The biggest news of the NBA this summer was the return of LeBron James to Cleveland. He then quickly assembled a super team, getting Kevin Love to join him alongside current Cavalier Kyrie Irving. Aging-but-active vets Shawn Marion and Mike Miller also joined the fold, and the buzz was in the air that the Cavs were going to have one of the best offenses in league history.
Then reality struck.
The Cavs are 1-4 with their lone win coming in overtime against the Chicago Bulls. LeBron James is having the worst statistical start of the season since he was a rookie, and while it is still a small sample size, it is not a good start. We’ve decided to take a look deep into the well to find out the reasons behind The King’s woeful start.
01. His skill set has been replaced by one of the Monstars from Space Jam and he is now playing like the mysteriously injured Andrea Bargnani.
02. Dion Waiters incessant trash talk over the summer about being part of the best backcourt in the NBA was widely mocked. Waiters then went 25 quarters without a pass in order to prove his worth, except he is only averaging 7.5 points per game.
03. Coming back to the harsh industrial view of Cleveland after years in sunny, tropical Miami has been a culture shock to James. He now feels existential angst raining upon him as he tries to make it up to the town that once shunned him. Where he once took jaunty jogs though Miami, his current view is more out of “Strangers in Paradise” and it’s just getting him down.
04. Kevin Love, who averaged 26 points and 12.5 rebounds a game last year, is currently in a scoring slump. And while James thought his presence in the interior would make take the pressure off him to score, Love is only averaging two assists a game. Defenses are sensing that the ball is stopping once it gets to Love’s hands and he is not a dominate post player, so you can double him easily enough. Whereas James thought he had multiple offensive options to take the heat off of him, it’s been easily dissected so far.
05. The Cavs all have chalk in their eyes.
06. The Cavaliers defense has given up over 100 points three times so far this early season. Shawn Marion, at 36 years old, is leading the team in blocks. There was a ton of discussion about how the Cavs had very little rim protection between Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao and Brendan Haywood and thus far it’s showing.
07. Never underestimate the power of Chris Bosh to get you an NBA title. Yes, this Chris Bosh:
