Don't take that the wrong way -it is a huge loss for the city of Cleveland and a larger one for the Cavaliers organization, however, it feels far different from when the first defection to Miami occurred.
On that occasion, I felt anger toward LeBron James.
This time, it's a two-pronged feeling- Relief and Confusion.
Relief, because finally the Cavaliers and their fans can move on from the constant drum of counting down when LeBron James could test free agency and begin the long process (More on that later) of the second rebuilding after a LeBron James departure.
Confusion because unless this move to the Los Angeles Lakers is all about post-career ambitions and has little to nothing to do with basketball (and it may be just that), this decision to pick Los Angeles just doesn't add up to a smart one from a basketball viewpoint.
From a basketball viewpoint for LeBron, he leaves a team that would be the third seed at worst in the Eastern Conference (Boston and Philadelphia) for a team that would be the fifth seed at best in the Western Conference.
The Lakers haven't done a great job in attracting talent around James as most of their major targets have signed elsewhere and to my surprise allowed restricted free agent Julius Randle to leave the team to create the space to sign the often-mercurial Rajon Rondo.
I'd think that bringing in James, Rondo, Lance Stephenson (Can't wait to see how that works out) and JaVale McGee with holdovers Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lonzo Ball will be more than enough to turn a lottery team into a playoff team, but I don't see how one can rank them above the Spurs and maybe even the Jazz, let alone the Warriors, Rockets, and Thunder as the Western's elite squads.
As for the Cavaliers, life after LeBron looks to be one that will hinge on one decision- will the team attempt to make the playoffs, which in the East still might be possible despite the loss of James or will the Cavaliers begin revamping the roster?
Cleveland's constant assuaging of James has placed the team in a salary cap situation that ranks as quite dire and some of these contracts would be very difficult to move, even if another team was motivated to add some of the players that would not be part of a long-term project.
The Cavaliers have three options that are plausible and reasonable, it simply depends on the selection and direction that they take.
Option number one:
If the team decided to try to contend, they do have some parts that could be enough to make the playoffs with a few veterans and a handful of interesting younger players.
They could run the offense through Kevin Love as the number one option and hope he returns to the form that he displayed in Minnesota. hope that Rodney Hood flourishes after settling into Cleveland, first rounder Collin Sexton turns out to be the player that they hope he is, use Kyle Korver and George Hill as solid veterans and hope that they can get anything out of J.R. Smith to enable them to make the playoffs.
Option number two:
They do all of the above with Love, Korver, Hill, Smith and Tristan Thompson, but they do so not to try to make the playoffs, but to increase their marketability at the trade deadline to accumulate assets for a team that will have to send a first rounder to Atlanta, if they finish with a higher pick than 10th in the draft and should they finish in the lottery, would have to send the following years number one to the Hawks.
This could mean a possible awful sign to the fanbase as if those players play well, the Cavaliers could be jettisoning players that could have the team in the playoff hunt at the time before trading the veterans away.
Option number three:
The Cavaliers decide now to start their revamping of the organization and start trading everyone in sight before the season and build around Rodney Hood ( a restricted free agent, but likely to have any offers matched), Larry Nance Jr, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and maybe Ante Zizic.
The Cavaliers would likely be well under .500 and a lottery team, but the rebuild would start sooner and there would be some excitement with watching the young players develop and yes, take some lumps.
I'm not sure which option that the Cavaliers will decide to choose, but I lean towards the second option.
That gives the team some flexibility to decide at the deadline in what direction to head and would give Cleveland more options than either one or three.
In any event, I understand that Cleveland fans have hurt feelings and will now watch their team take a significant step back to among the pack from the best four year run of basketball that the almost fifty-year franchise has had in its history.
Still, for all the drama that consistently surrounded LeBron James for his skill as a player and lack of such in player personnel, he'll be missed and at the same time, a sense of normalcy will set in.
Normalcy is when you don't have the best player in the game and you have to build in the same manner as every other team that doesn't have the best player in the game- slowly and smartly.
Back later with some boxing notes and coming soon- my weekend in Ohio.
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