The danger of writing off the Cavs...

[octothorp]

Just really scared by how arrogant our fanbase is getting because of this hot start.

Remember pride comes before a fall.

Why would you be scared of that? The amount of pride or arrogance that a sports team's fans have has zero affect on the outcome of games. (And if it did, the amount of arrogance coming out of Nike's marketing department would be enough to ensure the Cavs never make the finals).

Personally, I think the mix of pragmatism and optimism on these boards is a great balance right now (except for the US media insecurity, which admittedly does annoy me). I hear a lot of excitement, but also a lot of heated discussion about how our team can improve and what we need to do to get to the next level.

[Bendit]

I'm fairly certain Blatt gets compensated in Rubles...

....and/or Shekels

[thead]

its the eastern conference we can't even write off Orlando and Detroit yet let alone the Cavs

[S.R.]

The Cavs will pull it together. Also, I saw one game write up after the Raps played them noting that LeBron was "strangely passive." He's not passive - he's putting all his effort into leadership and trying to get his teammates play the right way, instead of just taking over like Kobe would. LeBron could take over. I think we could have seen a very different LeBron when the Raps played them, and that he could still score 40 points basically any time he wants if he decides to.

In that way the playoffs will be very different. Cleveland will either have started to come around as a team, or if they haven't, I could see LeBron just deciding to turn put it into overdirve in order to give them the best possible chance to win. He'll take over if he has to.

[Nilanka]

The Cavs will pull it together. Also, I saw one game write up after the Raps played them noting that LeBron was "strangely passive." He's not passive - he's putting all his effort into leadership and trying to get his teammates play the right way, instead of just taking over like Kobe would. LeBron could take over. I think we could have seen a very different LeBron when the Raps played them, and that he could still score 40 points basically any time he wants if he decides to.

In that way the playoffs will be very different. Cleveland will either have started to come around as a team, or if they haven't, I could see LeBron just deciding to turn put it into overdirve in order to give them the best possible chance to win. He'll take over if he has to.

He did look extremely passive out there. So much so, that you're probably right in that it was by design. He honestly looked to be playing at 25% intensity, and yet still flirted with a triple-double. Crazy.

[thead]

Not thead ... Lol

TeamEd just made the list!

[ball4life]

It's not that we're writing them off, it's that their problems seem to be deeper than the Heat's were after their slow start.
1. Their defensive problems seem harder to solve: they have much less talent on that end and have less athleticism and length to solve that problem.
2. Their bench is terrible.
3. Their chemistry seems way worse than the Heat's ever did. People say Wade and Lebron took time like Kyrie is equivalent to Wade. Kyrie is a shadow of peak Wade.
That said, everyone -- literally everyone -- thinks the Cavs are going to end up a 50+ win team with home court in the playoffs.

I dont agree with this... I think they have a really good bench. Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Mike Miller are all capable starters... I get that Dion is whack at times but still he is skilled, he just needs to be rewired properly. Somebody needs to tell him he is not a star.
The only sure knock on this team is their D. they will never be a good defensive team.

[NaijaBoy17]

The karma is just building....

Man if we get swept by the Cavs I'm blaming y'all, that's all I'm saying.

[Nilanka]

The karma is just building....

Man if we get swept by the Cavs I'm blaming y'all, that's all I'm saying.

Lebron has more than enough bad karma coming his way for proclaiming to win 8 championships

[Bendit]

Anyone have an opinion of Lebron's weight loss after his diet this summer and whether it might be contributing to early fatigue at this stage of the season. I continue to be amazed that these high performance athletes go on crash weight gain as well as weight loss and expect to be better for it in the sport. Logic would dictate that the body would need to acclimate to the change especially when there are so many moving body parts in the basketball game.

ps...I was thinking of Rudy Gay & JV re: weight gain

[NaijaBoy17]

Remember what I was saying about arrogance?

The basketball gods are coming, and we will feel their almighty wrath

[NaijaBoy17]

The basketball gods have unleashed their wrath on the top scorers of all the east's legitimate challengers to Cleveland.

Derrick Rose
Paul George
DeMar DeRozan

Told y'all not to write off the Cavs :/

[Day One]

Why would you be scared of that? The amount of pride or arrogance that a sports team's fans have has zero affect on the outcome of games. (And if it did, the amount of arrogance coming out of Nike's marketing department would be enough to ensure the Cavs never make the finals).

Personally, I think the mix of pragmatism and optimism on these boards is a great balance right now (except for the US media insecurity, which admittedly does annoy me). I hear a lot of excitement, but also a lot of heated discussion about how our team can improve and what we need to do to get to the next level.

hes not actually scared of that, if it happens he just wants to come across as smart and be able to say i told you so.

[NaijaBoy17]

I'm superstitious when it comes to sports. Every time a fan-base gets arrogant or people start trashing a particular team, things seem to correct themselves.

[Axel]

Well considering 2 of the 3 players you mentioned were injured before the season started, you can't exactly claim karma has had any role. As for the claim that Demar's injury is related to hubris, well I already commented on that and stand by it. A fan base that has long suffered and gets excited for one season would bring karma down on us, yet Miami predicted multiple championships and no karma payback? Unless you consider ONLY winning 2 titles bad karma?