The Cleveland Cavaliers have been the favorite to win the 2014-2015 NBA title since they acquired LeBron James in free agency back in July. Along with the addition of prized first overall pick Andrew Wiggins and a talented roster led by PG Kyrie Irving, the books had installed them at (+350). Now the announcement has been made that a trade to bring all-star PF over from the Minnesota Timberwolves has been completed, and that number has dropped to (+265), and is at (+250) at some books.
The trade will cost them Wiggins, as well as last years 1st overall pick Anthony Bennett and a 2015 first round draft choice. The big part of the haul for Minnesota is Wiggins, who is considered to have an almost limitless ceiling and is a foundational building block.
But Love is a win now move. With James returning on a mission to bring a championship back to Cleveland, it is win now time for Cleveland. James is now the veteran leader with championship experience and he will be expected to fulfill his own words. Love was James’ choice to come in and do that.
They Have veterans Brendan Haywood and Anderson Varejao to hold down the center spot and give Love the freedom to roam and stretch. PG Kyrie Irving is already one of the top point guards in the game today and the starting shooting guard spot is held down by Dion Waiters, who is talented but has failed to live up to expectations and at times appears to be heading down the Michael Beasley, DeMarcus Cousins rout.
There are a lot of new parts on this team, and the focus of the offense will be completely different. Whereas last year, the team’s first scoring option was usually Irving, in this coming year’s starting 5, Irving is likely the third option. On defense, Love is going to have to do more than he has been doing throughout his career if he is ever going to be more than a mediocre player on defense. In his mind, Love must go from the clear number 1 to the number 2 option.
The pressure of working all that out while keeping James happy will fall to head coach David Blatt, who may have the toughest job as far as expectations of any incoming head coach ever in the league. If he does pull it off, he will have earned the genius label some are already putting on him.
