CAVS.SPACE

The 2021-2022 NBA season has been quite the ride for the young Cleveland Cavaliers team. There have been ups and downs with multiple winning streaks but loads of injuries and illness. After the New Year’s Eve loss, the Cavs stand at 20-16 and 5th in the Eastern Conference. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was rewarded for helping guide and teach the team with a Christmas Day contract extension through 2026-2027. Rajon Rondo joins to help fill the void left by Ricky Rubio and Collin Sexton, who both suffered from season-ending injuries. Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley are showing up as big-time players, with Isaac Okoro leading other up-and-coming players on the roster. Trade rumors continue regarding other big-name talent. Regardless, the Cavs are finding their stride this year. 2022 brings much basketball hope to Cleveland, including the NBA All-Star Game in February and hopefully a return to postseason play for the first time in 4 years.

In 2007, Cleveland sports reached an interesting crossroads: the possibility of all 3 major franchises (Cavaliers, Indians, and Browns) reaching the playoffs in a cycle of consecutive calendar seasons.  Sadly, the Browns were a "force out" rule away from an 11-5 record and a playoff berth--if enforced correctly, the Browns would have scored a game-winning touchdown on the final play of their game against the Arizona Cardinals. In part because of the controversial nature of this play, the NFL voted to remove this rule permanently after the season. As a result, the last (and only) cycle of big 3 Cleveland playoff berths was 1994-1995 (1994 Browns, 1994-1995 Cavs, 1995 Indians). (Of course, the 1994 MLB strike prevented this cycle from starting earlier, as the 1994 Indians were locked in a competitive race with the Chicago White Sox when the strike started after the injury-depleted 1993-1994 Cavs fell in the playoffs at the hands of the Scottie Pippen-led Chicago Bulls without t...

On Facebook a few minutes ago, I came across an NBA discussion topic: "Who are the top 5 most skilled players of all time?" This is such a tough question. I interpreted it to mean the players with the most overall skills and versatility at each position. Here are my picks:  1st team   PG Oscar Robertson SG Michael Jordan SF LeBron James PF Tim Duncan C Wilt Chamberlain 2nd team   PG Magic Johnson SG Jerry West SF Larry Bird PF Kevin Durant C Arvydas Sabonis 3rd team   PG Russell Westbrook SG Allen Iverson SF Scottie Pippen PF Kevin Garnett C Hakeem Olajuwon With my list of players, everyone included has a strong two-way game (offense and defense) and most can play more than 1 position.  Who would be your top 5 most skilled players in NBA history?

Picture: Front entrance to Quicken Loans Arena on May 30th, 2018. (There were no new decorations yet for the 2018 NBA Finals as the Q renovation project takes place. Decorations were added today.) Cavs rotation Star players who are core players:  F/G LeBron James, F/C Kevin Love Role players who are core players:  G George Hill, G/F J.R. Smith, C/F Tristan Thompson, F Jeff Green, G/F Kyle Korver Role players who are situational players:  G Jordan Clarkson, F/C Larry Nance Jr., G/F Rodney Hood, F/G Cedi Osman, G Jose Calderon Bench players who are secondary backups:  C/F Ante Zizic, C Kendrick Perkins, F Okaro White *Not on playoff roster: Two-way players:  G/F John Holland, G London Perrantes Warriors rotation Star players who are core players:  F Kevin Durant, G Stephen Curry, G Klay Thompson, F/C Draymond Green Role players who are core players:  [G Andre Iguodala], C/F Kevon Looney, G Shaun Livingston, G/F Nick Young, G Quinn ...

Picture: The sun shines on the LeBron James billboard across the street from the Q on Monday, April 17th, 2017. In 11 seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron Raymone James Sr. has helped lead his team to a 560-342 regular season record (average of 51-31 per season) and a 95-51 playoff record thus far. Prior to the two LeBron eras in Cleveland, the Cavs had compiled a modest playoff record of 28-49 with two Eastern Conference Finals appearances. It's been quite the ride. However, many analysts, fans, and other NBA conspiracy theorists are calling this weekend the end of the second LeBron-Cleveland era. If this is true, making four Conference Finals in a row, three NBA Finals in a row, and winning one NBA Championship will never be forgotten in Cleveland. No matter how many championships James ends up winning in his career, the 2016 win will always stand out. The Cavs defied all odds by coming back from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat a team with a historic 73-9 regular sea...

Over the past few seasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers have become mainstays as NBA championship contenders out of the Eastern Conference. This has included building up a strong roster with several veteran players. This season, the Cavs were forced to make some changes due to various reasons, including Kyrie Irving's request to be traded, Isaiah Thomas not fitting in with the team on the court or in the locker room, and at one point having the oldest roster in the NBA--in which they struggled with the NBA's new rules of having fewer timeouts allowed per game. After starting the season with an up-and-down 31-22 record (.585 winning percentage), the Cavaliers stabilized things through multiple trade deadline deals. In turn, they went 19-10 in their final 29 games (.655 winning percentage) to close out the 2017-2018 campaign.  More so than past years, both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference are up for grabs, with minimal talent differences amongst the teams. The Cav...

Video credit: Fox Sports Ohio - The Cleveland Cavaliers celebrate LeBron James's  game-winner vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves on February 7, 2018.   From the outside looking in, numerous analysts and fans had watched the past month of basketball and made a distinct observation: the 2017-2018 Cleveland Cavaliers ( prior to the trade deadline ) do not like each other. Wednesday night's victory celebration seemed quite fitting as a farewell party to any spoken or unspoken drama in the locker room. As I stated a month ago: With the trade deadline a month away (February 8th), how the team adjusts or doesn't adjust with IT, TT, DRose, and Shumpert back will help determine if anyone needs to be brought in--and if any of these four players or anyone else ends up getting traded. As it turned out, the suspicions many of us had in Believeland were correct: guys needed to get traded in order to adjust the rotation. TT stayed, but IT, DRose, and Shumpert were all traded away....