ORLANDO -- If the Cavaliers' doomsday scenario is LeBron James leaving this summer via free agency, then what would you call it if they fail to make the playoffs this year?

Disaster with a rotten cherry on top?

Here's what the Cavs call it: unfathomable.

"I don't think we'll be knocked out of the playoffs, no," coach Tyronn Lue said.

Here's where they stand after Monday's practice in Orlando, heading into a game Tuesday against the Magic:

They're a half-game up on Washington for third place in the East, and the Wizards play Monday night. The ninth-place team right now is Detroit, and the Cavs are only 5.0 games ahead of the Pistons. They're closer to ninth than they are to first-place Boston (7.5 games).

Cleveland is 6-12 since Christmas and its longest win streak during that stretch is two games, accomplished once.

"I don't think anybody's here not to make the playoffs," LeBron James said.

Well, no, of course not. Everyone signed up to go to the Finals for a fourth straight year (eighth straight for James, who hasn't missed the playoffs since his second season). It's preposterous, reject-out-of-hand outlandish to say out loud that a team with James is going to fail to finish in the top eight in the East. Surely, that five-game lead over the Pistons is safe enough?

The Cavs seem to think so. Just a word of warning, though. They held a four-game lead over Boston for first in the East last year on March 1 and blew it. Not an apples-to-apples comparison, no, as the conference's second-place team trying to overtake first should be expected to win more than whoever's in ninth trying to get into eighth.

But losing 12 out of 18 games counts as a free fall for a team headlined by James, and Kevin Love, and Isaiah Thomas, and Dwyane Wade, to name a few.

Yes, there are "yeah, but"s for a couple of those players and other Cavs, but a team who coming into the season was supposed to be the deepest in franchise history -- after three Finals runs, no less -- has underachieved.

"We gotta stop worrying about the past," James said over the weekend. "This is this season and we haven't played well versus anyone."

It would be an upset of mythical proportions for Cleveland to actually fail to reach the playoffs, but the Cavs actually do have to play a little better, win more often, to make sure they get there.

"I mean we're still going to make the playoffs," Lue said. "There's no doubt about that. We're still confident in that for sure."

The Cavs are coming off a 120-88 loss to Houston -- their fourth loss by 24 or more points since Jan. 1. Lue said he was waiting to make any lineup, rotation, or schematic changes until Thursday's trade deadline.

"See what we have and see what happens," he explained. "Right now just gotta stay with where we're at right now and just play better."

Lue said he hasn't had "a lot of interaction" with Cleveland's front office about potential targets in trades, and a team source said Lue is "kept aware of things that may get serious." Read into that what you will as far as how close the Cavs may be to a potential deal.

Then again, they can't be too far off. The deadline expires at 3 p.m. Thursday.