After having missed the playoffs for the past four-straight seasons—ever since four-time NBA MVP LeBron James left home for the warm beaches of Miami to join Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and the Heat, and after surprisingly good luck in the past two NBA draft lotteries gifted the Cleveland Cavaliers with back-to-back top-overall picks, there may have been little hope for any monumental improvement entering the summer of 2014.
That was, of course, before James made the decision to go home, rejoining the Cavaliers to settle unfinished business. It was also before general manager David Griffin packaged 2013 No.1 overall pick Anthony Bennett and 2014 No.1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins and sent them to Minnesota in a move to bring All-Star power forward Kevin Love to The Forrest City.
Bringing in Love, arguably the among the three best power forwards in the NBA, to help James and incumbent All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving instantly created a lot of championship level expectations and hype. The downside is the obvious amount of pressure that such hype generates for the team; the positive is that it serves as a great recruiting tool in drawing interest from quality free agents like sharpshooter Mike Miller and two-way swingman Shawn Marion.
After over a month of practices and preseason warm-ups, the Cavaliers are now ready for their spotlight.
James and Nike teamed up to put together a heartfelt advertisement building on that excitement.
Hey Cleveland, if this doesn’t give you goosebumps, nothing will… @KingJames & @Nike just released this video. Wow! http://t.co/azSZvEx1Yg
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 30, 2014
My folks check out my new @nikebasketball spot! http://t.co/ahtXQaOn08. This is far bigger than I and I understand that! #Together #JustDoIt
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 30, 2014
A number of players on the roster have expressed their excitement leading up to tonight’s home opener.
Game day! Can’t wait to get started! #AllForOne Repost @cavs: “theqarena awaits,… http://t.co/jcp31SY2cz
— Matthew Dellavedova (@matthewdelly) October 30, 2014
Tonight 8pm we will start another season, playing against #Knicks. Let’s go @cavs! We have everything to have a special year! #AllForOne
— Anderson Varejão (@VAREJAOANDERSON) October 30, 2014
Excited for tonight #letitfly home opener http://t.co/jNwZOakWND
— Mike Miller (@MikeMiller_13) October 30, 2014
The journey begins! I do for y’all #Akron #TheLand #StriveForGreatness
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 30, 2014
You guys are incredible!!! Thank you pic.twitter.com/Meo3tE9Yu9
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 30, 2014
When pressed by Chris Haynes for The Plain Dealer, rookie NBA head coach David Blatt owned up to his feelings leading up to tonight’s game.
Real answer? There’s no real answers here. This is not a reality show. … OK, I’m excited as hell! … Who wouldn’t be? There it is.”
The Cavs will be making another debut tonight as well. The team has installed a new 3-D court projection system. They rented the system and first tried it out back in March for Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ retirement ceremony. It got such an overwhelmingly positive response that the team decided to invest in purchasing one to put to use during pre-game introductions.
Just sat thru test of tonite’s @cavs open. It’s going to blow U away.Superstar @TracyMarek & team are best in world. pic.twitter.com/rJurJYbrpv
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 30, 2014
TNT director just told me TNT WILL be showing our open live. Also, @cavs will be linking to a video of the open just a few minutes after tip
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 30, 2014
If you’re curious to get an idea of what a 3-D court projection system looks like, tune in to tonight’s game on TNT to get a good look before the New York Knicks and Cavs tip off.
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Tweet of the Day: Excitement for the 2014-15 NBA Season Abounds
Michael Brumagin writes the Tweet of the Day for SheridanHoops.com and is also a correspondent for BleacherReport.com. Follow @mbrumagin