LeBron James has been single-handedly carrying his teammates in the 2018 NBA Finals. Actually, he’s been doing that throughout the playoffs. Come to think of it, James really has been carrying the Cleveland Cavaliers the entire season.

The pressure to do so again, four more times, that lead to winning the championship has weighed heavily on James and the bubble is close to bursting.

It's been so bad, the weight so heavy, you can begin to see it on The King's face and general mannerisms. Not that most can blame him.

A viral video of a frustrated James not knowing if the Cavs had a timeout in Game 1 after regulation ended shows how heavily the load is on his shoulders. When informed of the criticism that he wasn’t more vocal in the huddle afterward, he could only utter that which we already know.

“I don't care. I don't care at all (about the criticism),” James said via ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “We're in the NBA Finals. I mean, how much more picking up of teammates do you want me to do?”

What if James didn’t have to pick up his teammates? What if they took responsibility for the Cavs performance? Where would the Cavs rank in the entire NBA if their fearless leader was nowhere to be found?

It’s hard to speculate what that looks like performance-wise throughout the season because James never missed a single game and that includes the postseason. Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that though they most certainly won’t be at the bottom of the league’s standings, they are likely to be found near it.

Let’s take a look at this Cavs lineup without James:

Starters

Center – Tristan Thompson

Power Forward – Kevin Love

Small Forward – Jeff Green

Shooting Guard – J.R. Smith

Point Guard – George Hill

Reserves:

PG – Jordan Clarkson

PG – Jose Calderon

PG – London Perrantes

SG – John Holland

SG/SF – Kyle Korver

SF – Cedi Osman

SF – Rodney Hood

PF – Okaro White

PF/C – Larry Nance, Jr.

C – Ante Zizic

C – Kendrick Perkins

If you look at the Cavs’ roster without James, it’s actually a decent lineup, one that some might say could at least be decent at times. They may not look like a playoff team, but I’m quite sure there are some teams with worse lineups.

Maybe.

As bad as the Cavs may be performing in the playoffs, the players are likely only playing poorly because they are not forced to carry the load without James. There’s also the matter of coach Tyronn Lue and whether he can actually guide a team to a winning record without his do-it-all forward.

We already know what the top teams are based on the final standings. I’ll rank them for you below without the Cavaliers:

1 Houston Rockets – 65-17

2 Toronto Raptors – 59-23

3 Golden State Warriors – 58-24

4 Boston Celtics – 55-27

5 Philadelphia 76ers – 52-30

6 Portland Trail Blazers – 49-33

7 Oklahoma City Thunder – 48-34

8 Indiana Pacers – 48-34

9 Utah Jazz – 48-34

10 New Orleans Pelicans – 48-34

11 San Antonio Spurs – 47-35

12 Minnesota Timberwolves – 47-35

13 Denver Nuggets – 46-36

14 Miami Heat – 44-38

15 Milwaukee Bucks – 44-38

16 Washington Wizards – 43-39

These are the teams that made the playoffs except for the Denver Nuggets, who didn’t make it to the postseason in the tougher Western Conference even though they have a better record than three other Eastern Conference teams. The Cavs aren’t anywhere near as good as any of these teams but, as I said, they aren’t at the bottom either.

Here’s how the next teams should rank and where the Cavs should be:

17. L.A. Clippers

Doc Rivers nearly brought this team to the playoffs. In fact, up until the last few weeks of the regular season, they were on pace to play in the postseason. Some might say they even intentionally lost more than a few games toward the end just so they could be in the lottery.

In any case, this team was good enough to beat the Cavs in March even with James playing.

Notable Players: Austin Rivers, Lou Williams, Tobias Harris, DeAndre Jordan, Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley

18. Detroit Pistons

Andre Drummond

This team was good enough to be in the playoffs but coach Stan Van Gundy didn’t seem to know how to make the pieces work. That cost him his job. With a 39-43 record, they should have won at least six more games.

Notable Players: Ish Smith, Reggie Jackson, Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond

19. Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers have very good young players, a couple of them with All-Star potential. They are very raw, yet they play well together. They had a stretch of games early this year where they beat just about every team they faced. In their March meeting, these kids beat the Cavs with James in the lineup.

Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Brook Lopez, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Tim Bradbury/Getty Images

There’s no way the Cavs without their star player can be better than this group.

Notable Players: Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle

20. New York Knicks

The main reason the Knicks lost plenty of games this season is the injury to Kristaps Porzingis early in the year. If not for that, they could have won about 10-12 more games. With Porzingis in the lineup, there’s no one on the Cavs lineup that can stop him.

Notable Players: Tim Hardaway Jr., Michael Beasley, Kristaps Porzingis, Enes Kanter

Enes Kanter

21. Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets may not have made the playoffs again but they are a pretty good ballclub at times. If only they can get another All-Star, this team could make some noise in the playoffs.

But even without one, the Cavs aren’t beating these Hornets. Kemba Walker controls his team’s fortunes and he’s good enough to carry his teammates when faced with a Cavs team without the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

Notable Players: Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, Dwight Howard

22. Sacramento Kings

The Kings were getting by with what they have even though it’s not much. The fact that they won 27 games is a miracle but it also speaks to the play of Zach Randolph who is still effective as a low post scorer and mid-range shooter. Then, there’s De’Aaron Fox who is going to fit well in the Kings’ future plans.

They beat the Cavs in their regular season game on their home floor and that’s because they were more disciplined. Yes, that’s how bad the Cavs were defensively. For much of the season, the Cavs were 29th in defensive rating.

Notable Players: De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Zach Randolph, Willie Cauley-Stein

23. Brooklyn Nets

D'Angelo Russell

This team is a fighting unit. They scrap and claw for everything they’ve got and they played the Cavs well every time they went head-to-head. That means there’s no question the Nets will be better than the Cavs sans James.

Kenny Atkinson is a terrific coach, someone who was able to squeeze everything out of this team. They were expected to be at or near the bottom of the standings but they have shown resiliency because of terrific coaching by Atkinson.

Notable Players: D'Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeMarre Carroll, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

24. Chicago Bulls

If the Bulls weren’t tanking, they’d have a better record in the standings. This Bulls team could have won between 33-38 games but they chose to tank the season to hopefully get a chance for a higher draft pick in June. So, no, the Cavs wouldn’t beat this team without ‘Bron.

They ended up with the seventh pick which isn’t bad, but isn’t good enough.

Lauri Markkanen

Notable Players: Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Bobby Portis

25. Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies were decimated by injuries and couldn’t get going. Their reward, of course, is the fourth overall pick in the draft for losing so many games this season.

No four-time MVP on the Cavs means this team can beat them in so many ways especially if injuries didn’t rob them of players who could’ve contributed to more wins.

Notable Players: Mike Conley Jr., Tyreke Evans, JaMychal Green, Marc Gasol

26. Cleveland Cavaliers

This is where the Cavs belong without James. The 14-time All-Star is good for an additional 20 to 25 wins for Cleveland. Their wins record should be around 25 to 30 even if they replace James with another small forward.

 

Without the future Hall of Famer, Love will be forced to play like he did during his Minnesota days, even if that didn’t result in a playoff berth back then. You can easily pencil him in for 23 points and 12 rebounds a game, even if that doesn’t automatically give the team a win. I would expect Green to score 15 points a game, Hill/Korver/Hood to go for 12-14 points each, and Thompson at least 10 points and grab around 10 boards, too.

Notable Players: George Hill, Kyle Korver, Jeff Green, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson

27. Dallas Mavericks

You may be surprised that the Mavs lost so many games with some pretty good players on their roster. Well, there’s the 2018 draft to blame for the Mavs’ fortunes. The Mavs perfected the art of tanking so when they meet the Cavs without James, they’ll still lose because they want to.

Dirk Nowitzki
ClutchPoints

Notable Players: Dennis Smith Jr., Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki

28. Phoenix Suns

The Suns shouldn’t have lost so many games with so many good, young players on their team. But therein lies the reason — they’re young. Too young, maybe. And yes, they tanked just to get the top pick in the lottery which they did.

And if faced with the Cavs without James, the Suns are just going to lay down and die.

Notable Players: Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, T.J. Warren, Marquesse Chriss

29. Orlando Magic

The Magic are lottery pickers once again. It’s hard to remember a time when they weren’t. This team, even with the presence of Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic, can’t play better than the Cavs.

aaron gordon dunk contest
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

That’s for sure.

Notable Players: Evan Fournier, Jonathon Simmons, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic

30. Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks wanted to rebuild and with the team that they have, they might as well do so. The future is all that matters to them and it’s doubtful that this team can mesh well enough to beat a LeBron-less Cavs team.

That cost coach Mike Budenholzer his job, though. It’s not his fault his team sucked big time. But hey, they have the third pick overall so good for them!

Notable Players: Dennis Schroder, Taurean Prince, Kent Bazemore, John Collins