CLEVELAND — An online newspaper called “The King James Gospel” said Tuesday that St. Croix-raised Rakeem Christmas is not “championship caliber” and will not be on the starting roster when the Cleveland Cavaliers play their first game of the new NBA season.

“When you have LeBron James on your roster and he’s inspiring the front office to spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on roster upgrades, you stash your rookies and bring them up another time,” Josh Hill writes in the King James Gospel. “That’s the situation that the Cavaliers are in at the moment as they managed to throw together a decent draft class but will be stashing their prospects for the time being as the big boy roster tries to win a title.”

According to Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, the Cavaliers have an immediate need for a “championship caliber roster,” which means rookies Rakeem Christmas and Sir’Dominic Pointer will probably not be on the roster come opening night, the online newspaper said.

“That’s alright too, as the Cavs aren’t in a position to call up young talent that isn’t ready to compete at the highest level of the NBA,” Hill writes. “This isn’t the Cleveland teams of years past that we’re used to seeing — LeBron has taken his team back to elevations of rarified air and living in the here-and-now is the mentality.”

Tristan Thompson is going to be the Cavs superstar of the future — second to LeBron, of course — and “players like Christmas and Pointer can bake for a while in the NBA Development League while they develop their talents for the big show,” Hill opined. LeBron James’ presence has brought about a certain level of expectation for this team and its roster, and it’s no place for unproven second-round draft picks.

“It’s a damn shame too, because Rakeem Christmas is a bad ass name that would be cool to hear on a nightly basis,” Hill wrote. “The only thing cooler than a dude name Rakeem Christmas is someone named Sir’Dominic — and Cleveland has both.”

“Hopefully they can stay a while and develop their skills, because lord knows the Cavaliers don’t need to dole out anymore cash to sign veterans to an already bloated payroll,” he wrote.

For more information, please go to: http://kingjamesgospel.com/2015/07/20/rakeem-christmas-sirdominic-pointer-not-expected-to-make-cavs-roster/