All joking aside, the NBA season tip off should be fantastic, pairing the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, October 28th. In case you were wondering, that’s only forty days and a few hours away, and already I’m giddy and fidgeting like a kid who’s hopped up on adderal on Christmas Eve (nice imagery, no?). In case you have forgotten the epic battle between these two teams in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs last year, I suggest that you hit up youtube.com for highlights, or better yet just drop by mi casa and I will gladly subject you to the championship DVD (fair warning: you come for one, and you may get sucked into watching the DVD from the Red Sox’ 2004 World Series run).
This game should be great for so many reasons, but I’m expecting this coming season’s first match up to be extra spicy, mostly because of LeBron’s sour grapes over scoring 45 in Boston and still losing game seven to Paul Pierce’s 41 points and Boston’s suffocating defense (or Cleveland’s ineptitude, it was honestly hard to tell sometimes), but also because of some of the roster tweaks that Cleveland has made to try and get over the top after reaching the Finals two years ago.
Despite some glaring holes in the roster, Cleveland has already taken several great strides towards building an elite level team, and with a glut of expensive expiring contracts to play with, GM Danny Ferry might just be able to build a legitimate basketball team around the Association’s most promising talent and arguably its best player in LeBron James. Who knows, if Cleveland plays their cards right, they may even be able to keep LeBron from bouncing to New York in 2010.
By trading away Joe Smith, the Cavaliers jettisoned their most consistent, skilled and effective power forward, creating a gigantic hole on Cleveland’s front line that needs patching at some point during the remainder of the off season or into next year. While the Cavs still have Ben Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Andersen Varejao on the front lines, they lack some depth and skill and the 4, which saps their versatility and ability to scheme and be creative on offense (not that creativity was ever part of their offensive game plan before…). Varejao will likely continue to improve, but without another reliable big man, Cleveland will continue to be fatally flawed.
But don’t get too down on the Cavs, because in exchange for Joe Smith, Cleveland added a piece that they’ve desperately needed ever since drafting LeBron James first overall in 2003. That piece: a skilled point guard by the name of Mo Williams who can shoot, handle the ball, run the offense, and even play defense! Oh yeah, and he’s only 25 and is coming off his best season yet, averaging over 17 points per game for the Milwaukee Bucks last season. Add into all of this the fact that Cleveland also cut loose some dead weight in the form of Damon Jones, and it is plain to see that the Cavs ended up smelling like roses after this deal went through.
Mo Williams should fill a bunch of holes in Cleveland’s roster and allow them to inject some more diverse elements into their playbook. Instead of simply giving LeBron the ball on a high screen & roll and praying for him to do something otherworldly (Mike Brown’s current strategy) every time up the floor, Williams should be able to initiate the offense, and maybe even get LeBron some quality touches that will lead to easy baskets for the weary King James.
Williams will also help to stretch the floor for the Cavs (he shot 38.5% from the land of plenty last year) and will benefit greatly from the open looks he is sure to get by playing Robin to LeBron’s Batman. While Mo Williams certainly isn’t the purest three-point shooter on the roster (that would surely be Daniel Gibson), he is versatile and skilled at more than just one area of the game. Unlike Gibson, Williams can defend NBA point guards, and he can do more than stand in the corner and jack up threes with a douchey star shaved into the back of his head.
Additionally, Williams will be a reliable and trustworthy security blanket for LeBron (not that he really needs one), who until now has had the unenviable choice of passing to Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Ben Wallace, Andersen Varejao, Big Z or… yeesh, you get the point. Not only will Williams improve the Cavaliers with his own level of play, but he will also eat up a bunch of minutes that would otherwise have to be given to the likes of Sasha Pavlovic (shiver in disgust).
Now, what the Cavaliers should do (if they can) is resign Delonte West to a mid-level deal and pair him and Williams in the backcourt, which gives Cleveland two reliable ball handlers and two players that can compliment each other very well. While West has struggled with his consistency at times, there is no way that he gets worse by having more pressure taken off of him by the presence of Mo Williams. Now, Delonte can defend, slash and spot up from distance as a solid third or fourth option, a role that he should excel in. Additionally, he’ll get to play shooting guard instead of the point, which should place him even more firmly inside his comfort zone and allow him to simply react and play basketball with LeBron and Mo shouldering the bulk of the playmaking load.
Having shorn up their backcourt, the Cavs could then use the expiring deals of Wally World and Eric Snow to create a deal for a power forward either now, or at the midway point of the season. Despite having a ton of huge contracts attached to awful players, Cleveland will have a surprising amount of flexibility to make some key moves this year.
On the other side, the Boston Celtics will be taking their first step towards defending their title when the season tips off on October 28th, and it will be very interesting to see what kind of progress the team has made since winning it all this past June. Although the team will be hurting without James Posey to do anything and everything for the Celtics this year, I am waiting in eager anticipation to see how the likes of Big Baby Davis and Leon Powe will step up to fill the voids left by some of last year’s departing veterans.
The Celtics are still in need of a back up point guard, although they can likely still rely on Eddie House to contribute in a somewhat limited role. If Boston doesn’t add another point guard to the rotation, then House and Tony Allen will be forced to play outside their comfort zones, which lead to a ridiculous level of gut wrenching, head scratching moments last season that may or may not directly contribute to ulcers in my near future.
On a positive note, the core of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins should be much more comfortable playing with each other next year, which could mean that the Celtics will dominate even more next year than they did last season. It’s a stretch, but imagine how much more smoothly the offense could run with everybody on the same page and having spent even more time developing rapports with one another.
Rondo in particular will be an interesting character to watch as the new season begins. People in Boston (especially me) have high hopes and expectations for the young and talented point guard from Kentucky, and if he continues to develop and become more comfortable playing alongside Boston’s trio of superstars, then he could establish himself as potentially the best point guard in the Eastern Conference.
If he comes in next season with a more consistent jump shot and perhaps a bit more bulk on his frame, I could easily see Rondo outclassing the likes of Devin Harris, Jose Calderon, TJ Ford, Mo Williams, Mike Bibby, Kirk Hinrich and/or Derrick Rose. He may even be able to challenge Chauncey Billups (provided he still hangs his hat in Detroit when the season begins) for the role of alpha male by the time next season is over.
The hardest part for the Celtics next year will be staying as focused and as hungry as they were last year on the way to their epic title run. With something as alluring as a first elusive championship for Pierce, Allen, Garnett and Doc Rivers to rally around, the egos were effortlessly shelved and the chant of “ubuntu” resonated deeply within every Celtic’s soul.
But what about this year? They’ve already conquered that mountain and basked in the glory of the Promised Land (cliché much?), and having only the elusive and abstract goal of “repeat” on their minds, how will the Celtics respond? Will they play hard every single night? Will they still share the ball and play selfless team defense to stifle their opponents? Will Kevin Garnett bash his head so hard against the basket stanchion that he gets a severe concussion? What about Ray Allen’s health? Will Tom Thibodeau be back to mastermind the championship caliber defense that brought Boston its 17th professional basketball title?
Those are just a few questions that will need to be answered before next June, before any serious talk of a repeat can begin. It just goes to show how difficult it is to build a championship team and maintain focus, effort and energy for such a long season, all while having enough good luck to avoid any seriously debilitating injuries. Additionally, the Celtics are now definitely wearing a bulls eye target on their backs (as if they weren’t already) meaning that every NBA team will be giving it their best to pick off the defending champs, which should make an already grueling 82 game season even worse.
Whatever the outcome of the game on the 28th, one thing that will be extra sweet (at least for me) will be the raising of banner number 17 to the rafters of the “garden,” a symbolic and poignant gesture that epitomizes these new Celtics’ entry into basketball’s most hallowed fraternity. T minus 40 days and counting, get psyched!
Keywords: Andersen Varejao, Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Cavaliers, Damon Jones, Daniel Gibson, Delonte West, Doc Rivers, Eddie House, Glen Davis, James Posey, Joe Smith, Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Leon Powe, Mike Brown, Mo Williams, New England Patriots, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Sasha Pavlovic, Tony Allen, Wally Szczerbiak, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
