This just in: Brian Grant has demanded a trade -- to Cleveland.

	Bimbo Coles? The Cavs are finding a new hero every night.

"I've always said I wanted to play for a winner," Grant said by way of explanation. Shawn Kemp then echoed Grant's comments from Portland. "I'd look like Louis Orr if it meant I could go back to Cleveland," he said.

Grant and Kemp aren't going anywhere, but, lest we forget, one had the chance to play in Cleveland not too long ago and the other was already there. Grant wanted no part of the Cavs in a proposed deal and Kemp parted by mutual agreement. The Cavs appear none the worse for either snub.

Ten days into the NBA season, where most teams are either underachieving or overachieving, the undefeated Cavaliers are one of the NBA's real feel-good stories. At 4-1 and atop the Central Division, the Cavs may not be drawing fans to Gund Arena -- those blue seats have to go -- but they are drawing comparisons to last year's engaging overachievers in Orlando.

How have they done it? In a lot of ways, it defies logic. This is a team which can't control the ball and whose leading scorer is averaging a Jordan-esque 14 points a game. This is a team whose hopes for success were widely seen as utterly dependent on the fragile feet of its 7-3 center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas. He hasn't missed a game, but he's also averaging 6.3 points a night and has more fouls than rebounds. Presumptive pivot star Chris Mihm has played a total of 24 minutes.

Andre Miller, arguably their best player, leads the league in turnovers at a heady 5.25 a game. The Cavs are the most gracious team in the league, turning it over nearly 21 times a game. They also are the most foul-prone team in the league, averaging 28.5 hacks a game. And they're undefeated. It almost makes you wonder if the NBA results aren't being orchestrated out of some booth in Broward County, Fla.

The comparisons to last year's Orlando's team are intriguing. Like the Magic, the Cavs have no real "star" and rely on a deep bench. Nine players are averaging 19 minutes or more per game; no other team can make that claim.

	Gatling

	Miller

	Ilgauskas

Miller's 14.0 scoring average leads five players in double figures, so there's sharing and balance on offense. They have their share of floor-scrapers -- what Celtics GM Chris Wallace calls "energy guys" -- who dive after loose balls and get after it defensively. It doesn't hurt that at least one of these guys, Matt Harpring, can also put the ball in the basket.

Second-year coach Randy Wittman appears to have decided he's going to do things his way and not worry about hurt feelings or offended players. It's no secret that Kemp's weight and attitude (and contract) all were overbearing last season. No one shed a tear when he left town, even if the package in return were everymen Clarence Weatherspoon and Chris Gatling.

Those two guys have combined to put up numbers that make Kemp's departure even less worrisome -- a combined 19.8 points and 15.8 rebounds a game. Newcomer Bimbo Coles destroyed the Knicks down the stretch Wednesday, yet another sign of the Cavs' good fortune: Each game presents a different hero. A handful of Cavs also are on the final year of their contract, a situation which can either be beneficial or distracting depending on the player, team and situation. Oh, and yes, they are finally free of Danny Ferry after 10 long years.

But we would be remiss not to mention the fact that these guys play some defense. Their four wins have been by a total of 10 points -- the last three have been decided by two points each -- and they already have been taken to double overtime. You usually don't win close games without getting it done at the defensive end. In their 91-89 win over the Celtics, the Cavs defense smothered Paul Pierce on the final possession to the point where Pierce couldn't even get off a shot. Nor could any of his teammates. It's hard to score without shooting.

	Traylor

	Spoon

Opponents are shooting 38.8 percent against the Cavs and, even in the horrible Eastern Conference, that is generally not going to be good enough to win. It's also one of the best defensive field goal percentage figures in the league. No one blocks more shots than the Cavs' SWAT team, led by yet another discard, Robert Traylor. In short, they're not easy to score against.

Now, of course, no streak of this kind can be discussed without mentioning a little bit of luck. The Cavs have had their share. They opened with a road win in New Jersey, another team with injuries trying to find a groove. They played the Knicks without Latrell Sprewell, the first time Spree missed a game since early in his first season with the Knicks.

They hosted the Kings, who were without Jason Williams, and needed the two extra sessions to win that one. They got the Celtics at home and on the second night of a back-to-back situation, a recipe for disaster in Boston. True to form, the Celtics succumbed down the stretch; they have lost 35 of their last 44 road games and 20 of their last 23 on the second night of back-to-backers.

Can it last? Who cares? It's a good story for the here and now. There have been more than a few early success stories which quickly turned around when reality hit. The Celtics, after all, started out 3-0 last season and then won 32 of their final 79. The Milwaukee Bucks started out 10-3 in Mike Dunleavy's initial year (1992-93) and then lost 11 straight and finished 28-54. Friday's game in Toronto against the Raptors could be the Cavs' pumpkin call. Then again, have you seen the Raptors lately when faced with a modicum of defensive pressure?

All we can say is that everything is muddled in the East -- what gives with the Bucks, anyway? -- and that the Cavs are the perfect representative of a dysfunctional conference. They have no stars. They have no swagger. They have no cachet. And they have no losses.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.