Get A Bucket Show

Cavaliers 07 Success: More than Just LeBron

• Tré

Share episode

Send us a text

The episode highlights the often-overlooked contributions of the 2006-2007 Cavaliers, addressing the narrative that LeBron James single-handedly led the team to the Finals. By analyzing statistical comparisons across various impactful areas, it aims to give credit to the entire roster while comparing it to the current Cavs lineup. 

• Discussing the slander against the 07 Cavs team 
• Comparing the scoring statistics with other playoff teams 
• Analyzing rebounding capabilities among the rosters 
• Highlighting playmaking contributions beyond LeBron 
• Exploring steals and defensive stats in context 
• Debunking the myth of LeBron carrying the Cavs alone 
• Relating current Cavs performance to past squads 
• Encouraging listener engagement on team narratives

Support the show

https://linktr.ee/GetABucketShow for more content!!!

Speaker 1:

What's up everybody.

Speaker 1:

It's your favorite show, favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, trayn, as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Now you know how this goes. Today we're going to talk about the 06-07 Cavalier Squad. Reason why? Well, a couple things. One, I've been hearing some slander about that team right. Meanwhile, this year's squad, the 2024-20, 2024, 2025 Cavs team, I've been hearing some praise and it's very funny to me because I think, granted, right, the the Cavs squad, when we talking about them, you got to give them some sort of props, right, like they have been hooping a little bit. They are currently number one in the East, a half a game away from being number one in the league. Someone might say, hey, they could be contenders. I think it's fair to call them a contender, but throw a pretender contender like something like that. I wouldn't call them. They're not my strongest candidates to win the championship this season, but you can give them a little praise, right. That 06-07 Cavs team gets nothing but slander. Hell, that's part of the reason why Braun gets called the greatest of all time by some players. Oh, he carried that 07 Cavs team to the finals and they were bums and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All right, cool, I'm going to just say this right now Stop disrespecting that 07 Cavs team. They were actually a lot better than what people give them credit for, a lot better. Let's go ahead and compare them to some teams. That one made the playoffs that season. The Cavs made the playoffs too. Again, they went to the finals. Ladies and gentlemen, braun was on the team, but he was hooping. You got to tip your cap, tor. Not taking away from Braun, I'm highlighting the other 14 players on the roster. They weren't that bad. So let's talk about the Cavaliers, right? The Pistons, the Nets, the Spurs, who ended up winning it that season, and the Lakers. Keep in mind, cavs were 50 and 32. The Pistons, who went to the semifinals, 53 and 29. The Nets, who? Where'd they go? I forget where they went. Ultimately, I think, second round, 41 and 29. The Nets, who? Where'd they go? I forget where they went. Ultimately, I think, second round, 41 and 41. The Spurs, like I said, they won it. They were 58 and 24. And my Lakers? At that time, we were 42 and 40. All right.

Speaker 1:

So how I'm breaking this down, this comparison, I'm going to try to keep it basic, a little high level-ish, right, everyone loves to focus on points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks. Those are the five basic stats that people follow. If you look at box scores, right, that's what they follow. Some people do say field goal deficiency, three-point efficiency and then free throws as well, all this other stuff. These are the typical ones, right. And then free throws as well, all this other stuff. These are the typical ones, right.

Speaker 1:

So in the NBA, I'm measuring the top 50 for points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Okay, for scoring the Nets, they had one. Vince Carter was number nine. Detroit they had two people in the top 50. Again, richard Hamilton, rip it was his nickname number 28 out of 50. And Chauncey Billups he was number 51.

Speaker 1:

Now, keep in mind, for all of these stats, there were some people who did not quite reach my game threshold, so these numbers might technically shift up and down. So I gave people a little grace period if they were in that 50 to 55 slot. Just keep that in mind. There was a four to five people drop off. Typically, the Detroit Pistons, like I said, had two. The Spurs had three people Tim Duncan at number 26, tony Parker at number 36, manu at 57. So Manu was cool. He could be a little questionable. You could say 2-3. So we talked about the Nets, detroit and the Pistons and the Spurs. The Cavs had two. So again, the Nets had one, detroit had two, spurs had two to three, the Cavs had two top 50 scores and LeBron James at number four and Larry Hughes at number 49. All right. So people who are saying, hey, bron didn't have anybody else, well, he had a top 50 score on his squad, my Lakers had one person. He was Kobe Bean Bryant. He was number one scorer of the league that season. Talk to me, baby.

Speaker 1:

Now let's go ahead and talk about elite rebounding. Again, the Cavs squad didn't have anybody, according to people, right, and we're comparing them to those teams that made the playoffs. So the Nets for rebounding remember top 50, might be a little generous on the 50-55. The Nets had two players Jason Kidd, who ranked number 28 out of 50, and Danad Kristic, who ranked number 50 out of 50. Shout out to Danad, right, barely making the cut, but he made it. Detroit had one, rasheed Wallace at number 39, which is crazy to think about, but cool, we here. The Spurs had one, and we're talking about rebounders, ladies and gentlemen. That was Tim Duncan. He was number 10. My Lakers had one rebounder in the top 50. That was Lamar Odom at number 16.

Speaker 1:

The Cavs had two to four top 50 rebounders and, again, based on my stats, based on my criteria, we're going to give them four, right? Drew Gooden, number 26. Zydranas Agauskas Big Z is what we call him Number 34, all right. Anderson Varejao, number 52. And LeBron James, number 51. Keep in mind Big Z. He was an all-star two seasons prior to this very season and then two seasons prior to that. So 03 and 05, he was, you know, all-stars. But it's okay, it is what it is. Right, cavs didn't have nobody. They had, again, equivalent scoring and equivalent, actually the most rebounding out of the five teams that we've listed. But again, y'all are saying that the Cavs didn't have nobody.

Speaker 1:

Let's go down to playmaking Assist, right? The Nets, again talking about top 50, 50 to 55, that threshold will allow a grace period. The Nets had two players in the top 50. Jason Kidd at number three. Man was hooping that season, won't he? And then Vince Carter at number 36. The Detroit Pistons had one, one playmaker, chauncey Billups, in the top 10. Number 10. The Spurs had one playmaker in the top 50. That was Tony Parker, number 22.

Speaker 1:

Here's the thing that tripped me out a little bit my Lakers had two players in the top 15 playmaking-wise. That was Kobe at number 25 and Lamar at number 35. I'm just saying people who said Kobe won the playmaker, I'll let you boy. Now these Cavs, they had two top 50 assisters as well LeBron James at number 17 and then Eric Snow at number 54. So I'm just saying again, they're comparable rebounding, scoring and playmaking so far.

Speaker 1:

But y'all say, though LeBron carried the squad, all right, cool, let's talk about steals. We had number four now in the basic stats out of the five. All right, cool, let's talk about steals. We're at number four now on the basic stats out of the five. Remember that In terms of steals and we're talking about those five playoff teams right now, 50 to 55 is that threshold ranking-wise that will allow these grace period.

Speaker 1:

The Nets in the 07 series had season, had one player in the top 50 steals. That was jason kidd, number 17. Detroit had one person in top 50 for steals. That was johnson billetson, number 41. The spurs had one as well manu ginobili for number 23 at number 23. The lakers, my lakers, we actually had two smush parker, ironically at number 24 and kobe bryant at ironically number 25, like it was kind of funny. I thought that was very interesting. The calves, they had two as well in the top 50 for steals lebrBron James at number 16, and then Larry Hughes at number 34. But again Bron ain't have nobody. Okay, I mean, I hear it Sound nice, but again he ain't have nobody.

Speaker 1:

How about for the fifth one Top 50 blockers, right For the Nets in 07, they had one person in the top 50 in blocks. That was Mickey Moore. He was number 43. The Detroit Pistons had three players in the top 50 for blocks. That was Rasheed Wallace, number 17, antonio McDyess, number 41, and Tayshaun Prince, number 49. The Spurs had two players Tim Duncan at number five and Francisco Elson at number 36. The Lakers, my Lakers. We had two players Andrew Bynum at number 15. He was young and you know what I'm saying. He was damn. I miss Bynum. And then Ronnie Turrell, number 32.

Speaker 1:

Now, these Cavs, they had one person. So like, finally, they're on the lower side of these rankings in these five teams because they had one person that was big Z at number 25 in top 50 blocks, right, all right. So again, Braun had no help getting to the finals. Braun didn't have a good team. How about double-digit scores? Okay. Now, surprisingly, my Lakers had four, All right. The Nets, they had five. The Pistons, they had five. The Spurs, they had three. The Cavaliers, they had four and, if I'm honest with you, one more person averaged nine points a game. So they almost had five players averaging double digits scoring that season. But again, lebron drugged that team to the finals.

Speaker 1:

Do not get me wrong, ladies and gentlemen. Lebron James had a phenomenal season that season. You cannot sit up here and talk about LeBron James having a down year. That year. He gave 27, six assists and seven rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks for the season. Then, during the playoffs, he gave 25 points eight assists, eight rebounds, 1.7 steals and 0.5 blocks, again for the playoffs. That ain't bad. And it's not like he was hacking. He was only averaging two fouls, mind you. You get six. So Buddy was hooping, but so were other players on his team. His team was pretty solid.

Speaker 1:

So again, when we say that Braun carried this Cavalier squad, ladies and gentlemen, we got to stop being unfair to them. We really, truly do. Again, two top 50 scorers, while Detroit and the Spurs had two to three Elite rebounding for me because they had the most rebounders in the top 50 out of those five teams Playmaking. They were sitting at the top, tied with Nets and my Lakers for number two. The steals they were tied with my Lakers again for number two. And blocks they were finally at the bottom of the barrel with the Nets, who again were a solid playoff team, and they were one person away from having a tie with the Nets for double digit scores on the squad.

Speaker 1:

Ladies and gentlemen, if y'all have heard this episode about the Cavs squad and you still feel as though that Cavs squad was completely dragged by LeBron James, I don't know what to tell you. That just means you truly are a LeBron fan and you don't want to listen to reason. Again, I'm not saying LeBron James didn't do his thing. I'm saying y'all have to give these boys they just do, similarly to how we give the 2024-2025 Cavs team they just do. Don't get me wrong Talent-wise might be a little bit better across the board for this year's Cavs team than the seven squad.

Speaker 1:

I hear you. You still got it. It's not like Donovan Mitchell is carrying the team. Everybody even played their positions well, even last season, season before, these boys have been hooping well, playing as a solid team. Yeah, they losing early. Talking about this year's Cavs, this iteration of Cavs, yes, they've been losing a little early, but they played a role. That Cavs team in 07 played their role as well and they went to the finals. Shout out to LeBron for helping them get there, but they definitely did their thing too. So that 07 squad deserved that record that they got and deserved way more praise than what they get.

Speaker 1:

But, ladies and gentlemen, I want to hear from you what you think about this. Do y'all still feel like that 06-07 Cav squad was dragged by LeBron James, or are you giving them a little bit more love after hearing the breakdown Again of those top five stats? Stats ain't everything I'll give you, but that's got to give you something to say. You know what Bron had more help than we thought, but I would got to give you something to say. You know what Braun had more help than we thought, but I would love to hear y'all thoughts. So please like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. Hope you all are having a good one. Take care.