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Cleveland Cavaliers open 2018-19 season in NBA purgatory, but it may not last long

The Cleveland Cavaliers will kick off the 2018-19 season on Wednesday night when they face the Toronto Raptors on the road.

CLEVELAND -- Officially, the Cleveland Cavaliers will kick off their 2018-19 season against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night as the four-time defending Eastern Conference champions.

Unofficially, however -- oh, who am I kidding?

Despite Tristan Thompson's best efforts, you'd be hard pressed to find many -- any? -- who still consider the Cavs to be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. The gambling market agrees: With Cleveland a +350 underdog to merely make the playoffs this season, LeBron James seemed to take the team's championship hopes with him when he took his talents to Los Angeles this past summer.

So where does that leave the Cavs?

While the last post-LeBron era in Cleveland led to a full teardown of the roster, the Cavs enter the 2018-19 campaign returning 72 percent of their roster from a season ago, including a starting lineup consisting of five returning players. Sure, there are some new names in Cleveland this season, but even one of the team's offseason additions -- Channing Frye -- is a familiar face.

Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Other than Frye, the Cavs have added rookie point guard Collin Sexton, lightly used forward Sam Dekker and gritty journeyman guard David Nwaba to a core that was, to put it kindly, dragged to the NBA Finals by James a season ago. Outside of Kevin Love and Kyle Korver, there isn't an All-Star appearance to currently be found in Cleveland entering the season.

That's not to say there isn't any reason for optimism, particularly in the form of young players like Sexton, Cedi Osman and Larry Nance Jr. But even the most optimistic of Cavs fan would have to agree the team is currently in no man's land, as it attempts to balance competing for a playoff spot and preparing for the future.

"No tanking," head coach Tyronn Lue said at the team's media day when the idea of a roster teardown was suggested. "Start from what we had and build from that. You see that with [Cavs owner] Dan [Gilbert] giving Kevin [Love] that extension. Having an older guy and a couple of vets around to help the younger guys as we move forward. Not a rebuild at all."

As is the case with most approaches in the NBA, the Cavs' plans for the season are very much subject to change.

Even if Love returns to his "Minnesota form" and Sexton plays at an All-Rookie level, it's hard to imagine Cleveland playing at a pace that will project them to be anything higher than a No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs -- and even that prognosis is probably generous. While the Cavs may play hard, it's more likely than not they'll lack the offensive firepower they'd need to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference -- let alone contend.

And if that becomes clearer sooner rather than later -- or even by the NBA trade deadline in February -- it wouldn't be surprising to see Cleveland make roster moves to adequately reflect in direction.

Take one look at the Cavs' roster and it's obvious the team still has multiple moves to make. In particular, point guard George Hill and Korver could make for intriguing trade options for contending teams and also happen to have significant buyouts in their contracts available after the upcoming season. Additionally, it'd hardly be a shock to see Cleveland part ways with J.R. Smith, who is currently dealing with an elbow injury and could be the odd man out in a swingman-heavy rotation.

Even a single trade could signal a move to "tank mode" -- even if it's not as apologetic as the Philadelphia 76ers' "process" or the crosstown Browns' rebuild.

In the NBA, the best place for a mid-market team to acquire a young franchise player -- the type Cleveland currently lacks -- is at or near the top of it. And while the Cavs may not appear poised to be picking there just yet, there's still plenty of time for them to pivot from focusing on the present to the future.

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