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The Cavs are off to their best start in five years.
That includes the final couple years of the second LeBron era where they went to the NBA Finals.
They've been underdogs going in to probably every single game (save for the Detroit game) they've played this season. Of their 14 games, 11 have been against playoff teams from last season, while two of the remaining three were against a team that at least qualified for the play-in.
They're missing their leading scorer from last season, their longest tenured veteran player, and one of their major offseason acquisitions.
Keeping all that in mind, they have no business being anywhere near .500...
... because right now, they're actually .643, just a game back of the best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs' odds of making the playoffs, let alone the ECF and beyond, are probably astronomical (I'm too lazy to actually look at the updated odds right now). I'm sure the Cavs have probably the third best odds in their own division, at the absolute best.
10 of their next 12 games are against playoff teams from last season. That's a stretch that includes the Cavs' arch nemesis of the mid 2010s and both Finals teams from last season. It doesn't get much tougher than that for a seasoned team of veterans, let alone a young team that is still figuring out how to close out games and win.
And yet, this is far and away the most excited I've been to watch this team since attending that 2 million+ person party in downtown Cleveland in June 2016, just a few months before I went back to the active duty Army and left Ohio for good. (I've since left the Army after ten years, put on a little bit of weight, bought a house, and settled down just outside our nation's capital.)
Even with the Browns finally being good for the first time since I actually gave a shit about sports, it's the Cavs starting to become a good team that makes me feel like I'm home once again.
However far removed they are from those days, their play now evokes warm, fuzzy memories of that 19th night of June in the year 2016, when I yelled myself hoarse, jumping up and down in a bar with many of my closest friends while we watched this franchise cast that wretched championship drought into the fires of sports infamy by beating the greatest regular season team in NBA history in the league's first ever 3-1 Finals comeback.
When I watch Darius Garland, I see shades of a young Kyrie Irving. Before all the drama, before he forced his way out of town. I see a dynamic young scorer - the kind that can take over a game and score 15 straight to snap victory from the jaws of defeat - blossoming before our very eyes.
I look at Evan Mobley, and I see the league's next transcendent talent at the power forward position - and it feels weird to even refer to him as a power forward, because I really think he can guard any position on the floor (and can certainly score from anywhere, too!). If he continues to grow at the trajectory we have seen in just his first fourteen games, we will see #4 hanging from the rafters in Cleveland, and we will forever hear him mentioned in the same conversations as Garnett and Duncan.
I look at guys like Cedi Osman, who many had written off as dead, reviving his career as a deadly sharpshooting seventh man for the Cavs. I look at Jarrett Allen, who was viewed by the Nets as a throw-in cost for acquiring James Harden and who is quickly out-valuing his $100 million contract. Ricky Rubio has leaned into his first full season as a bench player to turn in one of the best statistical seasons of his career, and that's to say nothing of his veteran presence on this young team.
And don't even get me started on the Young Bull. God, does this team miss Collin Sexton. Come back soon, young fella. Earn every single penny.
Most of all, I see a team that is willing to step up for each other, willing to hit the deck for each other, fight for every loose ball, scratch and claw for every extra possession, and keep playing til that final buzzer sounds.
And take it from me, as someone who's lived all over the place, seen things here and there, been a member of this incredible community for going on thirteen years... if that ain't a team that represents the heart, the spirit of Cleveland - a team that most everyone wrote off before the season began as too young, or not talented enough, or not ready to actually meaningfully compete, that just can't seem to escape the void left by LeBron James leaving twice, as an afterthought that somehow, some way defiantly finds a way to win night in and night out - then I don't know what is.
Y'all, I've had a fucking blast so far this year participating in the game threads and calling in to our new podcast. It brings back some great memories of when we used to go all out on our game thread creations and have player safaris that would draw attention from the national media, or when I would eagerly hit the F5 button while waiting for an update from W&G.
Most of all, it makes me feel home.
From the bottom of this Cleveland expat's heart, thank you for being you. Thank you for being the best community in professional sports.
At a time where I am hundreds of miles away from my family, thank you for making me feel just a little bit closer to home.
I'm looking forward to even more for this year and beyond.
Go Cavs!
That includes the final couple years of the second LeBron era where they went to the NBA Finals.
They've been underdogs going in to probably every single game (save for the Detroit game) they've played this season. Of their 14 games, 11 have been against playoff teams from last season, while two of the remaining three were against a team that at least qualified for the play-in.
They're missing their leading scorer from last season, their longest tenured veteran player, and one of their major offseason acquisitions.
Keeping all that in mind, they have no business being anywhere near .500...
... because right now, they're actually .643, just a game back of the best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs' odds of making the playoffs, let alone the ECF and beyond, are probably astronomical (I'm too lazy to actually look at the updated odds right now). I'm sure the Cavs have probably the third best odds in their own division, at the absolute best.
10 of their next 12 games are against playoff teams from last season. That's a stretch that includes the Cavs' arch nemesis of the mid 2010s and both Finals teams from last season. It doesn't get much tougher than that for a seasoned team of veterans, let alone a young team that is still figuring out how to close out games and win.
And yet, this is far and away the most excited I've been to watch this team since attending that 2 million+ person party in downtown Cleveland in June 2016, just a few months before I went back to the active duty Army and left Ohio for good. (I've since left the Army after ten years, put on a little bit of weight, bought a house, and settled down just outside our nation's capital.)
Even with the Browns finally being good for the first time since I actually gave a shit about sports, it's the Cavs starting to become a good team that makes me feel like I'm home once again.
However far removed they are from those days, their play now evokes warm, fuzzy memories of that 19th night of June in the year 2016, when I yelled myself hoarse, jumping up and down in a bar with many of my closest friends while we watched this franchise cast that wretched championship drought into the fires of sports infamy by beating the greatest regular season team in NBA history in the league's first ever 3-1 Finals comeback.
When I watch Darius Garland, I see shades of a young Kyrie Irving. Before all the drama, before he forced his way out of town. I see a dynamic young scorer - the kind that can take over a game and score 15 straight to snap victory from the jaws of defeat - blossoming before our very eyes.
I look at Evan Mobley, and I see the league's next transcendent talent at the power forward position - and it feels weird to even refer to him as a power forward, because I really think he can guard any position on the floor (and can certainly score from anywhere, too!). If he continues to grow at the trajectory we have seen in just his first fourteen games, we will see #4 hanging from the rafters in Cleveland, and we will forever hear him mentioned in the same conversations as Garnett and Duncan.
I look at guys like Cedi Osman, who many had written off as dead, reviving his career as a deadly sharpshooting seventh man for the Cavs. I look at Jarrett Allen, who was viewed by the Nets as a throw-in cost for acquiring James Harden and who is quickly out-valuing his $100 million contract. Ricky Rubio has leaned into his first full season as a bench player to turn in one of the best statistical seasons of his career, and that's to say nothing of his veteran presence on this young team.
And don't even get me started on the Young Bull. God, does this team miss Collin Sexton. Come back soon, young fella. Earn every single penny.
Most of all, I see a team that is willing to step up for each other, willing to hit the deck for each other, fight for every loose ball, scratch and claw for every extra possession, and keep playing til that final buzzer sounds.
And take it from me, as someone who's lived all over the place, seen things here and there, been a member of this incredible community for going on thirteen years... if that ain't a team that represents the heart, the spirit of Cleveland - a team that most everyone wrote off before the season began as too young, or not talented enough, or not ready to actually meaningfully compete, that just can't seem to escape the void left by LeBron James leaving twice, as an afterthought that somehow, some way defiantly finds a way to win night in and night out - then I don't know what is.
Y'all, I've had a fucking blast so far this year participating in the game threads and calling in to our new podcast. It brings back some great memories of when we used to go all out on our game thread creations and have player safaris that would draw attention from the national media, or when I would eagerly hit the F5 button while waiting for an update from W&G.
Most of all, it makes me feel home.
From the bottom of this Cleveland expat's heart, thank you for being you. Thank you for being the best community in professional sports.
At a time where I am hundreds of miles away from my family, thank you for making me feel just a little bit closer to home.
I'm looking forward to even more for this year and beyond.
Go Cavs!
