And it was already being reported about a month ago that some unnamed agent had listed Cleveland among the teams he'd steer players away from, in retribution for the lockout.  It's like the small market teams are damned either way.  I agree that we'd be better off with Gilbert laying low for awhile, but I'm still sympathetic to his position. 

 

EDIT:  On second thought, Dan Gilbert is 100% right.  Forget laying low.  Somebody has to say it and I'm glad it's our guy.  Now Chauncey Billups, who just got waived by NY, is openly refusing to play for any non-contender.  If any such team dares to claim him he says he'll purposely undermine them.

 

What Chris Paul tried to do was wrong.  He was trying to set a precedent that top players don't even need to finish out their contracts with small market teams.  That they should be able to congregate wherever, whenever.  I say if you're privileged to play in the NBA, or any sports league, part of the deal is you may not always play in your first-choice destination.  Having 25 Washington Generals franchises diminishes the entire product that makes your salary possible. 

^wasnt there an article about agents steering players away from the browns as well? I think the article was from a few years ago.

 

 

I would think that the players on the 25 Washington Generals might actually be cheering Gilbert as much as the players on the 6 Harlem Globetrotters might be jeering him.  I mean, as a player I would want a balanced league, too.  Unless I was one of a handful of superstars getting onto the "chosen" teams.

I would think that the players on the 25 Washington Generals might actually be cheering Gilbert as much as the players on the 6 Harlem Globetrotters might be jeering him.  I mean, as a player I would want a balanced league, too.  Unless I was one of a handful of superstars getting onto the "chosen" teams.

 

Also consider that if things get too out-of-whack, some of these smaller-market squads are going to be contracted (probably likely to happen regardless because of how unbalanced things have become).  That means roughly 12-15 less positions per franchise for these players, particular the fringe ones.

I must admit, I'm actually getting kind of excited for this upcoming season :-D. Just watching kyrie, I honestly believe we made the right choice. Look out for this team to make some noise in 2 years.

I wasnt able to watch the game but I heard some good things.

 

I did see that Irving went 4 for 14 and had 5 turnovers. Hopefully that progresses as the season begins.

He wasn't bad. He had 21 points, mainly because he kept getting fouled and hit most of his free throws. I hope people have reasonable expectations for him, though - he's very inexperienced and his ceiling is simply not as high as the best PGs. I think he's the second coming of Mark Price, not Derrick Rose.

 

They still need another top 3 pick. I think Thompson was the right pick rather than the Lithuanian center (who isn't playing in the NBA this year), but he's going to take awhile to adjust. I wouldn't be upset to use this short season as training and auditions, and then do a combo high draft/FA signing to make the team competitive for the following 3-5 years.

The Pros - Tristan looked better and definitely 'longer' then I expected (..... and now for your best Michael Scott impersonation).  He may never be a 'star', but he will play in this league for a long time.  I was already sold on our new K2, so its good to now be excited to see what TT can do.  Sessions looks like he worked on his game and conditioning over the summer.  He brings a different dynamic than Kyrie, but will be very effective in his role.  Andy is still Andy.... which really should be the 6th man on a championship team.  We've had an Alonzo Gee sighting.  Let's see if he can keep up the confidence and intensity.  The tools are all there.  He won't ever be an all-star, but he and Caspi are really all we have at the wings.

 

The con's - we have no shooting guard or center.  We don't even have anybody at those positions that are intriguing prospects.  Jamison can't accept the fact that he is not a go to guy anymore.  He was awful tonight.  Boobie, Parker, Hollins are what they are and that would be best described as nothing special at their ceiling.

 

I get it though.  The sorst thing this team could do is become mediocre with no chance to land another big time piece

I was concerned that Irving had 3-4 layups blocked.  I know that getting to the hoop and finishing is supposed to be one of his main strengths.  I hope it's something he can adjust to.

Jamison was downright aweful :\, to make matters worse no matter how off his shot  was he just kept throwing em up kinda reminded me of his first game after we traded for him :-o. On some plus sides TT played pleasently well along with sessions and some of the supporting cast, im purdy sure Kyrie will drastically improve by next game :-D GOOOOOOOOOOOO CAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVS !

Anyone miss JJ after seeing TT play? I don't. 

Good win tonight!

Rookies lookin' nice tonight.  I'd like to see Kyrie and Tristan on the floor at the same time.  Tristan looks eager to test his post game and Kyrie has some serious court vision.

Kyrie - 14 pts, 7 asst, 4 reb, 2 steals....... in 19 minutes.  'Nuff said.  In Scott's system, he will have us playing at a pace we may have never seen before in these parts.

 

I saw Tristan block a shot tonight that maybe only one or two other players in the league could have got.  He doesn't have a ceiling in terms of ability.

 

I stlll hope we don't overplay our potential because we really need to hit on another high pick to have a chance to catapult back into the upper echelon of the league.

Kyrie's field goal percentage is the only concern I have with him at the moment.  TT is going to turn out to be a near-perfect fit for Scott's system.

 

I agree with Hts about the importance of getting another good draft pick, but...the Pistons are a really bad basketball team, so I'm not too "worried" that the Cavaliers are going to be winning so much that they won't once again be in the top 5 or in terms of lottery balls.

No reaction to the Indiana OT game? Surprising! My reaction: it suggests to me these Cavs are farther ahead than many people, including me, would have expected considering the number of rookies/newcomers on the team, the lockout, the short training camp and the lack of practice time between games. If Jamison remembers how to make an outside shot again, Kyrie improves his FG percentage too, TT continues to get better (scary thought!), Wild Thing stays healthy, and they can play defense for four periods (and especially at crunch time) then this team will play competitively even against the good teams. Yep, I know I posted a lot of IFs in there, but I'm comfortable with the upside potential for Kyrie and TT plus Scott's defense. The other stuff? We'll see, but I'm excited again for the future of this team.  GO CAVS!

Nice win over New Jersey tonight--really poured it on the fourth quarter.  This team is definitely better than I expected them to be, however I'm torn because I still want them to be able to land a high pick in next year's loaded draft class.

No reaction to the Indiana OT game? Surprising! My reaction: it suggests to me these Cavs are farther ahead than many people, including me, would have expected considering the number of rookies/newcomers on the team, the lockout, the short training camp and the lack of practice time between games.

 

The Cavs actually only have 4 new players on their roster. They returned more players from last year than almost any NBA team.

The defense is certainly better. And just a day after I questioned whether Jamison could hit the outside shot, he was the leading scorer again New Jersey! So the offense is surprisingly good, to me. I still expect this team to get into some long slumps, especially if the kids get into shooting slumps at the same time. It's good there are some veterans on this team to help the kids since practice time is at a premium.

 

TT and Kyrie could end up being like a Malone and Stockton combination and have a lot of years together as the core of the team. Of course, Malone and Stockton never won a championship, so I do think there needs to be another big piece of the puzzle. A talented young center would be nice -- like a more stable DeMarcus Cousins. I realize the Kings are seeking to trade him, and I'd be interested him if he wasn't such a emotional tornado!

 

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2012/01/demarcus_cousins_not_worth_the.html

I don't know if Thompson will ever come close to developing into the scorer that Malone was.

The defense is certainly better. And just a day after I questioned whether Jamison could hit the outside shot, he was the leading scorer again New Jersey! So the offense is surprisingly good, to me. I still expect this team to get into some long slumps, especially if the kids get into shooting slumps at the same time. It's good there are some veterans on this team to help the kids since practice time is at a premium.

 

TT and Kyrie could end up being like a Malone and Stockton combination and have a lot of years together as the core of the team. Of course, Malone and Stockton never won a championship, so I do think there needs to be another big piece of the puzzle. A talented young center would be nice -- like a more stable DeMarcus Cousins. I realize the Kings are seeking to trade him, and I'd be interested him if he wasn't such a emotional tornado!

 

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2012/01/demarcus_cousins_not_worth_the.html

 

I had a fleeting thought about Cousins, also, but he scares me, even though Paul Westphal has a rep as being something of a conservative hardass... Then again, Demarcus has a hot-head/bad rep stretching back to HS.  Even though I'd love his talent (and his very young age), I'm not sure Byron needs such a potential divisive element on a team of generally good guys, including a number of promisng kids who want to learn (Kyrie, TT, Samardo, Gee ... maybe Omri, too, if he can get some degree of confidence in his shot; and we still don't know what we have in Erden).  If we were where we were with those LeBron teams on the brink, I'm jump at signing Cousins, but we're not there, obviously, so I think I'd take a flyer ... tempting as DeMarcus may be.

I don't know if Thompson will ever come close to developing into the scorer that Malone was.

 

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that Thompson and Irving can grow together and support each other for a long time, and one player's strengths can compensate for the other's weaknesses.

Interesting read.......

 

Kyrie Irving off to a strong start with Cleveland Cavaliers

Published: Sunday, January 01, 2012, 11:09 PM    Updated: Sunday, January 01, 2012, 11:19 PM

  By Colin Stephenson/The Star-Ledger

 

CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving grew up a Nets fan, and remembers going to see them playing in an NBA Finals at Izod Center. He claimed today, before playing his first game against his home-state team, that he stopped being a fan after the team fired coach Byron Scott.

 

Now, of course, Irving is coached by Scott as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

 

That made Scott laugh heartily.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2012/01/kyrie_irving_off_to_a_strong_s.html

I don't know if Thompson will ever come close to developing into the scorer that Malone was.

 

Logic would say you're probably right, but I'd hate to place any ceiling on a promsing rookie 4 games into his career... On draft day, most would say Tristan couldn't carry Derrick Wms jock strap, but to date, he's outplaying him; esp given TT's added (crazy) element of blocking shots.  Tristan's potential is scary -- but, yes, It'd be crazy to compare him with one of the greatest PFs in NBA history (Karl Malone), but I can't say how good Tristan will be... it certainly appears he was one of the sleepers in the 1st round of last year's draft.

I don't know if Thompson will ever come close to developing into the scorer that Malone was.

 

And Malone was never the defender that TT is now ;)

 

For sure, I do have some concerns with this team finding itself in the 'middle of the pack'.  This coming year's draft is definitely one you want to be near the top.  But I'm not going to root for them to lose.  The Indiana game was perfect in that they lost in OT to a team that very well might end up with home court in the first round of the playoffs.  That's a confidence builder which counts the same in the draft lottery as a 25 pt loss.

 

The scary thing about TT and Kyrie is that I don't think either of them is done growing.  They may not grow that much more in height (if at all) but there bodies are still maturing.  I'll bet we'll take a look back at a picture of those two 10 years from now and be shocked at how young they look.  Each has the frame to add some significant lean muscle mass, especially Tristan.  Physically, he looks less overmatched as a rookie than Dwight Howard, Jermaine O'Neal, and Kevin Garnett did their rookie years.

 

What will be interesting is the trade deadline.  I imagine they will listen to offers for Andy, Ramon, Jamison, and Boobie.  I would hate to get rid of Andy, but his trade value may never be higher and he will in all likelihood be north of 30 by the time we get back in contention.  The problem is, out of all the contenders who would love to have him, I don't see many potential trades that make sense for us.  In fact, there were only two that I could come up with - a deal wiht OKC involving James Harden and a deal with SAS involving Kawhi Leonard (if he shows well in the first half of his rookie season.  The other contenders just don't have the spare pieces that we would be interested in.  Ramon is kind of in the same boat.  He plays a very valuable role on this team, but is a very attractive young prospect, especially now that he has worked on his outside shot, who has no shot of ever starting here.  The Knicks make a lot of sense for him, maybe even Boston, but what would they give us in return?  Jamison and Boobie will need to shoot like they did last night to create the trade value which would make the deal worth it for us.  Teams would want Jamison because he is a vet and is on an expiring contract.  However, we may be more interested in letter his contract come off the books, then replacing it with extra baggage from another team.  Boobie is what Boobie always was.  He is basically the same player he was his rookie year, which can be very vital to a championship caliber team.  He is healthy this year (unlike last) and is on a very affordable contract.  I don't see him as part of the long term plan.

One thing's for sure, Tristan should make all Cavs fans ask one question: .... JJ who??

I agree trading Andy is probably the right move, more than likely the sooner the better.  You may be able to get a late first rounder for him from a contender.  I'm not sure about Boobie.  He definitely has value, and shooters like that are hard to come by.  If we were contending next year I would say keep him, but it's obviously going to be longer than that.  Sessions I feel we should keep.  He's a perfect 2nd point guard and he's young.  I don't think we'd get much more than an early 2nd rounder for him.

I want more than a late first rounder for Andy.  A lot more.  He has a cap friendly contract and is in his prime.  His energy and hussle are unmatched amongst players his size.  He has a lot of value.  I want a significant piece in return.  If a contender (other than OKC who could offer Harden) wants him, they will most likely have to get a 3rd team involved.  There's no rush.  We can sit back and wait for the Mo Williams type deal.... although I highly doubt we will fleece another unprotected 1st round pick from a lottery bound team. 

Andy's contract is marginally cap friendly this year, then goes to $8.4 mil next year, $9.1 mil in 2013, and nearly $10mil (team option) in 2014.  15% of your cap space is a lot to have dedicated to your 4th or 5th best player.

I consider that cap friendly for a productive big man in this league.  Or at least the term 'bloated ' doesn't apply.

I don't know if Thompson will ever come close to developing into the scorer that Malone was.

 

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that Thompson and Irving can grow together and support each other for a long time, and one player's strengths can compensate for the other's weaknesses.

 

Fair enough.  I like TT a lot, but I don't want to set expectations too high because I'm not sure he's going to live up to fourth pick of the draft quality.

I want to keep Sessions around. 

 

I want to see them go out and get something nice for Boobie and Andy.  Much as I really like those guys and their commitment to this franchise, I agree, I don't see how they fit into the long-term rebuilding plan.

 

This team needs to somehow get a big scoring threat.  I really wish that Danny Granger trade rumor from last year was true.

We could only maximize Andy's value through a 3-way deal... What good would trading Andy to, say, the Lakers (for example) do?  a. we can, and should, get more for Andy than some team's promising young player, and b. A Laker's draft pick would be deep in the 20s anyway...

 

I think we should hang onto Gibson, because pure shooters like Boobie are hard to come by.  Sessions has also proven to be a key backup point, which is also valuable... not to mention the vast improvement he's made with his 3-pt shot.  Plus, he's young and can also grow with this team.

Anyone watching this game against Bobcats? Cavs look good, esp the two rookies

^ Thompson is playing like he's 8-feet tall out there.  Amazing.

TT is a beast!

What's not to like?!?

^ Thompson is playing like he's 8-feet tall out there.  Amazing.

 

Chris Grant's looking like Executive of the Year.

 

That chase-down/block by Kyrie was awesome. Reminds me of C-Ds by The One We Do Not Speak Of. :-D  What wasn't shown in that is that Kyrie then came down the court with the ball and scored. Talk about creating offense from defense!

 

Kyrie also did some footwork with the ball that left the crowd verbally gasping. There was quite a lot of buzz in the crowd earlier tonight. It took me back about nine years ago...

Me too.... until I switched to NBA Live on ESPN and, although Kyrie got play of the night with that block, our highlights weren't shown until the end of the show.  When 'he who shall not be named' had a game like that as a rookie, we were the lead on every highlight show.  Hell, ESPN might have even done a special the next day so all the pundits could drool all over themselves.

 

Let's take a closer look at Kyrie's game last night.....

 

20 points on 8-10 shooting

6 assists and 0 turnovers

2 steals

 

ALL IN 21 MINUTES!  If he played LBJ minutes, he could have had 40/12/4.

 

Did I mention he is only 19 years old?

Hts., it makes me nervous to read optimistic posts about Cleveland sports.  I feel like you're jinxing Irving and the team's future.  Will you please post something a bit more ominous concerning the Cavs' future to balance out the bad juju you've generated?

Sure.  Sorry.  Let me just do a quick google search and try to find something from ESPN's Rachel Nichols about how Lebron and Kyrie are scheming to join forces on the Knicks next year.

Awesome stuff, gentlemen.

 

This is why I increasingly watch the NBA channel.

I can't watch anything NBA-related other than Cavs coverage/games.

 

Anyways, Hts, thanks for pointing out and reminding me that Irving and Thompson have only been playing about 20-25 minutes a game each.  Why is that the case?  Conditioning?  I'd like to see them bump it up to around 35 minutes a game by the end of the season.

There are probably a few reasons.  One obvious reason is that Scott is sticking pretty much with a two unit rotation, with the starters and the bench splitting the minutes.  With the way the bench is playing (2nd in the league in scoring), I can't fault him.  It also let's Irving run the show with the vets out on the court and TT gets to play with a more veteran point guard.  Half-kidding..... but there could also be some concern that TT and Andy would hurt each other if on the court at the same time given the way each of them dive for loose balls and act like a bull in a china shop below the basket.  Another reason (although not intentional, perhaps, but definitely beneficial) is the condensed schedule.  We have largely been spared of this so far, but with this 7 game road swing, we will see a lot more fatigue.  There will be a lot of 4 in 5 nights or 3 games back-to-back mixed in, so it is best to keep the players fresh.

^^Jamison is going to be logging heavy minutes a long as he keeps scoring and/or continues to make himself a valuable piece of trade bait.  The Cavs also have Samardo Samuels and to a lesser extent Varejao blocking Thompson's path to increased minutes.  Scott also seems to be handing half of the playing time at pg to Sessions.  As long as that persists Kyrie will get 20-25 minutes per game.  I feel like the Cavs are definitely trying to showcase Jamison a bit in advance of a trade.  I also think that Scott and the front office believe they have some potential young rotation players that they would like to develop.  Samuels, Gee, and Hollins( :wink:) have all shown that they might be solid 8th-10th men on a contender.

Couple of thoughts on the Cavs so far this year:

 

-we've played a very weak schedule

-this will be a very grueling schedule. Our next 7 games are all on the road and played within 13 days--and includes a West Coast swing.

-I'd advocate that Scott let's the youngsters forfeit a game, sleep in, and take them to a video arcade at the closest mall.

-i like that Scott is spreading the minutes around. He's looking to the future.

-Irving, having only played 9-10 games last year, is looking like a potential star

-we still have a very good owner

-it will be interesting to see what we do with $18 mil worth of cap space at the end of the year

 

Last year was a sad year for all the obvious reasons. This year feels different because the future looks brighter. We knew we were going to be horrible last year, but because of the uncertainty of the lottery system it was impossible to know what draft picks we might get. The first positive thing that happened was when we traded for the Clippers 1st round pick. After that, I felt much better about our future given that we had two lottery picks. Hats off to Gilbert for taking on a lot of salary in order to buy a chance at the future--and it paid off hugely. Then we blew out Miami. Then Gilbert's son picked a rabbit out of his hat and made CLE proud by doing it in style. 

-

BTW, with so many games in this condensed season, I hope the Cavs are able to work in some practice time on their free-throw shooting! The box score from last night shows it was only slightly better than their floor-shooting percentage. At one point during the game, their FG % was actually better than their FT % -- do really how pathetic that is?!?!?!

BTW, with so many games in this condensed season, I hope the Cavs are able to work in some practice time on their free-throw shooting! The box score from last night shows it was only slightly better than their floor-shooting percentage. At one point during the game, their FG % was actually better than their FT % -- do really how pathetic that is?!?!?!

 

Its in these little details that the shortened training camp hurt.  FT are likely beginning end of practice items, but when all of practice has to be spent understanding the coaching system and where to be on the floor these little things get left out.  There just wasn't enough time to do a training camp properly.  It's OK though the Cavs should not be trying to be great this year, and we lose a few because of that fine.  Better draft slot :)

And in the Toronto game, the FG shooting couldn't have been much worse. Toronto did a good job of keeping us out of the paint which forced us into outside shots that weren't falling. Can't blame it on the defense though. Maybe we were tired after back-to-back games in two nights.

 

Tough way to start to a long road trip.....