The Cleveland Cavaliers had one of their best regular seasons in franchise history; however, now everything appears to be falling apart at the seams for Cleveland. Despite securing the number one overall seed in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs have found themselves down 2-0 to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinal round.
Although the Cavs’ struggles against the Pacers can be largely attributed to a wave of brutal injuries hitting the Cavs at the worst time, it’s also true that nobody believed this team was capable of winning the NBA Finals this season, or any other season where LeBron James isn’t on the roster.
The only way for the Cavs to truly take the next step and get back into title contention is with a truly transcendent talent. Instead, this rendition of the Cavaliers is dependent on Donovan Mitchell, who is at his best merely superstar-adjacent.
The Cavs are better off served tearing this roster to the studs and getting back to the tanking ways that landed them Lebron James first overall all those years ago. A city like Cleveland isn’t exactly alluring to free agents, so Cleveland needs to build the only feasible way it can: the draft.
Otherwise, they’ll be trapped in a purgatory similar to the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, where they’ll never actually have substantial postseason success, even if they prove to be regular participants.
The thing with organizations like Cleveland, however, is that they almost never make the right decisions. Which is why even after suffering an embarrassing series loss to the Pacers, the Cavs will most likely more or less run things back next season with the current core.
As easy as this may seem for the Cavs to pull off, there’s little to no reason to believe they’ll actually manage it.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.