GM Survey has Cavs winning it all this year

[Straight_Ballin]

It's pretty safe to say the Cavs would easily make the playoffs in the West and be a probably top 5 team at worst.

So let's say Lebron moves out West and plays for an 8th seed team.

Are you really stupid enough to say Lebron and Anthony Davis wouldn't make the Finals? let alone him joining a top 5 team in the West.

You know the game has gone to shit when posters just bring up a possible collusion such as this in a nonchalant fashion like it's to be accepted as common place and perfectly acceptable.

[DoctorP]

You know the game has gone to shit when posters just bring up a possible collusion such as this in a nonchalant fashion like it's to be accepted as common place and perfectly acceptable.

Could totally happen. I mean, Shaq ended up playing with Garnett.

The Warriors should be doubted, everything went so perfect for them last year it's going to be hard to stay that healthy and consistent again this year.

[Lebron23]

If the Lakers have luck on their side, and are fully healthy come playoff time... Kobe becomes a 6x champ--LOL, I can't.

Jordan winning his 7th NBA title is more possible as Kobe making it into the playoffs next season.

[Thesmallmamba]

Jordan winning his 7th NBA title is more possible as Kobe making it into the playoffs next season.

Heck Jordan coming back to the league as a Journey man and finally winning another playoff game without Pippen is more likely than Kobe making the playoffs

[poido123]

spurs make the finals, cavs will get crushed.

[sportjames23]

Heck Jordan coming back to the league as a Journey man and finally winning another playoff game without Pippen is more likely than Kobe making the playoffs

Lebron catchin dat 2/7 is more likely than either doe.

[plowking]

Seriously, it is common sense.

This Cleveland team is more stacked than any Heat team he played on. For all the complaining people did when he was on the Heat, they aren't going to mention the amount of quality players they have on the team now?

PG - Irving/Williams/Delly
SG - JR Smith/Shumpert/Jones
SF - Bron/Jefferson/Shumpert
PF - Love/Thompson/Daye
C - Mozgov/Andy V

That team is utterly ridiculous. Great inside defense, great perimeter defense, great rebounding, several guys who can create their shot, and scoring down low.

This team literally has not weaknesses unlike the Heat. I'm predicting they win 60+ games and breeze through the finals. They beat whoever they play this year in 5 or 6 from the West.

[JT123]

Seriously, it is common sense.

This Cleveland team is more stacked than any Heat team he played on. For all the complaining people did when he was on the Heat, they aren't going to mention the amount of quality players they have on the team now?

PG - Irving/Williams/Delly
SG - JR Smith/Shumpert/Jones
SF - Bron/Jefferson/Shumpert
PF - Love/Thompson/Daye
C - Mozgov/Andy V

That team is utterly ridiculous. Great inside defense, great perimeter defense, great rebounding, several guys who can create their shot, and scoring down low.

This team literally has not weaknesses unlike the Heat. I'm predicting they win 60+ games and breeze through the finals. They beat whoever they play this year in 5 or 6 from the West.

Damage control. No excuses for the Heat.

[poido123]

Seriously, it is common sense.

This Cleveland team is more stacked than any Heat team he played on. For all the complaining people did when he was on the Heat, they aren't going to mention the amount of quality players they have on the team now?

PG - Irving/Williams/Delly
SG - JR Smith/Shumpert/Jones
SF - Bron/Jefferson/Shumpert
PF - Love/Thompson/Daye
C - Mozgov/Andy V

That team is utterly ridiculous. Great inside defense, great perimeter defense, great rebounding, several guys who can create their shot, and scoring down low.

This team literally has not weaknesses unlike the Heat. I'm predicting they win 60+ games and breeze through the finals. They beat whoever they play this year in 5 or 6 from the West.

No excuses?

But seriously, the test will be can Lebron lead this team without his sidekick Wade.


Irving and Love are very good players, but I'm not sure how good they are at winning.


Wade you knew he could win championships WITHOUT Lebron.

[All Net]

Cavs question mark is their 2nd, 3rd and 4th most important players are all rather injury prone. Can they last 82 games plus playoffs?

They being hurt in the finals shouldn't of come as surprise.

[Naero]

*Yawns*

Due to all the unforeseeabilities that factor into winning a championship—health, transformative mentalities and team cultures, the shake-outs of coaching changeovers, and so on—the General Managers know that preseason predictions for an eventual champion are as plausible as taking a shot in the dark; thus, they only make do with what they have on surficial papers and choose the previous-year finalist.

The Cavaliers are obviously the conventional favorite after supposedly "taking the Warriors to task" short-handedly in this finals, but it's a blissful assumption to even espouse the narrative that they would have won fully healthy.

Despite the first-time jitters the Warriors players when trying to satisfy one of the most raucous home crowds in the league, they won in Game 1 despite Kyrie Irving playing for most of the game (by the time he was injured, the Warriors already had a comfortable lead in the waning minutes of overtime). Albeit, Kevin Love was sidelined; but considering how badly he's been marginalized as the third wheel in this Cavaliers' offense, his impact was far from indispensable.

Moreover, I can answer the "what-if" card with another one of my own for the Warriors' part: what if Stephen Curry had not suffered the near-concussive injury in Game 4 against the Rockets?

All playoff games before the concussion (including the game of the injury):

29.9 PPG; 47.5% shooting; 44.8% three-point-shooting; 6.6 APG; 22.2 game-score average (basketball-reference.com formula).

First-four playoff games after the concussion (including the two finals losses against the Cavaliers):

24.2 PPG; 38.2% field-goal percentage; 34.5% three-point percentage; 5.8 APG; 15.9 game-score average.

He was obviously hobbled by it, even if he wasn't hasty to make sekf-excusatory claims of it, and it glared the most in Game 2, wherein he shot 5-23 from the field and 2-15 from three-point range. If he made even one more of those 13, uncharacteristically missed three-point attempts, the Warriors (theoretically) would have won Game 2 and have taken a series-commanding 2-0 lead (which the basketball Gods seem to avert away from prime LeBron).

Plus, even with a fully healthy Cavaliers squad, do you disbelieve that Golden State's coaching staff would have been able to make the requisite adjustments? They've done so throughout the playoffs (see: the Grizzlies, who were a more daunting threat than the Cavaliers); hell, even sidelining Andrew Bogut's plodding ass probably would have been enough.

Now, whether the Warriors can repeat this year is another question and one that I'm more skeptical about due to coaching-staff changeovers and downtime from Steve Kerr. However, only superficial mindsets can fully discredit the Warriors' championship from last year.

[BoutPractice]

Pretty reasonable prediction.

In terms of odds I'd put them first, OKC second (likely Finals adversary... they will be a team on a mission) and San Antonio third (formidable on paper, not too sure about how the Aldridge thing works in practice).

[Goro]

If they have luck on their side, and are fully healthy come playoff time... Lebron becomes a 3x Champion.

Its that simple, health stopped them last year.

Well, we all knew the Eastern conference wouldn't.

[dhsilv]

The Warriors should be doubted, everything went so perfect for them last year it's going to be hard to stay that healthy and consistent again this year.

It's always hard to do that...that's no different for the warriors than it is for anyone else. Cavs going to make the finals with Lebron and Love out?

[All Net]

It's always hard to do that...that's no different for the warriors than it is for anyone else. Cavs going to make the finals with Lebron and Love out?

OKC are the same

They have barely been healthy for 4-5 years..just because a team is hurt one year doesn't mean it won't keep happening.

GS were healthy as they had great minute management