Cleveland Cavaliers: Ranking in FanSided’s ‘Fandom 250’ is just right
By Dan Gilinsky
FanSided recently came out with its newest “Fandom 250,” where it ranks all kinds of fandoms, from entertainment, to brands, to celebrities, and of course, sports. The Cleveland Cavaliers made that list of the top 250 in those said categories, coming in at number 194 overall and number 12 among pro basketball teams.
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers know that LeBron James means the world to us, even with his second departure this past summer to the Los Angeles Lakers. I know that the LeBron-Cleveland narrative sometimes is overkill, but I had to mention that when discussing the Cavs’ fan base; James will always be a tad bit relevant. However, this ranking shows that even without James and Cleveland not being relevant likely for the next few seasons, Cavaliers fans are still loyal.
Number 12, at least for this current time, seems reasonable. I’m not going to say that if you go to a Cavs game now that it’ll likely be quite the same atmosphere as it was during games throughout the prior four seasons, but Cavs fans are still out in full, and are looking forward to the future.
As the Fandom 250 Cleveland Cavaliers page highlighted, the second LeBron departure this time was handled with about as much respect as one could have asked for at that given time.
"“Instead of burning jerseys and bridges, they offered up a collective thank you to the player who had finally delivered a title. Then they pivoted towards excitement about rookie point guard Collin Sexton, and celebrating Kevin Love, who signed a lengthy extension with the team this summer. The Cavaliers might be taking a step back this season, but their fans certainly aren’t.”"
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Rookie point guard Collin Sexton, as was mentioned, represents a ton of promise, and despite a rough start to the season with the second unit, he’s turned it around, mostly as a starter and fans seem to appreciate the determination and hustle he displays in every game he plays.
Why Kevin Love has been sidelined for all but four games this year, what he’s done as a Cavalier will never be discounted. Since being traded to Cleveland in 2014, Love has averaged 17.2 points on 57.1 percent true shooting, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 31.4 minutes per game.
Often being the main man in trade rumors seemingly his whole tenure in Cleveland (which is still reportedly the case now), Love has always been more than appreciative of the Cavaliers’ fan base and signing his four-year contract extension in front of workers renovating Quicken Loans Arena this past summer highlighted that even more (per the official Cavs’ Twitter).
A number 12 ranking among pro basketball fan bases for a that is one of the worst currently in the NBA is pretty impressive, really, and that demonstrates still how loyal Cleveland Cavaliers fans are, no matter the circumstances.
Next. Cleveland Cavaliers: Collin Sexton must get crunch time minutes. dark
On a related note, the Cleveland Browns’ fan base was ranked number one overall in the Fandom 250, which is perfect. HERE WE GO, BROWNIES. HERE WE GO!