NBA: Cavs-Offseason: Deja-vu of the unpleasant kind

In the shadow of the departure of LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers have set the course for the future. The contract extension of Kevin Love should be a sign to the competition. But how strong will Cleveland really be after LeBron in year one?

The 2017/18 season brought much light and even more shade from Cavalier’s point of view. On the one hand there is a rather disappointing regular season, also in the playoffs the Cavs engine stuttered extremely at the beginning. On the other hand, the Cavs reached the finals for the fourth time in a row just to shoot themselves in the leg with a catastrophic blackout by J.R. Smith.

Just three weeks later, however, the real catastrophe of the summer followed. This time the NBA world did not have to wait long for LeBron James’ decision. On July 1, the first day of the Free Agency, the King’s management announced his future team. The name of the Cleveland Cavaliers was not mentioned in this statement.

The worst-case scenario of every Cavs fan suddenly became reality. LeBron actually left Cleveland a second time to join the Los Angeles Lakers. Already in 2010 he moved the Cavs fans with his move to Miami into the Valley of Tears. Now the new farewell was not quite as surprising, but the most important off-season move by far – the contract extension with LBJ – had failed.

A few days after this bad news, Kevin Love signed a long-term contract instead, which will come into force in 2019. The Cavs are expected to retain the power forward until 2023, which will bring Love a total of around 145 million dollars.

In addition, the Cavs Channing Frye (1 year/2.4 million dollars) returned to Ohio. Sam Dekker came by trade from the Clippers and Restricted Free Agent Rodney Hood signed a qualifying offer for a year and $3.4 million. Besides James, Jeff Green (Wizards) and Jose Calderon (Pistons) left the team.

The most important newcomer was Cleveland in the draft when GM Koby Altman Point Guard Collin Sexton came eighth.

Much has been speculated over the past season: Are the Cavs trading the Nets pick they received in exchange for Kyrie Irving from the Celtics in the summer of 2017 to bring another superstar on board alongside LeBron? Or is this pick rather a protection, should LeBron leave the team?

The Cavaliers obviously chose the latter option. Sexton is to become an important building block for the future success of the franchise. After all, the pressure of the whole franchise does not weigh on him from the very beginning. Instead of tearing the team apart and launching a complete rebuild after LeBron’s Decision 2.0, Cleveland chose a different approach.

With the renewal of the Love contract, the Cavaliers have committed their franchise player for the long term. So the plan is to remain competitive at least in the Eastern Conference in 2018/19. The front office did not have much room for other experiments anyway.

With the trade for Hill (2 years/37 million) and Clarkson (2 years/26 million) for the 2017 trade deadline, the Cavs sacrificed a lot of flexibility under the salary cap. Only in 2020 will their lucrative contracts be deleted from the books. Then the working papers of J.R. Smith (2 years/30.3 million) and Tristan Thompson (2 years/26 million) will also expire.

After all, some contracts (including those of Hill and Smith) are only partially guaranteed. As early as next year, Cleveland will theoretically have the opportunity to save a lot of money (up to $47 million according to basketballinsiders.com) and try to build a new framework around Love and Sexton.

No question, the biggest weakness of the past season was the defense. The Cavs finished second to last among all NBA teams with a defensive rating of 109.5. Unfortunately Cleveland didn’t do much to solve this problem during the offseason.

The player material has remained broadly similar to that of the pre-season, so head coach Ty Lue must hope that Larry Nance Jr. in particular will bring better performances to the stage. The 25-year-old – who is still waiting for an extension of his contract – could become a glimmer of hope in the Cavs-Defense. Otherwise, an increase in defense is not necessarily to be expected from the many veterans in the team.

Oh, and there’s one more thing: in the person of LeBron James, the Cavs have also lost their best scorer, their best playmaker and their best option in clutch situations. Closing this gap will be almost impossible.

In the long term, the Cavs are clearly pinning their hopes on Sexton. The choice of the 19-year-old point guard with the fighter’s heart was welcomed by fans and experts alike.

After the departure of James, Cleveland needs a capable playmaker first and foremost, and many people believe Sexton can play this role in the NBA. Hardly any offense is as pick-and-roll-heavy as that of the Cavs, that’s what Sexton plays into his hands. On the one hand he can score with his explosiveness, on the other hand Sexton gained a reputation as a good register in college – good news for the numerous snipers in the squad of the Cavs.

In the short term, however, Kevin Love has to prove that he still has the superstar potential from his time in Minnesota. The five-time All-Star will be the undisputed focus of the Cavs-Offense. If Cleveland wants to be successful, Love will have to play well over 20 points per game, as he did last year in Minnesota.

The Cavs were able to shake off the dark shadow of the LeBron departure relatively quickly in the offseason 2018. The extension of the Love contract in particular helped to set the course for the future at an early stage. At the same time, it served as a sign to the competition: the Cavs should not be written off in the fight for the playoffs.

Ultimately, however, the loss of the NBA’s best player is too serious. Apart from Sexton, the squad was not really changed, let alone improved. Those in charge in Cleveland are counting on Love, Hill, Nance Jr. or Hood to develop better at their side without LeBron. If this fails, Cleveland will have a very difficult season.

The grade: 3-