As many of you may know this NBA offseason boasts arguably the best free agent class we have ever seen with names like Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudamire, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and of course LeBron James all looking to cash in. As the NBA's "Chosen One" all eyes will be on James this offseason to see if the Mega-star will head to a place like New York or New Jersey or if he'll stay in Cleveland. I'm not sure at this point if LeBron's first choice is to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers and I think the only way it becomes his first choice is if the Cavaliers can win an NBA title this season.
Making a title run with Cleveland is not out of the question as the Cavs are one of only a few real contenders this season along with teams like the Celtics, Lakers and perhaps the Atlanta Hawks. However Lebron can only carry his team so far as we saw last postseason when the Cavs were knocked out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the Orlando Magic despite having cruised to a 66-16 regular season record and breezing through the first two rounds of the playoffs. They came up short because LeBron had nobody to help take the pressure off of him and got stifled by the Magic defense. It's very difficult for a team to win in the playoffs without reliable secondary scoring.
If the Cavs want to win a championship they will need consistent play from G Mo Williams who will miss the next 4-6 weeks with a back injury. Williams joined the Cavs last year and was the catalyst that spurred their rise to the top of the Eastern Conference averaging 18 points and 5 assists a game, shooting 44% from 3-point range and over 90% from the line, and earning an All-Star appearance. Unfortunately he was also largely responsible for the team's failure in the Conference Finals as his shooting percentage dropped dramatically across the board including hitting only 37% of his 3-pointers and even more astonishing shooting barely 76% from the line.
Mo Williams is the closest thing to a true number-2 that LeBron James has ever had and he will need Williams to perform at a consistent level when he returns injury in preparation for the playoffs. If Williams reverses his fortunes from last year and the Cavaliers can pull off an NBA title it will make James' decision to opt out of his contract and sign with another team much harder. Conversely if Williams can't return well from his injury or tanks in crunch-time again look for James to skip town in two shakes of a fox's tail.
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