The Cleveland Cavaliers struggled to find a way to string together wins for the first three seasons following the departure of the legend that is LeBron James for the second time. The team won a total of 60 wins across the first three seasons of the second post-James era.
This season though, the Cavaliers have turned things around, winning 29 of the first 48 games in the 2021-22 season. This incredible turnaround marks their first winning season without James leading the way since the 1997-98 season.
This young Cavs team has been led by a dynamic duo of point guard Darius Garland and center Jarrett Allen, both of which have placed in the top ten of the All-Star voting returns all three times.
This young team also includes a plethora of other impactful players including former All-Star and NBA champion Kevin Love as well as potential Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley.
The Cavaliers have also employed an incredibly unique coaching style introduced by head coach J.B. Bickerstaff who has chosen to insert three 7-foot-tall players into the starting lineup. This is especially interesting given how the NBA has favored playing shorter players in recent years.
Granted, it was does hurt that Lauri Markkanen suffered a high ankle sprain on Saturday versus the Oklahoma City Thunder and is reportedly expected to be out for a while, but the approach for Cleveland, generally speaking, has worked.
A combination of talent and coaching has gifted this young Cleveland team the fifth seed, only two games behind the number one team in the Eastern Conference, over halfway through the season.
This rise to relevancy being done by the Cavaliers couldn’t have come at a better time either. The NBA is in a transition period seen every once in a while, once one era’s star players begin to age.
The Cleveland Cavaliers rise to relevance couldn’t be coming at a better time.
LeBron James is 37 years old; Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are 33, the window for winning more championships is closing and the young players are ready to take their place among the top of the league.
There are numerous young teams in the league who are ready to take the next step from playoff team to winning the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers included. The Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, and Dallas Mavericks join the Cavs in the group of elite young teams who are ready to win.
These teams may all headline the NBA Finals a few years from now, similarly to how the Golden State Warriors and Cavaliers headlined the Finals four years in a row not too long ago.
If luck takes the side of Cleveland, a second championship may come sooner rather than later, especially if they are able to make impact moves in the upcoming offseason and/or by the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
Cleveland may not win the NBA title this season, maybe not even next season, but they are only getting better.
The sky might just be the limit for this talented, young roster. And fans of the Wine and Gold should be excited for what’s to come moving forward.