NBA Power Rankings 5-1

Oct 20, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) passes to a teammate against the Chicago Bulls at Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

03.) Cleveland Cavaliers (1st in the Eastern Conference)

Cleveland is a happy place to be right now! You got LeBron James back! I realize for a Bulls fan, I do root for LeBron James perhaps too much but I don’t care. This is going to take time, in fact they will likely struggle coming out of the gate of the season and that’s fine. Here is something that LeBron James hasn’t experienced before: his team is going to win the rebounding battles with Kevin Love in the post. I don’t think that Cleveland is going to win it all this season, but I certainly expect them to be there at the end of the season with the Western Conference winner and that’s why I have them as the best team in the Eastern Conference. Of course, they have one glaring issue, which is that they can’t defend. Or can they?

 Question: Can the Cavaliers blossom into a good defensive team?

Talk to anyone they will tell you that Cleveland is good but they can’t play defense and they’d be right. But what they are missing is that they haven’t even defended as a team yet. Perhaps Kyrie is an awful defender, but he’s yet to play with the best help side defender in basketball, LeBron James. The point is they are likely better as a unit than we expect. Basketball isn’t an individual sport; you are out there with four other players. I expect that Cleveland is going to be better than we think so defensively.