The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers authored one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history led by two of the biggest superstars in the sport, but that isn’t why Channing Frye believes a docuseries about the team would be a great watch.
The former Cavs champion said the personalities of his teammates and the interactions between them would give such a show tremendous appeal.
“Oh, it would be 90 percent,” Frye said of a possible Rotten Tomatoes score. “90 percent because we had so many f—— weirdos on this team, and the dynamics were crazy.”
The Cavaliers, starring LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, won their only NBA championship by taking the final three games against the Golden State Warriors after trailing the best-of-seven NBA Finals. They remain the only team to ever come back from down 3-1 in the Finals to win the title.
But as Frye said, the Cavs had their share of very interesting personalities, including J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, Richard Jefferson, Timofey Mozgov and Mo Williams. Each of them could carry an episode in a series on his own.
The dynamics Frye spoke of also would be very entertaining, with James on a quest to bring an NBA title to his home state after leaving and winning his first two championships elsewhere with the Miami Heat.
The veteran superstar had a sometimes unsettled relationship with Irving, who was just 24 years old at the time. The two leading players also had to deal with an in-season coaching change from David Blatt to Tyronn Lue plus the likes of Smith, Thompson and Jefferson, who have all gone on to have differing levels of fame since then.
It all combined to create the drama of the eventual on-court results, which included a legendary opponent in the Warriors, who had defeated the Cavs in the Finals the season before. Helped in part by the suspension of Draymond Green that kept the forward out of Game 5 when the Warriors had their first chance to wrap up the series, the Cavaliers put together three straight wins, including two on the road, to make history.
The aftermath of that championship – two subsequent losses to the Warriors in the Finals, James leaving again for the Los Angeles Lakers and Irving leaving for the Boston Celtics – would only add to the series.
A docuseries about the 2016 Cavaliers definitely has all the ingredients for some entertaining hours of programming, and perhaps if enough parties agree, it will become reality someday.
