The Cleveland Cavaliers are an NBA franchise that has existed since 1970 making 17 playoff appearances, which has one with a losing record, two division championships, one eastern conference finals championship resulting in just one NBA Title appearance in the 2006-07 season. The Cavaliers have won two division titles being in the 1975-76 and 2008-09 season. It is a franchise that had not seen much success in the post-season but has gotten better in the last four seasons.
In the 1970s, it was just a beginning and it would see them make the post-season in the sixth year of existence but would come up short to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals when the playoffs didn't have as many teams going in as they are today. Today it is eight teams and back then, it was six per conference. They would make the post-season two more times but would see them knocked out quickly.
The 1980s saw some playoff appearances but would run into a consistent theme being the Chicago Bulls. They would not go very far that decade and would not get out of the first round and no division titles at all continuing a bit of a drought. There would be a defeat to the Celtics before the Bulls when they had Michael Jordan on that team. It was a scary thought and it would be one that would haunt the Cavs with the famous move called "The Shot."
In the 1990s, it would see many playoff appearances but only one trip to the Eastern Conference being defeated by the Chicago Bulls. In the mid 90s, there would be a defeat against the Knicks and the closing would be against the Pacers. That would be the last time that decade the Cavs would be a team that can be a challenge in the post-season but would see little success.
The 2000s are going right now and the Cavaliers had made perhaps the smartest draft decision after an embarrassing 15-67 season getting high school superstar LeBron James and the team would begin to rise. Seeing some new hope, the Cavs have done something that they had never done before in making the NBA Finals in the 2006-07 season but would fall to the Spurs due to them being a much more experienced team and plus they were simply the better team. The 2008-09 season saw them finish with 66 wins and going an incredible 39-2 at home. With home court throughout, perhaps this could be the time that a championship can be won.
As a whole for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it has seen some success but as much as the 2000s and could be for a quite a few years. As a team, it now has risen up to become the number one team in Cleveland sports against the Indians and Browns in terms of success at this very point. They have a great leader in LeBron James that is always going to look to improve. What has made them improve is simply putting the right pieces together to win as a team trusting each other and it shows. For Cavs fans, it is simply time to enjoy the ride while it is going on.