Cavs open camp

As a defending conference champion, who returns basically their entire roster, ever opened camp with as many question marks and doubts as the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday?

The Cavs opened training camp yesterday with the always entertaining Media Day. You would think the stories out of camp about a team that just had the best season in franchise history and a team with one of the best players in the league would be positive and encouraging. Stories like “This is how the Cavs plan to defend their Eastern Conference title.” Or “Cavs excited and ready for repeat season.” Or even “Last year was just the beginning for these Cavs.”

Instead this was the headline in the Akron Beacon Journal, “Cavaliers open camp with lack of swagger.”

In the Plain Dealer the Cavs story was buried at the bottom of the page “Cavs still hope to land Pavlovic, Varejao.”

Not the most encouraging headlines. The story of the day wasn’t the Cavs preparing to defend their title. The stories were what the Cavs did, or didn’t do, in the offseason to improve their team while everyone else in the East got better. They didn’t even bring back two key members of their rotation. And the other story is Damon Jones saying he doesn’t’ want to be in Cleveland and he is “by no stretch of the imagination happy.” Fantastic. Damon, if anyone body else wanted you, you would have been gone. What’s that tell you about yourself? So accept it that you are nothing but a bench player who is only good for making up new handshakes/dances with LBJ and being the only guy in the NBA who tucks in his warmup jersey.

The Cavs need to get Andy and Sasha signed and in camp. Without making any big free agents signings or any offseason moves at all (sorry Devin Brown and Cedric Simmons don’t count) the only thing this team had in its favor was familiarity. Last May and June there was great chemistry on the team. Since there is no new impact players, continuing that chemistry and knowing how to play together in the same system is Cleveland big advantage.

Andy and Sasha are a big part of that. Andy is a unique player and Sasha really started showing signs of being a consistent impact player in the second half of the season. Reports are the Cavs are no where near a deal with either guy. That’s a shame. LeBron wants them in camp so the Cavs need to find a way to get them there. If they can only sign one of the two, they should sign Andy. Every team wants a guy like Andy who comes off the bench and just annoys the other team to no end. He brings something to the game very few people can. Sasha, as much as I like him, is replaceable. With Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson and now Devin Brown and even Damon Jones, the Cavs have wing players. Yes, I’d rather have Sasha on the floor but at what cost is the question.

LeBron said he needs his soldiers out there with him, referring to Andy and Sasha. I sure hope they join him soon because this has to be the saddest opening day of training camp for a defending conference champion in a long time.