Welcome to the 2013-2014 Season Cleveland Cavaliers Fans
The Cavs will open up Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena and will take on the Brooklyn Nets. Although the Nets will be without their brand new head coach Jason Kidd due to suspension, this will be the opening night for new faces on both the Cavs and Nets. For the Nets, these players include the old Boston duo of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. But I'm not here to talk about the Nets. I'm here to talk about the hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2013-2014 season. So here we go......
Last year was a year in which we watched our ex-hometown hero LeBron James lead the Miami Heat to another NBA Championship. On the flip side, we watched our own team go 24-58. To get back to where our team used to be under the LeBron James era, our front office made some changes to the program. Going out on a limb (a strong limb), the Cavs reunited with coach Mike Brown after letting former coach Byron Scott go. Three seasons seemed to be enough for the Cleveland Cavaliers organization to find a new head coach. Unlike the Browns (with Chudzinski) this seemed like an ideal coaching change.
Besides a change in the coaching staff, new players were brought along in the offseason. They didn't draft Nerlens Noel or Alex Len as suspected, but instead they drafted the Canadian out of UNLV Anthony Bennett. The power forward, Bennett is the highest drafted Canadian in NBA Draft history, or simply the first ever Canadian to be the first overall pick. Veteran Jarrett Jack will be joining the Cavaliers as well, after a season with the Golden State Warriors. The guard will be bringing his experience along with his renewed talent with him to Cleveland to have a key part in coming off of the bench. A final key acquisition that was made in the offseason was picking up former LA Laker star Andrew Bynum. There are many questions with his health (knee) but according to bleacherreport.com Bynum is close to begin practicing with the team.
The Cavs unfortunately will be without fan favorite Daniel Gibson this year, as his contract was not renewed and is still an unsigned free agent.
According to bleacherreport.com the Cavs starting lineup will be:
PG Kyrie Irving
SG Dion Waiters
SF Earl Clark
PF Tristan Thompson
C Anderson Varejao
So Bennett and Jack will not start (obviously not Bynum due to injury) but add to the depth of the lineup. Led by Duke graduate Kyrie Irving, between all of the postseason transitioning to add upon what was already there the Cavs will be turning things around (hopefully). However, they will be in a competitive division featuring the Indiana Pacers and the Chicago Bulls. In preseason polls, both the Pacers and Bulls have been consistently ranked in the top four in the Eastern Conference.
All in all, behind the back of former all-star Irving, the Cavs seem to be back in business. Not up to championship standard, that's for certain, but nonetheless a postseason birth is a very favorable estimate.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves with next year's offseason possibilities with the possible return of "The King," because we have this year and starting tomorrow night Cleveland sports fans can build upon the excitement that occurred with the Indians this fall. Sorry to the Browns but we need more out of you guys. Nonetheless here is to a new year of basketball that bring new possibilities.
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