With a certain superstar taking his talents to South Beach, Cleveland Cavalier fans will be at a crossroads once NBA Elite 11 and NBA 2K11 hit store shelves this October.

Life without LeBron is going to be rough on the virtual Cavs, especially in 2K11. In the 2K series, it has always been somewhat easy to focus your game plan around one player and handle most competitors. So that is obviously what everyone did with LeBron -- use his talents to dominate.

But without LeBron, what happens? Does Mo Williams start chucking 20 3-pointers a game? Maybe Jamison will be able to drop a near triple-double every night. And if not those two, then who? They are easily the best players on the team now (at least in the video game world), and neither of them was rated above 80 in 2K10.

Now in Elite I feel it will be a different story. In the old Live series, play calling was absolutely fabulous. It allowed you to use all of your team's strengths rather than just a single player's. Though I don’t see Cleveland being a dominant force, if you play your cards right, you could sneak them into the playoffs and suffer an early exit.

Unfortunately, Cavs fans have limited options either way now that the hometown hero has become public enemy number one. So at the very least let me start with the best option for Cavs fans out there.

Rebuild

When your team is old and has no future, you rebuild. When your team is just terrible, you rebuild. When LeBron James leaves, you rebuild.

Rebuilding has always been a major factor when starting a new dynasty/association with hardcore gamers, so add one more team to that list. However, rebuilding the Cavs will be no easy challenge. With a payroll that will not be dipping substantially for two years, it will be a long process until any major moves can be done.

The crop of young talent on the squad does not bring much hope either. With J.J. Hickson being the best young player in Cleveland, you better pray you get lucky in the Lottery.

Tough It Out

Maybe you are an optimist. After Miami, Boston, Orlando, Chicago and Atlanta, the bottom of the East is pretty wide open. Do you think you can still make it to the playoffs without your star?

It is possible to get into the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed, which could give you a shot to take down The King in the first round, but don’t kid yourself if you are a sim baller. Enjoy an early exit and another year outside of the lottery.

Take Your Talents Down To South Beach

LeBron is popular. He may be ostracized and vilified by many now, but he is still popular. And, simply put, people still like popular things -- otherwise there would not be the term "bandwagon" fans.

I am sure more than a couple fans have moved their "fandom" down to South Beach with LeBron, leaving the city of Cleveland with its true fans. While no one endorses this type of action, it is common in a situation like this. So this Cleveland tragedy is probably not even affecting fans who were more fans of LeBron than the Cavaliers. They are probably stoked, acting like kids on Christmas Eve waiting to open up Elite and 2K to demolish the Association with the Heat.

Forget About Sim, I Want Jam

Maybe you are the one who keeps saying "screw the NBA and LeBron." Well, in that case, NBA Jam is for you.

Jam is looking to be just like the original with some graphics hopped up on the Q. Yes, LeBron is still with the Heat, but in Jam any team can beat any other team on any given night. You can even take it to LeBron with Kevin Love and the T'Wolves.

Even for those of you who cannot handle the truth, the new Remix mode with classic players should be able to entertain you as well.


So what will you do with the Cavs in this year's basketball gaming lineup?