Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 What If’s that could’ve redefined LeBron Jame’s first stint
By Chad Porto
Had these five “What If’s” gone different, then LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers may have had more than one title by now.
The Cleveland Cavaliers bungled LeBron James’ two tenures as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Partly on them, partly on him. They over traded, undersold, and flat out made bad decisions just about every year. To be fair, James was a catalyist for many of these bad decesions, so the blame does fall on him as well. Great teams should always prepare for today without sacrificing for the future. Sure, Jame’s second tenure got them a title, and that does matter. They could’ve had four, however, if they had done better on trades and free agents, but one’s nothing to shake a stick at.
The first tenure, however, was not nearly as good. It wasn’t that the Cavs didn’t try, let’s be clear. It’s simply that they failed. When looking at the “why”, it had very little to do with the Larry Hughes signing that many saw as a symbol of the team’s persistent failure to bring talent in around James. After all, Hughes wasn’t their first option. He was just the only one that signed.
The team made bad trades, relied on injured All-Stars, and mortgaged their future for unproven commodities. This wasn’t even just an issue during James’ first run with the team. No, they failed even before LeBron James was a senior in high school.
That’s why today we’re looking at all the ‘What If?’ scenarios that would’ve changed the direction of a franchise forever had the team been better ran. Had injuries not happened and had people been able to be taken at their word and had Jim Paxson never been hired.
These are the five biggest “What If’s?” of James first run in Cleveland.