Wednesday Windmill: The Andrew Bogut era in Cleveland was short lived

During his first minute of playing in a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform on Monday, Andrew Bogut suffered a fractured left tibia and will miss the remainder of the regular season and post-season. The Cavaliers were hoping that the addition of Andrew Bogut would give them another big body to go up against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals but instead, they'll never get to see what type of impact he would have made.

With Bogut done for the season, the Cavaliers will need to heavily rely on Tristan Thompson to be their primary post presence. When Kevin Love returns, he'll be much more of a stretch forward kind of guy, so it really is up to Thompson to be the anchor for this Cavaliers team down low. While I expect Thompson to continue to do a good job down low, it still hurts the Cavaliers to not have one more big guy down low that can block shots, grab rebounds, and do all the dirty work. It's hard to win a championship when you only have one guy that fills such a role.

While not benefiting from the acquisition of Andrew Bogut, the Cavaliers still are well positioned to return to the NBA Finals. They added Kyle Korver and Deron Williams to the fold and should get both Kevin Love and J.R. Smith back by the playoffs. Plus, they still have Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, the best player in the NBA.

Where the loss of Bogut hurts is having one less weapon to use in the NBA Finals against the Warriors. Bogut was going to be luxury, not a necessity, so it's not as if losing him kills the Cavaliers' title chances or anything. It's just that when you are in the NBA Finals, you want to have as much depth as possible and having Bogut for depth would have been really nice.

Going forward, all the Cavaliers can do is play the best basketball they can with what they have, which is still a lot more than what most teams have. They also need to make sure Kevin Love and J.R. Smith can get as healthy as possible. Should they stay healthy going forward and get back to full strength in time for the playoffs, I still have the Cavaliers coming out of the Eastern Conference. They are still the most talented team in the Eastern Conference.

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