Putting the Puzzle Together

Everyone has their own holiday traditions, and the one that my family has engaged in (for as long as I can remember anyway), is putting together a traditional holiday season jigsaw puzzle. My parents did it when I was a kid, and I couldn’t let my own kids go unscathed once they got old enough to handle the tiny cardboard pieces without swallowing them. The bigger, more intricate and more challenging the puzzle… the more satisfying it was when it was all put together. And, as mundane and boring as it might sound, the activity always wound up creating hours of entertainment, while also managing to bring us all closer to spend quality time as a tight-knit group, focused on a singular goal.

As the Cavs themselves draw ever closer to unwrapping their Christmas Day rematch with the Golden State Warriors, they too are closing in on putting all of the pieces of their puzzle together with the ultimate goal of winning a championship. With Iman Shumpert back already, the impending return of Kyrie Irving and the recent rejuvenation of Timofey Mozgov, the Cavaliers should soon have a good look at something resembling the cover of the box that Dan Gilbert spent so much for this past off-season.

Bringing Back The Full Box

The most important thing you need before beginning a puzzle is to have the peace of mind that you’ve got every piece in the box when you start. Without that, you’ll eventually go crazy, knowing you started with a disadvantage by having holes that you just can’t quite fill. So, when Dan Gilbert sent David Griffin out to collect all of the pieces for this year’s team, his orders were to spare no expense in finding the perfect picture of a squad that could again compete for a championship. Griff set out to re-sign all of the pieces that fit together so well last year, while still finding more that could either fit seamlessly into the tableau or replace others that left gaps which required filling. His challenge wasn’t to just find the 15 pieces necessary to complete the lineup, but also to manage the 300 million dollar salary puzzle. For that, he needed the already deep pockets of Uncle Dan to morph into an NBA owner’s version of cargo shorts. And, other than a somewhat lengthy staredown with Tristan Thompson’s camp, the Cavs’ GM and Owner fairly easily and successfully were able to get every last key piece into the box.

Always Start With The Edges

Whether you’re taking on a large puzzle, or putting a team together, it’s always wise to begin by creating the outside framework. It’s those straight-edged pieces that can guide you and give you a starting point. They’re also the connected areas you can refer to when you get lost in the middle from time to time. The most valuable of those pieces are the corners, with their multi-faceted sides. LeBron James is the ultimate corner piece, as the cornerstone of this Cavs franchise. He dictates direction, while giving the rest of the puzzle a modicum of order. This year, more than ever, LeBron has had to reinforce his role as the leader of this team, demonstrating for others the level of effort required to succeed in the daunting task of putting together a championship season. Joining him out on the edge are seasoned vets, both old (James Jones, Andy Varejao) and new (Richard Jefferson, Mo Williams), as well as the pieces who were honed into hard edges through the crucible of last year’s playoff run (Tristan Thompson, Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith). Together, with the steady hand of David Blatt and his coaching staff, they have provided the Cavs with an early border of success that has conveyed the promise of the finished picture.

Water Or Sky?

Last year, Kevin Love was like one of those all blue pieces that you can’t tell which side of the horizon to which it belongs. Was he part of the earthbound water… or floating somewhere out in the sky? Much was discussed and written about the perception about how KLove didn’t seem to be “fitting in” on this Cavs team, and how the coaching staff was just trying to force him into a space that didn’t seem to match up with his skill set. That outside perception has changed so far this season (even if the results haven’t all that much, as Kevin’s contributions haven’t been all about numbers), especially with Kevin making a concerted effort to getting into the flow of attacking the post, instead of drifting into the ether to toss three point bombs with impunity. Maybe what everyone was missing is that Love isn’t a water piece or a sky piece… but instead a piece of a blue truck driving up a mountainside, just like Love’s play has been a focal point, helping to drive the Cavs’ offense to new heights.

That Big Chunk In The Middle

(those are buckets, youngblood…)

After (or sometimes during) the time you get the borders worked out, the most tantalizing part of a puzzle is that large island area of key pieces right in the middle of the image that you manage to construct. You just know that these pieces are important, but it’s going to take some time and patience to connect them with the rest of the surrounding puzzle. When you do finally attach them, there’s a rush of satisfaction and accomplishment, as well as an excitement and re-energizing of effort to continue forward. Yes, I’m talking about Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving, the Cavs’ starting back court that has been collectively sidelined for the first six weeks of the season. The anticipated impact that their returns will bring is palpable to the team and their fans alike. We finally got to witness Shump being re-connected with the rest of the pieces in the last game against the Magic, and his affect was invigorating. Iman didn’t just resemble his old self, with suffocating defense and the occasional timely triple… he looked like an even better version, knocking down 5-7 for 14 points in 25 dynamic minutes. He’s also seemingly improved his handle, which might just be a spectacular by-product of being injured at the same time as Kyrie. And, speaking of Uncle Drew, he is reportedly champing at the bit to rejoin the team, and could do so within the next couple of games. Regardless of how careful the Cavs want to be about his re-integration, the time is nigh to make a bridge to Kyrie and incorporate that particular big chunk in the middle of their season (possibly just in time for Golden State).

The Piece You Lose Under The Couch

Sometimes there are so many pieces to keep track of in a puzzle, that you lose an important one when it falls off the table and ends up hidden from view. You know the piece has still got to be around somewhere, but it’s lost and that just gets frustrating. It’s a piece that is capable of unifying a section of the bigger picture, and you know that when you do ultimately find it, it will make a difference. This is how the first month or so has felt when analyzing the odd decline of Timofey Mozgov’s game and ability. Sure he’s still recovering from off-season knee surgery, and maybe he came back a bit too soon from that. However, his head and his hands also have seemingly gone missing for stretches of the early season as well. That’s why it was such a rush to discover the version of Moz we were treated to on Friday night against Orlando. He finally pulled his game out from under the couch where it was hiding, and played with aggression, confidence and deft hands. He was also in the right places at the right times on both ends of the floor, and was a presence again in defending the rim. Let’s hope that now Timo looks as though he’s found himself, the Cavs quickly fit him into place so he doesn’t wind up going missing again.

Glue Together And Display

Even though we, and the rest of the basketball world, think we have a pretty good idea of what this Cavs team is capable of, once all of the pieces are in place, we won’t truly know for sure until the picture is complete. My family’s goal with our holiday jigsaws is to try and have them finished on Christmas Day, so we can glue them together, frame them and hang them on the wall in remembrance of what we accomplished together. Chances are, the Cavs won’t have this same luxury, as their Christmas Day test might be a little too soon in the season to draw any sort of concrete conclusions. Even if Kyrie is back and able to play on Cleveland’s yuletide trip to the Bay Area, the likelihood of him being at full-strength or potency is small. Still, it doesn’t really matter if the Cavs hit this (still early season) benchmark… their true deadline for the completion of this project isn’t until April, May and June. But, it will be genuinely exciting to see all the pieces on the floor and beginning to fit together snugly.

Personally, I can’t wait for the Cavs to finish this puzzle and memorialize what they’ve accomplished by hanging the evidence from the rafters at the Q come season’s end.