Tomorrow night, the Cleveland Cavaliers start their third season in the post LeBron James era.

That means they are in rebuilding mode, but the good news is, GM Chris Grant is steadily putting the building blocks in place.  This is a very young team.

Will they improve enough to make a run at a playoff spot?  That probably depends on the health of two of their better players:  Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao.

Irving missed much of his only season at Duke with a foot injury and missed 14  games last season as well.  He also broke his hand this summer.

He’s only 20 years old, so perhaps the injuries will subside as he gets older and stronger, but coach Byron Scott needs him on the floor for the wine and gold to win.

In his second year, he should be able to increase his scoring average to over 20 points per night, compared to 18.5 in his first season.

Varejao has missed good portions of the last two seasons, first with a foot injury and last season with a broken wrist.  He plays solid defense and is a relentless rebounder.

He’s still the Cavs’ best big man, so having him for all 82 contests would be a huge boost for Scott.

The biggest challenge for this young group of basketball players will be scoring points after losing Antawn Jamison’s 17 per game.

Jamison wasn’t exactly judicious in his shot selection, but without a secondary scorer on the roster, Scott needed his points.

But the veteran has joined the all-star team from five years ago that plays in Los Angeles, so someone has to step up and put the ball in the basket.

Who will that guy be?

The logical answer would be rookie Dion Waiters, named as a starter by Scott yesterday.  Waiters, the fourth overall pick in last summer’s draft, is a scorer and has been compared to Dwyane Wade in that regard.

Scott and Grant would no doubt be happy if the rookie averaged in double figures for the season.

The other player who can pick up the slack is newcomer C.J. Miles, a free agent who played with the Jazz for seven seasons, but is still just 25 years old.

Miles has averaged 8.4 points per game in his career averaging a little over 19 minutes per night.  He did score almost 13 per game two years ago.

He should be able to get into double figures on a nightly basis.

The other points will have to come from the improvement of players like second year man Tristan Thompson, who should get into double figures in points, and Alonzo Gee.

Remember, Jamison took a lot of shots, so those shots will be divided up by other players as well, in fact, he hoisted up almost 20% (19.5%) of the Cavs field goal attempts last year, so his absence will open up shots for the younger players.

And this is not to blast the veteran, who has been a solid NBA player, but he shot 40.3% last year.  Do you know what other Cavalier shot the same percentage?  Omri Casspi, who was a disappointment by everyone’s standards.

Starting Thompson should make Scott’s team better defensively, at least in the frontcourt, so maybe Cleveland will need fewer points to win.

The coach has said defensive rebounding is his main concern coming into the season, but finding a true secondary scorer has to be next on the list.  We may find out as soon as tonight.

JK