As the Cleveland Cavaliers head into year three of their rebuilding program, there is reason for hope despite a 40-108 record in the post-LeBron James era. General manager Chris Grant has added three top-five draft picks to his roster and turned the Los Angeles Lakers 2012 twenty-fourth pick into the highly-rated North Carolina senior Tyler Zeller. In many respects, Grant has been following the rebuilding model laid out by Oklahoma City Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti to a T. The Cavaliers are a young team loaded with players on their rookie contracts and have the financial flexibility to do deals now, during the season, or next summer.

HOOPSWORLD takes a look at the 2012-2013 Cleveland Cavaliers:

Five Guys Think…

The Cleveland Cavaliers are following the Oklahoma City Thunder’s blueprint plan well, but it’s still very early on in the process. Luckily for the Cavaliers, they have a star in Irving and finding that is the most difficult part of the process. The reigning Rookie of the Year is the kind of player who makes everyone around him better. His surrounding cast is talented and full of potential. However, as a team they sorely lack experience and they still have a lot of chemistry they need to build. There’s a saying that you have to learn to fail before you learn to succeed and that’s what phase the Cavaliers will endure this year. If Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters grow leaps and bounds throughout the course, they could be playoff bound next season. For now, a bump up the Central Division is most probably.

4th Place – Central Division

-Yannis Koutroupis

 
The Central Division is tough to call this season, with Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee looking pretty close on paper. The Cavaliers, though, seem to have the most potential of the three. Sure, Dion Waiters was a pick out of left field, but even if his poor summer league performance was a sign of things to come, the Cavaliers look to be a team on the rise. Of course, that all depends on how quickly a lot of young players start to realize their collective potential. Even if things don’t come together right away, however, the East can be forgiving. A late run is always possible.

3rd Place – Central Division

– Bill Ingram

 
The Cleveland Cavaliers have young talent at every position, but they’re likely several years away from competing in the Eastern Conference. They’ll enter this season as one of the youngest teams in the league and it’s hard to imagine them qualifying for the postseason, especially considering several non-playoff teams in the East such as the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards added key veterans over the summer in an effort to bolster their rosters for a playoff push. The Cavaliers will likely improve on last year’s record, but it would take a monumental improvement from Kyrie Irving and huge contributions from recent acquisitions like C.J. Miles and Dion Waiters for Cleveland to grab one of the final seeds in the East. The Cavaliers are definitely heading in the right direction, but they’re likely still a few seasons away from making any real noise.

4th Place – Central Division

– Alex Kennedy

 
I think the Cavaliers get better this year, but not because I’m under the impression that rookie Dion Waiters was the missing piece for this young, rebuilding roster. I’m just that impressed by reigning Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, who already looks like one of the best point guards in the conference. A great young player like that is often enough to tack on a few extra wins from year to year, even without much help. The Cavs will still struggle this year and probably miss the playoffs, but Irving should keep them moving in the right direction.

4th Place – Central Division

– Joel Brigham

 
The loss of veteran forward Antawn Jamison may hurt this team on and off the court more than anyone is giving credit for heading into training camp. But, the Cavaliers are armed with plenty of young talent who will play key roles in the team’s future. Point guard Kyrie Irving took home the 2012 Rookie of the Year award and is essentially an All-Star in waiting provided he can stay healthy. Shooting guard Dion Waiters, the team’s 2012 lottery pick, left plenty to be desired during summer league play, but has reportedly dedicated himself to the gym in an effort at redemption. The Cavs will be fun to watch at times, but there’s just not enough firepower to finish the 2013 campaign at .500 or above.

4th Place – Central Division

– Lang Greene

Top Of The List

Top Offensive Player: NBA Rookie-of-the-Year Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers in field goals made (6.9), free throws made (3.4), points (18.5) and assists (5.4) per game. Grant made the right choice with the first overall draft pick in 2011. The broken hand Irving suffered before summer league should be fully healed by training camp and the young point guard will continue to develop his leadership and basketball skills alongside his relatively young teammates. While a lack of veteran help may inhibit increases to his personal statistics, Irving will easily remain the top offensive player in Cleveland.

Top Defensive Player: For the second season in a row, veteran center Anderson Varejao was averaging career highs in points (10.8), rebounds (11.5), assists (1.7) and steals (1.4) and for the second time in a row, his season was cut short by injury. The ankle and wrist injuries of the past two seasons shouldn’t impact on Varejao’s performance going forward and this high energy big man should once again be a double-double threat with a block and a steal per game.

Top Playmaker: The skills that made Irving the number one pick of the draft in 2011 were his ability to make plays off the dribble, to drive-and-dish or drive-and-kick, and his solid shooting. Irving proved his college game translated to the NBA without a hitch and he will be unchallenged as his team’s top playmaker in 2012-13.

Top Clutch Player: The Cavalier veterans that might have come through in the clutch previously are long gone, except for Daniel “Boobie” Gibson, who can still hit that big three point shot when called upon, but this is Irving’s team now and when the chips are down, head coach Byron Scott will put putting the ball in his star point guard’s hands.

Top Unheralded Player: With three top-five picks over the past two seasons, there are going to be some criticisms of Grant’s choices and Canadian big man Tristan Thompson was universally called a reach at four in 2011. Then Thompson recorded an unremarkable 8.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and one block during his rookie season. Playing behind Antawn Jamison made it easy to look past the rookie power forward, but Thompson is poised for a breakout season. His scoring averages went up each month, from 6.9 in January to 9.6 in April and his rebounding numbers jumped from 5.7 before the All-Star break to 7.0 after. Thompson is the Cavaliers’ second best big man and he will enjoy a substantial increase in minutes and touches in the coming season.

Best New Addition: Next season, the Cavaliers best new addition will be their seven foot rookie center. Zeller progressed each year at North Carolina and developed a back-to-the-basket game and post presence not often found at the collegiate level. DraftExpress.com had rated Zeller as a top-10 pick before the draft. While the Cavaliers’ other rookie, Dion Waiters, may have the higher upside, Zeller is more NBA ready.

– Stephen Brotherston

Who We Like

1. Chris Grant: The man with a plan has not let anything stand in his way when it comes to rebuilding the Cavaliers. All Grant has done so far is nearly copy the Thunder’s model for success to perfection. He traded Mo Williams and took on Baron Davis to get the Clippers lottery pick in 2011, resulting in two top-five picks that summer. Then he shipped out Ramon Sessions and took back salary to get the Lakers’ first round pick last year. When he traded Sessions, the Cavaliers were just two games back of the eighth place tied Knicks and Bucks and his team was at risk of finishing tenth in the East, but the trade allowed his team to slide back to grab another top-five draft pick. Grant has done an excellent job of adding young talent and creating future financial flexibility for the Cavaliers.

2. Kyrie Irving: In a point guard driven league, Irving was the ideal choice for Grant to anchor his rebuilding effort. The ROY has given Cleveland fans a new star player to cheer for and the Cavaliers a new leader to build around.

3. Tristan Thompson: By the end of last season, Thompson started to show that Grant hadn’t really reached all that far. The 21-year-old’s game is still raw and developing, but his motor will keep him in the game while his skills catch up. There may be a couple of players taken later in the draft who become better players, but Thompson should prove his doubters wrong this season.

4. Tyler Zeller: As a senior, Zeller had the time to develop more skills than are usually found in an early seven foot draft pick. In addition to a post game, look for a decent jump shot that was underutilized at North Carolina. Grant needed a sure-thing with his second first round draft pick and acquiring Zeller was a good move

5. Dion Waiters: The Syracuse sophomore shooting guard was another reach by Grant with the fourth overall pick in 2012, but no one can accuse Grant of not picking a player he believes in. Waiters broke out in his second college season as a sixth man, showing off his physical gifts and terrific instincts. An aggressive defender, good ball-handler, and strong pick-and-roll player, Waiters game should translate well to the NBA and progress quickly under the demanding Coach Scott.

6. Salary Cap Space: Grant has been frugal with his contracts and still has money to spend before he reaches the salary cap floor of $49.3 million. Grant could use this flexibility to acquire a potential star in an unbalanced trade during the season or facilitate the acquisition of another lottery draft pick. This flexibility may not directly impact on the 2012-13 season, but it will undoubtedly determine how fast the Cavaliers return to playoff contention.

– Stephen Brotherston

Strengths

A Coach Scott team will be in top physical condition and play hard regardless of the score or the standings. Even after the Cavaliers traded away Sessions and Irving got hurt last season, the team still pulled out unexpected and unwanted wins over the Raptors, Bobcats, and Wizards.

The Cavaliers are young and have only two veterans left from the James era, but they are talented and fully capable of surprising any team that believes they are getting an easy win.

– Stephen Brotherston

Weaknesses

This season, Sessions is gone and Irving will be backed-up by the 26-year-old Jeremy Pargo, who played 44 games with the Grizzlies as a rookie last season, and the 24-year-old D-League call-up Donald Sloan, who played 25 games with the Cavaliers. Playmaking ability on the Cavaliers after Irving is decidedly suspect.

While youth will win the Cavaliers some games, inexperience will likely cost them many more. It looks like Cleveland will be starting the season with at least 10 players who are still on their rookie deals and that’s a formula for future growth rather than immediate success.

– Stephen Brotherston

What Needs To Be Said On Opening Day….

Those final few playoff spots in our conference are going to be wide open and I see no reason why this group won’t be right in the thick of things all season. With Anderson back healthy, we have a great defensive anchor in the halfcourt. But Kyrie, Tristan, Dion and the rest of the young guys, our success will hinge on your ability to continue to improve. 82 games, while more spread out than last year’s schedule, is going to constantly test our first and second year guys ability to stay prepared and bring consistent effort on a nightly basis. We know what to expect from our veteran core of Anderson, Daniel, and C.J., but our chance at the playoffs hinges on us maturing quickly as professionals and maintaining a high level of play from game to game.

– Anthony Macri and Brett Koremenos

The Burning Question

Will Grant trade victories for a better draft pick again this season?

On March 14, 2012, the Cavaliers were two games out of a playoff spot and facing the real possibility of ending the season at ninth or tenth in the East. Finishing just out of the playoff picture was not part of Grant’s plan and the Cavaliers’ most important reserve player was shipped out for a draft pick.

Grant had the salary cap space this summer to make deals or add free agents who would have made the team better now, but he conserved his cash and flexibility instead. Grant knows his future stars will most likely come through the draft.

If the Cavaliers once again play themselves out of a possible top-five draft pick by the trade deadline, count on Grant pulling the trigger on a deal to keep them away from that untenable ninth or tenth place finish.

– Stephen Brotherston