2010. It has been the talk of the basketball world the entire offseason. Superstars abound will become free agents in 2010. Lebron James. Dwayne Wade. Chris Bosh. Speculation after speculation has been made about who they will sign with, especially Lebron James. “Jay Z is his best friend!” “He’ll go to the Knicks for sure.” First of all, I firmly believe he will stay in Cleveland, but that is not the point of this blog.
Cavalier fans should not need to worry about 2010 because they have enough to look forward to in 2008.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have quietly had an incredibly productive offseason. The Cavs locked in guard Daniel “Boobie” Gibson for five years. They signed last years starting playoff Delonte West for three years. They drafted J.J. Hickson who had a very impressive summer league performance and should fill in nicely at the gap left by the trade of Joe Smith, which brings me to the top move of the offseason: the signing of point guard Mo Williams. Williams is a combo guard that can score – exactly what the Cavaliers needed. He is not there to pass the ball a ton because Lebron handles that. He is there to score and run with Lebron. Finally the Cavaliers have somebody who can be a legitimate scoring threat. All of this plus the additions of role players Lorenzen Wright and Tarence Kinsley made for a terrific offseason.
Now let’s take a look the hope given from last season. The Cavs took the NBA Champion Boston Celtics to seven games, and let’s be honest, should have won. They had so many opportunities in that series that slipped through their fingers. All this despite the fact that last season was plagued by contract hold outs, injuries galore, and the fact that half the team had only been wearing a Cavalier uniform for two months. This season we already know will not contain two of those problems. It is early September and the Cavs already have this seasons team locked in. I wouldn’t expect a trade bringing in more than one or two players either, so that shouldn’t be an issue. If the Cavaliers are healthy I would expect them to win fifty-five plus games this season.
There is one more point that will help the Cavs win a championship this year. Wally Sczerbiak. I am not talking about his playing abilities (though if he performs well it will be a big boost). I am referring to his contract. The man is making 13 million dollars and his contract expires at the end of this year. That contract is going to be quite appealing to a team looking forward to the lottery when the trade deadline comes around. Packaging him with an Anderson Varejao could potentially bring another star caliber player to the Cavaliers; in other words, the final piece of the Cavaliers Championship Puzzle.
Don’t worry about 2010 Cleveland fans. Instead, be excited for this season. Boston is the only team that stands in our way, and we proved last season we can take them. We only got better and they only got older.
