Projecting the Cavs in 2014-15

[Tripi]

I think the defensive "problems" are being blown out of proportion and our offense is even being a little underrated. People are undervaluing kyrie irving and dion waiters, and the positive effect Lebrons going to have on everyone. I'm going with 68-70 wins. (Yes, 70)

I don't think we'll get to 70 wins this year, but in the future with a little more chemistry built up? Sure, why not

 

[col63onel]

With the cap going up, doesn't this mean Lebron will opt out after the season and get a max contract with more money? Same with Kevin Love? How do we know they won't just eat up the additional cap space between the two of them, given they deserve "max" money?

I don't know the first thing about how salary caps work, so I could be way off...i just figured everything would be relative...the higher the cap, the higher the players will be paid..

Or does the max amount of money that a player can be paid stay the same?

Depends on how the contract is structured.

LeBron has opt outs every year, so he'll basically sign a new 1 year deal every year. His max will rise with the salary cap. Most players would take a max contract for as many years to offset injury risk. LeBron will get max from whomever he wants for at least the next couple of years, even if he gets hurt.

Kyrie doesn't have an opt out for 5 more years. He's "stuck" at what his new contract will be regardless of how high the salary cap rises.

Love's contract is TBD. Woj reported he would sign for 5 years next season. He gains security, but if he waits a year, his max will be worth a lot more. It would greatly benefit the Cavs for him to sign next offseason. He'd be in the same boat as Kyrie.

 

[Tripi]

I don't know the first thing about how salary caps work, so I could be way off...i just figured everything would be relative...the higher the cap, the higher the players will be paid..

That's exactly what will happen and it's exactly why Lebron only signed a two year contract.

 

[chuck0609]

If the cap goes up $16 mil, isn't it logical that the MAX deals are also going to rise during the next contract cycle in a year?

I cant see a guy like LBJ only getting 20 mil or so.

 

[Pioneer10]

In the projections I've seen, it doesn't move the needle very much and it didn't move it in the direction you expect.

Last season Marion had an RPM = -1.05, while Jones had RPM = -0.21.

That's what weird about these projection systems. Marion playing 30mpg as your starting SF should definitely lead to your win total being reduced. But as a backup SF/PF expected to play around 20mpg is a completely different scenario.

 

[Kizzle]

I wont say year one regular season well get 65 wins. Because that would mean a hell of a lot of things happened and that just wont happen that fast. I WILL say that by the end of the regular season we will be playing like a 65 win team and we'll win a title.

 

[Cavatt]

Yeah Lebron and Love are going to take advantage of the new cap level, and we won't have any extra room. It will go to them

 

[col63onel]

If the cap goes up $16 mil, isn't it logical that the MAX deals are also going to rise during the next contract cycle in a year?

I cant see a guy like LBJ only getting 20 mil or so.

Except that Kyrie and (potentially) Love would be grandfathered in under the old CBA. Their maxes would be somewhere between noticeably and significantly less than what they could have earned after the new TV deal.

 

[PriceFan14]

I wont say year one regular season well get 65 wins. Because that would mean a hell of a lot of things happened and that just wont happen that fast. I WILL say that by the end of the regular season we will be playing like a 65 win team and we'll win a title.

David Griffin : ''This team has a focus and a single-mindedness that is awesome ... but these things don’t happen overnight … If it takes a year of seasoning ... that's fine. We know where it’s heading. What I want our guys to do, and what it'd be great if our fans would do, is just passionately lose yourself in the process of watching us get better. Cuz it's gonna be an awesome thing to watch ''

So our GM thinks the same way too. I just loved to hear when he said that. Thats just great...

 

[cavsfever]

I wont say year one regular season well get 65 wins. Because that would mean a hell of a lot of things happened and that just wont happen that fast. I WILL say that by the end of the regular season we will be playing like a 65 win team and we'll win a title.

Yeah. The first year especially, the win total doesn't matter -- what matters is rounding into shape by the end of the season. Then the second and third years when you are clicking on all cylinders is when you challenge history. Have to look at this team as having at least three peak years, and a five year championship window if we can keep athletic bench guys on as Miller and Marion age out.

 

[VAIN1]

I feel the offensive system Blatt previewed during summer league will easily allow us to have a semblance of cohesion early. The hand of's will be huge with the drive and kick pairing of LBJ, Ki, & Dion. The spacing will be a near insurmountable unless you have a team of premier defenders from opposing starting fives. Dion or Anderson with his elbow jumper will be able to feast and keep a perpetual chain gun of offensive threat. Which in turn will be a massive amount of pressure on team defensively. There is literally no position on the court we can't score from. Once our players are familiar with each others tendencies it should be nigh unstoppable.

Defensively we are rightfully underrated but based on how the team is constructed we are best preventing 4' & 5's from getting to the rim. LBJ thrived defensively with AV playing in this fashion. His help monster blocks & chase blocks mitigated our need for a true rim protector during his early years. My thoughts are the amount of defensive energy teams will be forced to expend just playing against our offensive juggernaut will go a long way to also boosting our defense. If our starting 5 are KI, Dion, LBJ, Love, AV we will have no holes defensively with the key ingredient on defense being EFFORT.

Griff and his M&M "Loose Yourself" mantra appears to be the organizational ethos and I like it. He said 1 year to assimilate but as the song states...

 

[VAIN1]

It's interesting to hear people thinking of a 5 year plan as well as those who don't think of anything other than this year or next. Dion will not stay if he is not given a fair shot to earn a place and fulfill his dreams for his NBA career. We only have his rights for 2 more years. Thinking you can pigeon hole him as a bench mate just because LBJ is here seems foolish. Letting him have the chance to prove his metal and let his game & growth define where and how he plays is the best thing for this team.

After all KI is worth only 1 more win than Dion which was interesting to see with the way Waiters is valued by the mass media & unappreciative amongst our fan base. Thank God Gilbert loves him as well as Lebron sees the depth of potential inerrant in the kid.

He is integral to the success of this team as being dynastic in potential opposed to a 3 year run. We could be a team of the decade by lightening the load on LBJ to facilitate and allow him to play a more conventional SF role. He would be able to simply be fed like the beast he is opposed to being burdened with getting every one else involved. He could have spurts were he just gets to get his rocks off. Floor spacing is one way to make life easy on LBJ but having 2 PG's with lethal shooting and size demanding defensive attention from half court to baseline will also have a similar affect. Once we add the true rim protector athletic shot blocker at the 5 shit will be nasty.

Dam I can't wait for TC Grrrrrrrrrrr.

 

[Simon]

I expect us to get a slow start to the season, like the Miami Heat when they first got together (they started 11-8, then went on a 10+ game winning streak), but then just instantly click.

 

[Simmy]

Blatt is the real wild card in all of this. If he can get the roster under his control and really get them to work together, the sky is the limit.

Whole-heartedly agree with you. I think with the commotion of this frantic off-season, people have forgotten what a difference Blatt might make/not make. If he manages to take this team under his wing and can transform a bunch of elite players into an elite and cohesive machine, there's no telling what this team can do.

On the other hand, if Blatt struggles to make the transition to the NBA and can't get his high ego/high profile players under control and by an unfortunate series of events, injuries begin to plague us, we might be looking at an entirely different picture.

Seems like option one is most likely at this point, but only time can tell us otherwise at this point. Anyway else sick of waiting for the season to begin yet?

 

[VAIN1]

I expect us to get a slow start to the season, like the Miami Heat when they first got together (they started 11-8, then went on a 10+ game winning streak), but then just instantly click.

Do you feel this is just based on our 2 new starters or the same rookie coaching when comparing Blatt & Spoelstra? Did Eric have respectable systems in place I was in LBJ hate mode so I was no longer a fan of him?

I kind of hope Blatt has a system to create that team symmetry since we will have 2 new super starters with high usage numbers. Just until our players work out their ability to play together based off how they are schemed against. That learning curve of what teams generally try to do to stop or disrupt our offense.

OMG SImmy this is so slow and grueling I might start playing one of these NBA video games. As a Browns fan this is worse than waiting for our yearly Superbowl the NFL Draft every april.