National Basketball Association

NBA 2016-17 Team Previews - Cleveland Cavaliers: All Hail the King

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Oct 18, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts against Washington Wizards in the first half at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

NBA 2016-17 Team Previews – Cleveland Cavaliers: All Hail the King.

To prepare our readers for the regular season SCS provides our NBA 2016-17 Team Previews. Who will return to the playoffs? Which team will fall from grace and who will be the Cinderella team?

Get a complete break down of each team. Included in the profiles are:

NBA 2016-17 Team Previews now looks at LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers who prepare for their title defense. Though the Central Division represents the toughest division in East the Cav’s are by far the favorites to win the Conference and return to the finals.

Oct 25, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians fan Brad Olecki poses for a photo in front of a mural of Cleveland Cavaliers player LeBron James before game one of the 2016 World Series against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Still there remains copious questions to answer as the season starts. Will there be a title hangover? Could Ty Lue choose to rest James even more this season. Has Kevin Love finally discovered his niche within the Cavalier’s system. After copious seasons where either or both of Love and Kyrie Irving have failed to make it healthy through an entire season, could this year break that trend? Most importantly, will JR Smith make it through an entire season with his shirt on?

With that, let’s look at the Central Division breaking down the Cleveland Cavaliers and their chances at repeating as NBA champions.

Cleveland Cavaliers:

2015-16 Record: 57-25

Playoffs: NBA Champions

Points Per Game: 104.3 (8th )

Opponent Points Per Game: 98.3 (4th)

Pace: 93.3 (28th )

Offensive Rank: 110.9 (3rd)

Defensive Rank: 104.5 (10th)

Three Point Rank: 36.2% (7th)

Rebounds: 44.5 (9th)

Assists: 22.7 (13th)

Steals: 6.7 ( 28th)

Blocks: 3.9 (27th)

Turnovers: 13.6 (10th)

May 26, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2), guard J.R. Smith (5) and forward LeBron James (23) celebrates beating the Atlanta Hawks in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

2017 Free Agents

Restricted:

Unrestricted:

Future Draft Picks

See Real GM for full details:

Incoming:

Outgoing:

Average Age of Team: 30.5 years

Next: Off Season Moves

Oct 5, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; A fan holds a sign of J.R. Smith before the game between the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Draft Picks

Round 1: N/A

Round 2: Kay Felder (54)

2016 Free Agents prior to July 1, 2016:

Unrestricted:

Restricted:

Moves made following July 1, 2016:

Incoming:

Exiting:

Re-upping:

Next: Schedule, League Pass, Win Projection Rankings

Mar 29, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) drives on Houston Rockets guard K.J. McDaniels (32) during the second quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Vegas over-under for wins: 56.5

Schedule strength:

As ranked by ESPN: 22nd with 2.18 extra wins

The Cavs have a lot of favorable schedule factors even though they play in the division with the highest average baseline win forecast. No team will play more than Cleveland’s 28 games with a rest advantage.

Games versus Rockets:

Zach Lowe NBA League Pass Rank: 2nd

We’ll spend eight months watching the next two teams circle each other, so let’s be brief here: The Cavs have LeBron James, one of the five (at worst) greatest players ever, and even when they get lazy during the doldrums, they have the collective talent to find the sublime at any moment.

Next: Team Overview

Oct 18, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (left) talks with his teammates in a huddle after player introductions at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. The Wizards won 96-91. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Committed Salary

2016: $130,736,389 – 1st ranked

2017: $125,214,676 – 2nd ranked

Team Salary Ranking as per Hoops Hype, and team salary overview also via Hoops Hype

Starting 5:

Point Guard: Kyrie Irving -19.6 points, 4.7 assists, 3.0 rebounds

Shooting Guard: JR Smith -12.4 points, 1.7 assists, 2.8 rebounds

Small Forward: LeBron James – 25.3 points, 6.8 assists, 7.4 rebounds

Power Forward: Kevin Love – 16.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists

Center: Tristan Thompson – 7.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists

Reserves:

Guards: Iman Shumpert, *Kay Felder, Jordan McRae

Wings: Mike Dunleavy, Richard Jefferson, DeAndre Liggins, James Jones

Bigs: Chris Andersen, ChanningFrye

Injury News:

All injury news as per rotoworld

Oct 25, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Championships shirts wait on the seats for fans to arrive prior to the game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Prediction:

A sign the Cavaliers aren’t completely buying into believing they are a lock for the finals occurred shortly after a preseason game versus their Eastern Conference Finals opponent – the Raptors. Kyle Lowry scored over 30 points in less than full game minutes and regularly carved up the Cavaliers defense. Granted LeBron James wasn’t on the floor, but neither was DeMar DeRozan. In addition, the fourth seeded point guard also made easy work on the defensive end against both Irving and Shumpert.

Cut to the next day and the Cavaliers ended their cold war with JR Smith signing the enigmatic shooting guard to a 4 year, $57 million dollar deal. Cleveland had been adamant they didn’t want to offer the terms of the amount JR was asking, but ceded in both. From my perspective this points to the Cavs being fully aware of their defensive issues in the back court.

In spite of this move, the Cavaliers hold all the power because they have LeBron James. And until a team figures out how to stop James they won’t pose much of a threat. The contenders currently appear to be last season’s ECF Raptors who’ll have a healthy DeMarre Carroll this season albeit without Bismack Biyombo. Other challengers are likely to be Brad Stevens Celtics (though Al Horford had little success versus the King while in Atlanta), Paul George’s revamped Pacers. The team in my estimation offering perhaps the greatest challenge (in whichever round) is the Pistons. Stan Van Gundy will utilize last year’s first round sweep as motivation for his team, and I’m not sure how the Cavaliers will be able to stop the myriad of bigs SVG can trot out.

Ultimately anything less than defending their championship will be deemed a failure. Those who like to lean towards the odds should know that no two teams have ever returned to the finals in 3 consecutive years. If you believe those odds the only question left to answer is which of the Cavaliers or Warriors is likely to get usurped.

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Make sure to check out our entire NBA 2016-17 team preview series.