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Cleveland Cavaliers
Overall: 34
Title track: 51
Ownership: 37
Coaching: 90
Players: 23
Fan relations: 25
Affordability: 50
Stadium experience: 40
Bang for the buck: 46
Change from last year: +67
No team in our rankings of 122 professional franchises jumped more than the Cavaliers, who a year ago were rated 101st. That's fitting, because no other team remade itself as spectacularly as Cleveland did.
What's good
In the players category, the Cavs are ranked 23rd, quite appropriate when you consider the impact of their world-class No. 23, LeBron James. The roster also features the likes of Kyrie Irving and ESPN The Magazine Body Issue model Kevin Love. But with just the seventh-best players ranking in the NBA, this Cavs group might really grow on fans if it can bring Cleveland a long-awaited championship.
What's bad
The funny part about the much-maligned David Blatt coming in at No. 90 among coaches is that he represents a significant improvement over the Cavs' coaching rank last year. In 2014, Cleveland was 121st in coaching after Mike Brown had been fired for the second time in four years, his tenure sandwiching an equally disappointing stint on the sideline by Byron Scott. Despite rumors swirling around Blatt's job security all season, the coach steered his team to the Finals with his season-long faith in backup guard Matthew Dellavedova paying off in the playoffs. That said, coaching is still the lowest-rated category for the Cavs by a wide margin.
What's new
It's good to be The King, or even associated with The King, as the Cavs jumped 67 spots up the list, showing progress in almost every category. Yet the improvement won't fully pay off until it leads to the first championship in franchise history. "I guess it speaks to the fact that we've been successful in executing on a few things, but at the end of the day, we don't care what we're ranked," Cleveland general manager David Griffin said. "We want to be the best franchise we can possibly be, and I'm grateful that people are seeing that we're moving in the right direction. But we've got a lot of work to do."
Next: Houston Rockets | Full rankings