Written by Sam Amico

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Training camp may still be three weeks away, but the Cavaliers have spent plenty of time recently making news.

First, former center Shaquille O’Neal took a shot at current guard Mo Williams, telling the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “When I was with Cleveland, guys who couldn't even play were worried about shots. Why was Mo taking 15 shots, and I'm only taking four?"

Forget the fact Shaq couldn’t make a layup (or dunk, for that matter), or that he’s 38-years old and played more like 63. When it comes to Shaq, all of that is always beside the point.

Anyway, not long after Shaq’s comments came a great feature on new general manager Chris Grant, written by veteran News-Herald beat reporter Bob Finnan.

But rather than focusing on Grant’s plans with the trade exception, or how he plans to go about rebuilding the team, the drive-by journalists who make up the national media instead focused on comments from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

“We didn't achieve the ultimate goal (with LeBron James),” Gilbert said. “It can't be a one-person show. We have to have a team approach and a team effort to make it happen."

After that, forward Anderson Varejao followed with an interview on AOL Fanhouse, saying he understands fans are angry about James’ departure, and that the Cavs will carry on best they can.

Forward Antawn Jamison then followed with an interview of his own on another website, briefly addressing The Decision and mostly talking about how he’s working on his game and still happy to be in Cleveland.

Finally, there was a gem from CBS Sports entitled, “Witness the burning embers of the Cavaliers.” It rounded up all the recent news, attempting to remind everyone that the Cavs are supposed to stink.

Of course, I’m not completely blameless in all this. I probably started the whole thing two weeks ago, when I used this very spot to predict that the Cavs are still capable of winning 45-50 games. That resulted in some fun-loving jabs from family, friends, Cavs fans, New York sportswriters and even my pal Chuck Galeti while on SportsTime Ohio.

So what’s the point of all this?

I’m not sure. All I know is there has been a lot of talk about the Cavs in recent weeks. All I know is it has consisted barely a mention of You Know Who.

All I know is the Cavs have remained relevant, and that’s really all any NBA organization can hope for in early August and late September.

The key will be to continue to make news in November, December, and if things go really well, sometime after that.

As Boston great Kevin McHale once said, “All that matters is that you play well in May.”

If the Cavs can somehow make it that far, then the stories you’re reading about them today will seem even more irrelevant than they already do.

Scott Still Believes

If nothing else, Cavs fans who can’t get past the fact the offense consisted of walking the ball up the floor and giving it to LeBron are in for a nice surprise.

And it really is pretty obvious most fans are having a hard time remembering that Mike Brown is no longer the coach, having been replaced with Byron Scott and his Princeton-style scheme, which stresses quick thinking and ball movement.

So not only will this team have a different look, it will have a considerably different style.

Still, it seems a lot of people are expecting the Cavs to mail it in, or not be extra motivated after an off-season of continuously getting bashed.

But Scott has some has some news for those folks.

“The guys who are still here are going to be stronger for everything they saw and went through,” he told the Sporting News. “They’re really banded together now, it is a good thing for us. People haven’t given us much of a chance, but we have good players here and we are going to be greater than the sum of our parts. The more people say, the tighter the bond we will have.”

Sam Amico covers the Cavaliers for NBA.com and a regular contributor to SportsTime Ohio and The Cleveland Fan. Follow him on Twitter at @SamAmicoNBA.