It’s reasonable for the Cleveland Cavaliers to want to adjust and not tank

As training camp moves along for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s understandable to hear conversation around the team involve more adjusting and not complete tanking.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to need to need tow the line between player development and doing what it takes to win as many games as possible. That’s not going to be the easiest task, as the Cavs have a number of veterans who have been around the block, and they also need to develop core young pieces, too, as we’ve demonstrated countless times here at KJG. No, that won’t be a simple balancing act for head man Tyronn Lue, who needs to establish more credibility this year without as much talent to work with (as in you know who).

Now, initially I was one of those people who was not totally for Cleveland extending Kevin Love for four years and $120 million; he’s had so many injuries throughout his NBA career and nobody really knows if he can go back to being a near 23ish point and 12 rebound guy. I’m pretty sure not even Love knows that, as the league has drastically changed since he was a number one option on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That being said, I get why Cleveland (especially owner Dan Gilbert and general manager Koby Altman) went with the competing-and-not-totally-tanking route for a team post-star player leaving. The Cavaliers were borderline unwatchable for a number of people in the four years post-LeBron Decision, and I’m pretty darn sure Gilbert didn’t want his on-floor product to look like that ever again.

The Cavs are hoping that they can mix up a nice hearty group of veterans such as George Hill, Tristan Thompson, Love, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver and others well with the rest of the regular rotation in Collin Sexton, Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman and some other youngsters. Cleveland won’t have LeBron James‘ sorcery with the ball this year, and that’s going to make it tougher (duh).

With James off the floor last season, Cleveland’s effective field goal rate dipped to a lowly 50.7 percent. That would have placed them fifth-worst in the league over the span of the regular season, per NBA.com. The Cavs will need to play more uptempo and convert more live-ball turnovers into easier buckets.

It’s going to take more guys making plays; that’s just how it is. Korver pretty much described the season’s outlook perfectly at Cavaliers’ media day on Monday, per WKYC’s Ben Axelrod.

The Cavaliers have talent on their roster. Osman, Hood, Larry Nance Jr. and Sexton (along with two-way Billy Preston) are probably going to provide the non-Love fan favorite moments, while Smith, Korver, Thompson and Frye will also have moments where they get the people goin’ (no, they won’t be provocative).

Moreover, the Cavaliers (at least for now) are doing what’s not really far-fetched for a small market team. For teams such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers, for example, it’s not easy to simply tank for long periods of time, particularly if a star leaves, and lose considerable chunks of a fan base.

Cleveland appears to want to establish a foundation of players to guide them to the postseason perennially in Hood, Osman, Nance, Love and others, and I get that they don’t want to fall out of the realm of relevance after just re-signing Love to a big extension. Scott Sargent of Waiting For Next Year and Bleacher Report summed up the fan’s perspective being sort of a win-win, really.

"“In a bizarre way, how we enjoy this Cavaliers season is entirely up to us. If we want to bestow playoff aspirations, we can. If we want to complain about not blowing it up and tearing it down, we can certainly do that as well. Or, if we just want to watch, see how it all plays out while taking the downs with the ups, this doesn’t sound so bad either.”"

Whether fans like it or not, it’s not easy for the Cavs to just get a stockpile of high first-round picks by trading veterans (I don’t think Smith or Hill could feasibly get a first-rounder back) or simply add marquee free agents by gutting a considerable chunk of their role pieces. For bigger market teams, things can turn around much more quickly after the tanking experiment, because it’s way easier for them to attract big-name free agents.

For now, it’ll be interesting to see how the Cavaliers season plays out with the competing for a playoff spot narrative post-star departure. One thing is clear: they’ll need to adjust some of their style if they truly want to make the postseason, as Love, Lue and company say they do.