Random thoughts from the stands at Quicken Loans Arena, where the Cavaliers returned home in terrific shape in the standings:

The NBA stacked the deck against Cleveland early this season, setting the Eastern Conference champions up to fail with two brutal road trips.

First, the Cavaliers were shuffled off to China as part of David Stern’s shameful courtship of the communist nation in the preseason. Then, before getting reacquainted to American cooking, they went on a six-games-in-nine-days West Coast journey.

It was a recipe for disaster, but LeBron James would not allow his team to fail.

The best basketball player in the world willed Cleveland to a 3-3 trip, allowing it to come home at .500 — and silence the franchise’s many ignorant critics.

At some point, hopefully those sourpusses will admit what Cavaliers fans learned years ago: With “King James”, all things are possible. …

And speaking of those critics, it amazes me how much disrespect continues to be shown nationally and locally toward this ballclub.

The Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals in June and deserve to be treated as sports royalty because of it. Regardless of how many obstacles that have been put in front of them in the last two seasons, they’ve persevered and found a way to make good things happen.

Anyone who thinks this team won’t win 47-52 games and at least one playoff series is in for a rude awakening. There is no reason why Cleveland shouldn’t hit the magic 50-win mark and make a strong run at the East finals — barring a major injury to James or Zydrunas Ilgauskas. …

Kudos to owner Dan Gilbert and general manager Danny Ferry for not giving in to Anderson “Wild Shot” Varejao’s absurd contract demands. The restricted free agent and agent Dan Fegan continue to vastly overestimate his value to the Cavaliers, who have been a much better interior team without him.

With Varejao in Brazil, Cleveland coach Mike Brown has been forced to give more minutes to top post players Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden. The result has been a much more effective offensive squad, as well a significantly better one-on-one defensive club.

As one of the many hoops junkies who couldn’t stand watching Varejao on the floor late in games, it’s gratifying to see Ilgauskas and Gooden performing this well. …

FSN Ohio continues to hit high notes in their coverage of the Cavaliers. Fred McLeod and Austin Carr were extremely entertaining during the Western swing, while their postgame show with Jeff Phelps is the best in the NBA. …

Another great facet of the Varejao stalemate is watching Fegan get exposed for what he is: a snake-oil salesman who saddles teams with bad contracts. Erick Dampier, Troy Murphy, Nene and Rafer Alston are among his middling talents who have gotten big-money deals — and wrecked their clubs’ salary-cap flexibility in the process.

Ferry is way too smart to allow that to happen to the Cavaliers.

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