5. The Cavaliers Will Win Their First NBA Title Next Season
It won’t be all roses, but the Cavaliers will hoist their first NBA championship in 2016.
The media loves to hype up teams and tear them down, and make no mistake about it, they will do that throughout the season with Cleveland. There will be times where the team struggles, and networks such as ESPN will have entire programs devoted to covering the team’s “drama.”
Having said that, this team is extremely battle-tested. When you look through the roster, virtually every player on the team has played a significant role for a title-contending team in the past. James, Varejao and Williams all went through it together many years ago, while Irving and Love experienced their first taste of it last season.
While the team won’t clinch the Eastern Conference’s best record, they will run through the conference during the postseason. Over a seven-game series, there isn’t a single team in the East that should be able to go more than six games versus the Cavs.
The NBA Finals versus whichever Western Conference powerhouse the team faces will be the true test. Considering last season’s failure, combined with the ingredients of redemption and revenge, it will take a lot for Cleveland not to walk away with the Larry O’Brien trophy next June.