After winning the draft lottery for the second time in three tries last May, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert proudly declared Cleveland “wouldn’t be back here” again in 2014. Gilbert said he expected the Cavaliers to return to the playoffs for the first time since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach in July 2010.
But like Gilbert’s decree – boldly written in Comic Sans – that the Cavaliers would win a title before James did, his team failed to back up the owner’s confident prediction.
Cleveland is about to join the lottery for the fourth time in a row, failing to make the playoffs in the soft Eastern Conference even after making a midseason trade for Luol Deng, who will become a free agent.
Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters – the team’s young guards – continually seem to be having some kind of issue behind the scenes. They made the odd move of meeting with the media together Monday to address comments made by Browns receiver Josh Gordon (who is Waiters’ neighbor) that there was a “rift in the locker room.”
This will be a crucial offseason for Cleveland, once it hires a new general manager – or keeps interim GM David Griffin, who is well-respected around the league. The Cavaliers have to see whether Irving will sign a five-year maximum contract extension when he’s eligible in July.
Perhaps Gilbert will make a similar declaration when he returns to New York in a few weeks for the draft lottery. Maybe this time he’ll be right.
(Last week’s rankings in parentheses)
1. Spurs (1): San Antonio finally lost — last Thursday, to the Thunder — only to respond by blowing out the Grizzlies. This team is a machine, plain and simple.
2. Heat (5): They still look vulnerable, but with the Pacers imploding can anyone in the East take advantage?
3. Clippers (2): They should do the right thing and sit Blake Griffin (back) for the next several games. Their hopes of making a deep run in the postseason depend on him being right.
4. Bulls (7): The remarkable Bulls continue to churn through the East, positioned to steal the No. 3 seed in the conference despite dealing away Luol Deng and being without Derrick Rose almost all season.
5. Nets (4): Yes, the Nets were blown out by the Knicks, but they have won four of five and get a chance to sweep the Heat this season Tuesday in Miami.
6. Raptors (6): Toronto keeps winning with Kyle Lowry on the shelf, but the Raptors won’t be getting out of round one unless he and Amir Johnson are ready to go when the postseason begins.
7. Thunder (3): With first place in the conference basically unavailable after losses over the weekend in Houston and Phoenix, the only thing for the Thunder to focus on is getting healthy going into the playoffs.
8. Warriors (11): With all of the drama surrounding the Warriors in recent weeks, there will be no more fascinating team to watch in the playoffs.
9. Suns (12): A truly remarkable season continues, as the Suns keep doing everything they can to be one of the biggest surprise playoff teams in recent memory.
10. Mavericks (10): Nearly gave away yet another big lead to the Clippers on national TV last week, but hung on, and have won three in a row to put themselves back in the playoff picture.
11. Rockets (9): Getting Patrick Beverley and Dwight Howard back on the floor and back to normal could be the difference between possibly losing in round one and reaching the Finals.
12. Portland (8): After their brilliant first half, the Trail Blazers now are the team everyone at the top of the West would like to face in the first round.
13. Grizzlies (4): Picked a bad time for a slump, slipping to one game out of the final playoff spot with five games to go.
14. Wizards (15): Only one game ahead of the Bobcats for sixth place (essentially two because of the tiebreaker edge), Wizards got a boost Monday with Nene’s return to practice.
15. Pacers (14): Sunday’s hilariously bad loss at home to the Hawks – the Pacers only scored 23 points in the first half and lost by 32 – has to be rock bottom … right?
16. Bobcats (16): Al Jefferson, coming off winning March Player of the Month honors, claimed the Player of the Week award as he continues his excellent first season in Charlotte.
17. Timberwolves (17): With Rick Adelman expected to head out the door when the season is over, is Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg going to be his replacement?
18. Hawks (18): It’s remarkable the Hawks are going to make the playoffs after doing just about everything they could to let the Knicks – or another team – pass them.
19. Nuggets (20): With all the injuries the Nuggets have suffered, it’s hard to judge Brian Shaw’s first year on the job.
20. Knicks (18): Now all but certain to miss the playoffs, it’s likely the Knicks will look back on the two games they lost to the Wizards at MSG – including Friday’s last-second loss – as a big reason why.
21. Cavaliers (21): The Cavaliers had their chance to make a move and get back into the playoff picture this weekend. What did they do? Got blown out by Atlanta and lost to Charlotte.
22. Pelicans (19): An offseason of intrigue – including likely shopping of Eric Gordon – lies ahead.
23. Kings (22): After the ridiculous conversation surrounding Daniel Murphy’s paternity leave last week, good on the Kings for having no problem with Rudy Gay doing the same.
24. Jazz (26): There are few teams with more questions heading into this summer than the Jazz, beginning with who will be their coach.
25. Magic (27): Only one game ahead of Boston, two ahead of the Utah and three ahead of the Lakers in the race for the league’s third-worst record.
26. Lakers (24): The injuries just keep on mounting for the Lakers, who might prefer to just have the season end now instead of playing out the last week.
27. Pistons (29): Clearly have no interest in playing anymore and have lots of big decisions ahead this summer.
28. Celtics (23): Back-to-back losses to the Sixers and Pistons? That’s as low as it gets for a team playing out the string in April this season.
29. Bucks (28): As an embarrassing season for Larry Sanders continues, it’s worth remembering his four-year, $44 million extension doesn’t kick in until next season.
30. 76ers (30): The Sixers have managed to do just enough to not finish with the worst record in the NBA. That’s their biggest loss in a season full of them.