Blatt: Title talk for Cavaliers is premature

Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE

They have the game’s best player, back on his home turf. They have two other All-Stars, each capable of dominating any game. And the Cavaliers have sky-high expectations.

This is supposed to be Cleveland’s year.

However, Cavs coach David Blatt thinks all that talk is awfully premature.

“Anybody talking about us winning it all, I think they’re being unfair to those great NBA teams that are out there that have either won it or have been there to win it, and also to us as a team that’s talented but new,” Blatt said Tuesday following practice. “We have a lot of work to do before we can start claiming anything before it’s time.”

The Cavs, re-shaped this summer by the return of LeBron James, the re-signing of guard Kyrie Irving and a blockbuster trade that brought them power forward supreme Kevin Love, are predicted to win their first NBA championship this season. Las Vegas sports books have picked the Cavs as the 3-1 favorite to win the title — ahead of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, who are 7-2 to repeat.

Cleveland opens the season at home on Thursday night against the New York Knicks. It promises to be an emotional night for James, who left the Cavaliers four years ago for Miami but decided to come home after winning two titles with the Heat.

Like Blatt, James has preached patience amid the lofty outlook for a team that hasn’t played one regular-season game together. While the four-time MVP has plenty of postseason experience, Irving and Love, two-thirds of the league’s newest power trio, have not logged one playoff minute.

The key for the Cavs is how the James-Irving-Love triumvirate meshes, and even if all goes well there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to get by the Spurs or whichever team emerges from the powerful Western Conference.

Blatt has deep admiration for the Spurs, who throttled James and the Heat in last year’s finals, and coach Gregg Popovich.

“They played beautiful, winning basketball and that’s been a team that over the years has not only been successful but has contributed to the style of play that I think is becoming more and more prevalent NBA-wide,” Blatt said. “I give coach Pop and the players of San Antonio a lot of credit for the style that they play, and for the willingness on the part of the players to be non-ball-dominant and to play together.”