The total salary is 229 million, the first in the league, but he becomes a fake NBA club! The Cavaliers may need to demolish and rebuild

The NBA has entered a long offseason. This summer, the arms race in the western part of the league is particularly fierce, with the Clippers + Nuggets + Rockets as the main one. The Lakers are also secretly exerting their efforts to meet Doncic's lineup demand; in addition, the Timberwolves who have scored in the Western Conference Finals for two consecutive years, the Mavericks who won the No. 1 pick Flag, and the Spurs who made a comeback cannot be ignored. You can see the clues from the strength list given by the NBA. The top ten teams in the league have 7 teams in the West, and only the Cavaliers + Knicks + Magic in the East have entered the top ten. The gap in overall strength between the East and the East is getting bigger and bigger. But in ESPN's words, as the Celtics work hard to avoid taxes and the Pacers keep their time, the Eastern Conference teams are closer to the Finals, especially the Cavaliers and the Knicks.

Recently, the NBA announced the schedule for the new season of Christmas battle, with 10 teams in five matches, and 8 teams in the West. Basically, except for the Clippers who are not popular, other teams with strength all play Christmas battles. In the East, there is only the Cavaliers vs. Knicks in this group. Fedor, a reporter from the Cavaliers, sighed that this was also the first time that the Cavaliers returned to the NBA Christmas stage after James left the Cavaliers. The last time the Cavaliers participated in the Christmas game, Durant was still with the Warriors, when the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers led by James 99-92. US media also counted a data. After all team operations in the league are basically over (only the Warriors are exceptions), the Cavaliers' current lineup salary is US$229 million, ranking first in the league! The Cavaliers are only the team with a salary of over 200 million in the new season!

In the words of column reporter Helin, for the Cavaliers team, if they cannot enter the finals in the new season, they will be defeated! The Cavaliers won 64 games last season, and the offseason backup guard Jerome joined the Grizzlies. The Cavaliers exchanged Ocro for Ball, and the paper lineup is still strong. Mitchell (salary of 46.39 million next season) + Mobley (46.39 million) + Garland (39.45 million) + Hunter (23.3 million) + Allen (20 million) + Struce (15.94 million). These six people form the team's main core framework and have already earned 191 million yuan! Simply put, during the regular season, facing 80% of the league's teams, they can achieve indiscriminate blows and win the weak teams.

Why did the Cavaliers only play in the second round of the playoffs last season and were eliminated 4-1 by the Pacers? First of all, they are similar to the Rockets last season, with the upper limit of high-end innings not enough. Mitchell was trained by the Rockets and the Nuggets during the Jazz. He is equivalent to the young version of Lillard. He has the ability to score but does not have enough to lead the team to improve his performance. Mitchell will also be 29 years old in the offseason. When he first entered the league for the second year, he said that Wade can lead the team to win the championship in the third year of his career, why can't I? As a result, the Rockets Gordon and Paul could not defend themselves. Secondly, the Cavaliers lineup actually has many obvious shortcomings. Just to give an example, Mitchell and Garland are a pair of small defenders.

Last season's regular season, the Cavaliers could beat their opponents by 10.3 points in a hundred rounds, which is the dominance of the historical level. But in the playoffs, when Garland and Mitchell played for 89 minutes at the same time, the Cavaliers lost 11.3 points in a hundred rounds! The height and confrontation were not enough, and the playoffs became two slots. Mitchell still has a maximum salary of 150 million in three years, and Garland still has a maximum salary of 127 million in three years. Is there a limit on their playoffs? But the most important point is that Mobley, the cornerstone of the Cavaliers, received a maximum salary contract of 270 million yuan for five years, but his growth was not as expected. He averaged 17 points and 8 rebounds per game in the playoffs, which was still a long way from taking over Davis. In the fourth season of his career, Thunder Brows has averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds per game, becoming the top inside player in the league.

The house was leaking and raining overnight. Garland suffered a toe injury since last season's playoffs and is expected to miss for several months after completing the operation (the new season may not be able to play two months before the start of the new season). Perhaps the Cavaliers still have no pressure in the regular season in the new season, but such a team framework that requires huge luxury taxes is not possible. Taking the previous season's semi-finals with the Pacers as an example, Garland was injured and the Cavaliers' offensive basic set became Mitchell's solo fight. Except for the G4 game that only played 20 minutes due to injury, Mitchell averaged 39.8 points per game in the remaining four games, but it was difficult to win, which reflects the team's management decision-making problem: a framework was built and it was found that it was just a framework, and there was nothing in it.

If the Cavaliers retain this lineup framework, their salary will be above $200 million in the next three years. The penalty for repeated luxury tax will cause them to disintegrate quickly, just like the Celtics. So some media revealed that if the Cavaliers cannot win the championship next summer, they may consider welcoming James back to release his salary space (James is expected to cut his salary). But to be honest, the Cavaliers' lineup is now at a glance next season. Their real opponent is not in the East, but the two small defenders + two slow inside players are all obvious shortcomings in the Western Conference teams. But once you can't even beat the Knicks or Magic in the East, you should really be completely demolished and rebuilt.