What happens to Cleveland if LeBron bolts?

[Fafnir]

Did you see the Wizards at all last year?

That team would struggle to win more than 30 games.

Please don't kid yourself, LeBron makes the players around him much better.  It's so much easier for a crappy player to get good looks when the other team is so desperate to stop the most dominant player in the game.  LeBron is also by far the best passer of anybody close to his size in the NBA.

  Does Mo Williams look better in Cleveland than he used to? Does Jamison? I don't think so.

Mo Williams is the same player he's always been.

No one cared about his awful defense with the Bucks however.

Jamison looked bad, but that's largely because of the way Cleveland used him offensively. Plus he's getting rather old.

[mkogav]

Without Bron, they are probably a 35-40 win team with 40 mil locked up in a "core" of Jamison, Williams, Varejao, Boobie Gibson and JJ Hickson until the summer of 2012.

That group stinks of a quick firesale to me.

Stick a fork into the Cavs for the next decade.

Mk

[Who]

It's hard to say because there are still a lot of personnel moves to be made. I believe LeBron will want and receive a sign and trade to get his extra $30 million and that could net them anywhere from Wilson Chandler and/or Gallinari, to Michael Beasley to a Luol Deng. Those guys could add a considerable amount to the team.

Then, you have Cleveland trying to dismantle their team and begin a full blown rebuilding process. Delonte West will almost certainly be out which is a big blow because he's their best guard. They'll shop Mo Williams. They'll try to trade Jamison but it's tough to know whether they can find a deal there given his lousy play since joining the Cavaliers. You also have their free agents, Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, two players who will not join the Cavs. Do they spend the MLE or not? If so, on who? At what position?

That is a lot of a roster movement. It's very difficult to know what their squad looks like. It could be a 15-20 win team or it could be a borderline playoff team. 

[Who]

Without Bron, they are probably a 35-40 win team with 40 mil locked up in a "core" of Jamison, Williams, Varejao, Boobie Gibson and JJ Hickson until the summer of 2012.

That group stinks of a quick firesale to me.

If that is the core of the team, I would expect them to be a bottom ten defensive team and possibly a bottom five defensive team. Varejao being the only bright spot on that end of the floor and he is surrounded by poor to very poor defensive players (Mo, Gibson, Jamison), a below average but serviceable defender (Parker) and two mediocre defenders (Moon, Hickson).

Offensively, that team also looks like a bottom ten team to me. Mo Williams cannot run an offense and his lack of ability as a playmaker and floor general will come into full view. He'll hurt the offense. Antawn Jamison lacks efficiency and he'll use more possessions than anyone else. Varejao will be a plus and perhaps Hickson will be too. Actually, this is a bottom five offensive team. Not a bottom ten.

In terms of rebounding, the Cavaliers have two plus rebounders in Varejao and Moon and a lack of rebounding help throughout the rest of the team. They will be a below average rebounding team.

In conclusion, I would expect this Cavaliers team to win 20-25 games next season if that was their core.

[snively]

Without Bron, they are probably a 35-40 win team with 40 mil locked up in a "core" of Jamison, Williams, Varejao, Boobie Gibson and JJ Hickson until the summer of 2012.

That group stinks of a quick firesale to me.

If that is the core of the team, I would expect them to be a bottom ten defensive team and possibly a bottom five defensive team. Varejao being the only bright spot on that end of the floor and he is surrounded by poor to very poor defensive players (Mo, Gibson, Jamison), a below average but serviceable defender (Parker) and two mediocre defenders (Moon, Hickson).

Offensively, that team also looks like a bottom ten team to me. Mo Williams cannot run an offense and his lack of ability as a playmaker and floor general will come into full view. He'll hurt the offense. Antawn Jamison lacks efficiency and he'll use more possessions than anyone else. Varejao will be a plus and perhaps Hickson will be too. Actually, this is a bottom five offensive team. Not a bottom ten.

In terms of rebounding, the Cavaliers have two plus rebounders in Varejao and Moon and a lack of rebounding help throughout the rest of the team. They will be a below average rebounding team.

In conclusion, I would expect this Cavaliers team to win 20-25 games next season if that was their core.

You make a good case.  I just had a hard time subtracting more than 40 wins with the removal of Bron and broken-down Shaq. 

Williams, Jamison, Parker and West are all good to very good offensive players.  Varejao is a solid anchor in the middle and they should continue to be a pretty solid rebounding team (Jamison's surprisingly good on the boards).  I like Moon a lot as well.  Hickson should continue to get better.

Maybe 30-35 wins.

[d-unit15]

Well we wont know for sure until the cavs sign a head coach even though Mike Brown was an horrible offensive coach, a big staple in the Cavs success these last two years was Brown getting his players to buy into the Defensive side of the game,they were a top 5 Defense and the loss of LeBron will hurt them, he was the intimidator on defense.

I dont see the Cavs dropping to the lottery after one year but i think they will win 35-40 games good enough for a low seed in the playoffs, after all they still have Antwan Jamison to carry their offensive load and guys like Boobie Gibson and Delonte West coming of the bench and it they can land a guy like John Salmons to close out games for them they will stay in decent shape but not having a draft this year is gonna kill them in the long run.

[Kane3387]

If James is gone they are done. They literally depreciate by 100 million dollars!!!! Lol ticket sales, sponsorship, tv deals, and merchandise sales all go down dramatically. That in turn means less avenues for revenue and thus not as much spending on the actual line-up. Let that coincide with Jamison on the hook for two more years. Varejao and his huge deal. Williams big contract. No more Shaq, no more Z, and no more Delonte. Gibson, Moon, and, Parker have more years. You have an old overpaid roster with no cap space and an organization that is making a lot less money. See people lose jobs, salaries get trimmed, depression set in on the fan base, and you see a team/organization that will be non-competitve for at least the next 4-5 years. AT LEAST!

[MMacOH]

The Cavs will NOT be giving Lebron a S&T if he chooses to leave.  They will not be taking on salary when they are in such a poor cap situation already (CHI and NY have nothing but bad contracts to offer).  They will do whatever they can to move Mo Willams and Delonte West (or they will just let Delonte's contract expir after next year).  They will basically purge their lineup and attempt to rebuild. 

Danny Ferry killed this team by not firing Mike Brown after last year when Lebron wanted him out.  Couple that with Ferry adding on a ton of overpriced long term deal players and he has handcuffed the Cavs for the next couple of years.

[Chris]

Armageddon.