Why it's not LeBron James or bust for the Cavaliers

From an emotional standpoint, Cavaliers fans and much of Ohio likely feel this summer is LeBron James or bust. That's understandable. When you're emotionally invested in the possibility of reacquiring the best player alive, having to settle for, say, Trevor Ariza instead just isn't the same.

The Cavs did make another short-sighted move today in what is an increasingly long line of them, attaching Tyler Zeller, a 2012 first-round pick who had a solid sophomore season in 2013-14, Sergey Karasev, a 2013 first-round pick who no one really knows much about yet, and a future first rounder to a three-way deal with the Celtics and Nets that frees them from the three years and just under $19 million still owed to Jarrett Jack. The Jack signing a year ago was a questionable move in itself.

If today's obviously cap-clearing move is a precursor to LeBron James signing on the dotted line, the deal will be well worth it. If James elects to stay in Miami or move elsewhere, once again, today's transaction will simply fall into place alongside the many puzzling decisions the Cavs have made in recent years. Add in the disappointment and heartbreak of missing out on James, and it's understandable why many feel Cleveland now has to get him.

But the thing is, the Cavs' futility in the post-James era and their own incompetence has resulted in Dan Gilbert and co. being blessed with an almost unbelievable amount of lottery luck. And even though they've made their share of mistakes with those lottery picks, Cleveland still has a plethora of young, talented assets to build with going forward, headlined by two legitimate building blocks in Kyrie Irving and recent No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins.

Irving may not be worth the max money the Cavs have already handed him, but he is a young All-Star that almost any team would want in their organization's plans going forward, and the Cavs now have him locked up through the 2019-20 season. Wiggins may not be the LeBron-like phenom some hoped for when he committed to Kansas over a year ago. But few are, and he remains an athletic freak with immediate defensive potential and incredible overall upside. His rookie scale contract will lock him up for the next four years.

As poorly run as the Cavs have been for the last number of years, they've landed a young combination in Irving and Wiggins that most teams would covet, and they should be able to foster their development together for the next half-decade.

Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Anthony Bennett all have their flaws. But barring Waiters and Thompson seeing their development fall off a cliff or Bennett failing to improve, they are all young, intriguing assets. Whether the Cavaliers hold on to these players for the long haul or include them in trade packages in an attempt to land bigger names, they remain intriguing assets around an Irving-Wiggins core.

Obviously any time you're talking about "potential" and "possibilities," it pales in comparison to what LeBron James can surely bring to the floor. And with James in hand in a weak Eastern Conference that would then include a dismantled Heat team - and perhaps Kevin Love alongside the King - the Cavs would have to be considered among the favorites - if not the favorite - to emerge from that conference year after year. That remains the best case scenario for Cleveland, as no one would be foolish enough to argue that a team would be better off without James.

But the 'James or bust' notion assumes that a team is back to square one without him. And as poorly run as the Cavs have been, for as many poor decisions - cough, Mike Brown, cough - as they've made, their futility has resulted in them putting together a pretty exciting young nucleus that might not be that far away.

Perhaps Dan Gilbert, David Griffin and co. will find a way to mess it up. Perhaps the youngsters won't develop as they hope. Those are certainly possibilities that are much less likely with James in tow to steer the ship.

But for as great a boom as LeBron James rejoining the Cavs would be, the team actually seems to have assembled something that won't go bust without him.