The Cleveland Cavaliers Should Be Championship Favorites For The Rest Of The Decade

The Cleveland Cavaliers should be one of the favorites to win the championship every season until at least 2020 with the team they assemble this week.

The Cleveland Cavaliers can impose their will for years with the team they’re expected to assemble this week. Deron Williams (Sr.), a three-time All-Star and third overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, and Andrew Bogut, the first overall pick in the same draft, come to the team with as much hype as they’ve had since their primes.

Yet, Williams (Sr.) and Bogut are only 32-years-old. LeBron James, a first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft and the best player in the world, is also 32. James is, in all likelihood, the greatest athlete to play in any sport, nonetheless, Williams (Sr.) and Bogut are still impact players despite their physical declines.

Williams (Sr.), who averaged 13.1 points and 6.8 assists per game with the Dallas Mavericks, will be a solid playmaker who can set up the shooters in the second unit and score in the pick-and-roll. Williams (Sr.) played with Kyle Korver, a former All-Star who’s fifth all-time in career three-point field goals, from 2007-2010. In that time frame, Korver shot a career-high 53.6 percent from three-point range. Williams (Sr.) averaged a career-high 10.7 assists per game.

Bogut, who averaged 8.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 block per game for the Mavericks, will be a behemoth in the paint that alters shots around the rim with his 7-foot-0, 260 pound frame and sets solid screens for the ball-handlers to free them up for shots.

He’ll score more than some expect due to putbacks and rolls to the rim in the pick-and-roll while also being able to put the ball on the floor and find shooters behind the line.

These two help Korver, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Derrick Williams and Iman Shumpert be more effective as scorers in the second unit and function without a member of the Big Three on the floor.

Williams, the second overall pick in the 2011 Draft, is a recent addition for the Cavs that has fit right in and is particularly important. He’s a versatile defender, able to hit open threes, attack the rim in straight-line drives or the open court and is both focused and efficient. At 25-years-old and about to enter into his prime, he has the mindset, skillset and youth to be the proper protegé for James. He also can absorb minutes from the 36-year-old Jefferson at small forward.

Meanwhile, Shumpert is a three-and-D player that will find his minutes on the wing because he’s an athletic guard capable of playing suffocating on-ball defense along the perimeter and is knocking down 38.8 percent of his three-point attempts this season. At 26-years-old, Shumpert is at the start of his prime.

His youth also factors in to helping preserve the body of the 35-year-old Korver, who wants to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Frye, the eight overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, will start at power forward for Kevin Love until he recovers from knee surgery. However, when Love comes back, Bogut will allow Frye to keep focusing on playing his natural position of power forward which bodes well for the Cavs.

Although the soon to be 34-year-old sharpshooter plays a lot of center, he’s not a strong rebounder, rim-protector and is a slight body to be banging around in the post with big men night-in and night-out. It’s best if Frye doesn’t have to play center exclusively in a game.

Frye will still play well behind and beside Love, the fifth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and a four-time All-Star in the midst of his prime at 28-years-old. Frye, who knocks down 40.5 percent of his shots from three-point range and Love, who knocks down 38.4 percent of his shots from three-point range, give the Cavs a player that a big man has to cover on the perimeter.

This helps the Cavs keep four opposing players on the perimeter with just a big man inside to protect the rim against James or Kyrie Irving in the pick-and-roll.

Irving, a four-time All-Star picked first overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, is an elite shooter, slasher and ball-handler for the Cavs. Thompson, the fourth overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, is an elite defender and rebounder.

James, who is possibly the best passer in the NBA is currently averaging 8.9 assists per game and can get those dishes in dazzling ways. Irving, who has stepped up his ability to facilitate, averages 5.9 assists per game.

For their careers, James and Irving convert 72.8 and 59.5 percent of their shots from 0-3 feet away from the rim respectively (www.basketball-rereference.com). This season, James converts 41.2 percent of his shots from 15-19 feet away and Irving knocks down 52.8 percent of his shots from the same distance. That’s trouble for players trying to defend them in the pick-and-roll.

Bogut or Tristan Thompson, the fourth overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and one of the smarter players in the league, could still hit a shooter like the athletic J.R. Smith on the outside after receiving a pass as they’re rolling to the rim. The 31-year-old Smith, who shoots 37.5 percent from three-point range for his career, will be back by the playoffs and will bring a mix of size, athleticism, shooting ability and ball-handling that they don’t have at shooting guard without him. Smith will also bring a vibrant energy to the locker room that Cavs fans haven’t seen since December.

Soon-to-be 29-year-old DeAndre Liggins, a Tony Allen-level lockdown defender, 36-year-old James Jones, a locker room leader and sharpshooter, and soon-to-be 22-year-old Kay Felder, who has potential to be the next Isaiah Thomas, are at the end of the Cavs bench but will play in case of injury or if there’s a blowout.

Isn’t this a roster to behold?

Even if the Cleveland Cavaliers sign Larry Sanders instead of Bogut, they still receive a player who can be as dominant as Bogut defensively with averages of 1.8 blocks per game and 3.3 blocks per 36 minutes. The fifteenth pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Sanders is an intelligent passer and able to defend on the perimeter as well. He’s not as skilled as Bogut but he’s skilled. The only concerns with Sanders are that he’s going to get winded after being out of the NBA for nearly two years and, unless he keeps his weight up, pushed around by bigger centers.

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The Cavs could also go with the darkhorse candidate in their designated affiliate player Eric Moreland, who is reportedly on their radar. Moreland is a stat-sheet stuffer that can defend all over the court and has an intriguing skillset as a point guard turned center.

In any case, with two-way contracts coming to the league next season, both Sanders and the 25-year-old Moreland could be Cavs next year. They’d be joined by soon-to-be 22-year-old Cedi Osman, a draft-and-stash small forward with potential to be more than just a three-and-D savant.

After Korver and Jefferson retire, Osman and Williams will be there for James’ final stretch. Felder should be ready to take the reins from Williams (Sr.) when the latter retires as well.

Who will stop them?

Unless the Boston Celtics acquire an elite player, the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets are the only teams that could feasibly beat the Cavs in a seven-game series. Yet, the Warriors live and die by the three, the Raptors don’t have enough three-point shooting and the Rockets are an abysmal group defensively.

Long story short, the Cleveland Cavaliers will have the personnel and youth to be contenders for years with the squad they assemble this week.

Can the Cleveland Cavaliers start a dynasty with the roster they’re expected to assemble this week? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.