Why The Cavs Will Be in the Finals Again Next Year
Can we admit that we may have seen the best game from the entire NBA Finals on Friday night? Sure, maybe another game is entertaining and will give the fans something exciting but game one was about as good as it'll get. If we find out that Kyrie is limited going forward then we might as well crown the Warriors now.
If the Cavs can't win it this year then let's look at the Cavaliers going forward and what the team may look like after this year and if they have a shot at returning to the Finals.
We start with the King himself, LeBron James.
We assume LeBron James will stay with the team after this year, right? He couldn't do what he did to the Cavs again, could he? He wouldn't decide to leave for another team again and make the people of Cleveland irate again, would he?
Probably not. Let's assume he stays and signs a new contract.
Now, we transition to Kyrie Irving. He recently signed a 5 year 90 million contract. He's staying but he's been dealing with patellar tendonitis in his knee. The easiest way to describe tendonitis is to say that it doesn't go away. You'll have good days and you'll have bad days with it but it's not a broken bone that heals in a few months and you don't think about it afterwards. This could linger with Kyrie for a long time. Dwyane Wade has had the same knee problems for nearly a decade.
Moving over to Kevin Love, he says he sees himself being with the team next year. He says he wants to win and be a part of the team winning but if the team did this well without him and all improvement Tristan Thompson has been publicly praised by LeBron, would you want to be back? If they struggle next year and the team remains mostly the same then who do you think the media will blame? Maybe he returns and maybe he doesn't.
Anderson Varejao is under contract next year and could make $29 million over the next three years. He'll be back but he's missed 222 games over the last five seasons.
Tristan Thompson is a restricted free agent with the same agent as LeBron James (Rich Paul) and has been publicly praised by LeBron the entire year. Yeah, he's staying.
Timofey Mozgov has made the Cavs a better defensive team and has a team option scheduled to only make roughly $4.9 million next year. He's staying.
JR Smith has a player option next season and is scheduled to make almost $6.5 million and has publicly said he enjoys Cleveland because there's nothing to do. That's kind of a backhanded compliment but considering the losing the Cavs had in the four years LeBron was gone they'll take whatever they get.
The rest of the players' contracts are either up after this year (Kendrick Perkins, James Jones, and Shawn Marion) have a small amount owed to them in a player option (Mike Miller and $2.8 million) or are restricted free agents. (Matthew Dellevadova and Iman Shumpert)
Also, Brendan Haywood has a team option to make over $10.5 million next year. There's no chance he's coming back next year and that's extra money to give to someone else.
So, odds are LeBron, Kyrie, JR, Mozgov, Tristan Thompson and Varejao are all going to return next year. Role players are mostly interchangeable so if I told you that six of the top seven players in minutes played were returning, why wouldn't you take them as the favorites in the East again next year?
They only lost two games in three playoff series. Who else could really challenge them next year? The Knicks are a dumpster fire. The 76ers don't want to win. The Magic are too young. The Hornets aren't talented enough. The Pistons are a player or two away from contending.
Maybe Paul George's reemergence to Indiana can do something or maybe the Heat can get completely healthy but, odds are, the Cavs are going to be here again next year against whatever team the Western Conference monster spits out. The only question is how the rest of the Cavs roster look next year.
