The State Of This Season’s Lottery Teams And Where They Need to Improve

Feb 1, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving (2) reaches for a loose ball while being pressured by Detroit Pistons shooting guard Kyle Singler (25) during the second quarter at The Palace. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Cavaliers

Here’s another team that seems like they’re on the up and up. Lets first take a look at the team’s starters.

Kyrie Irving is a star and franchise player. Tristan Thompson has, in his second year, developed into a good NBA player and should be their starting power forward of the future. Dion Waiters struggled mightily in the first half of the season, but since then he’s actually been really useful. Tyler Zeller, for where he was drafted, has performed decently seeing as you can’t always expect a 24th overall pick to even play in the NBA.

Cleveland’s bench received a mid-season boost by acquiring Wayne Ellington and Marreese Speights in a trade from the Grizzlies. Their back up point guard spot has been filled by solid veteran Shaun Livingston.

The team’s future looks brighter than some. It’s yet to be seen whether Dion Waiters can be that number two option for them, although signs thus far point towards the answer being no. It’s probably too much of a risk for them to sign Andrew Bynum in the off-season to any sort of long term deal. They’re going to have to find a starting center somewhere, seeing as though Anderson Varejao will probably be traded at some point next season.

A spot they’ll need to fill is starting small forward. Alonzo Gee is detrimental to the team on offense, mostly because he can’t really shoot, even though he’s being asked to do a lot of that in the Cavs’ offense.