ALBANY, N.Y. -- It won't be a strain to see it the first time Kobe Bryant blips onto the screen. Ditto Kevin Garnett. They're both noticeably thicker in the shoulders.

They're not the only ones, either.

Darius Miles turned 21 at Siena's Pepsi Arena on Wednesday, in the wrong place to have a beer but looking manlier than anyone could remember. Miles has bulked up, too, and didn't stop at devouring his birthday cake in the locker room. The Cleveland Cavaliers have given Miles the ball, and he looks fairly ready to handle it.

Now, make no mistake. We don't dare exaggerate here. The Cavaliers are a virtual lock to rank as one of the three worst teams in the league. They're co-favorites for the coveted No. 29 slot -- most Ping Pong balls for LeBron James -- right there with Denver. The Cavs traded away NBA assist king Andre Miller to the Clippers to get Miles, dumped Lamond Murray and Wesley Person for basically nothing, and have only one point guard with a pedigree in their midst. That would be John Lucas, their coach.

	Mehmet Okur, right, and the Pistons were introduced to the new and improved Darius Miles.

But …

Make a point to watch these guys once or twice, and not simply because they've been anointed Team SportsCenter. It ultimately doesn't mean much if Ricky Davis and Dajuan Wagner and D-Miles are regular contributors to the nearest highlight reel. A story with some substance is Miles, who's finally dispelling questions about his work ethic, working hard all summer and making an honest effort to become an elite player.

"He really has a chance," Lucas said. "You've just got to remember that we got a good name, but he's a young talent. He's probably the only one out of the group we have who can make basketball plays and who's (naturally) unselfish. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's Magic Johnson. So I'm not asking him to run the show -- I'll help run the show."

It's instructive to note that Lucas is trying to temper expectations for Miles. He usually goes the other way, flitting off in a hyperbolic state, as seen last season when Luke actually said that Davis was "on his way to becoming the next Michael Jordan."

Yet, at the risk of overanalyzing one preseason game, we'll do the gushing for Luke. Cleveland faced New Jersey here in upstate New York and Wagner (must-see in his own right) didn't travel because of abdominal cramps. That left plenty of spotlight for Miles, who spent considerable chunks of the evening matched up with Jason Kidd. Without embarrassing himself.

Miles initiated the offense and got to the rim repeatedly, flashing some hesitation spins and dribbles along the baseline you probably haven't seen from him before. He also looked much smoother shooting the ball, suggesting that his recent sessions with shot doctor Buzz Braman (while shooting a movie in Vancouver) are already helping.

Birthday luck? Soft defense from the Eastern Conference champs in a meaningless exhibition? Perhaps. What you can't dispute is that Miles is bigger, more talkative and upbeat, at least for now. He's handling the trade shock better than his best friend, the Clippers' Quentin Richardson, and was happy to trade forehead pounds against the Nets with 34-year-old Bimbo Coles.

"I knew I couldn't come in here weighing between 190 and 200 pounds and they're expecting me to do all this stuff," said Miles, claiming to weigh 230 pounds now.

"(The trade) wasn't hard," Miles continued. "The only thing hard about it is (Richardson) plays there. I got used to those guys and the fans. But I want to be on the next 50 Greatest Players (list). I want to make the All-Star team and elevate my game. I thought I couldn't do it in L.A. unless they traded me somewhere.

"All of us there can't be All-Stars. Eventually, some of us (were) going to leave. I was just the first to leave. It was a surprise to everybody. It was a surprise to me. I didn't think I would be the first one to go, but I didn't mind being the first one to go."

Granted, that's easy to say now, when the games don't count. Keeping spirits high won't be so simple for the only team in the easy East with zero shot at reaching the playoffs, even though pumping people up is a Luke specialty. You have to wonder how freely the ball will be shared once the losses start piling up, with Miles and Wagner and Davis all looking to shoot. And if Zydrunas Ilgauskas can stay healthy for once, that's another guy who will expect touches. Worst of all, the Cavaliers have no home-run threats, evidenced by their combined four 3-point attempts in the season's first two exhibition games. Without a true quarterback, and without a dead-eye shooter to stretch defenses, half-court scoring is bound to be a grind.

Cavs general manager Jim Paxson nonetheless believes that his plan is sound, in spite of resounding skepticism around the league regarding all of Cleveland's salary-dumping. Even Lucas, having gone through a similar pattern in Philadelphia, doesn't deny that the moves could be interpreted as a directive from owner Gordon Gund to Paxson to pare down the payroll to make the Cavs more sellable. "You'd be crazy not to think what we're doing now makes this team attractive to sell," Luke said.

Gund publicly denied that for the first time this week, at a news conference Wednesday to announce that the Cavaliers are reverting to their wine-and-gold color scheme of yesteryear starting next season. Gund insisted that there will be no selling and no tanking for LeBron. He must know that the team with the worst record in the NBA hasn't claimed the top pick in the lottery since -- no lie -- New Jersey in 1990.

Paxson, meanwhile, responds with his off-cited belief that the Cavs didn't lose a whole lot by dispatching their top three scorers, given that Cleveland won 32, 30 and 29 games in Miller's three seasons. Compared to 29, 30 and 28 victories in Miller's last three years at the University of Utah.

	“	Darius is a talented young player who has that scary word of potential. He's got a long way to go to become a great player, but I think he wants to be (great). The decks have kind of been cleared for him to come in here and develop. ”
		— Jim Paxson

"Darius is a talented young player who has that scary word of potential," Paxson said. "He's got a long way to go to become a great player, but I think he wants to be (great). The decks have kind of been cleared for him to come in here and develop.

"One of these guys needs to become a star in this league. Three or four need to be part of a core group we can keep together. That's how you really build a good team.

"Time will tell. Right now we're pretty low on the radar screen (in Cleveland), but there's more optimism now than there's been. I felt we needed to make some bold moves to try to have a group of young core guys we could build with and add to. All I've really been doing the last couple years is addition by subtraction. (The new strategy) doesn't pay dividends immediately, but I think in the long run I think it's going to be best for this franchise."

The Cavaliers will be hoping that their insistence on Miles from the Clippers -- L.A. initially offered Lamar Odom -- proves the right call. Cleveland indeed might have wound up with the better prospect, assuming Miles doesn't stop at one productive summer.

Miles probably isn't quite 230 pounds as he suggests, but he has the physical gifts to become a taller Tracy McGrady as opposed to the next Garnett. He also arrives with none of Odom's baggage. He's still sloppy with the ball sometimes, finishing with five turnovers against 19 points and four assists against Kidd's Nets, but Miles can grow out of that.

A rough season certainly awaits. SportsCenter looms as the only guaranteed highlight. Just don't forget to watch the beefed-up kid, er, adult play a full game or two, to check in on the experiment.

"Darius is going to run people silly," Davis said. "It's a matter of putting Cleveland back on the map. After a while, hopefully it'll stop being highlights and it'll go to wins."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. E-mail him at marc.stein@espn3.com.