Phoenix 91 - Cleveland 78

The way the Cavs played tonight, you can disregard what was said in the last post. One bright spot is that Anderson Varejao is a monster, 20 points and 18 rebounds tonight. Here are my two schools of thought on the rest of the season:

First, Kyrie comes back and stays healthy. He keeps putting up 23 and 6 every night, along with Varejao's 15 and 15, and they get help from other Cavaliers. If that happens and the team plays like it did in the first four games of Kyrie's absence, no doubt they should be thinking playoffs.

Secondly, and admittedly most interestingly, the season ends with a Cavs lottery pick. I don't need to explain how that will happen, we've seen it two years in a row now. If Cleveland can nab one of the first two picks and take whoever is there, it could be magical going forward. Right now the top two seem as clear as day, in no particular order, UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad and Kentucky's Nerlens Noel. With Muhammad, it would allow Alonzo Gee to come off the bench, and with that be a very productive member of the second team, probably the best the Cavs would have. With Noel, he could start at Power Forward or Center in combination with Varejao, with a secondary unit of Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller. That would be intersting either way.

But here's the thing, The Cavs are too good to have that good of a percentage for the lottery, right? I get that the record is bad, but look at all the close games they've lost, look at the teams they've beaten/almost beat. Maybe if Varejao is traded, then we can start talking top three picks again, but let's face it, he should absolutely not be moved this year. He has proven that he is an absolute beast, there would hardly be anything worth moving him for. Bad teams won't come calling with their high draft picks, fringe playoff teams won't have a package worthy of parting with him and championship contenders, who will need him most, will have absolutely nothing of value to give. Best case scenario is trading him to the Thunder for a package headlined by that Raptors draft pick, but even then I don't like it.

I feel like if this Cavs roster all stayed in place next year, an extra year of maturity for the entire team, we would be talking playoffs, no doubt. That's why this is interesting. The bench struggles, the injuries, the shooting slumps are all keeping the Cavs talking about adding another premiere player to this already ridiculously talented roster. Look out in two or three years when all these youngsters are in their prime, Irving, Thompson, Dion Waiters, Zeller and whatever new players Cleveland adds in the draft. They should be a force, and the best part is, they did it the right way.