the ’21 campaign, Lindor’s agents make it clear he will not re-sign with the Tribe and the team gets off to a poor start, dropping out of contention, you might see a deal for the guy who is arguably the best position player in team history.

However, no team is going to give up a chance to win a championship, and if the Indians win the AL Central they will have that shot, to start rebuilding.

Let’s look at two instances of rebuilding jobs in our own town–

The Cavaliers didn’t intend to tank this season, but when you lose LeBron James, drop your first six contests, and then lose your best remaining player for basically the entire first half of the season, you change your way of thinking.

Once you hit the end of November with one of the NBA’s worst records and Love is still going to be out until February, GM Koby Altman had to try and get one of the first picks in the June draft, and hopefully you get Zion Williamson with the first choice.

The Browns were stuck in mediocrity for most of the last 15 seasons, when then GM Sashi Brown decided to gut the roster, purging it of veterans and trying to go with young players who can hit their prime together.

We don’t believe he envisioned 1-31 over two seasons, but Hue Jackson’s guidance took care of that, and earned the Browns a franchise quarterback, and a franchise pass rusher.

In both cases, the circumstances (poor start and Love’s injury for the Cavs, an extended period of crap football for the Browns) dictated the tank.

Tanking isn’t guaranteed to work. While people point to the Cubs and Astros in baseball, both of those teams drafted very well, with Chicago getting Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, and the Astros drafted George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Alex Bregman in the first round in a three year span.

Let’s say the Cavs wind up with the worst record and the fourth overall pick, do they subject their fan base to another year like this? It’s also tough for the front office/ownership to sit through.

And for the Browns, they tried a whole bunch of things. They tried helping young players by supplementing them with veterans. They tried getting veteran quarterbacks, getting players with local ties.

None of it worked.

Why not try what the Dallas Cowboys did when Jerry Jones bought the team and hired Jimmy Johnson. Gut the roster, accumulate draft picks, and see if that works.

We started to see the fruits of this plan, aided by hiring a good talent evaluator in John Dorsey, this past year.

If you decide to tank, here is the difficult question no one wants to ask–What happens when you don’t get the first overall pick?

You have to have a back up plan. If you don’t, you lose your job. That’s why more teams don’t do it.

Cavs Need Size To Improve Defense Too.

In the past week or so, there has been a spotlight put on the defense played by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Or really, the lack of it.

Giving up 133 or more points in three of the last four games will cause that, especially when your team gives up 140 points in back to back outings versus New Orleans and Houston.

Among the reasons for the issues is the inexperience of the roster, but that is a lazy excuse because the Cavs’ problems in this area have extended since the championship season of 2015-16.

They ranked 21st in the NBA in the following season (2016-17), and dropped to 29th last season (2017-18), and now rank 30th.

In the first two of those seasons, Cleveland was a veteran team, led by LeBron James. No young players received more than 1000 minutes in either of those two seasons.

What was the reason for the poor results in those years?

We have in the past pointed the finger at assistant coach, Mike Longabardi, and though we still think his schemes are a main cause for the problem, there is another reason for the defensive issues.

The Cavaliers have a problem with height on the roster. Meaning they don’t have much of it.

In a sport where size matters, even in today’s game, the Cavs’ front office has basically ignored it since Tyronn Lue took over the team.

When the wine and gold won the title, they had Timofey Mozgov on the roster, a legitimate seven footer. By the end of the year, he wasn’t a factor, but he could provide an inside presence if needed.

Channing Frye (6’11”) and Tristan Thompson (6’10”) also received post minutes, and of course, Kevin Love (6’10”) was a mainstay at power forward.

The following season, Mozgov was gone, and the front office signed Chris Andersen to replace him. Andersen (6’10”) got hurt early in the year and never was replaced.

In the meantime, Golden State, who everyone praises for their small ball approach, had three players (JaVale McGee, Zaza Pachulia, and Kevin Durant) over 6’11” that received significant minutes.

This season, with Love out because of injury, only two players, Thompson and Ante Zizic (6’11”) rank in the top ten on the team in minutes, and Zizic is 10th.

Most nights, Larry Drew starts Cedi Osman, who is really a wing player, at power forward. Osman showed good defensive instincts a year ago for the Cavs, and Lue used him as a defender at the end of games last year, but he’s not a power forward, and shouldn’t be expected to guard players taller and thicker than him effectively.

Looking at the top teams defensively this season, the top rated teams are Oklahoma City, who have Steven Adams (7’0″) and Nerlens Noel (6’11”) along with other long players like Paul George, Jerami Grant, and Patrick Patterson.

Indiana, with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis (both 6’11”) anchoring the middle, and they have Kyle O’Quinn and T.J. Leaf getting minutes as well.

Third is Milwaukee (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Ersan Ilyasova, and Thon Maker), and next is Utah with Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.

For the Cavs, Zizic is kind of an afterthought for this staff, and Thompson made his reputation as a guy who can defend out on the floor better than in the paint.

Larry Nance Jr. can block shots, but his slight build makes him a bad matchup against true post players.

Our recommendation going further would be for the Cavs to get some big players, people who can guard the rim.

They need a new defensive plan, but without someone on the back line, it still could be problematic.

They can’t ignore size any longer.

At Least Cavs Work And Play Hard.

After LeBron James left for Los Angeles following the 2017-18 NBA season, no one figured the Cavaliers were going to be at the same level they reached over the past four seasons, meaning The NBA Finals.

There were a few of us who thought the Cavs could still be competitive, like contending for a low playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but when you lose the team’s best player, Kevin Love, to injury, any thoughts of that went out the window.

Love has played just three of the squad’s 30 contests to date, and won’t be back until mid-January, so he will likely play just half of the Cavs’ schedule in 2018-19.

Since then, the wine and gold’s second best player, Tristan Thompson recently went out with a foot injury, and he will miss two to four weeks.

Despite these injuries and a coaching change six games into the regular season, the Cavaliers continue to play hard, and since Larry Drew took over, the shorthanded Cavs have been a pretty competitive basketball team, meaning they aren’t getting blown out on a nightly basis.

The team’s front office has taken a ton of criticism over the years about how the team was built around James, the trade of Kyrie Irving and the return they received, and their attitude toward this year’s roster.

But one thing they should be commended on is stressing character on the players they’ve given both Drew and Tyronn Lue to coach.

We are sure everyone has heard about the issues with the Chicago Bulls, who by the way, have the same record as the Cavs. The team fired Fred Hoiberg because they weren’t winning and when new coach Jim Boylen took over, he started implementing longer and tougher practices, which irritated some of the players.

Our guess is that Bulls’ management will be looking to move the players who are feuding with the new boss as soon as possible. There is an entitlement felt by some players, who have been coddled since it was determined they were good at basketball, and some players don’t do everything they can to win games.

That hasn’t been the case with the Cavs. Since Drew has taken over, he has changed the roles of several players, and no one has said a thing.

Which is something, because the players like Love and Thompson, who both have made four straight Finals appearances, could be upset that the Cavaliers have one of the worst records in the NBA. Instead, Thompson in particular (because of Love’s injury), has established through his work ethic, how to conduct yourself as an NBA player.

The lone dissenter was JR Smith, and once again, the front office and coaching staff did the correct thing by telling the player to stay home until a potential trade can be worked out.

Bringing back Matthew Dellavedova, a player with a excellent work ethic, was another good move by GM Koby Altman, although not as good as getting a first round pick in the deal with Milwaukee.

The players the Cavs have on the roster are coachable and willing to do what the coaching staff is asking. That should not be minimized.

The work ethic James put in place here still exists. That should help the Cavaliers going forward.

LeBron’s Version Is A Bit Of Hindsight.

With LeBron James coming back to Cleveland as a member of the Lakers tomorrow night, the events of the summer of 2017 is being rehashed, particularly the trade of Kyrie Irving to Boston.

As we said and thought at the time, despite the narrative LeBron and his camp what to put out there now, this is what we think.

First, we don’t believe James and Irving could have co-existed in 2017-18, because Irving was tired of playing with James, and having two all star players not getting along is a recipe for disaster.

Look at what happened in Chicago with Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose. Remember the whole Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant issues with the Lakers. You can’t force two guys to get along when one party doesn’t want it to work.

Second, the Irving trade rumors came before the ’17 Draft, and when David Griffin was still GM. Was Griffin working because owner Dan Gilbert wanted Irving out? Or did Irving ask the organization for a deal?

We believe Griffin knew the only way to improve the roster, and make it deeper, was to move a very valuable commodity in Irving. Getting a solid point guard in return and adding another young, athletic player would help the Cavs win another title.

That was supposedly the move with Phoenix, with Cleveland getting Eric Bledsoe and the 4th pick in the 2017 draft.

Were talks really going on with the Suns? We don’t know for sure, but the rumors were out there.

It was reported that James did not want the deal to happen, although, behind the scenes, he was perfectly happy with the move, because he thought (and we agree) that Irving plays for himself first, which is against James’ style.

However, when he was asked if he would commit to the Cavs long term if Irving was not moved, James declined.

Now, thinking about this at the time (not now with hindsight being 20/20), why would you hold on to Irving without a commitment from James to keep the “Big Three” together for a few more years?

If he wanted to, James could’ve killed the deal if we would have been willing to sign a contract extension.

Without that, the Cavs were looking at a rebuild after the 2017-18 season anyway, because a Irving-Kevin Love led team isn’t going to win an NBA title.

Look, he get that James didn’t (doesn’t) trust Dan Gilbert, and he has every reason not to, but Gilbert had to do what was best for the future of the Cavaliers. And if Brooklyn would have played to expectations a year ago, maybe Luca Doncic, Jaren Jackson, or another top rookie is in Cleveland today.

Kyrie Irving is a popular player in today’s NBA. He’s flashy, he can handle, and he is a tremendous finisher at the rim. In short, he’s a highlight reel player.

However, he’s a poor defender and not exactly a great or willing passer.

It’s not in James’ best interest image wise to say he was in favor of the Cavaliers moving on from Kyrie to improve ball movement and defense, which would have helped in beating Golden State.

Having James and Irving at odds going into last season would not have helped the wine and gold. Getting prepared for life after LeBron is just being prudent.

Now, the plan didn’t work because the Brooklyn draft pick wound up being the 8th pick and not a top five choice.

That’s the biggest problem with the trade.

Moving On From LeBron

Tonight, LeBron James makes his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers in a game that will be nationally broadcast. No doubt you are already aware of that, because several networks have hyped it.

We don’t care.

You see, we are old school. We’ve been a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers since the day they were born back in 1970, and we are fans of the team, not any individual player.

Younger fans seems to follow players, they support LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Stephen Curry, and that’s fine, that’s their right.

But James isn’t wearing wine and gold anymore, so our interest in all things LeBron has waned.

To be quite honest, we probably would have watched James’ new show on HBO, The Shop, if he was still a Cav, but since he’s joined the Lakers, the Yankees of the NBA, it’s not must see TV.

Sure, it will be cool when James starts nearing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all time scoring record, because a majority of those points were scored wearing a Cleveland uniform, but for the most part, our interest will be limited to keeping aware of what is happening in the league, just like we do any other team.

We will forever be thankful for the 2016 NBA title, something quite frankly, we never thought we would see. James was primarily responsible for that, as well as the four consecutive Finals appearances.

It’s almost as though he retired. His next glory moment here will probably be when his #23 jersey is retired by the Cavaliers, as the greatest player in franchise history.

And that event will be greeted warmly by fans in northeast Ohio, as it should be. After all, we appreciate greatness.

As for the Cavs, last night was their first game without James, and we should allow the players and coaching staff a little transition period.

First, the wine and gold may have played the best team in the Eastern Conference in the Toronto Raptors, who have one of the top ten players (some might say top five) in Kawhi Leonard.

Losing to them at home is certainly no disgrace.

However, Tyronn Lue and the coaching staff need time before we make any conclusions as to this edition of the wine and gold is a playoff team, a post-season contender, or a squad that should be looking toward the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery in May.

Already, we heard criticism of Kevin Love, because he shot 5 for 18 last night. This is the overreaction of one game. Love will shoot the ball better, he’s too good of a shooter.

Remember, this is a new system for the coaches and the players. And pretty much every guy on the roster has a new role, except for maybe Kyle Korver and Tristan Thompson. You have to provide time to get used to the newness.

Even teams with championship aspirations have periods of adjustment when new players are added in, so a team that lost the best player in the game should and will be no exception.

Let’s see what the Cavaliers look like in two or three weeks before jumping to any conclusions. After all, expectations are lower this season than the last four years.

Watch Love’s Numbers Go Up in ’18-’19

After Kevin Love signed his contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer, there is no question who the leader this edition of the wine and gold is.

Love is a former champion, a five time all star, and a second team All NBA selection twice.

When Love arrived in Cleveland, he was regarded as kind of the third wheel after LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and he quickly became the whipping boy for fans because he no longer averaged the 26 points he scored in Minnesota.

As Chris Bosh predicted when Love joined James with the Cavs, it’s not easy to be a guy who doesn’t have the ball in his hands all the time, when playing with LeBron.

The former UCLA All American looked and played tentative at times, seemingly unsure of what he was supposed to do on the court.

He played inside and outside with the Timberwolves, and with the Cavaliers, it seemed he was more of a three point shooter.

Now that James has departed the squad, Love will be the primary scoring threat, and people have questioned whether or not he will be able to handle the role.

If you look at the numbers, there is no question Kevin Love can get back to averaging 20 points per game.

Yes, Love’s scoring has dipped since coming to the Cavs, 17.1 per contest in four years here vs. 19.2 in six seasons with the Wolves. But that drop comes from getting less opportunities.

In Love’s best scoring seasons in Minnesota, he averaged 19.3, 16.6, and 18.5 shots per game. With the wine and gold, that number has dropped to 12.7, 12.7, 14.5, and 12.4 in the four years here.

For the most part, that’s between 6.5 to 7 shots per game difference. Which by the way, is a lot.

Since Love is a career 45% shooter, you can figure three more baskets a game, that’s six points, which added to the 17 points he’s scored with Cleveland, puts him at 23 PPG.

His free throws also dropped from around eight a game in his best three seasons in Minnesota, to under five each year with the Cavs.

A lot of that is a result of playing on the perimeter, something we believe will decrease now that the middle doesn’t need to be free for James to operate.

An 80% free thrower, getting three more charity tosses per game should result in another 2.5 points. That puts him around 25 points per game.

Will his rebounding totals also increase? Not as much as the scoring, we say. With the Wolves, the second best rebounder was Nikola Pekovic, and there wasn’t much beyond that.

Even with James gone, Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. provide better rebounding than the players Love had as teammates in Minnesota.

Although, we definitely see him getting back into double digits off the glass, after grabbing 9.3 boards a year ago.

The fans who wondered where the Kevin Love who played in Minnesota was will see him this season.

Why?

Because as we have said before, no player with the Cavs the past four seasons sacrificed more than Kevin Love.

As for the rap that a team can’t win with Love as the best player, look at the rosters for those teams.

When Ricky Rubio joined the team, they went 26-40 in the strike year, and were 40-42 in the second year Love was healthy. They were getting better, and Love is definitely a better player now.

Kevin Love will show everyone this year what kind of player he is and can be. It’s a shame he hasn’t been appreciated by many during his time here.

If We Were Ty Lue This Season…

The Cleveland Cavaliers start training camp this week, and this season could not be any more different than a year ago.

First, the best player in the sport, LeBron James, is no longer wearing the wine and gold. Second, because of that, the Cavs are no longer a contender for the NBA Championship.

Coach Tyronn Lue should be coaching a different style with a younger roster, and we think he will do just that. In fact, for the first time since he took over for David Blatt in 2016, we might see the real Ty Lue.

While the roster no longer has James, it does have a perennial top NBA player in Kevin Love, who should be the focal point for the 2018-19 edition of the Cavs. He should get the most shots, and score more than 20 points per game for the first time in a Cleveland uniform.

The rest of the roster is filled with young, athletic types, many of them interchangeable. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

From the most Lue took over here, he has talked about playing an up tempo style, and now he has better personnel to do that, and it might just start with the second unit.

With the current roster, the starters figure to be a veteran group, with George Hill at the point, JR Smith at the #2, Cedi Osman at small forward, with Love and Tristan Thompson playing the big man roles.

The second unit could be filled with young guys who want to play fast. First round pick Collin Sexton, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., David Nwaba, and Sam Dekker.

Let’s not forget veteran sharpshooters Channing Frye and Kyle Korver, and young big man Ante Zizic, who did some good things when Thompson was hurt a year ago.

The point here is while there is no superstar (and quite frankly, James ranks even above that level), there are plenty of solid NBA players who should get playing time, and how better to do that than play very fast and come at opposing teams in waves.

We should also add here that it would not a surprise to see Smith and Korver, and perhaps even Thompson moved before the season starts, or be dealt early in the season.

We are sure Lue would like to start Hood, as he could be the secondary scoring option, but putting Smith on the bench could cause a myriad of issues.

Back to style of play, Lue should be telling his young team to push the ball at all opportunities and defensively pressure opponents as much as possible. Defense takes energy, and playing it with effort causes players to tire easier.

With the depth on the roster, that shouldn’t be an issue.

All this said, it is doubtful the Cavs are going to win 50 games or more this season, but they can finish above .500 and make a playoff appearance.

On the other hand, they could also win 30 games and be back in the draft lottery.

That’s why they are still interested to us. We are anxious to see how Osman plays with increased time and responsibility, we think the kid can play.

We want to see Sexton, a rookie who plays with energy and confidence. We also think Nance can blossom, and we will bet his outside shot is much better than a year ago.

This group will be interesting to say the least. Although the expectations will be different, it should still be fun to watch the wine and gold this winter.