The Cleveland Cavaliers endured poorly when LeBron departed at the start of the 2010/11 season. Till 2013/14, they finished in lower places of the Eastern Conference, no where close to the playoff spots. When LeBron signed for the Cavaliers in 2014, they brought in Kevin Love to form a new star trio of the King, Love and Kyrie Irving.

2014/15, a team that was in the draft lottery finished the regular season 2nd in the East with a 53-29 record. They stormed through the playoffs to face the high-flying Warriors.

Despite Losing Kevin Love to injury against Boston in the first round of the playoffs, and Irving in the finals, LeBron James single handedly carried his team, but the support was not there, and after taking a 2-1 lead in the Finals, The Warriors rallied to win the next 3 matches to take the Series.

2015/16 looked uncertain with Love wanting to leave the team and many of the players still free agents, people were wondering what would happen to the Cavaliers. The free agency period saw not only LeBron recommit to the Cavs, but the biggest and pleasant surprise came from Kevin Love who public declared his intention to stay with the Cavaliers and signed a 5 year deal.

Along with Love and the King, Irving was already committed and had a contract in force with the team. But many additions who were made mid-way through the 2014/15 season, were brought onboard. this included Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith (who ended up losing more money by opting out and than re-signing late), Matthew Dellavedova and also Mo Williams, Richard Jefferson have signed.

They also let Kendrick Perkins go (who hardly played with the team) and Shawn Marion announced his retirement. Like many of the other big teams, the core of the Cavaliers has stayed intact. They have a great tactician in their coach. The question is, will the nerves hold steady (in the 2015 Finals, James Jones and LeBron James were the only players with experience of playing in the finals).

The answer is simple : Yes

Experience is the best teacher, and while Warriors won the title in a convincing manner, the Cavaliers went down fighting, especially without 2 of their 3 star players. Now, the team will be ready to fight. Luckily they will realistically face competition only from Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks and maybe the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference, thereby getting a good playoff seed will be easy.

To avoid the hiccups last season they will need to keep the squad healthy and motivated. Teamwork and team chemistry is going to be better, as it looks like Love and James have sorted their last seasons issues out.

Realistically, there should be no surprise seeing the Cavaliers make the Eastern Conference Finals at the very least (if not winning). The question is, can they really hold their nerves against a stern Western Conference Champion in the series that matters most?