And the Word is Luck

This Cavs season means a lot for me.  I just graduated from Syracuse University, and coincidentally, the Cavs drafted Dion Waiters.  So now, on top of entering a terrible job market, my basketball team drafts someone who I had to deal with for two years that put me through a semi load of emotions.  He touched the ball and magic would happen (?) or sheer retardedness. 

I’m dealing with having to watch him for the next couple of years, but thankfully easing the blow, I identify with Dion Waiters in a few ways.  I identify with the entire Cavs team.  The cavs are young.  I’m young.   

We have a few veterans who are guiding the younger players, but even they aren’t full on embracers of their age.  Varejao has a white man afro past 25, inexcusable and immature.  CJ Miles still seems to think he is some poor man version of Monta Ellis at times.  Only the young have illusions of grandeur involving shitty players.

The best part about the team being young is that no one can say anything definitive about them.  They might not play defense this year, and they might not have an offense that pushes it even though they are insanely young (therefore, energetic).  All of it can be excused by age. All of it can also be fixed by age.  Every player on the Cavs can play defense and offense to some degree still.  They don’t have bad habits yet; furthermore, there are no bad attitude people on the team to help develop/forward them. 

I understand the concept of being defined by age.  Being just 22, all of my failings are explained away.  If I drink too much, it’s cause I’m young.  If I can’t find a real job, it’s because I’m young.  The great thing about being young is that all of the freelance work I do and the bullshit job I hold at Whole Foods can be fixed by trying harder to some degree.  My worst case scenario is that I have a hopeless blog and am a mindless drone supervisor at a menial job being paid too much because I just stayed around and tried harder than someone else.  Maybe, some of the freelance I do will even become paid for if I push the topic (very little, but still).

The worst case for the Cavs is the team all tries very hard; we have a team full of Anderson Varejaos who try a tad harder than the other team and still lose.  The league hates us because no body likes Joakim Noahs, Tony Allens, and Anderson Varejaos (except Bulls fans, Grizzly fans, and Cavs fans) .  We win 20 games by way of offensive rebounds and hustle stats.

On to the best case scenario.  The best case scenario for me is that someone recognizes that I’m an obvious genius and supports my lifestyle of sitting and thinking while occasionally writing the thoughts I have.  My girlfriend gets a reason to be proud of me.  I stop having to tell myself and the world I’m just 22.  I also get to walk out of Whole Foods and tell my bosses thank you for the inspiration for my future best selling book How the Fuck Are You My Boss.

The best case scenario for the Cavs: Kyrie Irving becomes a top ten player and Dion Waiters turns into a more efficient Monta Ellis who tries on defense.  Tyler Zeller becomes a defensive minded Martin Gortat while Tristan Thompson is a version of Ben Wallace who doesn’t air ball free throws.  The biggest factor for the Cavs is Dion Waiters.  If Dion Waiters proves legitimate, the Cavs have the best young backcourt going into the next three years.  Who competes?  Would you take Joe Johnson and Deron Williams for the price?  Kobe and Nash along with the retirement home?

If Waiters pans out, the Cavs are an attractive market for free agents and we attract a major one like Howard, Bynum, or Iguodala that receives a title behind a Kyrie Irving MVP season.  Or Lebron comes back for the 2014 season.  He would have one quote about how he planned for Cleveland to get a young core with talent that he can lead to several titles.  I wouldn’t care about this.  You probably wouldn’t care about this.  Cleveland would forgive him after he gets the third title, since we should have had two with him already. 

The best case scenario for the Cavs and I are both based on luck.  Let’s just hope this is a lucky year.