Would the Cleveland Cavaliers be best served by tanking this season?
With so much change expected this upcoming season, stemming from LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, there are quite a few factors that alter the Cavs’ plans to remain competitive in a new era.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ expectations range from anywhere from a playoff-contender to a team bound to earn a lottery pick. That’s a significant gap and symbolic of the unknown; for the past four years the Cavs have relied on LeBron to get lead them to the playoffs and now they have to do everything without the King.
Luckily for Cleveland, there is quite a bit of talent on the Cavs this year: five-time All-Star Kevin Love, top-ten pick Collin Sexton, shooters like Kyle Korver and George Hill, playmakers like Jordan Clarkson, defenders like David Nwaba and Larry Nance Jr., and a couple of potential breakout stars on the wing in Cedi Osman and Rodney Hood.
With a contract extension for Love indicating that they’ll play around him like the Denver Nuggets do with skilled center Nikola Jokic, there is some promise and hope this year for the Cavs.
However, the last time LeBron left a star came to Cleveland through the draft named Kyrie Irving.
If the Cavs struggled really bad this year would it be a smart idea to tank in hopes of getting a lottery pick?
Imagine if the Cavs tanked and they got Duke University’s Zion Williamson via the draft.
The Cavs could be looking at the future face of the NBA in Williams, an athletic freak of nature that can be the next Blake Griffin.
While we don’t know what all could happen next year, we do know that if the Cavs got a top pick, they would certainly have a building block for the future.
The merits of tanking are highly debatable but it is something worth considering for the Cavs in the near future.
Though the Cavs are expecting to be respectable this year, it wouldn’t take much fur everything to go south, especially if the team doesn’t have chemistry or there’s a coaching change.