Sounds like Okafur is going to wait until next season.  Oh well.  Dalembert was waived.  He is a bit more mobile than Haywood, but I still have concerns a player of his type would clog the lane on offense, off-setting his lane clogging abilities on defense.  Ideally, we need a center who defenses will have to guard 10 feet from the basket.  Spencer Hawes has not really worked out all that well for LAC.  I wonder what it would take to get him back in wine&gold.

Can we afford Hawes? I'd love to have him back. Perhaps trading Haywood and a first-round pick to LAC and using our trade exception would allow us to afford him?

IMO, as long as they stay around .500 - .600 going into the last month or so of the season and play well then, they have an even better chance of taking it as if they went 100% all year.[/color]

 

I agree.  Hopefully Lebron plays it conservatively with his back and saves himself for the playoffs.

 

All those years where we won 60+ games we never won a championship.  Getting to the playoffs healthy and rested is what's important, even if you're not a 1 seed.

Can we afford Hawes? I'd love to have him back. Perhaps trading Haywood and a first-round pick to LAC and using our trade exception would allow us to afford him?

I think Hawes would just be another defensive liability. We don't need that for a team rated 6th in offensive efficiency and 22nd in defensive. I would take Hawes for free but wouldn't give up any valuable trade chips.

You probably don't have to worry about Hawes....

 

ESPN is reporting Cavs are in advanced discussions to acquire Denver Center Timofey Mosgov. I hope this happens!

 

More from Marc Stein:

 

ESPN sources say Cavs are prepared to surrender at least one first-round pick and additional trade assets to Denver for Mozgov

 

Deal sending Timofey Mozgov from Denver to Cleveland, I'm told, is on course to be completed as soon as today

 

Update to Cavs story w/ @WindhorstESPN: Cavs will send TWO future firsts to Denver for Mozgov

I haven't watched Mozgov play but his numbers are pretty underwhelming. He has pretty average block, rebound, and defensive ratings and any can't stay on the court. I guess it just goes to show how hard it is to find viable bigs. 2 first rounders seems excessive.

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mozgoti01.html?mobile=false

 

Edit: I wonder if they have pursued Dalembert? He seems to fit the profile of what we're looking for a bit better:

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dalemsa01.html?mobile=false

He played only 25 minutes per game. If he plays 35-40 minutes per game, I'm sure his numbers will go up. How much? We'll see. And maybe his numbers will improve on a better team.

 

I saw him play against the Cavs and we couldn't stop him and we couldn't score against him.

 

So the Cavs have taken steps to add two defenders -- an interior defender in Mosgov and a perimeter defender in Shumpert -- both of whom can also score. And they've strengthened their bench with JR Smith.

 

In short, the Cavs turned Dion Waiters into three players because Denver wouldn't trade Mosgov without the other first-round pick that OKC gave us for Dion.

Timofey,  best name since Anfernee.

Timofey,  best name since Anfernee.

 

At least Timofey is from another country!

 

BTW, the Smith-Shumpert trade is now finally official after Dion passed his physical in OKC. Too bad Shumpert is still three weeks from playing again....

 

Cavs welcome pair, miss Waiters

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12132771/cleveland-cavaliers-players-react-acquisition-jr-smith-iman-shumpert

He played only 25 minutes per game. If he plays 35-40 minutes per game, I'm sure his numbers will go up. How much? We'll see. And maybe his numbers will improve on a better team.

 

 

Sorry, I should have clarified. His rates were low based on a per 36 minute basis. Only having one season over 45 games scares me too, especially since he's already 28.

All legit concerns. And he may be playing only 25 minutes per game because big men are usually subject to foot injuries, as we saw with Z.

I think a lot of people were quick to put down Waiters, from the time he was drafted at no. 4 and few knew much about him, and the rest knew he was a Syracuse bench player.  He certainly had some maturity issues and needed to pass the ball more at times.  But  I really came to respect his game; his speed,  quickness and power as well as his  fearlessness in driving the lane.  He became a much better finisher.  In terms of his difficulty as a person, he's a choir boy compared to Smith.  I think Dion and Kyrie, through the difficulties of the last 2 years,  developed a mutual respect and even a liking for each other.  His absence will be felt.

 

Shumpert is a very good defensive player, but  not a scorer like Dion.  Let's hope Smith's longstanding relationship with LeBron will coax the 6th Man of the Year Smith out of him, as opposed  to the knucklehead Smith of last year and in Denver.  It remains to be seen...

 

... As for Mozgov, this looks like a nice pickup and I'm certainly pleased we're getting him instead of Koufus who I consider to be a borderline stiff (he's a journeyman, at best).  I think some people wanted Kosta because of the Ohio State connection. 

 

I'm still worried that LeBron's condition may be more serious than the Cavs are letting on.  We'll see.  I also wouldn't mind bringing in Jesus Shuttlesworth for the stretch run.  I keep hearing he may sign with us prior to the All Star Break.

 

I'm still worried that LeBron's condition may be more serious than the Cavs are letting on.  We'll see.

 

 

nahh, no worries. he needed to focus on his second job in the back office working out these trades.

 

 

 

im just tired of all the noise, on and off the court.  start winning games.

btw the knicks waived all 3 aquisitions today.

Suggests that Mosgov isn't that good, that Cavs rim protection is awful, and that Mosgov will be an upgrade....

 

Rim protection rankings per @SethPartnow's metric:

Koufos 6th

Mozgov 34th

T. Thompson 51st

Varejao 56th

Kevin Love 119th

It's interesting seeing Delly and Kyrie playing together. So far so good.

Its official... Cavs announce Mozgov trade. Mozgov and a 2015 2nd round pick from Denver in exchange for 1st round picks from OKC, Memphis

 

Cavs GM David Griffin said they used their trade exception in part to acquire Mozgov from Denver. They have ~800k left

Why does this team go cold in the 4th?

@EthanJSkolnick David Griffin hinted he still is searching for another PG, esp. after A.J. Price release. Dellavedova at 19% from 2-pt range this season.

0-5 no assists debut same 'ol jr - ok ok to be fair 0-3

 

As much as I ripped on him in the loss to Philly, Love appears to be sucking it up and playing through a lot of pain. He looked miserable last night

 

Edit: what does Love weigh btw? He get flopped around in the paint way too much.

As much as I ripped on him in the loss to Philly, Love appears to be sucking it up and playing through a lot of pain. He looked miserable last night

 

Edit: what does Love weigh btw? He get flopped around in the paint way too much.

 

Having a true big man next to him will help. So would about a week or two-long bodily shutdown like what LeBron is doing.

As much as I ripped on him in the loss to Philly, Love appears to be sucking it up and playing through a lot of pain. He looked miserable last night

 

Edit: what does Love weigh btw? He get flopped around in the paint way too much.

 

Having a true big man next to him will help. So would about a week or two-long bodily shutdown like what LeBron is doing.

 

Exactly what I was thinking.  Then Kyrie next.  Let the three of them start playing together mid to late February.

Blatt is sure riding the Delly Train... he may just ride it right back to Tel Aviv.

I couldn't resist.....

 

Blatt is sure riding the Delly Train... he may just ride it right back to Tel Aviv.

 

LOL, I'm not sure I've ever seen a player worse than Dellavedova in the NBA, let alone get this much PT.

 

He's a small, slow shooting guard that can't shoot.  But, hey, he hustles at least! :roll:

Timofey Mozgov's first words to Eastern Conference centers:

Blatt is sure riding the Delly Train... he may just ride it right back to Tel Aviv.

 

LOL, I'm not sure I've ever seen a player worse than Dellavedova in the NBA, let alone get this much PT.

 

He's a small, slow shooting guard that can't shoot.  But, hey, he hustles at least! :roll:

 

I think Delly has to be used in spurts..... much like we did with Andy early in his career.  He is a pest on defense.  In fact, I think his defense on Harden for the first 3 quarters last night is one reason the Rockets couldn't pull away.  But when he is overused, playing starter's minutes, he can't keep it up through the fourth.  His current shooting struggles are more mental I think than a measure of his ability.

His current shooting struggles are more mental I think than a measure of his ability.

 

From everything I've seen, he's just a bad shooter.

 

I do agree that he plays tough defense.  It's just that he's a nightmare on offense.  It's tough in the NBA to play with a guy out there that can be left open and you're pretty sure he still won't score.  It makes it even worse when that guy is a shooting guard.

Nate Wolters was waived by the Bucks to make room for Kenyon Martin.  I was surprised by that.  Wolters is a decent combo-guard off the bench.  He could compete for Delly's minutes.  I'm not sure he will clear waivers.

Nate Wolters was waived by the Bucks to make room for Kenyon Martin.  I was surprised by that.  Wolters is a decent combo-guard off the bench.  He could compete for Delly's minutes.  I'm not sure he will clear waivers.

 

I saw that too. I'm surprised the Bucs are shopping at K-mart. :)

 

I'm hoping the Cavs can get Wolters. Kid scored 7.2 PPG in 22.6 MinsPG his rookie season. That's pretty damn good. True his numbers are down this year (including his minutes cut by near-half), but it's only his second year. Way too soon to throw this kid on the scrap heap.

two of the big three starting for the cavs and oddsmakers still have GS-12.5. i dk why i even looked at that.

Mozgov will be in uni tonight, with LeBron coming back probably for the LA games at the end of the West Coast swing.  We've got to start winning some ball games, NOW.  Yeah, there have been injuries and many personnel moves, but Blatt's got to start getting some W's.  We lost to friggin' Philadelphia, for which there is absolutely no excuse. Love was really pissed after that game despite his gaudy personal numbers.  In addition to other weird Blatt moves in that Sixers' game, he put rookie Joe Harris on red hot Tony Wroten to try and stop him on his game-winning drive to the basket.  The same talented Joe Harris who is totally befuddled by his in-and-out of games yanking by Blatt.

@ChrisFilar Last 9 mins of 4th Q: Here are the total number of passes in halfcourt for #Cavs 0,2,0,4,1,0,1,0,1,3,1,0,1,0,0,2,0. 16!!!! Two were inbounds

^I really like JR Smith's firepower -- we know that, when he's on, he can be lethal.  But with he and Kyrie, late, there weren't enough basketballs -- it didn't move and, once again, Kevin Love seemed to get frozen out in the 4th...

 

But can someone answer me why Tim Mozgov was on the bench for the 4th quarter until the last 2 minutes when Blatt put him in after the game was out of reach?  If you notice, Draymond Green, Mo Speights and even Harrison Barnes were killing us in the paint -- the kind of stuff Mozgov was supposed to protect against with his size and agility... He ws very effective earlier in the game at both ends, and even going to the whole where the officials swallowed their whistles while he was getting hammered when taking to the hole (I'm not normally a refs complainer, but those guys last night were much worse than usual)... It was a close game going into the 4th but GS blew us out... Oh yeah, and as usual, there was Blatt's old standby Delly hogging the ball and dribbling into trouble during crunch time... I like Dellavedova, but he's not an elite player despite the fact that his coach continues to throw him in against elite talent in key situations...

 

Besides this, I'm really excited again about this team... excited about the new talent we have. We are deep and we gave the Warriors 3 quarters of competitive ball on their home court where they've lost 1 game this entire season -- and this was without LeBron, as well as no Marion and, of course, no Shumpert for a while... But with every passing game i become more convinced that Blatt's not capable of taking us to the promise land.  He's yet another one of those "Smartest guys in the room" stubborn/my way coaches that like going against the obvious and the conventional.

Cavs are now below .500, 19-20... Little-used James Jones plays the entire 4th and, despite being a weak defender, is mainly playing sizzling hot Markiff Morris, while Kevin Love sits... Along with our rim-protector, Mozkov, who similarly sat most of the 4th in the Golden State game we were competitive in for 3 quarters.  If this is an elite team, why is winning so hard ... now, even with LeBron?... The verdict?  The clock is ticking on David Blatt.

This team is an enigma. Kyrie was a virtual no-show, shooting just 4-16 and giving up SEVEN turnovers. Love didn't see the 4th quarter because he was getting lit up by Morris and his shooting was an awful 3-11. It's bad enough that they couldn't defend. But their scorers couldn't even score tonight. Only LeBron and JR Smith kept us in this game.

 

I think something must be done to shake this team up. Something drastic. The Cavs are just awful.

I'm officially concerned.

^ yeah, i guess sorta.  but i did see an energy there last night that we havent seen in a while...so im pleased about that.  3 of the 5 starters were not playing last week at this time, so that could be a reason for the lousy first half.  I still am holding the belief that the talent will rise to the top.

 

The cavs work SO HARD to get points and most of the time need crappy shots to get them...and the other teams just seamlessly go score at will EVERY GAME.  Its like they invented the sport or something.  I honestly think the pressure is just eating this team up.  They are overthinking it...they are not playing loose, everything just seems so hard.  they need to have a team only meeting and figure that out.

 

I am just baffled by the defense. Mike Brown is still on payroll, right?  Why not bring him in as a defensive consultant. 

The team is really good at losing by double digits.

cold shooting and wsy too few assists, but the timing of playing the lakers could not have been better and a win is a win. we'll see how they gel from here out. cautiously optimistic!

I wasn't impressed last night.  The Lakers shot over 50% for the game; 68% in the first quarter.  And Kobe had a career night with 17 assists.  Obviously, Kobe's one of the best players in NBA history and he's a decent passer, but that's not his game.  This means he was setting up mainly mediocre players who were finishing on us.  We needed the heroics of the best player in the game just to bail us out of a close game in which we were just another Delly meltdown of losing like we did against the lowly 76ers... and this is the Lakers we're talking about.  Even a decent lottery team would have handled us last night. 

 

I don't hold out much hope of us beating the elite Clippers, who signed Nate Robinson who we were pursuing.  Love, who was heroic in hanging in with a very bad back, should sit tonight.

This team looks to LeBron and follows suit. Once he gives a damn, they'll give a damn.

I understand that, with the Robinson signing, the Clippers may release Jordan Farmar who we may be interested in.  Yep, we're now relegated and desperate enough to foraging for good teams' castoffs ... Although Farmar's decent player who can shoot and handle the ball.  And we desperately need a backup point guard as Delly's our only viable option currently.  And at this point, we need to release Miller (who's had it and is giving us zippo) and send Harris down to Canton so that the talented kid can gain some confidence and get straightened out.

Miller is playing under a guaranteed contract.  He won't be released.

 

Farmar is just as bad at defense as Delly is on offense.  Last thing this team needs is to lose defense for better offense.

 

I think Love needs to take a few weeks (or longer) off.  His back has been bothering him for two long and it seems to be getting worse.

Miller is playing under a guaranteed contract.  He won't be released.

 

Farmar is just as bad at defense as Delly is on offense.  Last thing this team needs is to lose defense for better offense.

 

I think Love needs to take a few weeks (or longer) off.  His back has been bothering him for two long and it seems to be getting worse.

 

He needs to take a LeBron-style break.  When he's done, maybe let Kyrie do it too.

 

The big three only need to all be active for about a month before the playoffs begin.

Nice hard fought win by the Cavs tonight. Lebron definitely gave a damn tonight. He played his ass off and with a lot of emotion. Irving is the one I can't figure out. He was on fire on both ends of the floor and the next game he might not show up.

Nice hard fought win by the Cavs tonight. Lebron definitely gave a damn tonight. He played his ass off and with a lot of emotion. Irving is the one I can't figure out. He was on fire on both ends of the floor and the next game he might not show up.

 

Some fun, some aggravation (as always). Nice to get the win!

 

Irving always gives Max effort, it's just a matter of if his shot is falling or not