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I hate this.
Taj Gibson, Mike Dunleavy, and DJ Augustin combine for 73 points against the Cavs. Yes, really.
— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) January 23, 2014
I really hate this. I didn't know it would take this long. I was working on a political campaign when The Decision happened. On a political campaign, there is no way to understate the hours you put in. I got hired onto the campaign in late March, and between then and early November when the race ended, I had one day off for a friend's wedding. Worked every day, every weekend, everything. Most days you get to the office at 9 am and leave at 10 pm. Sometimes its later.
The night of The Decision my boss let me leave work for an hour to go watch. I was pretty convinced that he was going to leave. I didn't know what to think about what that meant. The Cavs had been one of the most fun things I had in my life for the six or so years leading up to that night. I sat there in that bar watching, wondering what would happen to the Cavs. This has all been worse than I could have guessed.
That night is why tonight happened. The Cavaliers are awful. They just lost to a Chicago Bulls team that traded away an All-Star, is missing an MVP, and was missing several other crucial components. Except, they weren't crucial. Not against this Cavaliers team. But the Cavaliers have been awful for 3 seasons and 42 games now. This isn't surprising anymore. It's just numbing.
Last night, some people on twitter were bringing up some old tweets from around the time of The Decision.
Raptors have told Cavs they would do a sign-and-trade with them for Bosh. Cavs and LeBron working to convince Bosh to join them in Cleveland
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) July 6, 2010
And I started to get depressed about it.
The Decision really hurt.
— David Zavac (@DavidZavac) January 22, 2014
Spending so much time defending a guy that you ultimately hated.
— David Zavac (@DavidZavac) January 22, 2014
And I don't feel bad for not getting over LeBron leaving. Why? My team is garbage. It's been garbage for three years.
— David Zavac (@DavidZavac) January 22, 2014
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been garbage since that night. Luol Deng isn't a wand you can wave to make that stop. Anderson Varejao isn't enough. Kyrie Irving isn't enough. I'm not even entirely sure why that's the case. The front office has done dumb things, and we can argue about which ones were dumb and how dumb but it doesn't change the fact that obsessing over this team is a bad choice.
Kyrie Irving had a good stretch tonight of offense and Dion Waiters might have gotten out of a slump and oh, boy Varejao was everywhere and blah blah blah. Tristan Thompson was a disaster. No one from the 2013 draft did anything. Jarrett Jack and Earl Clark were largely irrelevant, and Andrew Bynum is already gone.
The Cavaliers are now 15-27. I wrote almost a year ago that the Cavs were in limbo until another Decision was made. Seems like a bit of a worse place than limbo at this point.
This is melodramatic, and the Cavs aren't doomed or anything. But I am tired, and I have to believe the fanbase is too.