KJG roundtable on all-time starters, LeBron James’ postseason runs with Cavs, his fit with prior CLE legends

#1: What’s your all-time Cavaliers starting five?

Amadou Sow:

Personally, my all-time starting five would be Mark Price, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Larry Nance, and Brad Daugherty. Looking at this lineup, there is a nice mixture of shooting, playmaking, defense and scoring. As far as lineup construction goes, having Mark Price play point guard would allow Kyrie Irving to work more off the ball, which he has excelled at in his career.

To dive deeper into that, in his best offensive season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2016-17 season, Kyrie shot 46.8 percent on catch-and-shoot three-point looks. Looking at the rest of the lineup, I went with Larry Nance over someone like Kevin Love for defense.

The frontcourt is lacking in Love-like shooting, even though Nance/Daugherty were good mid-range shooters, but, either way, this year has shown that LeBron can still have great success even without big men who can space the floor. That’s without even mid-range shooting, too, outside of Anthony Davis.

Corey Casey:

I’m going with Irving, Ron Harper, LeBron, Larry Nance and Brad Daugherty.

Matt Fagan:

If I were going to create an all-time starting lineup for the Cavs, I’d have to go with Mark Price at the point guard, Kyrie Irving at shooting guard, LeBron playing the small forward position, Kevin Love in at the power forward position, and at center I would have Brad Daugherty.

I think this blend of the Cavaliers’ championship squad, with some players from the 80’s and 90’s era would create a formidable lineup. Price’s longevity with the Cavaliers earns him the role as the starting point guard, having averaged 15.2 points per game, with 6.7 assists, he would definitely be a reliable starter.

Kyrie is responsible for arguably the single most important shot in Cavalier history.

The image of him hitting that dagger over Stephen Curry in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2016 has been immortalized in the minds of all Cleveland fans. In his last year with the Cavs, Irving was averaging 25.2 points per game, along with 5.8 assists, and 3.2 rebounds, per Basketball Reference.

Those numbers with his elite ball-handling, makes Kyrie a guard worthy of a starting position on this all-time team. At the power forward position, we have the only current Cavalier of the five chosen players. I believe Kevin Love is deserving of this spot.

He was averaging 17.6 points per game, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game this year before the suspension of the NBA season. Love takes the four spot alongside his former teammates Kyrie and LeBron. For the center position, I chose Brad Daugherty.

Many people would consider Daugherty to be one of the greatest centers that played for the Cavaliers, and its easy to see why. The first round pick out of North Carolina averaged 19.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists throughout his career. Pairing him up with Price again would definitely give this team an advantage.

Lastly, the most obvious choice for an all-time Cavs starting lineup, we have LeBron James. In my mind, he is the greatest basketball player, and potentially one of the greatest athletes in general. This year at this point, the King has averaged 25.7 points per game, a league-leading 10.6 assists and 7.9 rebounds per outing. LeBron is without a doubt the best player to ever wear the Wine and Gold, and no starting lineup for Cleveland would be complete without him.

Robbie DiPaola:

G – Kyrie Irving: He made the biggest shot in franchise history and is eighth all-time on the Cavaliers scoring list. Irving is a dynamic playmaker whose skill set makes him the best guard ever to put on a Wine and Gold uniform.

G – Mark Price: Price spent nearly a decade in Cleveland as the point guard. He averaged 16.4 points and 7.2 assists during his Cavaliers tenure and hit 90.6 percent of his foul shots, twice leading the league in free throw percentage.

F – LeBron James: What needs to be said that already hasn’t? James holds the franchise record in points, rebounds, assists, steals, free throws made, etc. LeBron led the Cavs to nine of their 22 playoff appearances and was instrumental in helping the franchise win their lone title back in 2016.

F – Kevin Love: This is a man who is often overlooked for what he has done for the Cavs. Love was “the man” on the Minnesota Timberwolves, but here played second and third fiddle, and often made teams pay for doubling LeBron and Kyrie. Love has averaged 17.2 points and 10.0 rebounds during his time with the Cavs and will always be remembered for his defense on Stephen Curry in Game 7.

C – Brad Daugherty: Though his career was cut short due to injury, Daugherty made quite an impact in eight seasons. The big man from North Carolina anchored the middle for six Cavaliers playoff runs, including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992.

Daugherty averaged 19.0 points, and 9.5 rebounds in his career, and just like Price, his jersey hangs in the rafters at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Tyler Meitin:

I’d go with an all-time starting five of Kyrie, Austin Carr, LeBron, Love and Zydrunas Ilguaskas.

Zane Harris:

I would have Kyrie as the point guard, Mark Price at shooting guard, LeBron playing small forward, Kevin Love at power forward and Brad Daugherty at center. This team would be able to space the court with Love at the 4, which would give James and Daugherty plenty of room to operate in the paint.

Also, with Irving and Price, this would be a sharpshooting backcourt in the truest sense of the term.