Kudos to the Cleveland Cavaliers for pushing the Boston
Celtics to seven games. And even more kudos to the Cavs for getting all the way
to the NBA Finals a season ago. But despite their achievements, it really isn’t
good enough.
Let’s state the obvious. LeBron James is a damn good player. So good, in fact,
that he basically carried a team with lottery level talent and pushed them deep
into the postseason.
But no matter how nice he is, he can’t do this without some
help.
Let’s say they stole Game 7 from Boston.
Now what? Do you really think they could touch L.A., San
Antonio or New
Orleans? In last year’s Finals they looked like the
J.V. team playing varsity.
In order for the Cavs to pull off big wins, LeBron needs nearly a triple double
and someone else on that team has having a career night. I don’t care who you
are, that is just not realistic if you’re talking about championships. You need
another All Star caliber player, and Cleveland
has failed to provide him with that.
Just look at this last game. Delonte West was the second
best player on the Cavs team. Don’t get me wrong, D-West is solid, but a second
option? Then you got Wally Szczerbiac, Joe Smith, Zydrunas Ilgauskus, Ben
Wallace – three players who are on the decline of their careers. Boobie Gibson
is getting better, but he can’t even start for most NBA teams.
‘Bron’s situation reminds me a lot of the situation KG was
in for several years. Good enough to get deep in the playoffs, but not a shot
in hell of winning it all. Management there also didn’t give KG much to work
with. And as loyal as Kevin was to that organization, eventually you knew he
was going to want out, and that’s exactly what happened.
In my opinion if management doesn’t upgrade LeBron’s supporting cast soon, they
will see their home-grown star bolt.
King James hits free agency in two years, and believe me, he
is going to have options. The New York Knicks got a lot going for them to lure
him. By then the Garden will have been completely renovated. You also know that
LeBron will like the idea of playing in Mike D’Antoni’s system. And the
endorsement opportunities? Well that’s self explanatory.
LeBron could also build his empire playing just one borough away in Brooklyn where the Nets are scheduled to move in 2011.
Everybody knows the relationship ‘Bron has with Hova and you know he is
intrigued with the chance to play for what will be the hippest team in the league.
A few years ago, management tried to give LeBron that
Pippen-esque sidekick, by throwing $60 mil to Larry Hughes. Obviously that
failed. Since then they have done a lot of small-time wheeling and dealing that
resulted in acquiring more average players. They lost out on the chance to snag
guys who became available like Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion.
Cavs’ GM Danny Ferry must be aggressive in getting LeBron
help this summer. He has a few bargaining chips like Szczerbiac’s expiring
contract. Names like Corey Maggette, Shawn Marion, Jose Calderon and LeBron’s buddy Carmelo
Anthony are just a few of the names that could become available.
So it’s now or never this offseason for the management. Last
week, James was quotes as saying, “No LeBron James team is a desperate team.”
But if Cleveland
wants to keep him in a Cavs jersey, then that’s exactly what they are going to
have to be.
