Kevin Love, today: "I am a Cavalier long term"

[RedBlackAttack]

I agree, and he's been great. LeBron has been straight ass, but even sloppy LeBron is a great player. I still wouldn't call Kyrie a superstar, but I wouldn't call Love one either TBH. There are only really three true superstars in the league, LeBron, Kobe, and Durant. Melo is borderline, but I have a hard time calling someone who has never been to the finals a superstar.

At some point it becomes semantics, open to interpretation and ultimately pretty arbitrary. For instance, LeBron James was a superstar before he made the Finals in 2007. But, it seems to me that the term "superstar" is achieved based on recognition and popularity as much as it is on accomplishments or skill on the basketball court. So, when assessing how good a team is, who cares if a guy is a "superstar" or not?

What I've seen of Kyrie and LeBron together, particularly, they fit together like a hand in glove... much better than I even anticipated. They're able to share the ball handling duties and LeBron's pretty unique skillset as a combo forward/point is accentuated by Kyrie's shooting ability and off-ball game. They allow each other space and lanes to attack without getting in one anothers' way.

Whether Kyrie is technically a "superstar" given a very narrow definition is really beside the point...

Irving's efficiency has been insane this year: 60.6 TS%, 55.5 eFG%, 42% from three, 2.93 assist-to-turnover rate... and these numbers are trending upward. His usage is way down and his production is way up.

If LeBron starts playing the way he did the last couple of years and Love keeps getting more comfortable, the team's efficiency numbers are going to be through the roof.

[DMAVS41]

At some point it becomes semantics, open to interpretation and ultimately pretty arbitrary. For instance, LeBron James was a superstar before he made the Finals in 2007. But, it seems to me that the term "superstar" is achieved based on recognition and popularity as much as it is on accomplishments or skill on the basketball court. So, when assessing how good a team is, who cares if a guy is a "superstar" or not?

What I've seen of Kyrie and LeBron together, particularly, they fit together like a hand in glove... much better than I even anticipated. They're able to share the ball handling duties and LeBron's pretty unique skillset as a combo forward/point is accentuated by Kyrie's shooting ability and off-ball game. They allow each other space and lanes to attack without getting in one anothers' way.

Whether Kyrie is technically a "superstar" given a very narrow definition is really beside the point...

Irving's efficiency has been insane this year: 60.6 TS%, 55.5 eFG%, 42% from three, 2.93 assist-to-turnover rate... and these numbers are trending upward.

If LeBron starts playing the way he did the last couple of years and Love keeps getting more comfortable, the team's efficiency numbers are going to be through the roof.

The problem with this team is never and was never going to be offense...

What will make or break this team (at least for now) is their ability to get stops in the half court of playoff games....and can they protect the paint without fouling.

It was never going to be whether or not Kyrie, Lebron, and Love and filler can get you to an absurdly good offense.

[NuggetsFan]

Kyrie established himself as a superstar in his rookie season.

Deal with it!

If you have a loose definition of a superstar than yeah. 18/5/4 while playing 54 games and being on a brutal team his rookie season. Personally for me I hesitate to call anybody who's yet to make even one playoff app a superstar, especially in a conference as weak as the East has been the past few years.

He had one season where he scored 22 points but besides that he's been a 20/6 guy on lottery teams now this season he's improved his defense and got his efficiency back but he's playing with LeBron James and Kevin Love. Irving is going to see far less defensive attention now obviously. He's averaging 21/5/3. He won ROY, and made All-Star games which is a glorified popularity contest. No NBA teams, no scoring titles, hasn't even made the playoffs in his career, and it's not even like he's put up "superstar" numbers really, outside of that one season maybe.

I'm actually coming around on Irving. He's made strides to improve his defense and he's meshed far quickly than I thought he would. He still lacks the court awareness/passing to be an elite PG IMO like Wall/Paul/Curry etc. and I don't think at 22 he could put a team on his back with his scoring and lead them to any success but he's looking like a great second option and in a few years who knows. Not a "superstar" yet tho to me.

[RedBlackAttack]

The problem with this team is never and was never going to be offense...

What will make or break this team (at least for now) is their ability to get stops in the half court of playoff games....and can they protect the paint without fouling.

It was never going to be whether or not Kyrie, Lebron, and Love and filler can get you to an absurdly good offense.

There are levels of "good" on offense and one of the only questions from an offensive standpoint that the team had (and rightfully so) was how LeBron and Kyrie were going to play off of one another, who was going to be handling the ball, etc. I never thought things would look this good this soon between those two and that's with LeBron seemingly sleepwalking half the time. The potential ceiling with LeBron playing at his best is even more absurd than I anticipated, only because of the way these guys fit together already with such little time to get acclimated.

Defense was obviously everyone's biggest question. It has been said over and over during the last couple weeks, but they've been surprisingly good recently on that end. When he is focused and locked in defensively, Irving is not a bad defender. In fact, he's been good for the most part this year and again, he's trending upward. Love is never going to be a great defender, but all he has to do is fit into the system, make his rotations and not lose his concentration. He's been better recently.

LeBron was surprisingly unfocused on that end early in the year, but he has come around recently too.

I'm not predicting anything at this point. The team is still figuring out how to play with one another on both ends. But, up to this point, I'd say the returns have been pretty encouraging for Cavs fans. They're only giving up 94 points per game over their last 7. That stretch includes games against San Antonio, two against Washington and Toronto prior to Derozen's injury.

This is still going to be a process but the improvement has been pretty drastic. If you looked at this team after the first three weeks of the season and compared it to the last two weeks, there has been a big leap.

[Bandito]

I agree, and he's been great. LeBron has been straight ass, but even sloppy LeBron is a great player. I still wouldn't call Kyrie a superstar, but I wouldn't call Love one either TBH. There are only really three true superstars in the league, LeBron, Kobe, and Durant. Melo is borderline, but I have a hard time calling someone who has never been to the finals a superstar.

If Kobe is one so is Wade.

[pmj]

Amazing that the Cavs are in this position. Three incredible talents on the same team longterm while the Knicks, Lakers and Celtics' respective futures remain cloudy at best. Has there been a shift away from the "prime" markets in the NBA or is this a unique situation that probably won't be seen again?

One thing is for sure... it's fun being a Cavs fan right now. It took a few weeks to work the kinks out but this team is good. And it's becoming fun to watch.

Amazing what happens when a top 5 all time player leaves, you tank and get 3 no. 1 overall picks in 4 years, along with other young talent, and then said all time great comes back with friends Yeah, pretty safe to say that's not happening again anytime soon.

[FatComputerNerd]

If you have a loose definition of a superstar than yeah. 18/5/4 while playing 54 games and being on a brutal team his rookie season. Personally for me I hesitate to call anybody who's yet to make even one playoff app a superstar, especially in a conference as weak as the East has been the past few years.

He had one season where he scored 22 points but besides that he's been a 20/6 guy on lottery teams now this season he's improved his defense and got his efficiency back but he's playing with LeBron James and Kevin Love. Irving is going to see far less defensive attention now obviously. He's averaging 21/5/3. He won ROY, and made All-Star games which is a glorified popularity contest. No NBA teams, no scoring titles, hasn't even made the playoffs in his career, and it's not even like he's put up "superstar" numbers really, outside of that one season maybe.

I'm actually coming around on Irving. He's made strides to improve his defense and he's meshed far quickly than I thought he would. He still lacks the court awareness/passing to be an elite PG IMO like Wall/Paul/Curry etc. and I don't think at 22 he could put a team on his back with his scoring and lead them to any success but he's looking like a great second option and in a few years who knows. Not a "superstar" yet tho to me.

Well you are right but he also won the 3-point shootout, and played amazingly in clutch situations his first few seasons.

He also has that Hollywood star-appeal, which is a factor. His flashiness with the ball and ridiculous handles (somewhat reminiscent of AI), the whole uncle drew thing, and his general overall charisma have added to his super-star status.

As for his court awareness, I don't see it being any worse than the guys you named, except maybe for CP3. He just happens to be a gifted shooter/scorer, and also plays next to a 7 APG, arguably GOAT point-forward. I don't think Curry for example would be averaging any more APG on this Cavs roster than Irving is.

[DMAVS41]

There are levels of "good" on offense and one of the only questions from an offensive standpoint that the team had (and rightfully so) was how LeBron and Kyrie were going to play off of one another, who was going to be handling the ball, etc. I never thought things would look this good this soon between those two and that's with LeBron seemingly sleepwalking half the time. The potential ceiling with LeBron playing at his best is even more absurd than I anticipated, only because of the way these guys fit together already with such little time to get acclimated.

Defense was obviously everyone's biggest question. It has been said over and over during the last couple weeks, but they've been surprisingly good recently on that end. When he is focused and locked in defensively, Irving is not a bad defender. In fact, he's been good for the most part this year and again, he's trending upward. Love is never going to be a great defender, but all he has to do is fit into the system, make his rotations and not lose his concentration. He's been better recently.

LeBron was surprisingly unfocused on that end early in the year, but he has come around recently too.

I'm not predicting anything at this point. The team is still figuring out how to play with one another on both ends. But, up to this point, I'd say the returns have been pretty encouraging for Cavs fans. They're only giving up 94 points per game over their last 7. That stretch includes games against San Antonio, two against Washington and Toronto prior to Derozen's injury.

This is still going to be a process but the improvement has been pretty drastic. If you looked at this team after the first three weeks of the season and compared it to the last two weeks, there has been a big leap.

Predicting this early is hard, but I'll go ahead and say they come up short this year because of the lack of defense at the guard and pg/c positions in terms of rim protection.

Raptors are better than I'd thought they'd be and the Bulls could be deadly in a series. And they might have to beat both of them...

I just don't see this Cavs team, unless there are new players added, going through that and then beating the West champs.

But next year, assuming they figure out a way to get another big in there to address the issues....They'll probably be my favorites. Stars win in the playoffs...and the Cavs have 3.