The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to an extremely strong start.
After taking down the Utah Jazz on Christmas Adam, the Cavs are 26-4, the best record in the entire NBA. It's also the best 30-game start in franchise history, tying the 2008-09 team that would go on to win 66 games. They are shooting the lights out, have length and versatility on defense, and overall look like a team that can legitimately win over 60 games and make noise in the postseason.
It's easy for fans of the Cavaliers to get caught up in the present. Not since LeBron James was in town has a Cleveland team truly looked like the cream of the crop in the league; not since the days of Mark Price and Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance has a team without LeBron James truly challenged in the Eastern Conference. Watching this team does, and should, fill fans with joy and hope.
Channing Frye took offense to celebrating this Cavaliers team
Apparently, that celebration of the moment for fans is getting on the nerves of at least one former Cavaliers player. Channing Frye, now retired but at one time a key player on the 2016 Cavaliers team that won the first and only championship in franchise history, took umbrage with the over-the-top celebration of the current team.
In response to a Tweet about how this Cavaliers team was "the most perfect in Cleveland history" he fired off a response with some choice words, tagging fellow 2016 members Richard Jefferson and Kevin Love in support:
@Rjeff24 @kevinlove damn we ain’t shit huh lol https://t.co/1j7TZjCthL
— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) December 24, 2024
Perhaps the tweet was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it's obvious that this is bothering Frye and presumably other members of that title team. The original message was meant to celebrate Jarrett Allen drilling a halfcourt shot during a game delay to replace a rim; for that to be the one to rile Frye up this is clearly top of mind for the retired big man.
With Cavaliers fans currently caught up in the joy of a surprisingly strong start to the season, it's understandable that the members of the 2016 team are feeling a bit Grinchy this Christmas that they are no longer the apple of the fan base's eye - not with a shiny new thing to behold winning almost every game it plays.
That 2016 team started 21-9, still a strong opening record, and ended up with a 57-25 record in the regular season. The season is played to set the stage for the playoffs, and it was there that the team's power truly came to bear, as they went 12-2 in winning the Eastern Conference. Next, of course, came the 3-1 series comeback to take down the juggernaut Golden State Warriors and win the title.
Compared to the 2016 team, this group still has a lot to prove. Winning 26 of the first 30 games is absolutely impressive, but teams can have a strong stretch, even over 30 games. Can they sustain that level of play as the schedule gets tougher and teams get more insight into Kenny Atkinson's system? Can they carry this success over into the postseason, when teams will be gameplanning to take away the Cavs' strengths and to exploit their weaknesses? Will the lack of a Top-10 player prevent them from going the distance, or will Donovan Mitchell establish himself in that stratosphere?
In fact, this Cavaliers team need look no further than 2016 and the Warriors that LeBron James, Channing Frye and company defeated to understand the stakes. That Warriors team won 73 regular season games, the most of any team in NBA history. What's the defining moment of that season? Not the wins, but the loss in the NBA Finals. Fall short of the trophy and you cannot be the greatest team in franchise history, and you certainly can't lay claim to perfection.
Channing Frye - calm down; no one is going to forget the amazing run to the championship that you helped put together. For current Cleveland fans: enjoy the moment! But avoid hyperbole - the thing right in front of you isn't necessarily the best.
And the current Cavaliers? Keep winning, keep improving, and try to pull off a championship run that would properly make you the greatest team in Cleveland Cavaliers history.