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The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Boring, and Want to Stay That Way
- Updated: December 15, 2016
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The comparisons to those consistent San Antonio Spurs teams of the Tim Duncan era have already begun: boring.
And that’s by design.
Every summer brings about NBA roster upheaval through free agency and trades. However, as much as LeBron James prizes continuity, the Cleveland Cavaliers have elected to maintain their core for the last two seasons while swapping a few minor bench pieces.
The result? Two NBA Finals appearances, one title and the current top seed in the Eastern Conference.
“Having the same nucleus definitely helps,” James said. “It’s helped fast-track the camaraderie and the chemistry. You don’t have to add too many guys where we’re all learning the system or learning what we need to do to win.”
A look at James’ career shows what maintaining a tangible core can mean to a player of his stature. In seasons in which four players who started the previous campaign returned—28 games started is the cutoff—his teams have a winning percentage of .666 and an NBA Finals record of 3-2.
In all other seasons, James’ teams have a win percentage of .636 and a Finals record of 0-2. That includes much of his first stint in Cleveland, where, after a surprise Finals trip, the Cavaliers consistently targeted a rotating cast of big-name (but long-in-the-tooth) pieces like Shaquille O’Neal, Antawn Jamison and Ben Wallace.
Those teams struggled to get past the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons, both of which had a steady core during that time period.
But James largely found roster consistency in Miami. Through all four seasons with the Heat, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers started at least 28 games alongside James. The rotation also had a firm list that largely included Ray Allen, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem.
That team was in the NBA Finals every season.
As James once told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, keeping that core together was key to winning titles. “This is what we came here for. That would be the ultimate. But I don’t know. Life changes, things happen, and you have to be prepared for that. But this is what we all want to be here for. And that’s to be able to compete for a championship every year. If we can do that, then it would be awesome.”
Since returning to the Cavaliers, not much has changed—which is all for the best.
Outside of the David Blatt-Tyronn Lue coaching swap, consistency has continued. In James’ first two seasons back, he, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith have started at least 45 games each year and gone to the Finals both times. They are on a similar games-played pace in 2016-17, barring unforeseen injury.
Furthermore, the Cavaliers have maintained a core of those four players—plus Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert—since a midseason trade with the New York Knicks during James’ first season back. The current squad has eight rotation players back from last year’s team when you add in Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson.
“You understand one another,” said Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue. “You know everyone’s weakness. You cover for each other’s weaknesses. You play well together. You know where they want the ball. You know their spots.”
The Cavaliers did lose key rotation pieces Matthew Dellavedova and …
