Before we get started, LeBron went off today about Ben Wallace and I wrote about it for ESPN.com.  Apparently, I have solidarity for both Drew Gooden (bald) and Big Ben (headbanded).

"In basketball, there ain’t no relationship that is going to be a bed of roses."  — Paul Silas

There were a few members of the Cavs organization that were a little upset with my weekly column, which ran Monday.  They felt I was off base when I implied that LeBron James was helping set policy on playing time, especially in reference to rookies Boobie Gibson and Shannon Brown.  I was told that James’ comments about the need for the rookies to play and a lineup switch and the increased playing time for Gibson and the insertion of Brown into the starting lineup were coincidental, the natural progression of things.  Frankly, I don’t believe either of us is wrong.

Covering a team for seven months or so, in close contact, is often a delicate balance.   Whenever you are going to write something like I did, it doesn’t come from the hip.  You know you are going to ruffle some feathers, so you better have some solid footing.

When Gibson and James are on the floor together the veteran All-Star genuinely looks to pass him the ball.  I’ve seen LeBron take plenty of bad contested shots when he could’ve passed the ball off to others, perhaps those that aren’t great jump shooters like Eric Snow.  Right now, he wants to see what Gibson can do.  That is what my story was about, LeBron wanting to see the rookies play and the rookies starting to play.  Perhaps that will change, 82 games are a constant ebb and flow.  Mike Brown is getting closer to that point, as well.

We in the media are often guilty of wanting to see rookies play, as are fans, when it probably isn’t the best course of action.  I try to guard against this as much as I can.  But I know that Snow is Snow, he is going to play hard-nosed defense and not turn the ball over on offense.  But sometimes he’s a liability because he isn’t a good shooter and his presence makes it easier to double team and neutralize LeBron, especially without Larry Hughes.  Mike Brown has given David Wesley two months (he couldn’t produce in the preseason either) and he hasn’t been the answer.  Now comes the rookies chance, whether LeBron wills it or not.  I get it.  But LeBron wills it too and that probably made it happen a little faster.  And that — not the implication that LeBron has a bunch of power, which is the issue that irked the Cavs but is true anyway — is my whole point.

By the way, this is the second straight week I’ve been chirped at after my Monday column.  Last week I wrote the Cavs don’t match up well with the Wizards and should wish to avoid them if possible.  The moment I walked into practice that afternoon LeBron was on me about it, correctly reminding me that all the Cavs did was beat them in a playoff series.

That is indeed true.  However, including the preseason, I have personally watched the Cavs play the Wizards 14 times in the last two years and the Wizards are 8-6, 7-5 if you don’t count the preseason.   Four of those Cavs wins were by three points or less while most of the Wizards wins were comfortable.  In my opinion, they are not a good matchup for the Cavs.  They get the Cavs out of their comfort zone, and I’ve seen enough of it to know it.  And so I wrote it.

Indianapolis — Mike Brown and I have a fundamental difference in the way we view basketball.  Mike always, and I mean always, focuses on defensive reasons why the Cavs win and don’t win.  He was hired as the head coach for this philosophy.  I, on the other hand, usually focus on offensive reasons when analyzing the Cavs.  Hey, Mike knows more than me and he’s the guy getting $2 million to coach so I’m not going to second guess him most of the time.

However, the reason the Cavs are struggling right now has everything to do with offense in my humble opinion.  Offense was the reason the Cavs lost to the Pistons last season just as offense was the reason the Pistons lost three straight to the Cavs at one point in that series.

The other night in Toronto the Cavs scored 87 points against a team that was giving up an average of 106 per game this season.  Last night here in Indy they made a grand total of seven baskets in the second half.

Even though it may have seemed boring to many of you, I wrote a lot about the new offense during the preseason.  I really liked the back-door cutting and more plays going to the post.  Well all that stuff has dried up.  Much of that was inserted to take advantage of Larry Hughes’ talents, the Cavs were quite interested in getting more out of their $70 million investment you see, and without those talents it isn’t working too well.  They have turned back into a one-dimensional offense with all the stock going into LeBron, who is now being regularly triple-teamed when he shows any aggression in going to the basket.

Perhaps I’m a stuffy fool, but I still believe it is a heck of an advantage to have a 7-foot-3 center who has some pretty good offensive skills.  Last night, Zydrunas Ilgauskas got two shots.  Two.  I know it is a changing NBA and all these teams are making the Cavs play small ball.  But last night the Cavs badly needed offense and their efforts to get some were lame.  After the Pacers made some changes to stop the middle pick-and-rolls James and Andy Varejao were running the offense basically raised the white flag.

If you look at the Cavs defensive rankings you can see they are near the top of the league.  And they’re doing it without anyone who can realistically defend quick guards, which is more remarkable.  On that end they are playing close to an elite level.  But on offense right now they are below average and that must change if they want to be anything more than a .500 team at this point.

UPDATE:  Larry Hughes’ injury is more severe than first thought.  From what I am hearing, expect him to be out for a while.  Probably at least a week and maybe more.  Right now, though, all I’m prepared to guarantee is that he won’t play over the weekend.

Last night when Bob Finnan, Branson Wright and I came to him after the game he saw us coming and, with a mouth full of pizza, said: "I’m OK, I’m OK."  I don’t think he thought it was going to be an issue.  But obviously his ankle is affected.  And honestly, something like this at some point was not unexpected.

Back to the main post:

Since I’ve last blogged the Cavs run off four straight wins and have the best record in the East. So everything is hunky dory, right? Well, not exactly. Here’s your inside update:

The Good: After my great disappointment with LeBron following that loss in Charlotte, he has pieced together an outstanding 10 days of basketball. I will not dignify that walking off the court item with a comment, it was as stupid as the Bobby Knight supposed slapping nonsense. He showed tremendous leadership in the win over Boston by continuing to play hard and attack down 25 points. Right now he is balancing aggressiveness and unselfishness perfectly and performing at his usual high level. And I don’t think he’s even gotten hot yet. Right now, my bet is he wins Player of the Month in November for the third straight year.
The Bad: There’s no doubt in my mind Nike and everyone else outside Cleveland wants LeBron in New York, which has been shown by the way Nike is marketing his new shoe there. Yet if New York is the "mecca of basketball" and if "you haven’t made there, it you haven’t made it," what does it say that the Garden didn’t even sell out Monday night. In fact, it didn’t look close. I realize the Knicks are bad, but that isn’t supposed to matter to all those great basketball fans. It doesn’t seem to me like the LeBron sell has totally gone over yet in NYC. Yet.

The Good: The new offense, for the most part, has been getting some more movement and allows other players to get involved besides LeBron.
The Bad: Zydrunas Ilgauskas hates it and is lost and it makes everything he does tentative. He’s out of sync and out of confidence. I don’t personally think Eric Snow likes it either, not that it was designed for him. In fact, I think the offense works better without either of them in there. See, now that’s ultimately going to be an issue because Z is the best offensive big man and Snow is the best point guard on the team.

The Good: The Cavs’ defensive numbers at the outset are a little better than last year. They haven’t totally been consistent. But, in my opinion, the defense won the games against Boston, in San Antonio and against Portland (which has little talent right now outside Zach Randolph).
The Bad: They have no one who can handle a penetrating guard. Snow and Damon Jones are too slow. They’ve been using Larry Hughes, but that isn’t his strongsuit and he doesn’t like doing it. Plus the way the Cavs play defense, keeping a player out of the middle of the lane is the MOST important factor.

The Good: The Cavs bench has shown positive growth. Donyell Marshall shows up every night, Anderson Varejao’s effort is constant, Jones has been solid, and Sasha Pavlovic is currently in production mode.
The Bad: David Wesley has been a failure thus far and everybody, including David knows it. He’s been pouring work in after practice trying to get it back. Not sure it’s going to happen.

The Good: LeBron’s Nike commercials have a nice niche and excellent production. Especially with the vague Back to School reference.  They are way better, and way more expensive, than the weak overall efforts of Dwyane Wade’s boring Converse commercials and Kobe Bryant’s lame efforts for Sony with the stupid old guy in the Utah Jazz outfit.
The Bad: Carmelo Anthony’s new Jordan commercial blows them all away in my opinion.  But I’m sometimes a sucker for commercials that have little talking so I know that opinion won’t be the popular one.

–With 6.7 seconds left, why does the inbound pass come to LeBron?  On the floor were Larry Hughes, who was 8-of-8 at the line and Drew Gooden, who was 9-of-12.  In fact, Drew might’ve been the best choice because he doesn’t really feel pressure.  The way Drew is wired, I don’t think he sees clutch free throws as anything different than those in practice.

–That said, missed free throws were not the direct reason the Cavs lost to the Hawks.  I know that is a popular thing to complain about and it is an issue that must be addressed.  However, the overall offense is a much bigger issue in my opinion.  The Cavs are not scoring, they are not shooting the ball well, and they are still being stagnant.  After getting the 10-point lead in the fourth quarter they were as stagnant as they were two years ago at the end of the season.  Not the way to win.  This is the biggest thing that needs to be addressed, the offense has to be cleaned up.  The whole point of the new offense, which I like, is to get motion.  That’s what all these turnovers and all these hard time are about…learning the new offense.  But if you’re not going to move in crunch time, then what is the point?  I am sure this will be pointed out in practice today.

–The Cavs need to run more plays with Zydrunas Ilgauskas in mind.  They did in the first quarter and he got some baskets. I realize he’s struggled, but this offense is not designed with him in mind.  They have to take him into consideration somewhat.

–He’s a great guy and he’s very knowledgeable, but David Wesley is giving the Cavs nothing right now.  And he gave them almost nothing in the preseason.  Shannon Brown is going to get his chance very soon.

–By the way, the Hawks were amazing in the stretch run.  They made some great shots under pressure and made almost no mistakes after getting down by 10.  They have a promising team and they played a great game.  They deserved to win that one.

Charlotte, N.C. — Was it me or was the most aggressive thing LeBron James did last night was play dead?  Did you see that flop in the fourth quarter?  I mean European soccer players — aka Manu Ginobili — would’ve been proud.  Except they would’ve waited for a stretcher to haul them off the court before popping back up to get maximum value.

So while chasing a loose ball, 6-foot-8 250 pound LeBron banged into the hip — the hip! — of 5-10, 170-pound Brevin Knight.  He crumpled to the floor like he’d encountered a raging bull.  He stayed there for awhile motionless.  When he finally got up, he failed to fake a limp or obviously hold a body part.

I’m not calloused here, I’d never seen LeBron act that way and I figured he was indeed injured and was concerned on many different levels.  Yet when I saw the replay I was convinced nothing really had happened.  Then after the game when he was asked what he hurt and he said  "I don’t know, my head hurts a little, so I must’ve hit that."  Well, actually, no, you didn’t hit your head.  In other words, he needed to come up with a better story.

OK, really I have no problem with LeBron using a little gamesmanship to try to get an edge.  But on this night, when he played as if he’d rather been practicing dives in his pool, it really rubbed me the wrong way.

On Friday, LeBron was the consummate leader in the Cavs big win.  He played at the top of his game while on the floor.  When he was on the bench he was leading, encouraging his teammates and they were responding.  As the fourth quarter started and the Cavs were up by six points and he was sitting down for a rest, LeBron emphatically told the players heading out to the floor to hold the Spurs down.  They responded with a 7-0 run with him getting an important breather.  In many respects, it was one of the most impressive nights I’ve ever seen out of LeBron.  That play and attitude is the reason I feel he’ll be the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Then on Saturday he let himself be outplayed for the first 47 minutes by Adam Morrison.  It’s one thing to have an off night or to be a little tired.  He’s going to shoot 3-of-13 every now and then.  That is understandable and acceptable, even for him.  In fact, a bunch of Cavs acted played lazy and without any regard for the Bobcats, which is why they got beat even on a night when Charlotte was far from the top of its game.

But for LeBron stand around and play passively while his team languished around him, that doesn’t seem like the standard he has worked hard to build for himself.

Look, every team has bad losses, especially on the road.  I was convinced the Bobcats were going to beat the Cavs at some point this year.  In fact, moments after leaving the AT&T Center in San Antonio Friday night I was thinking Saturday was a prime letdown situation, especially considering the travel difficulties.  Flying commercial, I wasn’t able to get to Charlotte until 2:30 p.m. Saturday, which disrupted my routine.  The Cavs got in at 4 a.m., which surely messed up theirs.

But to see the way the Cavs and LeBron let it go down just showed they are not yet a true elite team and that even LeBron, for all his greatness, still has a long way to go.

I knew I’d be writing a blog this Sunday morning about how the Cavs fared in the season’s first weekend.  I thought I’d be writing about a 1-1 road trip, which I am.  But after watching that game Friday, I can’t believe I’d be wondering about the Cavs’ drive today.   

I know everyone loves to forecast stuff at this time of year and sure it is fun to read about it and bicker.  I did power rankings for the Beacon Journal’s preview section, which never made it online, but I ranked the Mavericks the best in the West, the Pistons the best in the East and the Cavs sixth overall.

Realistically, though, I can’t at this point say who my favorite is to win either side.  There is too much parity at the top and too many unknowns, especially in the East.  As for the individual awards, here’s my take, followed by my prediction for the Cavs.

Most Valuable Player: LeBron James.  I voted for him last year and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be the favorite this year.  Though I expect it to become an arm’s race with Kobe Bryant this year.

All-NBA Team: Kobe, LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki.  This seems fairly standard to me.

Most Improved Player: Carmelo Anthony.  He will make his first All-Star team and I believe the Nuggets will become one of the West’s best teams.

Sixth Man Award: Andres Nocioni.  Anyone who reads this blog knows I love him as a player.  I think the Bulls will be a great team and, if he remains as a reserve, he will share the credit.

Coach of Year: Don Nelson.  Just watch him run his Warriors into one of the last playoff spots.

Rookie of the Year: Jorge Garbajosa.  Who?  Well, he plays for the Raptors and for the world champion Spanish national team.  I doubt a foreigner who plays in Canada for a team that probably won’t make the playoffs will get enough headlines to actually win — Tyrus Thomas, Brandon Roy or Adam Morrison probably will — but I think he’s the most developed rookie at this point.  So there.

Executive of Year: John Paxson.  Yet another winner of this award will have to dedicate part of it to Isiah Thomas for what the Bulls VP did to him in the Eddy Curry trade, setting up this year’s haul.

Comeback Player of the Year: Dajuan Wagner.  This award actually doesn’t exist in the NBA.  But after everything he’s been through, I have to root for him.

Cavaliers: 52-30.  Second in the Central Division, third in the East.

Yes the Cavs will be better, but I don’t think it will show much in the record.  The East will be tougher across the board.  The Cavs beat the Bulls four times last season, that won’t happen again.  Plus the Raptors and Bobcats, teams the Cavs also swept, are going to be better as are the Orlando Magic, who the Cavs took three of four from in 05-06.  There just won’t be that many easy wins out there.

My personal history is this: In 2003-04, I picked them to go 34-48 and they went 37-45.  In 04-05, I picked 41-41 and they went 42-40.  Last year I picked 47-35 and they went 50-32.  So I have always slightly underestimated them.

Now, let me point out that the News-Herald’s Bob Finnan is king of this corner.  He has correctly predicted the Cavs record three years in a row.  Exactly.  And so I will inform you he has slated them to go 57-25, tying a team record.  Meanwhile Branson Wright of the Plain Dealer picked them to go 50-32 again.

Now what do you think?  Let’s hear your predictions in the comments section.