The NBA is on hold as teams enjoy the break that comes with All Star weekend. Play resumes on Thursday for 18 teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers. As I find myself going crazy with no basketball DFS and no NBA bets to place this week, I figured we could evaluate the Cavs and what they need to make a championship push!

The Cavaliers sit at 38-23, which is good for 4th place in the Eastern Conference and just 5 games behind the 1st place Boston Celtics. The deadline was pretty uneventful for the Cavaliers with the exception of signing free agent,Danny Green for the rest of this season. Although he’s not Kevin Durant and it’s not the splash deal that we saw the Phoenix Suns just make, Green actually fits really well where the Cavs need him. The 14 year veteran brings three key attributes to the table. Experience, Defense and 3 point shooting. His 1,465 three pointers made actually ranks 14th all time in the NBA. Danny Green has also played in 165 playoff games which ranks 3rd amongst active NBA players (LeBron James and Andre Iguodala). Small Forward is by far the weakest position on the Cavs roster and Green brings some experience to a very young playoff team in the East. 

With only 19 games remaining what can we expect? The schedule actually plays really well for us if the Cavs are going to make a playoff run in April. We see the 1st place Celtics twice and we kick off the second half on Thursday against the 1st place Denver Nuggets. On top of that, we see 13 total teams in those 19 games that are projected to see the playoffs. It will certainly be a challenging final month of the season, but even a 10-9 record over this stretch could prove to make a difference for a young team as they look to make that championship run. 

Can we actually make a run and win it all? I’m a believer. Look, this Cavaliers team has the number 1 rated defense in the league and we have all heard the saying “defense wins championships” right? That alone makes us a contender. The East is good, but after the trade deadline it really weakened the bottom half of this conference. The Celtics, 76ers, and Bucks stand above the Cavaliers currently. We are undefeated against the 1st place Celtics this season so far, I know that doesn’t mean we are better, but it definitely means something. We have the defense and length to disrupt Jayson Tatum and this Celtics offense. Nobody can guard the 76ers MVP candidate, Joel Embiid, but if anyone can slow him down why not Jarrett Allen and the Cavaliers first ranked defensive unit? Same goes for Giannis and the Bucks! 

If I had to pick one team I don’t want to see it’s definitely the Milwaukee Bucks and the best player in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo. As a Clevelander, we know that the best player in the league can take over and win a series alone. The stars will have to align for this Cavaliers team to make that run, but the truth is, we are really fricken good and nobody wants to see the best defense in basketball for 7 games in a win or go home scenario. Go Cavs!