The two sets of double doors were unlocked, there were chairs in the media workroom and the opaque door that leads to the pristine facility was just begging to be crossed through. On this day, Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant would keep everyone from needing to step on to the hardwood floor with their pen and paper, but the fact that there was finally a meeting, the team able to speak to the media about players, was a giant high-topped step in the right direction.
While Anderson Varejao, Ramon Sessions, Manny Harris and Samardo Samuels would be on the premises, no one who receives a check from the Cavaliers outside of the communications staff is allowed to speak with them until the season starts one week from today. While fans have a lot of questions – How’s Kyrie Irving’s foot? Is Ramon Sessions going to be traded? – it will be at least a week until we are all provided response, be they canned or candid.
While some fans may still be angry over what happened in the summer of 2010 or the lockout or the fact that things do not appear to be different than they were in seasons past, the fact that players are attending voluntary workouts speaks well to the mental state of what was a 19-win locker room. Soon, the wanting public will be provided a scrimmage, the annual Wine and Gold game where players young and old will run in practice jerseys. Then two preseason games (hear that NFL?), then the regular season will commence. Who the Cavaliers will be playing and when they will lock horns is still to be determined.
The fact that basketball is back, however, is as definitive as ever.
No longer is this Cavalier roster littered with veterans and unsigned rookies. No longer are there lingering questions about which players will be considered the face of the franchise. No longer are there rumors and speculation surrounding what the Cavs would (not) be afforded if in fact there were no basketball played between now and this spring.
Camp will break, rookies will get signed and this team will finally be taking the necessary steps to return to prominence. It won’t be an overnight fix, but then again, what has in this city of ours? There is no denying that – with Irving and Tristan Thompson added to the roster – this team is more talented today than it was five months ago.
The exciting part will be seeing the process unfold.
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(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
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