Written by Kyle Boone at CBS Sports.com
With Kyrie Irving now a member of the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ odds of winning the 2018 NBA title have decreased drastically. Even if the Cavs dealt their newly acquired 2018 first-round pick for a plug-and-play talent to make a run at the title in LeBron James’ contract year, winning it all would be considered a long shot — at least according to TV analyst and former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy.
“With the way the Warriors are, unless you’re trading that pick for — give me a name — Paul George, you’re still not better than the Warriors,” Van Gundy said in an appearance on SiriusXM. “The Warriors are gonna win forever if everything stays the same … this season is over. We’re gonna play it out, and the Warriors are gonna win. And then the next year it’s gonna be the same thing.”
Van Gundy went out on a limb and tabbed the Warriors as overwhelming favorites in the 2017 NBA title race, saying the Cavs — even with Irving and James — would not challenge the Warriors. And he was right about that one.
The only thing that has changed from last season to the coming season is Cleveland has changed point guards from Irving to Isaiah Thomas/Derrick Rose, while Golden State returns every starter from last season, when they nearly went undefeated in the NBA playoffs.
Van Gundy is hardly sticking his neck out in making this declaration, given what Golden State returns and taking the state of Cleveland’s franchise into consideration. So it will be interesting to see if his prediction once again comes true in 2018.
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