Hey everyone, it's A.C. here! What's happening?

Well, we're ready to tip things off and I'm sure you're as excited for the Cavs season as I am.

It's so important that the entire team was together for a full Training Camp. No holdouts, no injuries. The team is all together now, and this is the team they're going to war with. Being together for Camp is huge. It brings a certain amount of camaraderie and confidence.

Being all together in Camp, they can go over plays that they may have messed up, go over it again, try it again and see what is the best way to run it. Now, when they go into battle, everyone's going to be on the same page. Ready and prepared. Luck is the residue of good preparation. That's how the ball bounces your way later in the season.

(Training Camp is much different than it was back in my day. The difference between now and then - now, I think the Collective Bargaining Agreement says that you can't have but one full-contact scrimmage per day. If you practice twice a day, only one can be contact. We had one year where we had 30 straight days of two-a-days and we worked hard every practice. Thirty straight days! We were so anxious to play against somebody else that we couldn't wait for the season to start. We were about to kill each other.)

The Cavs come into the season knowing they gave it away in Boston last year. They should have beat Boston - they know that. So they know how good they are, and I think that's what brings the confidence. Plus, Danny and Lance and Chris have done a great job of changing the team. We have much more speed now. I think we're a little stronger around the basket now. And we're younger.

A lot of people were criticizing us for not doing anything over the summer - every other team was doing this and that. But Danny, behind the scenes (along with Chris Grant and Lance Blanks) kept their heads cool, didn't get upset, didn't let fans and talk shows affect them. They stuck to their game plan. And in the end, they've come out - I think - smelling like a rose.

There's a new feel to the Cavaliers this year. And I think, obviously, you have to start with the point guard position. Naturally, Mo is going to be the lead guy. And I think Boobie has really established himself as a guy off the bench who can deliver. And then Delonte can either start at the two or back up Sasha or Wally.

It's all a good situation. We're much quicker now in the backcourt and if Sasha can regain his form from two years ago, we're going to be tough. We're going to be real tough. Because now we can go big, we can go small. We can half-court you, we can full-court you. We can press you. It gives us so many options. Coach Brown has to be salivating.

The shooting guard spot would really be strong if Sasha can regain his form and confidence. Think about it: myself, Ron Harper, World B. Free - that's been it as far as production out of that position. And Sasha has the potential to be just as good as all of us, if he just puts his mind to it. He seems focused. He seems to be healthy now. Just based on how he's talking, it sounds like Sasha's ready to go.

If he can come out and get into his defensive mode like he did two years ago, and do some scoring from the outside, we're going to be really tough to beat, because you're going to have size and quickness out there at the same time. It's going to be really interesting to see how it works out.

One guy's confidence you never have to worry about is the L-Train - LeBron James.

Looking at him, you can tell he's even better - (and bigger) - than last year. He's been lifting.

It's hard to imagine him improving on what he's already accomplished, but he says he's five-times better. I think, because he started so young - coming straight out of high school - that he's still learning the pro game. He's getting in-tuned to the pro game and that's what I think he means by "improving."

LeBron is understanding how to be more effective in the professional game. In other words, learning how not to expend too much energy to get the job done. You find the shortest route to reach the result. And as great as he is, that's something that comes with experience. With guys around him being able to step up and score, he's not expending all his energy all the time. And I really think he'll be able to get some rest this year because he has other guys who can keep the offense going while he's on the bench. That bodes really well for the postseason.

Coach Brown must be ecstatic with the horses he's got now. They've gone from a plodding, methodical team to a squad that can now really run the floor.

I think Mike started incorporating this vision two years ago, when he wanted the team to push the ball up the floor, down the sidelines. They had their vision for this type of team a couple years ago. But they had to wait and be patient and find the kind of personnel that they wanted. And I think he's going to implement a lot of new stuff now.

To me, Mike Brown would be a perfect coach to play for, because he kind of lets you have the offense as long as you play defense. Like Bill Fitch would tell us - (especially our second unit, because we were kind of run-and-gun) - he would say, "If you play defense, go out there and have fun on offense. But you have to defend." And I think that's what Mike Brown's mantra has always been.

If they defend, now they have guys who can push it and deliver on the other end. That's the key. You'll see fastbreaks now where you'll have Mo Williams coming down the middle with LeBron on one side and Boobie on the other. And it's pick your poison - who are you going to try to stop? One of them might stick the jumper, one might take it all the way. It could be very nice.

I think the team now realizes that every game is crucial. Home court advantage is gold in the NBA. They realize that if we had homecourt advantage, we would have beat Boston. Really we should have beaten them. They didn't play well because they were still shell-shocked from Atlanta. Had we had those first two games at home - things might have turned out much differently. I think they understand that.

They have a tough road schedule right off the bat. If they come out of the first 10 games at .500, I'll be happy. If we do come out at .500 - that'll mean that we've beaten some good teams on the road. And then we'll be ready to roll. I think they are focused and understand that they have to come out of the blocks ready to play, it's a full season - there will be no coasting.

Hey everyone, it's A.C. here! What's happening?

Sorry I haven't written this summer, but I've been on the IR while I recovered from a knee replacement.

It was something I've had to do because it's been hurting me for almost 30 years now. When I first hurt it, people don't realize that I played the next five years with no ACL, no MCL and no cartilage in my knee.

I remember when it happened: I was trying to change direction, and for some reason my foot didn't go with my body. And it just snapped right there. We were playing Kansas City. I didn't really feel that bad with it that night. But I had to have another corrective surgery and I was only able to really strengthen the muscles around the knee. I limped for the next five seasons.

Then one night, I remember I was playing against Otis Birdsong, and he went by me so fast that I said, ‘It's time for me to leave the game now.' I couldn't react fast enough. It was my tenth year in the league and it was just too much pain.

I used to carry 30 pounds of dead weight on the road with me and as soon as I got to the hotel room, I'd lift, lift, lift. At home, I'd have 30 pounds in front of the TV and just continue to lift. I had to do that for five years just to play. And it just got to the point where I got tired of rehabbing.

After I retired - playing golf on it as much as I was - after a while the doctor said the knee was just going to collapse. So I finally had to have this done, just to get rid of the pain.

The way I see it - and I'm not one to complain about what happened because I'm more of a person that, whatever cards I'm dealt, I'm going to find the best way to make them play right - but the injuries cost me a lot of production, and a whollllle lot of money. And possibly a position in the League's Top 50, had I been healthy.

But I don't cry over spilled milk. And it turned out for the better. Cleveland's my home, and I love it here.

Enough about me, let's talk a little about the Cavaliers and LeBron's great run in the Olympics ...

Obviously, I'm very excited about the addition of Mo Williams. He's something this team has really needed. 

First of all, if you've noticed over the past couple seasons, the Cavaliers have been looking to push the ball up the floor. Now, we have more than one person to push the ball. And we have two guys now who can beat you off the dribble.

Now, what that does: you can't double-team both of these guys - Mo and LeBron. So you're going to have to guard them with "half" a guy - hedging and cheating. That's going to give other guys the opportunity to get open. It'll give a guy who's a jump shooter an extra foot to get a shot off. These are little increments that we're talking about, but they're big in the scope of how things work on the floor.

I've heard the argument that Mo Williams isn't a good defender, but I'm not sure I buy it. And he's heard it and is aware of that.

He played on a team that was known for not playing defense. That doesn't mean he can't play defense. Everyone that plays with Phoenix - they said none of those players could play defense - but you saw that Shawn Marion did pretty well when he went to Miami. He was pretty defensive-minded there.

To me, if you're an athlete, you can play both ends of the floor. You see what LeBron has done with his defense since he's been focused on it. I just think Mo will focus on it more because Coach Brown is going to make him focus on it.

As far as what this means with the Delonte West situation, this will probably give the Cavaliers more leverage with Delonte. But really, I don't see anything wrong with Delonte, Boobie and Mo in your backcourt and coming off the bench. That's a nice set of guards.

And I think Mo's presence is going to help Boobie a lot. Because even though the coaches are teaching Boobie to use his dribble to get guys open, watching Mo and guarding him in practice will help Boobie understand how to use his dribble to get things done. And I think he's the one who'll benefit most from playing with Mo - because he's going to see firsthand how to use his dribble to get himself and other teammates open.

While he's away in Beijing, LeBron said he was happy about the trade. He hasn't had too much to be unhappy about during the Olympics. You watch him and you can tell: He's a man among boys. He's the leader because his play has made him the leader. He's leading by example.

He's doing some things that I haven't seen done in a while, like that play against China where he just caught that shot in the air. You can see his dominance is not just in the physical part of the game, it's the basketball IQ.

You can see guys out there are "system guys" and they don't always do well in the Olympics. Some guys are system guys, like (Carlos) Boozer. He's a "system guy." He's not going to play well in this surrounding. You have to be able to "see" things and he doesn't see them now that he's outside his system. Dwight Howard is like that. He has to see it. LeBron doesn't have to see it to understand it. He's a special human being.

Again, aside from the physical aspect of the game, LeBron has been gifted with two things: basketball IQ and common sense. He has the ability to listen well enough to understand things right away and make the right decisions. Guys that age who are suddenly making that kind of money get foolish and arrogant.

He's a very mature individual for his age. And he never forgets where he came from. But, unlike a lot of athletes, he doesn't let where he comes from control where he is. A lot of guys get caught up in helping out everyone they grew up with and they don't realize that these people are not their responsibility. They had a different mother and father.

A lot of these young guys bring these people with them because they don't know how to be social human beings outside of their small group. But LeBron's not like that. He remembers his background and his past, but he never lets it control his present.

When LeBron gets to Camp, the team is going to be a little different than the one he left last spring. I still think there is going to be another move to balance the frontcourt in what we lost in the deal for Mo. Right now, we're not balanced in the frontcourt.

Sooner or later, you're going to have to find someone to back up Z. That's something we've been missing. I'd like to see us get a legitimate backup at center, so whoever is the backup power forward can concentrate solely on being a backup power forward. But we usually have a dual-purpose guy at that spot.  That shows you how hard it is to find a good center who can play with his back to the basket. It's a dying breed, a lost art. There's Z, Shaq and Yao. And everyone else is a hybrid. LeBron's a hybrid.

When I played, if you were 6-8, you played under the basket. You were not going to handle the ball. The coach would put you on the bench if you were 6-8 and tried handling the basketball. It's a different world now.

I'm thinking J.J. Hickson could get some quality time this season. He had a real nice Summer League and I understand he did very well in Pete Newell's Camp, as well.

What I like about him J.J. is that everything is around the basket. He loves to mix it up around the basket, and I like that. That's what we need - someone who likes to get down and dirty around the basket. That's the game when you get down to it! LeBron and Mo want to make that pass to a guy who plays that way.

Either way, the Cavaliers will be a different team this season, and I think a much better one.

I think you'll see the difference in two ways - although it's hard to figure these things during the off-season.

One is, with Mo and LeBron, there will be more pushing the ball up the floor, and more fluidity off that push. I'd like to see them just go right into their offense. That's why you have to have everybody aware of every position. Because if you have Mo pushing the ball up the floor and LeBron ends up in Z's position and Z ends up in LeBron's position, they have to be able to still flow into the offense and run it. Because that keeps the defense off-guard.

And defensively - I feel that we're a good defensive team because we help well. But one thing we're going to have to develop this year is to focus on individually stopping your man. The help is there. But they have to focus on stopping their man - especially in terms of dribble-penetration.

Those are seemingly small things, but they will help us become a much more solid basketball team. And those small things can sometimes be the difference between going home and winning it all.

Hey, everyone! It's AC, checking in. What's happening?

The Celtics have definitely done their job in frustrating the Cavaliers and LeBron James. Now, Cleveland finds themselves down 0-2, heading home.

What Boston is doing to LeBron, they're building the wall - like most teams do. Their wall, though, includes an extra guy from the weakside. So, it winds up being four defenders instead of three. Most teams don't like to expose or give up that extra guy.

The Cavaliers want to move the ball to the weakside, where that type of defense is exposed. But with a big guy in his face, LeBron is having a hard time throwing the pass back to the weakside over the top of the defense.

Thursday, we got off to a great start, but we let their defensive pressure take us out of our offensive sets. And we never recovered from that.

Right now, some of LeBron's normal shots just aren't going in. And that's frustrating him as a shooter. But he has to continue to shoot the ball - he can't stop shooting it - and hope that he comes out of this. The key is, Boston is doing exactly what they want to do: force the other guys to produce, which is putting a ton of pressure on LeBron, because he knows that - other than Z - the other guys are spotty.

He'll never admit it, but this does produce a certain amount of pressure.

The Cavaliers need their other guys to step up. You see what happened in the first quarter when they went to Z.

Ilgauskas - and the team - need to realize that once he starts to make a few shots, he becomes the focal point of Boston's defense. And Z needs to become a passer as well as a scorer, and move the ball. What's happening is, once he starts scoring, he won't give it up. By that time, they swarm him - and it's becoming a problem.

But these are all simple adjustments. And the Cavaliers have been in this situation before, so they know how to deal with it. It's not like the Cavs are going to panic. They just need to find a way to get more space for LeBron.

For starters, the first pass has to be quicker. Once LeBron sees that the Celtics defenders are coming to him - get rid of it - and get it back. Once he gets rid of it, he needs to cut to the weakside and get it back.

Keep the defense moving. You have to make the defense move.

As bad as it's been in the first two games of the series, I expect them to come out ready to play. The homecourt crowd will get them amped up and they'll come out knowing what they have to do. Because again - the Celtics haven't won on the road in the playoffs, yet.

That's an advantage for the Cavaliers, but the key is to come out and jump on them - and stay on them.