Numerous experts labeled Cleveland as the favorite to win this year’s NBA title. I was so mesmerized by King James that I fell into this mindset as well. LeBron was such a dominating force that a 2009 Cavs championship seemed inevitible. After sweeping both of their first two opponents, this prediction was looking pretty good.
While the Cavs did possess the best overall record in the 2008/09 season, this was essentially the same team that didn’t have enough to beat Boston last year. As a result, Cleveland was defeated in the Eastern Conference Finals to the surprisingly much more superior Orlando Magic.
And the addition of Mo Williams was enough to put them over the top? Seriously?
First off, Cleveland needs a wingman for LeBron. I’m not even going to expand on this because it couldn’t be any more obvious, but it’s a crucial component of a championship team. ESPN’s Chris Broussard wrote a great analysis of this point here. Mo Williams is a shoot-first point guard that isn’t consistent enough, nor talented enough, to be an adequate sidekick for LeBron.
Secondly, the Cavs lack even a reasonable presence in the post, which allowed Dwight Howard to do whatever he wanted. Watching Howard dominate Zydrundas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao night after night was painful. Big Z looked like he was walking in cement. On the defensive end, he moves in slow motion and I don’t think he has jumped in years. Offensively, Ilgauskas has a 15-foot jumper that goes in sometimes. One of the main reasons opposing teams are consistently able to triple-team LeBron is due to Big Z’s presense (or lack thereof) in the lane. Since he is so one-dimensional, he isn’t viewed as much of a threat if he gets the ball. This means that defenders can regularly cheat over on James. Could you imagine Pau Gasol on this team? He’d average 40 a game just off kickouts from LeBron!
I love how everyone refers to Varejao as an “energy guy.” His offense is entirely limited to rebounds and putbacks. In addition, he can’t score from more than three feet away and doesn’t have anything close to resembling a post move. During the Orlando series, Reggie Miller said something to the extent of “Anderson Varejao is a ‘flopper,’ that’s his game. Ray Allen’s game is shooting, Varejao’s is unnecessarily flailing onto the court in hopes of a foul being called.” When an ability to ‘flop’ is the best thing you can say about a player, that isn’t a good sign.
Should we even discuss the ghost of Ben Wallace? Claiming that Wallace is on the tail end of his career would be giving him more justice than he deserves. He was once known as a defensive specialist and led the league in rebounds for a few seasons. This year, Big Ben only averaged about three more points and six more rebounds than I did. This wouldn’t be that big of an issue if he wasn’t being paid $14.5 million in 2009. His salary is higher than LeBron’s! This is robbery, Cavalier fans should be outraged. Worse, he’s on the books for the same paycheck next year. Big Ben is rumored to be contemplating retirement, but this would be a horrendous decision from a financial standpoint. By retiring, he’d leave $14.5 million on the table. Cleveland might as well pencil Wallace’s corpse onto the 2010 roster now so they can at least advertise his expiring contract as trade bait.
Ultimately, the Magic were quite frankly a better constructed team. King James averaged a rediculous 38-8-8 in the series but Orlando’s ability to explot matchups in the frontcourt gave them the deciding edge. Howard, Hedo Tukoglu and Rashad Lewis were just too much for Cleveland’s forwards & centers to handle.
The funny thing is that the Cavs could have easily beaten the 2009 Celtics, a scenario which almost took place. Cleveland’s plethera of medoicre big men would have been capable of handling Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby, combine that with KG’s absense and the apparent tired legs of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, a competitive series would have been very unlikely.
Cavalier fans, I hope everything turns out for the best. Unfortunately Cleveland’s quest for it’s first professional title in ages will need to be postponed at least another year.
- Scottie
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