Cleveland Cavaliers: How LeBron James Has Made Losers Into Finals Favorites

LeBron James has almost single-handily transformed the Cleveland Cavaliers — perennial losers — into Finals Favorites, twice

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LeBron James has been the best basketball player on the planet for the better part of the last decade. Although, he may be an even better general manager or, at the very least, recruiter.

A trait that he probably always carried, but drastically blossomed as winning became second nature for The King. Ironically, which he learned from the Miami Heat during his time away from Cleveland.

It was as if LeBron had to go away — leaving a perennial loser — in order to learn how to win, and attract the company of winners. He excelled so much on that front in Miami — which he even compared to college years — that he now has the ability to infect others.

LeBron James majored in winning under the Pat Riley school of Champions. He’s now teaching a class or two to his current Cleveland Cavaliers who, prior to teaming up with LeBron, had been losers themselves.

Nearly everyone on the Cavs current roster, those who had never played with LeBron before this season, has lacked much success.

The only other players on the Cavs roster to win an NBA Championship or even come relatively close to doing so, of those that had not played with LeBron James before, are Shawn Marion and Kendrick Perkins. That’s it. To say that they lack playoff experience would be an understatement.

Especially when you consider that LeBron is the only player of their Big Three to win a playoff series, or to merely make the playoffs.

Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving combined playoff appearances: 0.

To say that LeBron James is turning losers into NBA Finals favorites would actually be an understatement. If Irving and Love would be on the Cavs right now, without LeBron, would they still be favorites? No. They’d probably be a lower seeded Eastern Conference playoff team, but LeBron’s impact on this team — and franchise — is pretty clear.

And this is the second time that this has been the case.

But this is exactly how LeBron James has transformed the Cavs into Finals favorites for the second time in his 12-year career:

First, he penned a letter changing the basketball landscape
Then, he worked an Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love swap
Signed Mike Miller and James Jones, probably per LeBron’s request
Signed Shawn Marion
Extend Anderson Varejao to an extension, probably another LeBron request (taking care of his buddy)

Now it really gets interesting. These first few moves were nice. At this point, many thought the Cavs were a good team but not necessarily championship contenders. That all changed in January, though.

Here is what followed, the moves that changed the course of the Cavs season:

Traded Dion Waiters to OKC for first-round pick
Traded Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk and second-round pick for J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert
Acquired Timofey Mozgov for two first-round picks
Signed Kendrick Perkins

While the Smith and Shumpert additions were nice, I believe that when it’s all said and done, we’re going to look back at the Mozgov and Perkins additions as the final nail in the coffin for the rest of the Eastern Conference.

Many underestimated the acquisition of Mozgov, simply because of the name and didn’t really look at what he brings to the table. Mozgov is an athletic rim protector that also stands at 7-feet. You can’t teach size.

LeBron has transformed J.R. Smith into one of the best spot-up jump shooters in the league. Shumpert gives this team a defensive wing that they’re going to need in the playoffs, and Perkins brings the toughness that’s going to be valuable in May, June.

This team is ready to win a championship, and LeBron James has been the big reason behind that. This is the second time that LeBron has transformed a loser into NBA Final favorites. He did it back in 2004, when the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him out of high school. Albeit, it took a few years to get there, but he eventually did it.

And he’s doing it again after signing in the offseason. In less than one year.

The only difference is that this time he needs to deliver, something that he failed to do in his first seven seasons in the league. But, again, he learned how to do just that in Miami during his last four seasons.

He’s better equipped, and probably has his most talented supporting cast of his career. The Cavs are primed to win a championship and they have LeBron James to thank.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a chance to do something that has only been done one other time in the last 20 years. Cleveland has a chance to become only the second team, during that span, to go from winning the NBA draft lottery to making the NBA Finals in the course of one year. The other team to do that was the New Jersey Nets in 2000-02.

The Cavs are going to beat whomever they meet in the first round – whether that be the Heat, Hornets, Pistons or Pacers – and then they’ll beat the Bulls, Wizards or Raptors in the second round. If the Hawks really are for real, the Cavs will run through them, as well, with little resistance in the Eastern Conference Finals.

LeBron James has successfully transformed perennial losers into the favorites to make the NBA Finals, at the very least, twice.

He actually might deliver this time. For his sake, he better.

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