Can the reigning champion Cavaliers just 'flip a switch' in the NBA playoffs?

We thought maybe this would be the season where the Cleveland Cavaliers didn't bring drama with them.

Nope.

The Cavaliers started this season looking like the best Cavaliers team we've ever seen. Their synergy and chemistry were evident, they were switching and flying around, constantly moving the ball, and beating the pants off teams. They were awesome. The Cavs were 13-3 through the end of November. Everything looked great for the defending champs.

A weird thing happened though. They were 21st in defensive rating in November. But surely this was just a blip, and the champs would iron things out, right? Or so we thought. Cleveland would improve, with the 14th-best defense in December and January.

And then the wheels fell off. They plummeted to 23rd in February and 29th -- second worst in the league -- in March. Through April's limited games they finished 17th. Since the All-Star break, they have the second-worst defense in the NBA, with a higher defensive rating than any team that has ever made the NBA Finals. The Cavs have the second-worst defensive rating per Basketball Reference of any team that was won 50 games.

Or, to put it another way, they stink at defense. And as a result, for the first time since the King's return, they failed to secure the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

But is it coasting? Can they flip a switch? They've been so good in the playoffs, so dominant, that you don't want to get caught suckered into that trap again.

So which is it? Are the Cavs fine, or not fine? Let's examine our options.

Why the Cavaliers are probably fine

Are you really going to get suckered in again? What, last year wasn't enough for you? This team fired their head coach with the No.1 record. They had their star player, their franchise icon, losing his mind on Twitter. The man posted a cartoon of himself as Batman! They have had internal meetings, teammate fights, outright disdain for their coach, nightmarish losses, needed comebacks against bad teams, problematic injuries, all of this in the years before. They went down 3-1 in the NBA Finals to the best regular-season team of all time. This isn't any different from what we've seen out of the Cavs since James came back to Ohio.

And yet they made the Finals in both seasons. They were dominant in both seasons. They were better on offense and defense over that span in the playoffs. They tore through the conference with four losses, total, in two postseasons. They are a playoff juggernaut, the defending champs and you should put some respect on their name before you come around here with regular-season stats.

You know who's also on that list of teams with worst defensive ratings with 50 wins?

The 1990 Bulls. Eastern Conference finalists with Michael Jordan.
The '88 Celtics, Eastern Conference finalists with Larry Bird.
The 1992 Cavaliers, Eastern Conference finalists.
The 1995 Magic, Eastern Conference champions.

So we know you can get to the conference finals if you have 50 wins and a bad defense. From there? You and I both know that all you need is LeBron James.

The Cavs are going to need more out of Kevin Love and J.R. Smith in the postseason. USATSI

But if that's not enough for you, consider this. Their drop-off happened as a result of multiple factors. First, J.R. Smith's injury wrecked their perimeter defense. He has had a lot of personal stuff going on, but he's moving through it and playing better. Second, Kevin Love's injury. He has to get back to where he was earlier this season when he was playing some of the best defense of his career. And finally, the biggest gear in the playoffs as opposed to the regular season belongs to one Tristan Thompson. Thompson has looked average, mediocre, a replacement-level big for years in the regular season.

But in the playoffs? He becomes a fire-breathing dragon, hunched in front of the rim with claws bared and smoke rising from his nostrils. When the Cavs need their big man to do the work? He'll get there.

James, too, takes off the regular season. Go back and watch film, and you'll see it in the assignments he takes. He's not taking the best player every go. He's not matching up against Giannis Antetokounmpo. He's taking the off-ball shooters, playing free safety, and then closing out on shooters with regular-season effort. But in the playoffs? You know the King will be there. You can count on it.

You can't knock the King's defense in the playoffs. Just ask Andre Iguodala. Getty Images

Look, if we're being honest, this is who the Cavs are. It's who they've always been. They are that kid in high school who doesn't study for the test and then passes it anyway -- in the Eastern Conference at least. They can get by on talent. They are only ready for the moment when it is absolutely there. Like when they're down 3-1 in the NBA Finals. But they do rise to the challenge. You can convince me they can't beat the Warriors. But the playoffs are where actions speak louder than words.

All of this stuff is just noise.

Why the Cavaliers are probably not fine

Let me spin you a different take on these points.

What if the Cavs are closer to that regular-season mess of drama and malaise than a titanic dynamo? In 2015, they faced the inexperienced Celtics, lost two games to the mediocre Bulls and then swept Atlanta. Last season they swept the inexperienced Pistons, the Hawks and then lost two games to a Raptors squad that had lost three games in each of its previous series.

What did we really lean from that, other than "the East is bad and Atlanta has never figured out that if you don't guard their shooters, the Cavs will destroy you?"

Did we really decipher anything from that? We just look at the overall body of work and draw conclusions like "the Cavs are awesome," when we might want to ponder the fact that the East really is that bad. This season, it might not be that bad, and if that's the case, then what?

Of course, the Cavaliers beat the Warriors last year. But we know what an incredible upset that was, to not only beat Golden State, but come back from down 3-1. We play that series out 100 times and what happens?

Now let's look at this season. We know defense wins championships. Last season, with all that drama? They were 12th after the All-Star break defensively. They weren't this bad. We know defense wins championships, and that's what's missing.

Then there are the roster issues. The Cavaliers got caught up in a 3-point arms race with the Warriors, and it has bit them. They let Timofey Mozgov go (because the Lakers paid an obscene amount for him). They added Channing Frye, a 3-point stretch five who struggles with rebounding and rim protection, and is no spring chicken. They added Kyle Korver, and underrated defender a few years ago, but also a player whose defense has slipped in the past few seasons. They brought in Andrew Bogut, but he was injured, out for the season, in his first game with the Cavs.

The Cavs have about eight guys who can shoot the lights out, and not one of them can successfully grab a board in traffic.

So what we have is a flawed roster that might not have been as dominant in the past as we thought, getting exposed this season and winding up with the second seed. Here's the thing about drop-offs like this. You never see them coming until they happen. And even if the midst of longer championship runs, there are years where a team just doesn't have it, like the '83 Celtics. So don't be shocked if that switch never magically gets flipped, the defense still struggles and the Cavaliers fail to make the Finals.

Final verdict: They're going to be just fine

For all of those problems, tell me what team you're really worried about beating them. The Pacers, with no bench and limited offense? The Celtics, with a set of small guards and no history of being able to defend them in the slightest? The Wizards? The Raptors? Who do you actually think can beat them in the East?

So for the Eastern Conference playoffs ... they're fine. But this team is nowhere near the Warriors. They needed a 3-1 comeback last season, with a better team, to take down a Golden State team without Andrew Bogut, with a compromised Steph Curry and with Draymond Green missing a game for suspension. Oh, and Golden State added Kevin Durant. Kevin. Durant.

The problem is not whether the Cavs are fine or not, it's that their success hinges on a binary outcome. Did they win the championship, yes or no? And to do so, they have to be able to beat Golden State, and not only do they not look ready, they don't look capable. They know how hard it is to make the Finals, how hard it is to beat the Warriors. The Warriors got better. The Cavs did not.

Cleveland is compromised, flawed, struggling and lost. The Cavaliers can flip the switch and make it through the East, sure. But that won't change these very real vulnerabilities. The Cavs can't be their best in the playoffs. They have to be a different team entirely.

And we're running out of ways James can reinvent this team around him.