Random perspectives from Cleveland

And so the NBA season begins... the Cavs should be good this year (read: better than last year), but I'm not convinced that their record will be any better. The teams in the Central have improved quite a bit while the Cavs have basically relied on people getting healthy and coming back from down years. I think that's a fair move, but there's still definite issues to be worked on. First and foremost is the non-existant team defense. Secondly is the pathetic point guard play. Eric Snow is a good defender but is a complete liability on the offensive side of the floor. LeBron is a good play maker, but he can't run the offense. The whole team just stands still and waits for him to break down someone one on one.

I think the Cavs need to run more this year and take advantage of the athletes on the team. When Z is on the floor and they go big, they need to work on the half court set. The half court wins in the playoffs. Pick and roll. Screen and post. Do something other than stand and wait until 2 seconds are on the clock and then hoist up a desperation jumper.

My hope is that Larry Hughes can come back and create things defensively while also opening up the lanes on the offensive side.

Here's a couple of lineups that would create a lot of matchup problems for other teams:

BIG
PG: LeBron James
SG: Larry Hughes
SF: Drew Gooden
PF: Donyell Marshall
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskus

SMALL
PG: Eric Snow
SG: Larry Hughes
SF: LeBron James
PF: Anderson Varejao
C: Drew Gooden

I think 50 wins is possible, and actually should be the floor for this team. I don't know how to read the other teams improvements yet though, so I guess we'll see.

I do not see a trip to the finals this year, but eastern conference finals are reachable.