Make amends, do what the past Cavaliers incarnations could not!

[rabman_gold]

Thought I'd try something a little different. I read this could be the most talented team we've had as a whole since the late 80s/early 90s. You could also say it's the deepest we've had since the miracle of a certain city situated south of Cleveland. We also have a pure superstar talent that we truly haven't seen since 2010. Combine all of these together and I feel we could use a little history binge.

1976:
There are quite a few fans here who actually can reminisce about this legendary year because it was the first Cavalier year that stood out in a great way when baseball nor football were jockeying out there.
C: Jim Chones/Nate Thurmond
PF: Jim Brewer
SF: Bingo Smith/Campy Russell
SG: Dirk Snyder/Austin Carr
PG: Jim Cleamons/Foots Walker

1989:
The end result is one we'd like to forget (I refuse to download the fated game 5 because it was heart-breaking), but from 1 to 7, we were a really good team, but added depth too late to actually contend.
C: Brad Daugherty/Tree Rollins
PF: Larry Nance/Hot Rod Williams
SF: Mike Sanders
SG: Ron Harper/Craig Ehlo
PG: Mark Price/Darnell Valentine

1992:
Again, added players too late to make a run, and having a rival like Jordan didn't help.
C: Brad Daugherty
PF: Larry Nance/Hot Rod Williams
SF: Mike Sanders
SG: Craig Ehlo/John Battle/Steve Kerr
PG: Mark Price/Terrell Brandon

2007:
Having a first taste at All-Eastern Conference success, only to fall to a real contender.
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Anderson Varejao
PF: Drew Gooden/Donyell Marshall
SF: LeBron James
SG: Sasha Pavlovic
PG: Larry Hughes/Daniel Gibson/Eric Snow/Damon Jones

2009:
Despite the greatest regular season success, the team was not built to succeed.
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Anderson Varejao
PF: Ben Wallace/Joe Smith/J.J. Hickson
SF: LeBron James/Wally Szcerbiak
SG: Delonte West/Sasha Pavlovic
PG: Mo Williams/Daniel Gibson

2010:
Second time the charm, but still failed anyways.
C: Shaquille O'Neal/Zydrunas Ilgauskas
PF: Antawn Jamison/Anderson Varejao/J.J. Hickson
SF: LeBron James/Jamario Moon
SG: Anthony Parker/Delonte West
PG: Mo Williams/Daniel Gibson

These 6 times have bits and pieces of what our true champion looking team from Cleveland should look like. I also learned that don't expect a championship to fall in your lap. But perhaps we can finally look forward to what this season brings?

2015:
Almost like our do-over from 1976, 1989, 1992, 2007, 2009, and 2010. A chance for redemption. And there's still room for improvement.
C: Anderson Varejao/Brendan Haywood
PF: Kevin Love/Tristan Thompson
SF: LeBron James/Shawn Marion/James Jones
SG: Dion Waiters/Mike Miller
PG: Kyrie Irving/Mathew Dellavedova

What this roster has:

1976 -> 2015:
We have the depth.
Chones is the best from 1976, a similar guy in value, Love, is considered our 2nd or 3rd best offensive option. LeBron is better than Campy and Bingo combined due to his multi-faceted abilities. Cleamons isn't better than Kyrie. But the drop-off isn't horrendous. Tristan, Marion, Miller, and Dellavedova are comparable to Brewer, Walker, Snyder, and Carr. In fact, we have Dion, Jones, and possibly Haywood to add to that, players at a similar level.

We also have the star power.
And considering the league isn't as watered down as it was pre-ABA merger, that says something.

Our big weakness is up front.
How will we replace Thurmond's aged, yet excellent ability to alter shots?

1989/1992 -> 2015:
Again, superior depth.
We can play 9 guys a full 20 minutes a night, with room to spare. Something tells me we can weather out big injuries because of the difference in talent and the ability to plug guys in regularly.

Star power, again.
Again, we have our own Michael Jordan (again, LeBron James), but add some complimentary stars and it looks more feasible now than it ever has.

Again, if it's a problem, it's not much of one, because Brad wasn't exactly an enforcer either.

2007/2009/2010 -> 2015
Better quality depth.
Each season that passed under the General Management of Danny Ferry, we got better, but the lack of commitment from our star and need to upgrade became more clear.
Take the comparisons:
2007:
1: LBJ, 2: Larry, 3: Z, 4: Drew, 5: Pavs, 6: Andy, 7: Marshall, 8: Gibson
2009:
1: LBJ, 2: Mo, 3: West, 4: Z, 5: Andy, 6: Wally, 7: Gibson, 8: Pavs, 9: Joe, 10: Ben
2010:
1: LBJ, 2: Mo, 3: Antawn, 4: Shaq, 5: Parker, 6: Z, 7: Andy, 8: West, 9: Moon, 10: Gibson

More star power.
If you considered that Mo was the only other all-star the Cavs had from this point, that says volumes that we not only have a returning all-star (LBJ), but 2 clear-cut stars as well to add to that.

Again, the lack of help up front might hurt.
Not unfeasible, but might look hard to find an answer.

One could even ask to take certain players from the past and could our present team beat that one.
1976:
Jim Chones
1989-92:
Brad Daugherty, Hot Rod Williams, Mark Price, Ron Harper, Craig Ehlo, Larry Nance
2007:
Larry Hughes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson
2009:
Mo Williams, Delonte West, Sasha Pavlovic
2010:
LeBron James, Anderson Varejao

C: Brad Daugherty/Jim Chones/Zydrunas Ilgausaks
PF: Larry Nance/Hot Rod Williams/Anderson Varejao
SF: LeBron James/Sasha Pavlovic
SG: Ron Harper/Larry Hughes/Craig Ehlo
PG: Mark Price/Mo Williams/Delonte West/Daniel Gibson

Would this team be enough for this year's Cavs team? Discuss.

 

[upper lip]

The 08-10 teams were so fun with the personalities they had on the team and just how together they were and goofy they acted. They were very entertaining and easy to love and feel connected to. So I'd say those years..

 

[theSTEREO.]

I'm voting the Daugherty Price era team. I wish the first Lebron teams could've won, but what's about to happen over the next 5-8 years is gonna more than make up for that. I'm all for championships in multiple eras

 

[shoes22]

2008-2009. There was no question we were the best team in the NBA that year. A bunch of things went wrong leading up to and during that Orlando series that derailed the season. Especially after that miracle three to end game 2, that was the year we should have won it all.

 

[Simmy]

I just hope that we won't have to add a 6th choice to this poll 5 years from now...

 

[Snarly]

Looking at our current roster with the players we know we have. I mean we have a Double, Double guy of the bench who could play the 5. Marion and Waiters who is a Wade light but on a team like this. Price while Great, Irving can be better and soon. I mean we are the perfect mix of old and young and if we can keep the center tilt-a-whirl with quality this team could go down as at least as good as a few of the Bulls teams and that is saying a lot. If Bron and our health hold up maybe even better. The Mark Price era when I was a kid was golden and the best Cavs team till this one. Lets not kid our self the old LeBron teams were nothing more than smoke led by a bad GM. Great post Rabman, this is something I was wanting to look up eventually.

 

[PriceFan14]

I was a kid when i watched Price and those boys. I loved his game a lot. But their season success never translated in playoffs cuz MJ always won aginst us. That time now seems like the 2008-2009 season which we ended up nothing. I'm sure Bron watched those times as we do and hated that his hero came up winning against his team over and over again: that's one of the reason i think he'll make sure we'll never lose a series against Bulls with the feeling of sort of revenge.
The first final appereance is more appealing even though we got swept. But present is the most exciting ı've ever been. Just hoping that this fairytale offseason turns out a fairytale dynasty, man at least one chip.
As fans, we deserved it more than most of other fans like Heat bandwagoners who don't even show up until 2nd quarter of a finals game or shitty Lakers fans.

 

[LuNcHBoX]

The finals appearance was nice to have and all but I truly believe if we had made it past Orlando we were going to win the title that year. I'll never forget how much it hurt to get eliminated that day...

 

[-Akronite-]

The finals appearance was nice to have and all but I truly believe if we had made it past Orlando we were going to win the title that year. I'll never forget how much it hurt to get eliminated that day...

The Lakers had the same advantages with Gasol and Bynum as Orlando, we would have been fucked.

I think we had a better built team in 2010 and if we got past the Celtics (we should have), we'd be tough to beat for anyone.

 

[The Process God]

The Lakers had the same advantages with Gasol and Bynum as Orlando, we would have been fucked.

I think we had a better built team in 2010 and if we got past the Celtics (we should have), we'd be tough to beat for anyone.

We had the Lakers' number that year. There was more to it than just them having Bynum and Gasol. I suspect we would have beaten them.

 

[rabman_gold]

Just to be clear, the '76 Cavs were in a watered down league that would've expanded a year later with the ABA merger, so that was the best shot at winning a title in the 70s.

In the 80s, I recall a Rick Mahorn elbow that crushed any optimism the Cavs had at being able to challenge the Pistons, even if Jordan didn't kill us off with a shot.

That leaves the late 2000s Cavaliers. We were good, but how many true all-stars did we have? Mo wasn't considered until there were injury replacements involved. Z was a shell of his former self as was many others that Ferry picked up. LeBron made the team what it was. Even by those standards, Phil Jackson was a master of adjustments and probably would've out-coached the Cavs' Mike Brown.

Remember folks, the playoffs and finals are a completely different monster. Numbers in the regular season don't mean much, just look at the 2007 regular season against the Spurs...

</rant>

If it were up to me, I'd go back in time to watch all of the teams' game.

But hopefully, this year can make me forget those years and "do what the past teams couldn't".

 

[-Akronite-]

We had the Lakers' number that year. There was more to it than just them having Bynum and Gasol. I suspect we would have beaten them.

We didn't have their number til we got Shaq.