Look at every contending team in the NBA, and you can find at least one weakness.
The Boston Celtics can struggle hunting mismatches and fall in love with the 3-pointer. The Oklahoma City Thunder have a lack of on-ball creation outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Denver Nuggets are thin and have a bottom-12 defense. The New York Knicks don't have rim protection without compromising their spacing. The Los Angeles Lakers are shooting-challenged; the Golden State Warriors have too many players who can shoot or defend but not both.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, however, do not have an obvious weakness on the roster. They are redundant at every position, are a historically good offense with league-best shooting, they have impact defenders at multiple positions, their star power is incredible; no clear-cut Top-10 players but three in perhaps the Top 20 or 25.
If Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell miss time, the other can increase their load and Ty Jerome can step up off the bench. Max Strus and De'Andre Hunter are different versions of the same player, while Dean Wade and Hunter unlock a lot of lineup possibilities given their positional versatility.
Yet there is one weakness that they cannot address this season no matter how well they play, and that is likely to cause many to predict they will lose in the playoffs short of their goal. Their Achilles Heel?
They haven't done it before.
The Cavaliers lack playoff experience
The Cavaliers' great weakness is a lack of playoff experience -- more specifically, experience winning multiple rounds and making a deep run to the NBA Finals. Evan Mobley has only played in a grand total of three playoff series in his career; the same for Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, De'Andre Hunter and Dean Wade. Jarrett Allen has played in four, appearing in one early in his career for the Brooklyn Nets. Ty Jerome has no playoff experience whatsoever.
Donovan Mitchell has played in 10 playoff series, but has never advanced past the second round. Max Strus is the only rotation player who has made it to the NBA Finals, appearing in 2023 with the Miami Heat. This group certainly hasn't been past round two together.
The Boston Celtics won it all last season. They have proof of concept that this group of players and their brand of basketball can win in the playoffs. Every single rotation player from last season's championship team returned.
The Milwaukee Bucks won the title in 2022 and have a Top-3 player in the NBA in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Brook Lopez won with him. Kyle Kuzma won with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. Damian Lillard has been to the Conference Finals and has played in a whopping 65 playoff games.
It is very likely that the Cavaliers will need to beat the Bucks in round two and the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals just to reach the NBA Finals. Waiting for them there will either be the statistically-best defense in NBA history, the Oklahoma City Thunder, or an all-time superstar -- be that Nikola Jokic and the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets, or LeBron James and Luka Doncic leading the Los Angeles Lakers, or perhaps even Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler leading the Golden State Warriors.
There is no "easy path" for the Cavaliers to walk where they face another team as inexperienced as they are. That certainly doesn't preclude them from winning it all; the 2015 Warriors exploded to win 60 games and then the title having never made it past the second round. If you are good enough, you can forge experience on the way to hoisting the trophy.
But there is no denying that postseason experience is an advantage, and the Cavaliers will need to overcome that weakness to reach their goal. They certainly can, and it will only be a weakness for so long. But it will linger as analysts make their predictions, as Las Vegas sets championship odds, as the Cavs' players prepare for playoff games.
The unanswered question: will that lack of experience doom them?