Cavs Fans Setting Selves Up For Disappointment?

Are Cleveland Cavaliers fans setting themselves up for disappointment with their expectations?

It started sometime between series. Between the Cavs sweeping out the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks. It grew stronger throughout the Hawks series. It stabilized at the end of Game 4.

Cavs fans fully expect their team to win an NBA Title this season.

What once seemed like crazy talk, now is a full blown expectation.

Luke Sicari DM’d me after watching “Believeland” stating that he believed it was our year. Not sure he got the point of that 30 for 30, that fans of Cleveland sports always end of sad, but he was hardly alone.

My fellow OBR writer, Rick Grayshock, tweeted out that he noticed Cavs fans in simple full belief that the Cavs were destined to win the Eastern Conference Finals:

He isn’t wrong. Fans are just awaiting the coronation of the Cavs as the East Champs and are instead looking on to the NBA Finals.

Think maybe this is overstating it?

How about this quick poll of over 100 people (Is this Family Feud?)

72%???

Almost three-quarters of the people who responded said they would be disappointed if the Cavs don’t win an NBA Title!

Sweeping the first two rounds of the NBA Playoffs is exciting. The 3 point shooting, the ball movement, the defense, the Big 3, Channing Frye, J.R. Smith, etc, etc, etc have all given Cavs fans a heightened sense of their team.

Then you remember that the Hawks and Pistons are completely lacking any superstar that would crack the Cavs Top 3, have limited rosters and have proven very little in the Playoffs as currently constituted.

The Pistons are young and developing but their two stars, Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond, are perhaps Top 25 players in the NBA. The Cavs have 3 of the Top 15. The two remaining teams in the Western Conference have at least 2 players each in the Top 15 in the NBA.

The Hawks? The Cavs swept a better version of this Hawks team last year. Their sweep this year should give them little credit going into the Eastern Conference Finals, much less an NBA Title.

Let we forget the Golden State Warriors had the greatest Regular Season in NBA history. The Warriors beat the Cavs last year and have only gotten better. The Cavs still haven’t shown they have the ability to defend the Warriors, especially the “Lineup of Death.”

Winning 73 in the Regular Season is no fluke. The defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors are a good enough reason for Cavs fans to have lowered expectations of an NBA Title.

72% will be disappointed if the Cavs don’t win an NBA Title.

Even the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, should concern Cavs fans. Enes Kanter, Steven Adams, Dion Waiters and Serge Ibaka give the Thunder a very good and deep team. If the Thunder meet the Cavs in the NBA Finals, they would have had to beat the mighty San Antonio Spurs, who had their own great season, and the historic Warriors team.

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Yet, 72% of Cavs fans we polled would be disappointed if the team doesn’t win an NBA Title!

Are we confident that the Cavs will contend for the Title after winning the Eastern Conference Finals? Yes! Do we think the Cavs have a chance of beating the Warriors or Thunder? Yes!

Neither of those statements have changed just because the Cavs swept away the Pistons and Hawks.

Before the NBA Playoffs started, most Cavs fans seemed realistic about their teams chances. Two sweeps later, 72% polled are setup for disappointment.

As a Cavs fan, are you setting yourself up to be disappointed?