Would End of the World Really Be Such A Bad Thing For The Cleveland Cavaliers?

By Nick Claussen
Mark L. Baer – USA TODAY Sports

If the world really does end on Dec. 21, at least it will end this season of misery for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Long ago when the Mayans predicted (or not, depending on whom you talk to) that the world would end on Dec. 21, 2012, it is unclear about if they also predicted the trouble that the Cavaliers would be having this year.

If the Mayans would have predicted that the world would have ended in the summer of 2010, that would have made more sense for the Cavaliers since all of their plans for the future blew up at that time when a certain King left town.

The Cavaliers have tried to rebuild their kingdom since that time, but currently the Wine and Gold stand at just 5-22, good for the second-worst record in the NBA.

The team has some talent in star guard Kyrie Irving and All-Star caliber forward/center Anderson Varejao, along with plenty of good young players, but just can’t seem to win games.

The Cavaliers, in fact, have lost their last five games and are 1-9 in their last 10 games.

Heading into the Holiday Season, the Cavaliers have been giving away games like they are Santa Claus and many fans are left dreaming about the ghost of NBA Seasons Past.

With the team currently 10.5 games out of first place and on pace for another cellar-dweller season, are there any reasons for fans to have any hope this December?

I’m usually optimistic, but  even I am starting to wonder about this season. The Cavaliers can’t seem to play enough defense, and they honestly don’t have enough consistent scorers on offense. The team’s bench is not deep enough, and the Cavaliers often fall apart in the fourth quarter.

As the season progresses, fans can only hope that the young players keep improving or that the Cavaliers call up players from the D-League to help. If the team makes any trades, it is only going to be to deal solid players like  Varejao or Daniel “Boobie” Gibson to other teams for draft picks or possibly other young players. Any trades most likely will make the team worse in the short term.

If you consider all of that, it doesn’t give you much hope for this season, and that whole end of the world thing starts to look a little more attractive.

The good news is that the Cavaliers are building for the future, and management is putting together players now that hopefully can be the foundation for years to come.

The bad news is that all of that is going to take time, plus the world might end on Dec. 21 anyway, so it all might be for naught.

All in all, though, I’m hoping that the world will not end on Dec. 21, and I predict that the world will still be here on Dec. 22 and on into 2013.

So please, enjoy Dec. 21 and try to enjoy watching these young Cavaliers learn the game and try to get better. They are going to get there eventually, and it’s exciting to watch Irving, Dion Waiters and the other young players improve.  Sure, they may lose a few games, but that’s no reason to give up on them. After all, it’s not the end of the world, or is it?

 

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