- Report: Many throughout Cavs organization are big fans of 2022 NBA draft class
- Damon Jones’ grateful response to LeBron James naming him one of the best shooters he’s ever played with
- Report: Rajon Rondo allegedly threatened to kill his former partner and pulled a gun on her
- Report: J.B. Bickerstaff and Koby Altman have discussed a potential change to the Cavs coaching staff
- Cavs insider indicates Rich Paul is expected to pursue extension in $180M range for Darius Garland
- Dan Gilbert’s confident statement regarding Koby Altman after he misses out on Executive of the Year
- Report: Kyrie Irving wanted LeBron James-like control with Brooklyn Nets
- Here’s how close Cavs exec Koby Altman came to winning Executive of the Year honors
- Darius Garland explains why it hurt so much that the Cavs didn’t make the playoffs this season
- Video: Kyrie Irving lashes out during GTA Twitch stream, calls other players ‘cockroaches’
Cleveland Cavaliers Ranked Third in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings
- Updated: September 23, 2015

It seems the Cleveland Cavaliers are not destined to be the best team in the NBA over the next three seasons.
According to ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, the Cavaliers are ranked as the third-best team, behind the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. The rankings project on-court success expected for each team over the next three seasons.
Five categories were considered in the ranking system including players, management, money, market and the draft. In the “players” category, no single team graded better than the Cavaliers.
However, ESPN justifies the Warriors and Spurs being ranked above the Cavaliers due mainly to salary cap reasons:
“Cleveland sits behind the Warriors and Spurs for a couple of reasons. First, the Cavaliers are almost certain to remain capped out for the next few years, meaning the trade exception they created by trading Brendan Haywood is the team’s best hope of adding to the rotation.
“Beyond that, we’re still not as confident in Cleveland’s management as the stable organizations in Golden State and San Antonio. Even as the Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals, James was publicly undermining coach David Blatt.”
The Cavaliers are considered by ESPN as the favorites to win the NBA Finals this upcoming season, but there seems to be a lingering doubt that the team can sustain that level of success over the next couple of seasons.
In the case of the Spurs, it’s hard to pitch an argument against San Antonio. Since the franchise won its first title with Tim Duncan in 1999, they’ve been the NBA’s model franchise. They have made the playoffs every year since Duncan’s rookie season in 1997-98.
As far as the Warriors are concerned, there is little doubt that they have the best young roster in the league. Reigning MVP Steph Curry is just 27 years of age, while Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are both just 25 years of age.
Before the Cavaliers start worrying about being the best team in the NBA during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, they’ll have to make sure they’re the the No. 1 team in the league for the 2015-16 season.
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