Every season there are a few teams that appear very strong on paper and absolute duds on the court – this year the Cleveland Cavaliers are that team. Despite having solid players at four positions, four top-four selections from the past three drafts (including two number one overall selections), and the NBA’s best scoring point guard in Kyrie Irving, this team just does not know how to win games. While they may lose a lot of games again this year, it is not for lack of trying, as they have paired their high draft selections with quality free agents in order to propel themselves toward the playoffs. They may not make it this year, but this team’s time is coming.

The Good: Uncle Drew gets buckets! Cleveland drafted Irving with the number one selection in 2011 and never looked back. He is a top-five NBA point guard, the reigning Three-Point Shootout Champion, and undoubtedly this team’s franchise player. Surrounding Irving are quality young prospects in Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, and Anthony Bennett. The Cavaliers also have been able to add three first round draft picks during the next two seasons from Sacramento (top 12 protected in 2014), Memphis (top 5 protected in 2015), and Miami (top 10 protected in 2015), as well as three additional second round picks over the same period of time. If they’re able to stay healthy and progress as many project they should, Cleveland could be an absolute force in a couple of years. In addition to youth, they also have terrific cap flexibility going into this big free agent year with next season’s cap at about $37 million in guaranteed money (Andrew Bynum’s contract is not guaranteed until July 11, 2014). Even if they strike out on LeBron James as expected, there is no reason to think the Cavaliers’ future is not bright.

The Bad: Why aren’t they good right now? With a team full of lottery picks, solid veterans, and Uncle Drew, they should be much better than they are. Cleveland’s main issue lies with the front office. While they do a good job of finding talent, they have been extremely Cavalier in selecting the player they believe fits their team the best, rather than selecting the best player available that also fills a need. In 2011 when they drafted Tristan Thompson fourth overall, they passed up Jonas Valanciunas and Kawhi Leonard, who were both ranked higher than Thompson going into the draft. While Thompson has turned out to be a productive player, selecting the better player there would have helped this team’s progress. This problem has persisted with selections of Dion Waiters, who was drafted over Andre Drummond and Harrison Barnes, while Anthony Bennett’s selection as the top draft pick was over potential future stars, Victor Oladipo and Nerlens Noel.

The Fix: Develop an offensive system that fits your team’s needs. The re-hiring of Mike Brown struck me as odd. He is a fine defensive coach, but has struggled to create any type of functional offensive system. His previous Cavaliers were successful but that had much more to do with LeBron James’ majesty with the basketball. Instead of set plays, the team often stood around waiting for James to create. A similar strategy occurred in LA with Kobe Bryant and now again in Cleveland with Kyrie Irving. Brown is a passable coach, but without an offensive system or Kyrie Irving averaging 40 points per game, this team will continue to struggle. Swap out Brown for George Karl (somehow still available) and this team would improve dramatically.