Cleveland Cavaliers will for the first time have a banner in the Quicken Loans Arena. They will raise that beauty on opening night at the Q when they begin the quest for a repeat. Defending NBA Champions are still one of the favorites to go all the way. Can they repeat what they did last season?
There are no major changes to this roster. LeBron James is still leading the way after getting this team to a huge and historic comeback in the Finals. Kyrie Irving is poised to have a breakout season while Kevin Love had another year to get used to this system and his place with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Their role players are also back. JR Smith just signed a 4-year/57M deal to stay with the champs. He was their biggest and best role player throughout the season and later in the postseason and NBA Finals. Big man in the middle will be Tristan Thomspon, a guy who really didn’t have a stellar regular season, but was excellent in the playoffs and was an important part of this Cavaliers championship puzzle.
Matthew Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov are not on the team anymore. These have had some great moments with the squad, Delly was one of the main players off the bench for Cavaliers while Mozgov was more effective in 2015 than last season. Even though Dellavedova played some significant minutes, he is replaceable and will be properly substituted.
Cavaliers are still the best team in the Eastern Conference. They will win 61 games which will be enough for them to get that number one seed that they want. Cleveland is going to the NBA Finals where they will square off against the Warriors for the third straight season. LeBron James will be in full force just like Irving as Cavaliers earn themselves a second straight ring by upsetting favored Warriors in six games.
