Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue believes team can make the playoffs

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue is confident in his team and excited about the challenges that lay ahead.

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue believes that he has a team with enough talent to reach the playoffs, even if they don’t have the experience necessary for it to be a smooth ride to the postseason.

Per Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:

"“We’re going to have a young team and there’s going to be growing pains, but I think we have enough talent to make the playoffs,” Lue said.“But not knowing what’s going to happen during the course of the season, the most important thing is to keep building that culture, playing the right way.”"

When Lue mentions his uncertainty about what will happen during the season, he’s not just alluding to not knowing how his team will perform but not knowing how healthy his team will be.

Every team will be hit by the injury bug at some point but it seems like the Cavaliers were particularly unlucky last season, which led to them fielding over 30 starting lineups through the course of the season.

Rookie Collin Sexton, the eighth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, will have to prove that he can handle the rigors of playing at a high level for 82 games. A number of veterans — George Hill, Kyle Korver, Rodney Hood and Kevin Love — have less than ideal injury histories.

That said, while there’s certainly a fair amount of talent on the roster, there are reasonable concerns about injuries effecting their potential.

That said, Lue feels like the biggest challenge for his coaching staff will be teaching young players the techniques, principles and doctrines that will transform them from just talented players to talented players who can help a championship team.

More from Lue, per Washburn:

"“Of course I would love to have LeBron James, but now that he’s gone it’s going to be a new challenge,” Lue said. “I think me and my coaching staff, we’re up for it. It’s going to be different, a lot of young guys that we can try to teach and mold them how you want them to be.“I think when LeBron came back [from Miami] and we traded for Kevin Love, we didn’t have any draft picks — all veteran guys who could play now and understand how to play and how to win and what it took. Now, having made the trades we made during the season and acquiring some young talent through the draft, it will be a different challenge for us. I’m already excited about it.”"

"“I don’t know [how to mix young and old] because we’ve never had that challenge before,” Lue said. “I think it will be good because we have some good vets and we’ve always been surrounded by good vets. I know what we will continue to do is continue to build the culture. I think since LeBron came back, [owner] Dan Gilbert has surrounded him with great players, great veterans who are good for the culture. Our main focus this summer is continuing to keep building these guys up but also continuing to build the culture we had the last four years [four NBA Finals appearances].”"

Since the day of the 2017-2018 trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers have added Sexton, George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., David Nwaba, Sam Dekker, Billy Preston and Isaiah Taylor to their championship core (Kevin Love, Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Channing Frye) while losing the biggest piece of their championship efforts, LeBron James.

This group has a couple of talented scorers (Hood and Clarkson), a couple of talented defenders (Hill, Nance Jr. and Nwaba) and a couple of talented all-around players (Sexton and Preston). These are players who will likely have ready-made roles next season and, unlike last year, time to gel.

However, the talent added and the talent lost doesn’t balance out like a quadratic formula.

Losing LeBron, arguably the greatest player of all-time and one who had his most impressive offensive season in his career last season, isn’t an event that can be brushed over as if it never happened.

Not only do they have to replace his leadership and statistical output with a collective effort, players will have to learn how to take their destinies in their own hands in the times that LeBron would have saved the day.

Per Washburn:

"“We want to continue to be exciting, continue to be competitive for our fan base,” Lue said. “But it’s hard to replace LeBron James. Don’t say we’re going to replace LeBron. He’s an irreplaceable player. It’s not replacing LeBron James, the best player in the game for so long, and he’s meant so much to the franchise and every franchise he’s played for — Miami, Cleveland, the city of Cleveland, his family, his friends, coaches, players. Everybody he’s been around he’s made better and you can’t replace that. So we’ve got to understand that and continue to keep growing and working collectively and be the best we can be.”"

However, there are actually a couple of potential positives that the Cavs will experience on-the-court from LeBron’s departure like more ball-movement, a faster pace and better defensive effort.

There’s even one that will affect Lue directly off-the-court in a positive way.

Less stress.

The championship-or-bust pressure that LeBron has learned how to deal with isn’t handled the same by everyone and last season, it seemed to affect Hood in the postseason, Love in the regular season and Lue throughout the season.

Lue’s health was deteriorating, in part because of stress (expressed through a lack of sleep), and he even had to leave the team for a few games to deal with the issues.

That said, this will be a different year for Lue. He already has a diet and workout regimen that’s helping him be healthy but the lowered expectations will surely help him as well.

"“I’ve grown to love it and it’s been fun,” he said. “Now is a different challenge. I’m up for it. I think our coaching staff is up for it. [General manager] Koby Altman is up for it as well. I’m doing well, I feel good, doing the right thing, continuing to eat better, continuing to work out and I feel good. And as long as that continues I’ll be fine.”"

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be a playoff-contender on paper but while the players often determine whether a team wins or loses, the offensive system and defensive principles that Lue instills will also determine if their dreams can be realized.

2018-2019 will be one of the most interesting seasons in Cleveland Cavaliers history.