We’re Coming for You, Shabazz
2012-11-27
I miss this.
PHOENIX 91, CLEVELAND 78
Well, if we can take one positive out of tonight, it’s that Anderson Varejao is amazing. That’s about it. Every other Cavs player mixed whatever good they did with a healthy helping of bad. A few were perhaps quasi-effective, but the individual performances tonight did not add up to a winning team performance. Not even close, in fact. This Cavs-Suns tilt was ugly on both ends of the floor, and it hurts my brain to even attempt to attempt at establishing a narrative for the game other than “Wow, the Cavs without Kyrie suck a little more than the Suns.” As such, I’ll go ahead and talk about the game by way of bullet point.
– Tristan Thomspon wasn’t impressive. Marcin Gortat and Luis Scola are a solid post duo, but they looked like Sampson and Olajuwon when defending Tristan down low. He has no offensive repertoire to speak of. Tigger shot 1-7 from the field for 5 points, and had no blocks or steals. However, I’d like to point out that he shot 3-4 from the free throw line. That’s not bad at all.
– Alonzo Gee was solid. He played some good defense, though that sort of thing is hard to quantify against the Suns, especially in a game like tonight’s- either they were scoring every time down the floor on an array of difficult shots, or they were missing an unconscionable amount of layups and corner threes. But we got the kind of ball we’ve come to both expect and treasure from Alonzo: 3-7 from the field for 12 points, a killer dunk, and a few steals and assists to go along with his constant flight around the floor. All NBA D-League players should take notes from Alonzo on how to make the NBA. The main thing is to play harder than anyone else on the floor.
– Jeremy Pargo played like Donald Sloan. 3-12 for 8 points. 5 points, 5 turnovers. Against Goran Dragic, who isn’t exactly a lock-down defender. He also had 5 fouls, playing the point guard position. How is that even possible? Let’s just move on.
– C.J. Miles straight-up dominated a 35-second stretch of this game, dropping six straight points. Unfortunately, it was the last 35 seconds of the game, and he sucked for the rest of the game. He missed a bunch of jumpers, and didn’t do anything else particularly well. It’s hard to believe that Byron Scott continues to play him over Omri Casspi, who looked at least mildly effective in 13 minutes and hit a couple of shots.
– Anderson Varejao is a monster, 20 points, 18 boards. The fifth straight 15+ rebound game in a row for Andy. He was on fire in the 3rd quarter, when he hit a flurry of mid-range jumpers on his way to 14 in the quarter. Without Wild Thing, the Cavs would have lost this game by 30. At the beginning of the season, I was all for trading Andy. But he’s played himself out of trade talks. There’s nothing of equal value that we could get in return.
-Dion Waiters actually had a decent game, despite another mediocre shooting night (7-20 from the field). He dished out 7 assists, and some of them were beauties. His play-making ability seemed almost Harden-esque at times, as he put the ball on the floor and whipped cross-court passes with ease. When Dion learns how to finish at the rim and hit his jumper regularly, he’ll be a real star in this league.
– Pretty much everyone else on the team sucked. I would love to blame this loss on Luke Walton, but he didn’t play. It was weird to see Tyler Zeller playing for the Suns. Or was that his brother, Luke? I couldn’t tell. Tough loss. Goodnight, folks.
Kj and Cols714, I deleted the impostor comments that appeared from you guys at the very beginning of the thread.
We have to keep in mind that it took Andy years to become the player he is today. Look at his stats from his first 4/5 years in the league and you’ll see that they are similar if not slightly worse to the numbers TT put up in his first season. Plus Andy was never the offensive player he has been this season in any of the previous years. TT was taken as a project player. We all knew that. We should just be pumped he’s having the defensive impact he is and give him time to develop his offensive… Read more »
Cols, you think Grant’s done a fantastic job so far, which is fine. All I’m saying is the jury is still out. As much as you hate on JJ, you really don’t think him and Jonas would make the cavs better right now than TT and Casspi? Put the whole rumor of Jonas not wanting to come here aside and just answer that question. JJ has been playing below average but not terrible D, and both those guys are shooting 50%+ from the floor and scoring more points than Thompson and Casspi, both of whom have shown vast improvement just… Read more »
Kevin, iirc, there’s data that shows that an average NBA player is a best-case scenario with late lottery picks. So that Hickson trade may at best prove to be a 2018 wash. One thing I can’t wrap my head around with this team is the reliance on ball handling by the bigs from 17-23 ft away. The Cavs botch so many dribble handoffs. that should be the easiest play to make. Part of the problem is that our bigs pick up their dribble far too early in the process and part is that there is no true threat of a… Read more »
The book on TT in the draft was that he was as bad of an offensive player as you’d find in the first round. One name that doesn’t get brought up nearly as much as it should when it comes to TT: Bismack Biyambo. Biyambo sported a very similar skill set and similarly limited offensive game, but had a 5 inch better wing span, an inch taller height, and a 3 inch better standing reach. He’s a much better shot blocker, but TT is a better individual defender. Can 82games be right? Does TT hold opposing power forwards to a… Read more »
Rick – TT seems like a very high character guy. Eric Snow was a high character guy and he had serious offensive deficiencies. He was still an effective player because he was such a relentless defender. TT does some things that, if refined, could make him an impact player. One thing he needs to work on is catching the basketball. Many times he is in position to grab a rebound or tip it to a teammate (or himself) and he just muffs it, especially when he is jumping in a crowd. Since he’s juxtaposed to Andy, who can score from… Read more »
I just reread my post, and I was a bit too critical on TT and even though I may feel that way at times, many times actually, he is currently a Cav and does deserve some praise as well. Maybe I was just doing a 180 regarding the praise he’s gotten in these last 2-3 blog posts from the homers so I took it the other way a bit more harshly than I should have. Anyways, I’ve never verified this with my own 2 eyes, but I always hear on broadcasts and articles is that TT is an extremely hard… Read more »
RichOH,
I’ll let Ryan Braun know that he’s getting requests in the comments section.
Nate Smith,
I get the RAPM data from http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com. If you’re into websites that are completely barebones and solely consist of player names and numbers…this is the site for you. As such, obviously I think it’s awesome.
Since Tom just mentioned these names – Drew Gooden, JJ and TT – each have good points to their game and each have glaring weaknesses that we all could see over the course of a season or 2. The main difference in the arguments and disagreements with the 3 is due to *when* they were on the Cavs. If TT was on the Lebron Cavs as the other 2 were and his skills were exactly the same as they are now, I very much doubt he would have a single supporter within the fanbase. Can you imagine Lebron driving and… Read more »
Please let us not ever say the name JJ Hickson again. The guy has never been any good. I’m really really glad he’s gone. Plus I remember when fans were worried that the Cavs were going to trade Hickson because they thought he was so valuable. There’s a reason they were able to get so little for him. If you don’t want to give Grant credit for Dion and Kyrie, that’s fine. Then don’t kill him for Thompson either. If those two guys are TBD, then so is Thompson. I think Grant’s done a fantastic job so far. Irving, Waiters,… Read more »
Kevin – I know you do. I think we both have similar opinions on Hickson’s shortcoming and actual production. Where we differ is that I think the Cavs need above the rim guys that can finish some of these forays towards the basket. The Cavs entire offense right now is 1 on 5 isos that lead to 1 pass after a collapse. And it’s just a block party after that. I think Hickson provides that somewhat. It’s kinda water under the bridge but I think it makes for interesting discussion. Honestly if TT could finish like at all around the… Read more »
I do find it very ‘Cleveland-ish’ that fans were pretty easily convinced that Drew Gooden wasn’t valuable (elite rebounder and decent shooter) and that TT “deserves time” and Hickson didn’t. Shows this town loves hard working high character guys. I loved Tyronne Hill and TT could be just like that if he ever learns to catch a ball. Hickson’s was frustrating because he couldn’t channel his elite athleticism into anything but a liability on defense and had a penchant for taking stupid shots. He was very Javale McGeeish. But he has an insane vertical and can finish in traffic and… Read more »
This is cracking me up that people are bringing up Hickson. I got MURDERED for doing that last week even by the other CtB guys. Didn’t any of you guys pay attention. KyrieSw??
Tom,
I stand by what I said last week…basically, that I can’t imagine a scenario where I think “man, I wish we had JJ Hickson”. I’m holding out hope for the 11th pick in 2016…big things are coming then.
And as far as my beloved RAPM is concerned; Hickson is a slightly below average offensive and defensive player this year. That’s not a bad thing, but he’s entering his prime, and he’s an average-ish player. Meh.
@Bonus – did you listen to the podcast last week? I brought up Hickson. Thought we gave up on him too early. @NUPE – what is it about TT that you say he is better now than Varejao was at this stage of his career (1 year in)? Even if I could be convinced of that, Varejao wasn’t a #4 pick so expectations were obviously going to be higher for TT. I think he could be solid as long as he’s paired with another big that can space the floor a little bit. Because regardless of what anyone wants to… Read more »
Varejao debuted in the NBA basically at the age that Tristan will be at the end of this season.
Let us not forget that the Lakers had A.C. Green, Horace Grant, Robert Horry at power forward. None of those guys were slouches offensively or defensively.
Maybe this is not appropriate to bring up here, and I don’t know his advanced stats and he was terrible on defense when he played for us, but J.J. Hickson is averaging 11.2 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and .7 bpg in under 30 minutes a game for Portland this year, whilst posting a nice 18.19 PER. He’s shooting over 51% from the field and 62% free throws. He’s only 24. Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten rid of him so quickly? Casspi has not panned out and who knows when we will ever get that conditional pick. I know Hickson was garbage… Read more »
Bonus Wagner, I can’t speak exactly as to Hickson’s performance. I’ve seen Portland a couple of times this year and he looked solid, but someone’s stats are lying on Portland. Their top-five minutes earners have PER’s between 17 and 19. Their first guy off the bench has a PER of 13.1, yet they are 6 – 8 with the 8th worst point differential in the league. Looking at the regularized adjusted plus minus (RAPM) that i discussed a few recaps ago, that stat HATES Nic Batum, Damian Lillard and Meyers Leonard on defense. RAPM actually considers Hickson an average defender… Read more »
Andysav – agreed. You can’t have 2 offensive liabilities in your frontcourt, but you can have one as long as he brings something to the other end. Ben Wallace on Pistons, Dennis Rodman on Bulls, Francisco Elson’s on Spurs(each example is getting weaker so I’ll stop). But it’s true. Joel Anthony is an undersized rim protector. You don’t need 2 offensively competent bigs to win a championship. That is, of course, assuming that you all-stars at almost every other position…
@Dani I would say that teams need a offensive minded big, not necessarily a dominant PF. The Kobe-Shaq era Lakers didn’t have a dominating PF and won 3 rings, and while Tim Duncan is listed at PF its not exactly a secret that he played center for the spurs when they won their rings. And if we’re looking at the rosters of recent champs for our blueprint we may need to start looking into trading Kyrie for a wing because none of the recent winners (other than the Spurs for one of their rings) featured an all-star PG. @Tom It… Read more »
So many different topic going on in the comments section it’s hard to decide on what’s most important to point out. First: I think the writers of this blog are doing a great job. I liked Krolik but I don’t ‘miss’ him. It’s easy to write a bunch of rainbows and butterfly type game recaps when you’re writing about a championship contending team. When writing about a bottom feeding lottery team – not so easy to be so positive (regardless how big of a fan you are). Even in last nights interview with B. Scott, he summed up the game… Read more »
Andysav – it’s really early in the season. I also noticed Tristan’s +/- being off the charts. I’m hoping it means something positive. +/- is such a noisy stat. Over the course of a season it can help inform opinion but over the course of 15 games it really doesn’t mean much. No one would look at Jeremy Pargo’s positive +/- and Kyrie Irving’s negative +/- and advocate that Pargo is the better player. I cannot use 15 games of +/- and off/def +/- to say that Thompson is superior to Varejao defensively. Thompson is working hard on D and… Read more »
Cols, I think saying “Grant still has a great draft record of Kyrie and Dion” is a bit presumptuous. Dion has shown flashes, but is really an unknown at this point. Not criticizing grant for the pick, but its a bit risky to call that a slam dunk. Kyrie, as much as I love the kid, is still a complete liability on defense and can’t stay healthy. Not Grant’s fault, and I’d rather have him than anyone else from 2012, but those were the concerns about him coming out of duke and it may still come back to haunt us.… Read more »
I’m actually willing to accept that Tristan is an impact defender. My main issue lies in his offense. In the NBA today, power forwards on successful teams are almost nearly always efficient at the least on offense, if not downright dangerous. Look at the power forwards on recent NBA Champions: Bosh, Dirk, Gasol, KG… Now, I don’t expect the Cavs to contend for a title anytime soon. I’d be more than pleased with a playoff spot in the next year or two. Obviously, we aren’t going to acquire a superstar PF by then. But my point resides in the fact… Read more »
@WitmI The bench replacements are just as bad for Andy but his numbers don’t come close to matching TT’s. When Andy is on the floor the D gives up 110.5 pts per 100 possessions compared to 110.8 when he is off the court. When TT is on the floor the D gives up 103.9 points per 100 possessions compared to 121.3 when he’s off the court. 17.4 is a significantly larger differential than 0.3. Some of the difference can be that Andy has to play with Zeller when TT goes to the bench, but Tristan gets plenty of run on… Read more »
“I understand the criticism of TT on offense, but I don’t understand why everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that he has been basically our best defensive player all year. Look at the points allowed per possession numbers. When he’s on the court they allow 103.9 pointer per 100 possessions compared to 121.3 when he’s off the court. That is easily the best on our team, and much better than JV currently.”
That stat just shows how horrible his bench replacements are, it doesn’t show that he’s very good.
I
@Dani I’m not trying to criticize CtB at all. I read this blog everyday. I just like talking about the Cavs and the TT debate is one of the more interesting ones going currently. @Tom I know this year is much to small of a sample size to make an overall conclusion, but advanced statistics are pointing to TT being heavily underrated as a defender. It’s more that just +/-, on the year TT is holding opposing PF’s to a PER of 9.6 (average per 48 minutes) compared to opposing centers posting a 17.0 PER against Andy and opposing SF… Read more »
jlh – I don’t think many advanced stat analysts take sick high top fades into consideration. Maybe they should?
Andysav – he has shown the ability to stay in front of good post scorers. I’ve noticed he has trouble securing rebounds that he gets his hands on. He is not better defensively than Varejao and probably not gee. But he is making discernible improvements and that is a good sign. His +/- has been solid this year. Some of that might be that he plays with Varejao often. Some is that Tyler Zeller can’t guard a traffic cone. But Thompson keeps good position in ISO situations. Hopefully Varejao elite ability to get every rebound he’s even remotely close to… Read more »
One thing is for certain; interest seems to be rising in the Cavs again. This has never been a huge site for comment traffic, but other than trades and around draft time, Cavs: the Blog never makes it to two pages of feedback on an article. Now, two straight recaps get there. I can’t keep up.
I think there’s a lot of things that we could split hairs about as far the how well Grant has done. Danny Green, Alonzo Gee, Kyrie, trading for the Clippers pick, TT, Dion…. Overall, I don’t think he’s made any jaw-dropping mistakes. OK, that’s not exactly a huge endorsement, but you get the point. He’s treading water and collecting assets now. Which is fine, but any GM can do that. However, at some point (I believe after this season), the Cavs will pull the trigger on their cap space. They will sign a big-name FA, build the bench, and make… Read more »
And no, Korheiser shouldn’t be fired for saying that. It’s PTI and he’s really entertaining on it. It’s not a show for serious analysis.
Ugh It’s not that you can’t criticize Thompson, it’s the inordinate amount of time worrying about that pick. Like I’ve said, even if he only becomes a bench player, Grant still has a great draft record of Kyrie and Dion. How many teams have hit on backcourt players like that? Not many. I think you can easily say that Chris Grant is doing a good job. I’m not sure about Byron Scott, but then I really have a hard time evaluating coaches. I am glad that we are no longer watching Mike Brown on the sideline. But oh yeah, Mallory’s… Read more »
Andysav for GM 2016
dustinello – don’t go back to being passive. You’re adding value in the comments. I also don’t know if Chris Grant is doing a good job or not. I don’t really know if B Scott is either. Kyrie over Derrick Williams wasn’t a slam dunk so I’ll give him credit for making the right call there. It is going to take a lot to convince me that Tristan Thompson was the right selection – and it’s more than just Thompson, it’s selecting the PF position, which I thought to be the Cavs deepest position around that time. It’s too early… Read more »
You know that we don’t have meetings do discuss official blog rhetoric, right? He shoots like 40% from the field at the PF position and he doesn’t seem to have improved much. Everyone that criticizes him on the blog has done so based on their personal opinion, not website policy.
Andysav
I agree. He also has time to develop offensively. I’m not sure why CTB is so down on him.
I understand the criticism of TT on offense, but I don’t understand why everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that he has been basically our best defensive player all year. Look at the points allowed per possession numbers. When he’s on the court they allow 103.9 pointer per 100 possessions compared to 121.3 when he’s off the court. That is easily the best on our team, and much better than JV currently. Kyrie and Dion are there to carry the team offensively in the future. TT was brought in to rebound and play good defense. He’s probably never gonna… Read more »
is shabazz really who we want to target? i think i’d rather have noel. that high top fade is sick.
KyrieSwIrving,
Toronto is a much larger city than Cleveland. The population is more than 6 times larger (2,615,060 vs. 393,806), and it’s a international city. You can criticize Grant if you want. In the end though, there was risk involved.
The point of the article was that the Cavs were high on Valunciunas. Several people have the opinion that the Cavs were higher on Tristan, which may not be true.
Oh come one If Grant had draft Jonas and he decided he didn’t want to come and play for Cleveland, we’d be criticizing him for that as well. It’s OK to criticize Grant. The problem is that Grant has been a pretty good GM so far. Getting us Kyrie and Waiters is pretty awesome. Thompson is only in his 2nd year and has plenty of time to improve. Even if he doesn’t and he’s just a bench guy, that’s still a sweet record for a GM to have. This idea that Grant is THE WORST GM IN THE WORLD because… Read more »
Kyrie: one must remember that one of the GM’s jobs is to take the fall for stupid decisions the owner makes. Chris Grant may have wanted to draft JV, and the owner may have not wanted to wait. Aditionally, they probably didn’t want to deal with a guy who was going to be on a #4 contract later on down the line when they’re dealing with extensions for Kyrie, etc. Just a thought.
Scuzz, that is a ridiculous excuse. Toronto isn’t that hot of a destination over cleveland, and even if Valunciunas would have waited an extra year or two to come here, he would have still come before we were competing for ships. If grant didn’t draft him because his agent or he said “I don’t to play there” than Grant should be criticized for it. Call the bluff, if he doesn’t want to come, you can always trade his rights. As it is, we have a guy who hopefully will become a decent backup instead. Grant should get roasted for not… Read more »
“Whew. Glad i missed this one. Sounded painful. As for TT versus JV, I’m not that convinced JV is all that and a back of chicklets. It’s pretty obvious at this point that 2011 was a 1 star deep draft, and the players all grade out at the same “tier” 2-25. Anyway, realistic options instead of TT at that pick: JV, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, and Bismack Biyambo. What they probably should’ve done is trade down… Kenneth Faried or Nikola Vujevic would’ve been better options, but they didn’t. I’m ready to move on.” JV projects as a starter, I doubt… Read more »
I’ll return once more before retiring to the abyss of passive readership. That is, until the spokesperson job opens or I get frustrated with content again. Let me just clarify a couple points: I don’t know if Chris Grant is doing a good job or a mediocre job. I know that he is not destroying the Cavaliers’ future by signing albatross long-term high-salary contracts. But, as of yet, there’s not much evidence that he’s building a championship contender either. We all get that. All I mean to say is that I don’t think harping on that subject is warranted considering… Read more »
Dustinello,
Thanks for momentarily surfacing from the abyss of passive readership. I rescued your comment from the Monster that frequents that abyss.
Recap was fine tonight, they played a really poor game against a really poor team. Come on guys. If we’re going to critique, let’s do it legitimately
Let’s say for arguments sake that TT ends up sucking. They still hit on Irving, and seemingly Waiters. If a team hits home runs on picks 2 out 3 times, they are going to be pretty good.
Remember in that draft even Irving wasn’t considered a star in the making. Give Grant some credit. A lot of people were talking about taking Williams or Brandon Knight.
Whew. Glad i missed this one. Sounded painful. As for TT versus JV, I’m not that convinced JV is all that and a back of chicklets. It’s pretty obvious at this point that 2011 was a 1 star deep draft, and the players all grade out at the same “tier” 2-25. Anyway, realistic options instead of TT at that pick: JV, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, and Bismack Biyambo. What they probably should’ve done is trade down… Kenneth Faried or Nikola Vujevic would’ve been better options, but they didn’t. I’m ready to move on.
“The news would also come as a blow to the Cavs. Cleveland had been high on Valanciunas and was expected to select him with the No. 4 pick. However, concerns about his buyout situation in Lithuania arose the week before the draft and the Cavs opted to play it safe and instead take Texas’ Tristan Thompson after taking Duke’s Kyrie Irving with the first pick. Had they known Valanciunas could come over this season, they likely would’ve taken him at No. 4.” http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/33695/source-valanciunas-may-play-in-nba-this-season It was also on a Chad Ford podcast with Ryen Russilo recorded shortly after the draft. If… Read more »
Scuzz,
I have never seen a confirmed report stating that anywhere.
I don’t think the Cavs wanted a player who would stay in Europe for another year.
WitmI
I think most people aren’t considering that Valanciunas’ agent was steering him away from the Cavs. He wouldn’t give Chris Grant a straight answer about when he would be available. If Chris Grant picked Valanciunas knowing that he might not play for them, and then Valanciunas doesn’t ever report to the Cavs, then what? It’s a factor that should be considered when discussing the pick.
“No, only when it comes to TT do we often get these Grant references and they generally come in a negative light.” -That’s because when you pick someone no one expects to go in the top 10 at number 4, you better not f$%#ing miss. This cannot be stated enough, NO ONE thought the Cavs were going with Tristan Thompson except John Hollinger. Everyone had us picking Jonas Valanciunas(Who btw has a higher FG%, higher PPG, less TOs, more blocks, better FT %, in LESS minutes than TT this season). Chris Grant gambled huge on the TT pick and it’s… Read more »
Thanks Cory for remaining upbeat. I also think the Cavs will be a good team soon. We know Dan Gilbert is committed to building a championship team. The road they are on now is painful. However, I think it’s wise to be cautious before going “all in” on free agency/trades. Once you do that, there’s no turning back. Remember how trading for Shaq and Jamison locked the Cavs into that roster for a few years? Hopefully, they will have a few young players that will develop on the roster before hitting free agency.
Just an FYI
I didn’t post at the top of this thread. Someone else was using my name.
This was a much better recap than there has been lately. No talk of uncle’s crying in the night.
I agree completely about Andy. I was sort of in the trade him camp at the beginning of the year. But he’s been amazing.
Can someone show me where, exactly, I was unfairly negative? I thought the recap had a fair amount of compliments proportional to complaints for a game in which we lost big to a terrible team.
Perhaps every game, Cavs:the Blog will post a recap that details the game, positive and negative, and also a “Rainbow Review”, for those who are into that sort of thing. I’ll take a crack at distilling Dani’s recap into a “Rainbow Review”: “Playing their fourth game in five days, the Cavs lost tonight. Anderson Varejao is amazing and a monster though, posting 20 points and 18 rebounds. He’s untradeable right now, as there is no way the team gets equal value in return. Dion Waiters distributed some beautiful dimes; his play was Harden-esque at times. When his shots at the… Read more »
I agree with some of you that this blog often is overly negative, but I honestly can’t even tell whether the complaints about this recap are real or facetious. Most of the Cavs played poorly tonight, and Dani honestly called them out while still providing plenty of praise where appropriate. Will someone please point out a specific problem you have with the supposed negativity of this recap?
I miss John Krolik too!
Also, I was a huge admirer of the Krolik-run blog. I inquired about writing here, because I thought it was such a high quality site.
But John wrote about a 60+ win team that was among the NBA’s elite. Even then, he was critical of Hickson, Mo and Jamison’s defense, etc. There was just alot more to be excited about then. The Cavs are the fourth youngest team in the league; there are going to be warts. Cavs:the Blog will talk about them, and I am sure that John Krolik would have too.
I actually enjoy the rebuilding process and this might be my favorite part. At this point we have nothing but hope and curiosity about what this squad will become. Will the rebuild go awry or will they defiantly knock the Heat out of the playoffs in two years with Dan Gilbert doing Degeneration X crotch chops as Lebron and the collusion three walk off the court? Our expectations are tempered for the moment and we get to enjoy the smallest glimpses of growth. This is the good part guys. Really. We’ll expect a lot more soon. Enjoy it. The future… Read more »
CtB used to be the place to go for solid perspective on everything Cavaliers. Somehow the ReCaps have morphed into a bunch of FO and player bashing. The sophomoric nicknames being used for some of the players just drag the sites quality down another level.
The lack of appreciation for the positive things going on with the team is disheartening. If the woe is us attitude continues to pervade this site it will soon become another Cleveland sports site requiring an antidepressant scrip to visit.
I’ve tried to submit a comment twice but it seems to get eaten. Maybe it’s my computer. I’ll focus on the positive stuff. Alonzo Gee reminds me of Bobby Phils. He’s only going to get better. I see him as a becoming a consistent 14 points 6 rebounds a game guy who delivers solid defense. I love AV, and his awesomeness when it comes to offensive rebounding is scary, simply because it means the better that stat gets, the more we are probably missing. While Kyrie is out, I’d like to see what AV would do with 20 shots a… Read more »
Hey Tom, hope you don’t mind me fielding that query. I am not the spokesperson for CtB, although I would apply if the position is ever created. Supposing that it pays better than the few bucks I make adjuncting. And also if I get summers off. That’s a big one for me.
Hey Rich – don’t know who dustinello is, but is he now the spokesperson for CtB? Chris Grant hasn’t factored in much to game recaps since he doesn’t suit up.
You know, that is a good point, Rich…Look, it’s hard not to fall into the rut of “Cleveland sports suck, so let’s all be negative,” and I probably make that mistake as much as anyone else. But I do think that Kyrie was the clear #1 pick, while Tristan was a shocker at #4- so clearly, Grant’s reputation will be tied closer to the gamble than the sure thing. But I do agree that Grant deserves more credit than he is given in a lot of ways. The Cavs suck, sure, but I like where we are as a team… Read more »
“I will always give Grant enormous credit for keeping Andy until now and drafting Kyrie.”
But, somehow, this is never mentioned in recaps or other posts. When Kyrie has a nice game, which is often, we don’t read a sentence praising Grant. No, only when it comes to TT do we often get these Grant references and they generally come in a negative light.
Actually, point well taken…fixed it. I agree with you. I wouldn’t prefer Valanciunas, and while I think Tristan isn’t very good, Grant didn’t have many options.
“-Nothing makes me happier than reading about how Tristan’s every game is a referendum on Chris Grant’s tenure. Tying every mediocre performance to Chris Grant is a rhetorical strategy I’ll never tire of. Not even if every post mentions it repeatedly. Just try it!”
Worth quoting because it’s so true. Is this plan here at CTB? Go after Grant every time Thompson has a bad game? Even though it was quite possibly the worst draft class in the last decade?
I rarely comment, but when I do, it’s in bullet points.
-I hope the nickname tigger finally catches on. I remember everyone finds it not only inventive, but just a joy to scream out loud.
-Nothing makes me happier than reading about how Tristan’s every game is a referendum on Chris Grant’s tenure. Tying every mediocre performance to Chris Grant is a rhetorical strategy I’ll never tire of. Not even if every post mentions it repeatedly. Just try it!
-I miss John Krolik.
I don’t know how I wound up here from Bucksketball.. But since I’m here.. Good read. Best of luck… Well, except against Milwaukee. Good work.
Tristan is being more aggressive looking for his shot and he is getting good looks at the rim, they just aren’t falling. Baby steps.
I hope so, TV63. Maybe the Cavs were just worn out after the close games that preceded this one.
I hope this was fatigue. I just don’t get it. If they can almost beat the Heat and Grizzlies; why can’t they get over on the Suns??? You’re right about Zellar and TT. Not sure who was worse? Hopefully they play with strength next game!!
C’mon, guys. The Cavs were so bad tonight….I thought I was pretty positive on some points here, But there’s some things you can’t spin.
Yeah, yikes. I believe at one point TT, Pargo, and C.J. Miles were a combined 0-14 from the field. With all this youth we’ve got, sometimes I wish we could plug in the D’Antoni formula and see how the team rolls with it. Right now, it seems like our offense is stuck inside an impenetrable textbook. I love Gee though. He reminds me of Bobby Phils back in the day. Perfect player and will be even better by the end of the year. AV tasted the Olympics and has come back with the wll to dominate…the rebounding category. The amount… Read more »
Varejao just continues to amaze me. He had 20 points with maybe 3 shots in the paint and no free throws. Just unbelievable. One thing I watched for in particular this game was Zeller’s D. It was about as bad as I could have even imagined. Watching Jermain Oneal treat him like a high school player was really sad. After 3 or 4 consecutive schoolings they switched Varejao onto him and he quickly went back to being Jermaine Oneal ’12. The Cavs minus Varejao looked a step slow all night. They’ve had a brutal schedule. Anytime anyone got near the… Read more »