It's become an annual tradition. How much should Cavs fans worry about their team?
Cleveland holds an 8-7 record, tied for eighth with the Magic in the Eastern Conference standings. The Cavs have the worst defensive rating (110.6) in the NBA. LeBron James has been forced to do more than ever before, leading the league with 38.1 minutes per game while averaging 28.3 points, 8.7 assists and 7.5 rebounds.
Kyrie Irving is gone. The Cavs don't have a fully healthy roster with Isaiah Thomas and Tristan Thompson out for significant time. The defensive concerns are real. And yet, the Eastern Conference crown still belongs to James until a team on that side of the playoff bracket emerges as a worthy adversary. Again, how much should Cavs fans worry about their team? Well, why not ask a guy who has clashed with Cleveland in the last three NBA Finals series?
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In a Q&A session with USA Today's Sam Amick, Warriors forward Draymond Green gave his take on the state of the Cavs.
"To a certain extent yes. And to a certain extent, no," Green said when asked if Clevelanders should freak out. "I don't think anyone should be panicking 12 games in, or 13 games in. However, there are some glaring concerns with them. And at the same time, you're missing a 30-point (per game) player (in Thomas) on the bench who's hurt. So my concern would be that LeBron is playing so many minutes right now.
"Yeah, he's super human but eventually his super human powers go away, so that would be more of my concern if I'm a Cavs fan or somebody with the Cavs or a player, is like 'Man, he's been playing a lot of 40 minute (nights) and it's only Nov. 12.' But I wouldn't be pressing the panic button just yet. At the end of the day, they know how to win. They've got a guy who knows how to win, so I wouldn't necessarily press the panic button. I would see certain things and I would panic about those certain things, just because ... I don't think nobody should be playing 40 minutes a game in November."
James has played 40 minutes or more in four of the Cavs' first eight games in November and six of 15 overall. James has logged nearly 51,000 minutes between regular season and playoff games in his career, so it's less than ideal for Tyronn Lue to be leaning on him this heavily in his 15th season. Green feels that's a bigger issue than how the Cavs are performing so early in the season.
"But at the end of the day, if he's doing it he's doing it for a reason. He's not just doing it because (he wants to)," Green said. "That's tough. That's tough mentally also. That would be more of my concern over them not playing well. Like, (expletive), it's Game 13. Who cares who's playing well? Also, you could be playing great in Game 13 and by Game 30 you could be some (terrible team)."
It will be interesting to see how Lue manages James' minutes moving forward or if James becomes human at some point and slows down. Cleveland is nowhere near fully formed, but this team currently wouldn't stand a chance against Golden State in a seven-game series, even with a healthy Thomas and Thompson.
James deserves the benefit of the doubt, but the rest of the East can't be dismissed at this point, not with multiple contenders looking to knock King James off his throne.
