It could be far worse for David Blatt. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ new coach is guiding arguably the most talented team in basketball and has the all-encompassing luxury of forging an identity around the singular presence of LeBron James. Sportsbooks have the Cavs as title favorites, and a majority of league personnel, analysts, and followers are choosing Blatt’s squad to win the Eastern Conference. His prospects for the 2014-2015 season are just a bit brighter than those of fellow rookie coach Derek Fisher’s with the New York Knicks, basically.
The heightened expectations that come with elite players are inevitable in the NBA, but Blatt still maintains such talk of greatness is unfair – not only to the Cavs, but the more established teams that have actually contended for titles over the past few seasons.
Via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:
“Anybody talking about us winning it all, I think they’re being unfair to those great NBA teams that are out there that have either won it or have been there to win it, and also to us as a team that’s talented but new,” Blatt said Tuesday, two days before the Cavs’ season opener Thursday at home against the New York Knicks. “We have a lot of work to do before we can start claiming anything before it’s time.”
They love that company line in Cleveland. This is no different than what James has been stressing all offseason long, most recently when he said that the Chicago Bulls are “much better than us right now.” On- and off- court chemistry and continuity is of utmost importance in basketball, and the Cavaliers are only beginning to develop the former and have almost none of the latter.
It will take time before Cleveland is at its best, and that’s why the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, and Bulls are more deserving of the preseason adulation that’s come Cleveland’s way. Even teams like the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies could be a step ahead of the Cavs right now.
While Blatt mentioned how disrespectful the notion of his team as championship favorite is to other teams first, he also said it wasn’t fair to Cleveland. And though its not what fans of super-teams like to hear, he’s certainly right.
The 2010-2011 Miami Heat are the best example why. They won a hotly contested Eastern Conference and were up 2-1 in the NBA Finals before losing to the Dallas Mavericks, yet history considers that season a failure for LeBron and company. Very, very few newly-constructed teams enjoy that level of immediate success, and achieving it was only made more difficult because of the scrutiny the Heat faced along the way.
Similarly, the Cavs will deserve credit when they do what seems inevitable and enter the playoffs as a top-2 seed. But it won’t come. That’s what a team with LeBron, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving is “supposed” to do, even if doing it is far more difficult behind the scenes than their play suggests.
What will help Cleveland is that its two leaders – James and Blatt, perhaps in that order – understand the challenges facing their team. The Cavs’ coach and best player won’t take winning for granted, and will see cracks in its foundation that would otherwise go unnoticed and work to fix them. It’s what could propel Cleveland to a championship this season.
Any actual expectation of a title, though, is indeed unfair – to both their worthy opponents and the Cavs.
What do you think?
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