Cavaliers agree in principle (with MIN/PHI) to win the NBA Championship

Cavs 83-0.

Keep talking haters.

If it worked well for Bosh then it could also work for Vaginajao, even if the latter is not as good as the former, when playing with LeBron.

Agreed about Varejao defending picks well, he's also a much better rebounder on both ends. The difference here is that Bosh doesn't routinely miss half the season or more.

I also consider healthy Bulls stronger than the Cavs, unless Cleveland somehow gets a quality and reliable rim protector. The three good defensive players on their roster either carry a huge load offensively and will likely coast on defense (James), will get injured sooner or later (Varejao) or are far past their prime and will be LeBron's backup (Marion). The rest of their rotation ranges from poor to horrific on defense. I wouldn't bet a penny on them even winning the East, let alone the championship.

Who cares about defense during the regular season? The Cavs were 19th last season, if they move up to the midway point they'll win 60 games on their offense alone. They only have to defend well enough to take four out of seven from the Bulls to win the East.

Ilgauskas, Hickson, Gooden and Varejao weren't exactly Bill Russell either but the Cavs kept landing in the top fifteen defensively. Including a 3rd and 4th place finish, and a 7th place finish in that last season.

And they were denied a second and third trip to the Finals because of matchup problems and Delonte West problems respectively.

Try telling that to Air_Gordon, 'hello Claire'.

Who cares about defense during the regular season? The Cavs were 19th last season, if they move up to the midway point they'll win 60 games on their offense alone.

Their offense would probably need to be on an all-time great level to do that. The last 60+ win team with an average or below average defense was the '05 Suns. I guess the Cavs might have an easier time getting to 60 with the pitiful state of the East, however.

The Cavs from James' first stint got by on the defensive end mostly thanks to a solid frontcourt. Varejao is a good defender (and he wasn't missing as much time back then as he's been more recently), Ilgauskas was solid and, of course, those were the times when LeBron played defense and was a big factor on that end as well. Varejao's inevitable injury and LeBron's likely coasting would leave them with a poor defensive frontcourt and the backcourt is even worse. There's always the possibility of the coaching staff coming up with a very clever scheme to somehow hide these deficiencies. I'm just skeptical. It seems rather easy to exploit by a good offense.

In '10, for instance, they were also the 2nd best defensive rebounding team in the league - though I suppose defensive rebounding shouldn't be much of an issue this season either.

Lol at LeBron's headband.

That's a thick headband out there.

So it's true that LeBron lost weight.
So he doesn't end up fucking his knees with age like Wade did.

I thought LeBron had hair plugs to have his hairline back.

Not plugs, it's the same spray on shit that Boozer and Deron Williams used.

I'll just wait for the Shaqtin' A Fool: Hairspray Edition.

It begins:

It begins:
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Oh, shit.