This feels like a ridiculous, borderline disrespectful, question to ask. The Cleveland Cavaliers are reigning NBA champions. They have a firm hold on the Eastern Conference. Losing to the Golden State Warriors doesn’t change what they’ve done, or diminish their presence on the championship field.
Counterpoint: LeBron James.
No, this isn’t another “LeBron is the general manager of the Cavaliers” joke. Not intentionally anyway. When you employ him, though, there is urgency affixed to your situation. There’s no overreacting to demonstrative defeat, because you have to win now. If you’re not the standard for winning titles when you have him, then you’ve failed.
That’s the dilemma the Cavaliers will find themselves in should they fall to Warriors twice more in these NBA Finals—particularly if they get swept or bow out in five. And as ESPN.com’s Chris Haynes said while making an appearance on The Jim Rome Show (via NESN.com), when push comes to shove, we should expect some kind of a facelift in the face of defeat:
“I think in years past – say last year’s for say – if the Warriors close out that series and won the Finals four-games-to-one, there’s no doubt in my mind Kevin Love would not have been back,” Haynes said. “There’s no doubt in my mind and so I think that’s the same case.” …
“But Bron’s not going to be happy about that, so if the Warriors are to get this series over within four or five, I would expect Cleveland to make some moves,” Haynes said. “What is that move? I don’t know because there’s always been talk about Chris Paul and LeBron James teaming up at some point, but I just don’t know if the chemistry fits with them. Obviously, they’re smart guys and they probably could make it work and play at some high of a level, but those are two ball-dominant players and will it work with Kyrie Irving as well? There will be some move made.”
You can insert your favorite Carmelo Anthony-to-Cleveland scenarios here if you want. But he won’t make that much of a difference of the Cavaliers bow out in a superficially competitive best-of-seven set.
If they’re really going to do this, expect the Cavaliers to set their sights higher—as in toward Jimmy Butler or Paul George. Acquiring either one would take busting up the Big Three, but you better believe they would consider dealing either Kevin Love or Kyrie Irving if it meant landing an All-NBA caliber defender who could complement LeBron on the offensive end.
There’s still basketball left to play, so we’re getting ahead of ourselves. At the same time, it’s ignorant to think the Cavaliers won’t try something bold in the wake of a demoralizing loss. We might as well prep ourselves for an offseason’s worth of intense conjecture now.
