If you need the facts on how underwhelming the Cavs are without LeBron James and how much their "pretty good" supporting cast just flat out sucks without him.
http://insider.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/19611978/nba-why-lebron-james-finals-mvp
For those without insider... Here's some points from the article.
In the 2017 Finals, James has averaged a triple-double while averaging series-high 41.4 minutes per game. He can't sit on the bench. Against a team that blew teams out at a record pace entering the series, James has actually led his team to a plus-6 margin when he's on the floor.
But that advantage all falls apart when he hits the bench. The LeBron-less Cavs for the series stand at a minus-31 in 26 minutes of action -- a rate so one-sided, it's the equivalent of losing by 57 points in a 48-minute game.
Let that marinate. Without James, the Cavs are getting smacked by a rate of a 57-point rout over a full game.
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Thanks to the magic of NBAwowy.com, we can look at how the Cavs do with certain players on the court. Let's pull up how they fare when they have two All-Stars on the floor, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Let's take James out of the equation. On Friday, that two-star lineup got blasted 14-5 in four minutes. For the season? Here's the score: Cavs 686, Opponents 708. That's right. Even with two four-time All-Stars on the floor, the Cavs have been outscored by 22 points in 342 minutes this season, or minus-3.1 per 48 minutes. You know what the New York Knicks were this season? A minus-3.6.
Think about that. The Cavs without James but with Irving and Love on the floor were basically the Knicks, a team that finished 31-51 and 10 games out of the playoff picture. That's how good he is.
What's going on here? LeBron James is happening. Put just about anybody around him, and that team is going to be really good. Here's another way to think about this. What if we look at how the Cavs do with James on the floor and no Irving, no Love. Again, James by himself without any of his All-Stars. The Cavs, according to NBAwowy tracking, with James and no Irving/Love, have scored 110.4 points per 100 possessions this season. That's crazy good, right up there with the best offenses of the season.
Let's flip this. How do the Cavs score in the Irving and Love lineups without James? Again, these are two of the best scorers in the NBA. Here's how that lineup scores: 108.6 points per 100 possessions, per NBAwowy.com. To recap: The Cavs with LeBron alone do better offensively than the Cavs with Irving and Love going without James. (The defense gets better with James, too, if you were wondering.) If that doesn't spell it out for you, I don't know what will.
Cavs regular season record without LeBron James the last 3 years: 4-23
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So quick recap. The Cavs get outscored by -3.1 pts/48 minutes when Kyrie and Love are on the floor without LeBron. When Kyrie and Love are on the floor without LeBron, they go from championship contender with LeBron, to the Knicks without.
The Cavs offense is better when it's LeBron on the floor without Kyrie and Love than it is with Kyrie and Love without LeBron. They are obviously better defensively with just LeBron as well.
I think people can spin it however they want, but this is a LeBron show for the Cavs. They can't win without Kyrie playing well and he has played well the last two games... But they're eye candy apart from LeBron. LeBron is the only player that offers substance on this roster.
