Commentary: Want another parade in Cleveland? The Cavs -- yes, the Cavs -- may be your best chance

As Cleveland's sports fans have come to realize over time, generally speaking, the best that can be hoped for is that one of the city's three teams is worthy of our unrestrained attention in any given year. Less than that has frequently been the norm. More than that, history tells us, invites charges of shameless gluttony. Unfortunately, the teams seem to agree, because rare it is that more than one of Cleveland's teams ever becomes really good simultaneously. The last time it happened was 2016, when the Cavs won Cleveland's first world championship trophy in 52 years while the Indians came within one victory of their first World Series trophy in 68 years. But, alas, parades apparently aren't really our thing. Teamwork, however, is, and the way the teams work around here is that most of the time there is always one of the three picking up the slack left by the other two. To wit: Ladies and gentlemen, your 2021-22 Cleveland Cavaliers. Following 2021 seasons in which the former Indians barely even tried to compete and the Browns simply imploded, the LeBron-less Cavs have come trudging heroically out of the debris with one of the best feel-good stories and deliciously watchable rosters in the NBA. The Cavs recently rewarded coach J.B. Bickerstaff with a lengthy contract extension, and on Wednesday extended the contract, and expanded the title, of general manager Koby Altman. Those two pieces of business are well-deserved, because both men led the way in hacking the Cavs out of the choking post-LeBron rainforest that inevitably engulfs a franchise abandoned by the sport's greatest global icon. The Cavs' reboot took a little longer than expected, but if you've been paying attention this season, it's been worth the wait. With a core of Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley — ages 21, 23, and 20 respectively — the Cavs have in place the foundation for an extended run of not just relevancy, but continued ascendancy, and, with the right mixture of further roster seasoning, perhaps even supremacy. All of a sudden, well, let's just put it out there. Have the Cavs become Cleveland's current best hope as the city's next parade generator? The Indians are still a very well-run organization, but one forever challenged by its inability to compete financially, the only one of Cleveland's three teams that is, to a fault, fiscally limited. Browns and Cavs ownerships are both, to all appearances, financially robust, but there's more to building a winning team than the owners' net worth. The stakes are high, and it wasn't that long ago that the financially challenged Indians outperformed the wealthier but acumen-challenged Cavs and Browns. However, the Cavs, in the last year, have emerged as astute roster builders, and in a sport built on roster sizes that are a fraction of those of football and baseball, artistic turnarounds can sometimes happen seemingly overnight. Welcome to 8 a.m. for the resurgent, rebuilt and re-invigorated Cavaliers. Altman's roster tweaking has been brilliant. His preseason trade with Minnesota for Ricky Rubio in exchange for Taurean Prince and a second-round draft pick was a home run, until Rubio suffered a season-ending knee injury. But Altman salvaged that devastating loss by trading for Rajon Rondo, who is not Rubio's match offensively but a much better defender and with a basketball IQ equal to Rubio's. Three-ball wizard Cedi Osman has repaid the Cavs for their patience with him. Altman also appears to have a knack for acquiring off-Broadway bit players such as Dean Wade and Lamar Stevens, who can come off the bench, play hard and contribute. A team that plays good defense is usually an indicator of good coaching. The Cavs were not a good defensive team last season under Bickerstaff. But this season they have suddenly become one of the best defensive teams in the league. Part of it is the thicket of 7-footers — Allen, Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen — opponents must deal with while trying to get to the hoop. But even the Cavs' perimeter players play hard and smart. Cleveland's 102.5 points allowed per game is the best in the Eastern Conference and second best in the NBA, behind only Golden State (101.3). The Cavs' point differential of +4.7 is the best in the East. You won't find them on many nationally televised games because the league and the networks understandably thought very little of the Cavs who over the three previous seasons were a combined 99 games under .500. But then Altman traded for Allen, used the third pick in the draft to select Mobley, who will likely become the Cavs' third NBA Rookie of the Year (Lebron and Kyrie Irving), and traded for Markkanen to complete the Cavs' picket fence of 7-footers. Bickerstaff somehow got everyone to buy into his defensive schemes, Kevin Love joined the party and all of a sudden, the Cavs have become the most watchable and interesting of Cleveland's three teams. Contact Jim Ingraham at 329-7135 or jingraham4@gmail.com.