Cavaliers preview: Post-Finals momentum is all backward

Cleveland should be sitting on top of the world right now, and that has nothing to do with baseball's Indians. LeBron James has improved his jumper, the one thing holding him back from making the game of basketball unfair for everybody else.

Still, even with James certain to be improved, you won't find many picking the Cavs to win the Eastern Conference again. Not right now, at least. Too much remains unresolved.

LeBron and Co. would have more mo' if curly Anderson Varejao was under contract. (Getty Images)

Although the Cavaliers were rumored to be searching for a point guard to pair up with James, Larry Hughes, a shooting guard by trade, returns to man the position. Sasha Pavlovic, last year's starter at the two, is holding out for more money. So is Anderson Varejao, the top frontcourt reserve. When will they return? As far as GM Danny Ferry is concerned, when both come to their senses about what they're worth. He's unlikely to budge.

Varejao wants the type of payday that countryman Nene got from Denver, a salary of $10 million per season. That's more than three times the qualifying offer the Cavs have offered for Varejao to suit up this season. Although he's extremely valuable to the cause, it would be fiscally irresponsible for Ferry to relent and give him what he wants. Pavlovic doesn't want as much, but is in a similar situation.

Without two major pieces, the Cavaliers have little chance to maintain the positive vibes from their breakthrough season. Everyone in the rotation has moved up, and little-used guards like Damon Jones and Shannon Brown are set to pick up major minutes. Up front, Cleveland isn't equipped to survive without Varejao, but will try and get by with unheralded second-year forwards Cedric Simmons and Noel Felix. That's not going to get it done. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas can't hold things down on their own; if they try to, they will probably wear down once April and May come around.

This is not where Cleveland envisioned it would be after finally getting past Detroit and establishing itself as the new team to beat in the East. Free agents didn't come barging through their door with a desire to play with James. It's almost as if their run a few months ago never happened.

Although coach Mike Brown has stressed that his Cavs not rest on their laurels, momentum screeching to a halt wasn't in the plans, either.

"It's going to be a lot harder," Ilgauskas said about his team's chances to get back to the Finals. "We don't have the same team yet like we did last year. We still have a couple of pieces missing, but we still have some good players here. Hopefully we are going to be able to get it done."

Brown has been utilizing the preseason to see what his new faces can do, knowing he'll likely have to rely on a few of them to patch holes and build upon last year's success.

After back-to-back 50-win seasons and a trip to the league's biggest stage, this is not where anyone figured the Cavaliers would be. It's fine to have all these questions in October, but come March, there better be some answers. As it stands now, the Cavs are heading decidedly backward.