Position-by-Position Preview: 2014-15 Cavaliers

Sep 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0), forward LeBron James (23) and guard Kyrie Irving (2) pose for a photo during media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be entering the 2014-15 season with the most talented roster in franchise history. The Cavs have had a monumental off-season, which was headlined by LeBron James’ decision to come home, trading for Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving re-signing with the organization for another five years. Along with the new ‘big three’ the Cavs also struck deals with veterans Mike Miler, James Jones and Shawn Marion, all of whom will bring championship experience to the locker-room. With Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao and Matthew Dellavedova being the only players (along with Irving) to stay in Cleveland after last season, this team has championship aspirations, and rightfully so.

With all of that being said though, the Cavaliers still have an incomplete roster. Lack of rim protection seems to be the major hole in the roster and General Manager David Griffin has publically stated that, as told to Jay Mohr on Fox Sports Radio: “I have concerns about our ability to protect the rim, and that’s not just a Kevin (Love) question. We’re going to need to add that.” The Cavaliers do possess Brendon Haywood, who has a career average of 1.4 blocks per game, but he missed all of last season due to injury, and even though his participated in most of training camp so far, he is still a question mark. Lou Amundson can also bring some rim protection, but he doesn’t solve the problem.

Along with the lack of a rim protector, the back-up point guard position also leaves something to be desired, as does the center position. Dellavedova is the only back-up point guard currently on the roster (Chris Crawford, A.J. Price and Stephen Holt are with the Cavaliers for training camp but they don’t have a guaranteed roster spot) and behind Varejao and Haywood, two injury-prone centers, the Cavs only have rookie Alex Kirk. Coach David Blatt has also considered playing the 6’9″ Thompson at center, which shows the weakness of that position in Cleveland.

With all of those questions still to be unanswered, here is a position-by-position preview for the Cavaliers.

*This preview also includes training camp invites.