Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 What If’s that could’ve redefined LeBron Jame’s first stint

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.

What If? – Andre Miller never got traded

This one starts off the beginning times. The Before. The Pre-LeBron James or as we now call it BJ (Before James). In 2001-2002 the Cavaliers had young, rising prospect Andre Miller. A third-year player at this point and a double-double machine with incredible mid-range scoring abilities. He was seen as a future All-Star in waiting and had he played most of his prime in the Eastern Conference, he probably would’ve had three or four All-Star appearances to his name.

Miller was a great point guard and lead a team of offensively inept maroons to put up some decent numbers. Decent considering you were relying on Lamond Murry and Wesley Person as  two of your three primary scorers. Alas, however, the team wanted to tank for a potential big get in the 2003 NBA Draft. Apparently, it never occurred to management to just have Miller “hurt” his ankle and sit out half the season.

Because that would’ve been less scummy than tanking on purpose.

Had the team just sat out Miller instead of trading him, then James would’ve come into a situation where Miller was at point guard, James at small forward, Carlos Boozer at power forward and Zydrunas Ilgauskas at center. That’s a foursome that’s good enough to be a playoff team. Maybe not in year one of James’ career, but certainly in year two.

To think the team traded Miller and not Ricky Davis before James arrived is perplexing. Heck, if you surrounded Miller with nobodies you could’ve been just as terrible. No one will really want to argue that keep Miller at the cost of getting James makes sense. Yet, to trade him away for ‘ol ‘Double Fist Tap‘ Darius Miles? What a bunch of morons. That’s akin to Detroit trading away Andre Drummond for nothing this past February.

Jim Paxson was bad at his job.

There’s no doubt that keeping Miller would’be been best for the team, and getting rid of Person, Murray and Davis instead would’ve allowed the Cavs to still be in contention to get James. Especially if Miller kept having “earlobe bruising”, which forced him to miss games.

What If? – Carlos Boozer re-signed in 2004

Did we mention Jim Paxson was bad at his job?

Carlos Boozer screwed the Cavaliers. There’s no denying that. After his first two years with the team, Boozer was becoming a dominant force and wanted a big payday. One he and the team both agreed he deserved. The only problem is, the Cavaliers would have to decline his third-year option in order to give him that raise. So they declined it and technically made him a free agent. The Jazz came in with an offer and his agent Rob Pelinka took the deal.

Since the deal was for a restricted free agent, the Cavs had a right to match but couldn’t afford to, as it was well over $20 million more than what the Cavs had agreed to previously with Boozer. You see, Boozer’s option was for another year, meaning the Cavs didn’t have to re-negotiate. They did, and they claimed they had a hand-shake agreement with Boozer and Pelinka. Something Boozer denied ever happening.

Yet, Boozer’s agent, Pelinka, was fired from his firm after the deal was made. Essentially fueling the theory that Pelinka, Boozer and the Cavs had a deal in place allowing Boozer to hit the open market. Pelinka has never really rebounded and is considered one of the more distrustful people in the NBA even to this day and Boozer’s reputation never healed.

The Cavs, for their part, didn’t just lose Boozer but were still dealing with losing Andre Miller and watching as Darius Miles flamed out because he actually had no basketball talent to speak of. The only thing Miles could do was put back shots and fast-break scoring. With his knees now shot before he was even 24, the Miller deal and the Boozer debacle set back a franchise that would’ve been Eastern Conference contenders had things just bounced a different way.

Sure the team acquired Drew Gooden but he was nothing more than a Boozer-light replacement.

Boozer being on the Cavs would’ve hurt James numbers, but those two, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were all future All-Stars. Had Boozer stayed, the Cavs would’ve been in a great position for years to come to compete. Especially at a time in the NBA when inside scoring was still king.

What If? – Wally Szczerbiak’s legs weren’t shot

Wally Szczerbiak through his first three years in the NBA was a top 25-player. He could score, play defense, he passed the ball and could rebound well for a small forward. Yet, Szczerbiak’s career would be hampered by knee and ankle problems. Injuries that were so severe that a fourth knee operation at 32 would make it hard for him to live a normal life due to the damaged cartilage in his knees.

So what if Szczerbiak wasn’t hampered by injuries when he arrived in Cleveland? For starters, he was the perfect compliment for a player like LeBron James. He was a dynamic scorer from both inside and out. He was a career 40% three-point scorer at a time when a that was a rarity. Szczerbiak would’ve been a multi-time All-Star with James passing him the ball. That’s if Szczerbiak had ended up on the 2007-2008 squad as is with healthy legs.

What if he landed on that team with Carlos Boozer and Andre Miller still there? That would’ve been the perfect starting five in NBA history. Szczerbiak could play shooting guard at the height of his athletism and would’ve fit in nicely with that team. Miller and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were great mid-range shooters, Boozer and James were the guys who would’ve attacked the basket and that meant that Szczerbiak would’ve been able to take long-range shots more than ever before. It would’ve been the best starting five in Cavs history; if everyone was still there and if everyone was healthy.

A huge “What If?” but had Szczerbiak ended up in Cleveland while he was healthy, then James wins at least one title.

What If? –  J.J. Hickson was traded for Amar’e Stoudemire

What? Why wouldn’t you make that trade? Well, to be fair Amar’e Stoudemire was only good for another 18 months before his knees completely gave out but the Cavs would’ve been able to re-sign LeBron James had the deal been made. To make matters more interesting, the team was talking to the Warriors, Pacers, and Wizards to acquire Corey Maggette, Troy Murphy, or Antwan Jamieson if the Stoudemire deal fell through.

J.J. Hickson never amounted to much and a two-year title window would’ve been more than enough in return for him. Though, I’m left wondering, why just Stoudemire? Delonte West and Anderson Varejao would’ve equaled just under Ilgauskas’ $12 million a year salary. Would the Wizards not of been open to that trade as well? Considering the original deal was a three-team trade, surely the Wizards would’ve been receptive.

Now, the rules have changed so much, who knows if the Cavs could’ve traded both Ilgauskas and Varejo, and then re-signed them both after they were waived by Phoenix and Washington respectively. One would assume they could. So you end up trading Delonte West and JJ Hickson and a few draft picks for Stoudemire and Jameison.

That’s a pretty fair deal.

Sure maybe that team doesn’t make the finals but at least it shows James that you’re willing to try. The hope is that he re-signs, and then maybe you make a play for Chris Bosh. Having Bosh, James and Jameison in the 2010-2011 season would’ve been interesting.

What If? – The Cavs didn’t waste two draft picks by trading for Jiri Welsch?

Do you know who Jiri Welsch is? No? Join the club.

Welsch was the 16th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, going to the 76ers before getting traded immediately to the Golden State Warriors. After going to Dallas and then eventually Boston, the Cavaliers made a deal with the Celtics to bring him to Cleveland.

All it cost was two first-round draft picks. Sure, if Welsch came in like Peja Stoikovich, shot his way to the NBA finals and was LeBron James’ best friend for 15 years? Worth it. He wasn’t, and not only was not worth it. He was not worth it for only 16 games.

Two first-round picks for 16 games and 46 total points. What a steal. Did we mention Jim Paxson as bad at his job?

The first of the two picks, the now non-lottery protected 2005 pick, would’ve been at No. 13. At that pick, they could’ve had Danny Granger or even David Lee still. Hell, you could’ve traded with Denver, got their two first-round picks, and gotten both Lee and Monta Ellis.

That would’ve been a great haul.

What’s even sillier about that 2005 pick, had the team made the playoffs, it was originally traded in 1997 to the Phoneix Suns for Wesley Person. Because the Cavs removed the lottery-protection, the pick was able to then be traded again. Since Charlotte owned the pick, they got to keep it regardless.

Then 2007 happened. That was the Greg Oden and Kevin Durant draft. Now, the Cavs would’ve never have gotten either man or even Al Horford, due to how good they were as prospects, yet had they not wasted a draft pick on the awful Welsch, the Cavs could’ve drafted Rudy Fernandez, Carl Landry, or Marc Gasol instead.

Instead, the team wasted a potential asset, someone who could’ve helped right away in their playoff run against the Spurs, for a player that would last a year with the team before being shipped away to Milwaukee for pennies on the dollar.

The ’07 Draft isn’t filled with a great crop of talent. Not like in other years. It did however have enough talent in it to justify holding on to the pick.

The Cavs, if they were smart could’ve had Lee, Ellis, and Fernandez to add to the James-gang. No outlaw would’ve survived running into that rowdy group of cowboys. Lee was a double-double machine, Ellis could score from anywhere on the court (inside of the three-point line) and Fernandez was one of the best players out of that draft and just got tired fo the NBA lifestyle and went back to Spain.

Just another reason why Jim Paxson was truly awful.