There was a lot of talk before this series began about supporting casts. The question being Cleveland minus Lebron, and NY minus Marbury, and most believed the cavs would win. Furthermore some posters said that cleveland would actually be a playoff team. I thought the that Lebron was not responsible for about 30 wins by himself and this team was lucky to win 20 games as a unit.

I think it's time to rethink just how bad cleveland really is and actually. Lebron was awful last night shooting 10-30, but did have 10 assists on a team with no one that can really score.

Granted we have no Lebron, put when your best option is a second round pick, and your going into next season with no cap room, an aging z and might not be able to sign varejo?

No reason we shouldn't be better head to head next year than this team....

Cleveland did beat a pretty good Detroit team.

We don't say Golden State sucks because they got picked apart by the Jazz, but The Cavs are not bad, just not top 5 in the league over all.

THe Gods were kind to the Spurs paving a nice way with the Mavs eliminated and Big Shot Rob got the Suns to take the bait.

But, I think before we slam Cleveland it should be noted that the Spurs are a legitimate champion posting an excellent record during the season in a tough division and having the endourance to continue it into the playoffs.

From what I saw in the previous EC Playoffs, the Cavs looked like an OK team aside from Lebron. But after watching them against the Spurs, You can see that they really aren't good enough to help him win a title. The Spurs are a hard team to use for any kind of comparison, but when you see them play you can see just how far away the teams in the East really are.

Aside from Big Z, I really don't like anyone else on that team. D. Gibson may develop into a good player, but those other guys are nothing special at all. Even if they had a healthy Hughes I don't think it would've made that much difference. Hughes isn't a good shooter and that's what Lebron really needed. The Cavs lack of outside shooting really hurt them, cuz they couldn't really stretch the Spurs D. They just clogged up the paint against Lebron and Z and let the other guys fire away from outside.

Coach Brown has gotten the Cavs to play really good D, i'll give them that. They just can't score. Not enough shooting and not enough breakdown ability. They pass the ball well, but against a good D, they don't finish well enough. I'd like to see the Cavs get a real penetrating PG, who can breakdown the D and setup guys a bit more. Take the pressure off Lebron to have to try and breakdown the D all the time. Adding a good SG would help as well.

Why do you hate the Cavs so much?

Yes, the Cavs were completey inept. Nobody said the Cavs are a playoff team without LeBron, that's crazy. However, they have a passable supporting core -- I mean they did go to the NBA finals.

Z is still a very good center. Drew Gooden is obviously a decent player. Larry Hughes at full strength is a good player. Eric Snow can definitely lead a team. Varajeo, Donyell Marshall, Boobie Gibson, Damon Jones, etc... are nice supporting players.

Let's not completely cut them short. You don't see much of their talents because LeBron gets so much focus.

And claiming people said that the Cavs are a playoff team without LeBron is an outright lie. The most was that some surmised that the Cavs would win 30 without LeBron. 30 wins sucks!!! Let's get that straight right now. I merely said they even without LeBron, they're not the worst team in the league, just near the bottom, not the absolute worst. As are the Knicks.


[Edited by - Solace on Jun 15 2007 10:09 AM]

here is what the cav's supporting cast does that the Knicks supporting cast has yet to do- play as a unit.

Lebron make's his team mates better.

And Marbury, until this year, made it not fun to play with him.

Posted by K22:

Posted by djsunyc:

i think the cavs should go out and hire a coach that's going to put pressure on lebron and make him evolve into a better player - i see this situation very similar to the philly one with iverson - they should hire larry brown.

I don't know about that. The age of the hard-ass coach seems to be coming to an end.

along with the age of droppage in fundamentally sound basketball and fundamentally sound players. coincidence?

Posted by nixluva:

Is Brown a soft coach? From the way he has the Cavs defending, I don't believe that's the case. Lebron's problem is his own. He has to get better at shooting from the floor and FT line. He has to also realize when he needs to be selfish for the good of the team. It wasn't helping when he kept passing to his teammates and they weren't converting anything. Just like Steph, he has to learn to sense when to go for his own offense and when to distribute. Steph was coming from the opposite direction but they both have to learn to balance that part of the game.

brown is a young coach - he may become a great coach but he is learning...

and a learning coach MAY cost a team some opportunities to win. cleveland now is a finals team - they're expectations are now going to be really high next season. it's no longer a rebuilding/developing one...they want to win a title.

can mike brown help them do that or will his inexperience hurt?

same goes for avery johnson.

two young coaches who's teams are now finals caliber...but haven't won. i think inexperience from brown/johnson has hurt the team's chances to win the finals' series they were in.

Cavs are a good team, just not championship caliber. They need a couple of pieces. It's not easy to win a 'chip, even the Heat struggle and they have Shaq, plus Lebron's equal in Wade.

Am I overrating Wade? Maybe, he's less dimensional than 'Bron, but I think he's mentally tougher. Wade would not have been settling for jumpers. Cleveland needed Bron to be MJ, not Magic. Bron needed to take things into his own hands, like he did in the double overtime win against detroit, not play set-up man.

Mike Brown seems like a good coach. He's inspirational and has them playing D, but I agree with DJ, I don't see him getting Lebron to the next level.

LeBron was able to beat 3 very good players in Billups, Rip, and Sheed.
But it is no way any star (even the best) can beat 3 stars in Dunkin, Ginobly, and Parker.
Supporting cast was kind of equal with Spurs role players more experienced and Cavs role players more talanted.
LeBron need at least second star on the team to win it all. Or 2 very good players.
Can Cavs do this? Why any aother team will help them with this? I doubt it
leBron will be a champ but with other team and in bigger market.

Lebron on the Knicks w/o Marbury would be a slightly better team than Lebron on the Cavs.

Just think about it, Lebron, Curry, Lee, Crawford, Balkman, Francis, Collins, Q (when healthy),

Starting line up of:

Francis Hughes
Crawford Pavlovic
Bron Bron
Lee Gooden
Curry Z

Collins Boobie
Balkman Varejeo
Q Marshall
Nate Snow

Posted by Cookdcokehop:

Lebron on the Knicks w/o Marbury would be a slightly better team than Lebron on the Cavs.

Just think about it, Lebron, Curry, Lee, Crawford, Balkman, Francis, Collins, Q (when healthy),

Starting line up of:

Francis Hughes
Crawford Pavlovic
Bron Bron
Lee Gooden
Curry Z

Collins Boobie
Balkman Varejeo
Q Marshall
Nate Snow

LaBron and Eddy is already deadly combination.
How any team will play this two together?
You can add Lee and... WOW
Other bunch is irrelevant...