NBA Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers Must Change To Compete

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By @GoldenPerspectv

Anderson Varejao

David Richard – USA Today Sports

A few days ago, there was a common understanding that the Cleveland Cavaliers had a better than average chance to win a championship in the first year of this new group being together. But of course, Anderson Varejao was in the picture.

Now that he has been cropped out for the season due to a torn achilles, the Cavs’ ceiling shrunk a bit. You can’t close the door all the way because of the simple fact that LeBron James is at the helm of the three-headed monster. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving can’t carry a team to success separately, but you can never deny the potential they hold as a trio.

The Cavs are already shallow in the backcourt when it comes to limiting penetration. Time and time again, they have allowed guards to maneuver in and out the paint with little resistance. That wouldn’t be as big a problem if there was a brick wall shadowing the basket, but the Cavs don’t have a brick wall. They had Varejao. Now that they don’t have him, who do they have?

There is a bright side to this though. The Cavs don’t really have to alter their strategy at all. The name of the game is to outscore your opponent, so instead of keying in on defense as much as they would with Varejao on the floor, they can become a high-powered offensive team. The aspects that would change are how many players would crash the glass on every possession, who would leak out for fast-break opportunities, and how often they would double-team and gamble.

There are a lot of variables that comes into play when trying to increase the pace to your advantage. The Cavs are more than capable of to executing though.

Trading is also an option to consider, particularly if they would like to upgrade their defensive frontcourt. Dion Waiters is the first person to come to mind because he could be a starter on plenty of teams. There aren’t a lot of solid two-guards in the league anymore. Big men are usually replaceable, especially ones who match talent and execution with Waiters.

So, if Waiters happens to be the guy added to the trading block, it will be easier to move him than someone like Tristan Thompson. It’s going to be interesting to see how Cleveland plays this. The trade deadline is two months away, but if they aren’t keen for trial and error, the trade rumors will begin sooner rather than later.

As of right now, their championship dreams are looking slim.

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