What we know about the Cavaliers after 82 regular-season games is that we really don’t know much.
Due to holdouts, injuries, trades, up-and-down play and inconsistent coaching, it’s really hard to get a feel for Mike Brown’s team as it prepares to take on the Washington Wizards in the first round of the playoffs.
OK, we do know a few things.
We know LeBron James is going to be the best player on the court. We also know he’s going to be extra motivated after being called “overrated” by Washington’s DeShawn Stevenson and hearing that Gilbert Arenas wanted to play the Cavaliers in the first round. We know having a fired-up James can do nothing but help Cleveland’s cause.
We know Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be steady, inside and out, offensively and defensively, because, other than James, “Big Z” showed up and performed way more often than anyone else on the team this season.
We know the Cavs genuinely believe they can beat the Wizards because, after all, they’ve eliminated them from the postseason the last two years.
After that, though, what we know is what we don’t know.
We don’t know whether the Cavaliers are going to get the productive Daniel “Boobie” Gibson who can knock down shots with anyone in the league, or the Gibson who can’t keep an opposing guard in front of him. Heck, for all we know — or don’t know — we could get both.
We don’t know whether we’re going to get the confident Wally Szczerbiak who can hit jumper after jumper — OK, we really haven’t seen that Wally in Cleveland — or the insecure Szczerbiak whose constant glances toward the bench bring back memories of a young Danny Ferry.
 We don’t know whether we’re going to see Damon Jones, period. For that matter, we don’t even know if Brown knows if we’re going to see Jones.
We don’t know if Ben Wallace will suddenly morph into the Wallace of old and become a defensive enforcer and dominate the glass, or if he’s going to continue to be the overrated, do-little, dunk-missing player he’s largely been since being acquired on Feb. 21.
We don’t know if Anderson Varejao is going to provide energy, rebounding and ferocious defense, or if he’s going to run around like a chicken with its head cut off and blow assignment after assignment.
We don’t know if the Cavaliers’ trade acquisitions — Szczerbiak, Joe Smith and Delonte West — will be the key postseason performers GM Ferry thought they would be when he dealt for them, or if Cleveland will really miss Drew Gooden and even Larry Hughes in the playoffs.
We don’t know if Brown is going to get through to his team, push the right buttons and make key moves, or if he’s going to do something like leave Ilgauskas on the bench down the stretch and force his team to play 3½-on-5 offensively with Varejao and Wallace on the court.
Most important of all, we don’t know if the Cavaliers are going to be able to magically turn on the switch and become the consistent, intense, defensive-minded team Brown wanted them to be all season, or if they’re going to continue to be up and down, have defensive lapses and rely on James to rescue them.
That, after an entire regular season, is all we know — and don’t know — but we’ll learn a lot more real soon.
Contact Rick Noland (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net. 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here.
If you are registered, click here to log in.
Need help? Email Us.