Monday, July 12, 2010

The Cleveland Cavaliers

There is some alternate universe/dimension or something like that in which LeBron James doesn't stab us with the proverbially sharp object. In this alternate universe things are much different for Cavaliers fans today. And that is because in this other place LeBron James was never a Cavalier. The Cavs lose the NBA Draft Lottery and end up with the 2nd pick. The Grizzlies end up with LeBron, they never trade Pau Gasol and change the landscape of the NBA in 2010. But before we get to today we should go through each of LeBron's 7 years with the Cavs and show you how it might have played out in a week long series.

2003-2004
Losing the NBA Draft Lottery and losing the first LeBron sweepstakes is tough for Gordon Gund, but he doesn't immediately sell the team. They still bring in Paul Silas as the head coach to coach their #2 overall draft pick, Dwyane Wade. While Wade was the 5th pick in the draft, he was one of 3 franchise players available. At this point the Cavs still have Carlos Boozer, and drafted Milicic and Bosh doesn't make sense. LeBron was a guard when he came to the Cavs, so they probably take Wade of Carmelo.

Because it's Dwyane Wade and not LeBron we keep using this logo

The Cavaliers begin the year with a starting 5 of
Z, Boozer, Ira Newble, Ricky Davis, LeBron
Alternative universe lineup
Z, Boozer, Ira Newble, Ricky Davis, Dwyane Wade

In December the Cavs ship Davis, Chris Mihm, Michael Stewart and a 2nd rounder to Boston for Eric Williams, Kedrick Brown and Tony Battie. Later on in the season they ship Darius Miles and his thick-impenetrable-by-Silas-skull to Portland for Jeff McInnis and Ruben Boumtje Boumtje.

Still without a true shooting guard, McInnis is inserted into the starting lineup as point guard allowing LeBron to slide up to the 2, even though eventually he ends up being a small forward. The same is done with Wade, and he plays the 2 for this season.

According to basketball-reference.com (which will be used alot along with 82Games.com for this blog) Win-Shares which is a product of numerous different stat percentages is an interesting way of figuring out how a team performed. LeBron was only the Cavaliers 3rd most important player in terms of Win-Share adding 5.1 wins to the team over his season. Dwyane Wade had a 4.6 W/S for the Heat. Meaning that if Wade took LBJ's place and everything stayed the same the Cavaliers finish with a record 34-48 instead of 35-47.

All in all nothing huge changes by swapping LeBron in D-Wade in 2003-2004. They still stay in the same draft spot for 2004. They still don't have a legitimate 3 and they draft Luke Jackson out of Oregon. But that's a story for tomorrow, when it really gets fun.