The Cleveland Cavaliers have their fair share of doubters, but don't count The Ringer's Bill Simmons among them.
During a new episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons and guest Zach Lowe arrived at the conclusion that the biggest -- and perhaps only -- obstacle standing in the way of an Eastern Conference Finals berth for Cleveland is health.
Cavaliers are as good as any East team if healthy
Lowe went as far as to suggest that Cleveland's seeding in the playoffs doesn't really matter, certainly not as much as whether or not the Cavs are fully healthy.
"If I'm (the Cavs), I just want everyone running full steam (in) the second week of April," Simmons added.
Simmons also suggested that the Cavaliers aren't afraid of the Detroit Pistons and are, in fact, fully confident that they are a better team than Detroit.
Simmons lauded the play this season of Cleveland role player Sam Merrill, as well as that of the recently acquired Dennis Schroder. Lowe piggybacked on that by noting the positive contributions of Dean Wade and Keon Ellis.
Cavaliers' star power makes playoff seeding surprisingly irrelevant
However, it won't ultimately be Cleveland's role players driving them to postseason success, but its pair of superstar guards.
Simmons spoke positively of this element, observing that Donovan Mitchell and James Harden appear to have good chemistry so far.
To that point, when Mitchell and Harden are firing on all cylinders -- and Cleveland's supporting cast is healthy -- there isn't a team in the East that can claim to be more talented than the Cavs.
This brings us back to the point about playoff seeding perhaps being low-key unimportant for Cleveland.
In fact, as Simmons pointed out, there are scenarios in the East draw wherein a higher seed could be a disadvantage. Consider the Pistons as the potential 1-seed, for example. Detroit might end up drawing one of the Philadelphia 76ers (with a healthy Joel Embiid!), the ever-gritty Miami Heat, or the surging Charlotte Hornets in round one. None of those matchups would be the cake-walk first-round experience that a No. 1 seed is "supposed" to have.
On the contrary, a team like Cleveland landing with the 4-seed could be matched up with a first-round opponent like the Toronto Raptors, who, with all due respect, feel less problematic than any of the above three squads.
No one in the East should scare the Cavaliers if they are fully healthy. Harden's fractured thumb will be something to monitor, but so far, The Beard appears willing and able to play through the pain.