Recap: Oklahoma City 148, Cleveland 124 (or, the Wreck of the Day)
2018-01-21
This game was over from the minute it started. Cleveland could not compete. It is time to face the uncomfortable truth. The Cavaliers are flawed in so many ways that without major changes, they may not even be able to make the playoffs, let alone compete for a championship. The harsh truth is this: the Cavaliers got absolutely taken to the cleaners in the Kyrie Irving trade. As they are currently constructed, playing with Isaiah Thomas is basically playing four-on-five on defense. The four guys the Cavs have on the court with him aren’t that good and are heartily demoralized by Thomas’ defensive worthlessness.
Cleveland got waxed from the tip. LeBron got caught switching onto Steven Adams, James made a half-hearted attempt at a steal, and Adams dunked. Adams scored six of the Thunder’s first eight (with no Cavalier answers), mostly on idiotic switches and terrible backside rotations that ended with Stevens getting a point blank shot. At one point I laughed as Isaiah Thomas got switched on Adams, and OKC didn’t even bother to get it to him because they knew they’d get a great shot somewhere else.
Kevin Love left the game for Tristan Thompson just after three minutes in and never returned, apparently he was ill. Lucky him. Cleveland’s only recourse to stay in the game was to try to match Oklahoma City’s offense, but despite some balanced scoring by the Cavs, the Thunder’s big three ripped off 17 before a Roberson layup and two Patterson triples put the Thunder up a laughable 43-24 to end the first
The Cleveland bench tried to cut into the lead in the second, as Wade, Green, Rose, and Thompson started chipping away before LeBron and Isaiah returned to cut it to 42-50 on a Rose layup. Raymond Felton helped the Cavs in that regard with some terrible point guard play. Frankly, Derrick Rose is currently an order of magnitude better than Thomas. He’s aggressive, looks in good health, and actually plays with some hustle. But after Derrick’s exit, the Cavs couldn’t stop the parade to the layup line and open three pointers caused by Thomas’ general uselessness and OKC closed out the half up 76-60.
The second half was mostly trash. A passive LeBron James didn’t take a shot till the 6:20 mark. But we saw lots of the Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder two man game early. A J.R. Smith three briefly cut the deficit to 14, before Westbrook and Melo went on a tear and bounced it back out to 20. James and Isaiah Thomas got rolling and dropped the def to 12 with LeBron driving and Thomas swishing threes, and we even saw a little Channing Frye action. Inevitably, the Thunder closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to push the lead back up to 114-94, OKC.
Wade threw the ball away a couple of times early, and a Cavalier brickfest ensued. Roberson and Steven Adams got free on a ton of cuts and short drives to the rim in the mean time, and suddenly the Thunder were up 137-111 before the final feckless time out with 4:16 to get the mainliners out. The Cavs zoo crew couldn’t stop anyone either, but at least Channing Frye threw up a couple F-Lue buckets before the buzzer sounded 148-124, Thunder.
I’ll admit I only watched the first 20 minutes at a bar and glanced at the score the rest of the night. It was an awful display and more than one person asked if the Cavs were trying to get Lue fired. LeBron’s general affability and his chumming around with the Thunder and his banana boat buddies rubbed some people the wrong way too, especailly after the Cavs tied their franchise worst regular season points allowed.
It doesn’t matter though. As Sam Amico wrote, “Only Change can Save the Cavs now.” The Cavs have no backline defense when LeBron’s not blocking shots, and their perimeter defense is probably the worst in the league. Isaiah Thomas is less than a defensive zero, and J.R. Smith isn’t much better. The Cavs are lazy on offense and don’t make defenses work. James was pretty circumspect after the game, noting that the Cavs would “easily get bounced early” if the playoffs started today.
It all starts with Isaiah Thomas. The dude is unplayable on this team. You can hide him on a team with a four other good defenders, but the Cavs don’t have four other good defenders and they have no rim protectors. In a scheme that relies heavily on interchangeable defensive players and switching any screen action, teams can just attack with whomever Thomas is matched up with, and that’s what the Thunder and what every team the Cavs have played are doing.
James also noted that he didn’t want to see Ty Lue fired. Isaiah Thomas noted that the Cavs don’t trust each other on defense.
Offensively, the Cavs were fine, though J.R. Smith went 3-11, everyone else shot average or better. James scored 18, six short of the 24 he needed to reach 30,000. His three point woes continued too, with an 0-4 night. As I noted he was remarkably passive at times and his defense was as complicit as everyone else’s as he posted a game low -33.
Thomas dropped 24 in perhaps his best offensive game since his return, and most importantly went 4-8 from three and 8-14 from the field. But it was Pyrrhic given his defense and the -24 he posted. Jae Crowder seemed to benefit from Thomas’ presence, having one of his best offensive games in a while: a 17 point effort with a pair of triples. The Cavs couldn’t find their mojo from deep though, as they went 10-37 from downtown, while the Thunder went 14-30.
A silver lining to this game: the bench wasn’t bad at all. Dwyane Wade has his normal share of terrible turnovers (five), but he was 4-5 from the field for 11. Only Tristan Thompson’s -11 was especially bad, though he did share the floor quite a bit with James and Thomas.
I don’t know how to say this, but Derrick Rose looks like the Cavs’ best point guard right now. Rose scored 12, and was aggressive attacking the basket. He played 21 minutes and posted a plus/minus of -1. He even played a goofy lineup in the second, sharing the backcourt with Thomas, and it wasn’t a disaster. I know. I’m as shocked as you are.
Channing Frye, Jose Calderon, Cedi Osman, all had solid moments in garbage time. It was the starters that stunk on ice this game. For the Thunder, it was all about the big four: George had 36, Carmelo Anthony 29, Steven Adams 25, and Westbrook 23. Patrick Patterson chipped in some nice moments with six and a bench high +8.
We’ll see what the next few days hold for the Cavs. LeBron should get to 30K and the Cavs would seem to have a reckoning on the horizon, but with this team, you never know.
Windy on Lowe’s pod tomorrow…that should be hot…
Funny how vocal Windy is lately after what seems like a couple of months of relative quiet…
and I forget who mentioned earlier —it is SAD —on the day / game that LeBron will reach 30,000pts —not even mentioned / center of attention —un-friggin-believable
And Love likely being named to AS team…
Lebron is first to congratulate himself for 30K.
The only guy who can fix this locker room is…BOOGIE!!! /s
Not Mike Brown ??
Not looking good on IT. He’s been here barely half a year and already he’s created so much chaos already. He talks too much. And the thing is, he ain’t worth it.
How about Love, IT and Nets pick for Kawhi? Who says no?
You believe the BS that there’s an impasse there?
Who knows… but worth asking about regardless… if there was a package they could put together to get Leonard, I’d do it… even though he’s not super healthy. Rest him until the playoffs and no matter what happens this year, they either have LBJ and Kawhi tandem going forward or can rebuild around just Leonard next year…
Kawhi absolutely worth any pick from next year. But Pops already have a big that doesn’t play D in LMA. So, third team has to be involved netting a 2 way player for Spurs.
So, Love and the Nets pick to Bucks, Giannis to Spurs and Kawhi to Cavs… solves all the annoyed All Star issues… /s
I don’t think Spurs would trade him for almost anything. Maybe if he were furious with the franchise and was done, but I don’t believe that. I think he’s probably frustrated with his injury, and he doesn’t talk much.
But yes, I’d do that deal licketysplit…
This is probably BS.
https://twitter.com/RealGM/status/955924767755964417
Well… it is from RealGM…
Isola
Trash reporter!
Yeah he has been off a number of times on Cavs related stuff. A question. What national reporters, if any, do people trust on Cleveland related stuff? One might argue Windhorst is still reliable, but he is so guarded and cautious (as a journalist should be) that he usually doesn’t put scoops out there these days.
I trust the local beat reporters. I don’t really pay attention to the National folks, as a majority of them have their own agendas.
Odd if it is true. Weren’t they supposed to have been buds at some point?
https://twitter.com/oldseaminer/status/955925494242988032
Not sure this team has really been “family” since last year. They seem pretty disconnected. Really they always have. Winning cures all and covers up blemishes, but losing brings the real dynamic to the forefront.
Your point is valid though. It is like taking a blowtorch to a twenty foot stack of oil soaked kindling.
Heh. They behave just like every dysfunctional family I know (which is most families in general)
Lol. A fair rebuttal.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0_W-yOgPa30/VY0-rzaFk3I/AAAAAAAACLo/NKGsgYTTLdk/s1600/Joker_Burning_Money_Kaos_Agent.gif
Loss of RJ and JFJ also hurt this aspect of togetherness
I hope they can ship out IT and TT and heck maybe even Crowder in a package for a big.
What a disappointment Crowder has been. At least with IT, we knew his defense was garbage. But man, we all thought Crowder was going to be money for us. Such a let down.
Yep. I thought he’d be much better.
I despise Rose.
https://twitter.com/ESPNCleveland/status/955907117352972293?s=17
This all could have been avoided IMO. And I place most of the blame on Gilbert. He’s a petulant child that wanted to get more credit, decided to become the GM, and as expected it’s all blowing up in his face.
Should have kept Griffin or had an experienced GM ready to take the job immediately. As it played out, it was just a predictable disaster.
Had we kept Griffin or signed an experienced GM, what would have been different from a roster standpoint? I get that people think we would have kept Kyrie, but we honestly have no way of knowing if that’s true – and most likely we would have traded him anyways.
Do we think we would have gotten more than what we got from Boston?
If they had a GM when the Kyrie stuff was going on, then that GM would have conducted exit interviews and could have defused the situations. Players want to get traded all the time. Remember Kobe Bryant went on LA radio telling them he wanted to be traded. Kyrie had no leverage. I worry that the Cavs talent evaluator (Gilbert) is overmatched and delusional. So that Nets draft pick is probably being selected by Dan, and I have no faith in his abilities.
Didn’t he announce that he would not report? You don’t think that is leverage?
Because every other team knew that, it greatly lessened what other teams would trade for KI, because he might not report to the team he was traded to.
I don’t buy it. He’s not going to sit out for 2 years. Again, if you had a GM like Griffin, who is known to manage personalities, it could have been avoided.
I don’t believe Griff would have traded with the Celtics, and his free ageng signings would have made more sense. I don’t think he’d touch Rose with a barge pole.
It’s interesting that Shump and Frye haven’t really been part of the bad/lazy defense these past few weeks…
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/955912182381899783
Well at least they’d get rid of Shump.
if you get Hill, you are trading or waiving Rose and/or I Thomas. There must be other plan already in place if that deal goes, like getting a big.
Hill can play either guard spot. Rose is probably Part of the deal, and hopefully it will go.
Windhorst saying changes definitely coming, at least one trade, likely two. He thinks the Cavs are deep in George Hill talks.
so ty supposedly went to the dr’s yesterday—-BEFORE / DURING / AFTER –“THE MEETING “—–yeah ty we are all sick of it too !!!!!
sports nation saying the same—-LOVE HAS BEEN THE CONSUMATE PROFESSIONAL THE LAST 4 YRS—EVEN THOUGH HE HAS CONSTANTLY BEEN THE SCAPEGOAT—–HE WANTS OUT OF ALL THIS DRAMA—TIRED OF THE B.S. !!!!—–even when interviewed today kevin took THE HIGH ROAD —was professional—–LeBron on the other hand didn’t want to talk about it —-more or less ” admitting guilt “
Really betting this b!tchfest meeting was leaked by IT or Crowder…whatever you think of Woj, Lebron and his clique doesn’t deal with him. Love saying today he wished news of the meeting hadn’t gotten to media…really doubt it was him. If it was IT, betting he gets shipped…
What kind of team calls out the sick guy but not the lazy guy?
I want to know who on the team called out Love – like seriously who questions if someone is sick or dizzy if the training staff decides it’s best for him. And on top of that use that as an excuse for getting your butt whooped
even steven a smith ( who most of the time can’t stand / along with most of the bloggers here at ctb ) said basically the same thing I was saying this morning —KLOVE HAS HAD ENOUGH OF THIS DRAMA / BEING THE WHIPPING BOY / SCAPEGOAT —–HE WANTS OUT —–AND I DON’T BLAME HIM !!!——- would like to see for his sake that he got traded / and then get the respect that he deserves
https://www.fearthesword.com/2018/1/23/16923808/cavaliers-meeting-callouts
If true, this is better than the scenario it appeared to be. Of course, it could just be damage control after the original leak.
If Lebron really knew basketball success he would politely advise Lue to bench JR, Crowder, and TT and play Frye Korver and Cedi instead. It sounds silly, but I think thats only way Lue would even make changes. Team is in weird funk so how would that be any more detrimental that was has happened lately?
Some players apparently want that to happen. Unclear which ones.
I will just say this. I am a Cavs fan. I am not a fan of LeBron.
ok am calmed down now —–just keepin it real here at ctb —-will be interesting game tonight I am sure —good or bad
IS LEBRON “LOBBYING ” FOR A TRADE FOR BOOGIE—-TWEETED HIM LAST NIGHT FOR HIS GREAT GAME—AND THROWING KEV “UNDER THE BUS “—–WOULDN’T SURPRISE ME TO SEE CAVS / PELICANS IN DISCUSSIONS—–LOVE / T.T. / I.T / CAVS PICK/ THROW IN SHUMP OR SWISH —-WE WILL SEE—LET THE DRAMA CONTINUE !!
I AM WITH YOU GORDON—-MORE ENJOYABLE ( EVEN IF LOSING —WHICH WE ARE DOING ANYWAYS )–TO WATCH THE YOUTH DEVELOP / PLAY HARD AND MORE IMPORTANT PLAY TOGETHER WITHOUT ALL THE B.S. DRAMA
Be very interesting game tonight. Spurs are solid group and its in SA which is tough place to play regardless of outside noise. Either this team meeting galvanizes the team (props to Griff) or team implodes again with weak defense and ball hawking offense.
I bet Lue throws a curve ball somewhere with lineups tonight when we don’t expect it, may not be lineups we like but something will change, Im sure that was part of grievances too.
NOT REALLY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE MEETING BUT THAT MOST OF THE VENIM / BLAME WAS DIRECTED AT LOVE WHICH IS TOTAL B.S. !!—–WE WILL SEE —–EITHER IT WILL BOND THEM TOGETHER OR TEAR THEM FURTHER APART
Don’t know why everyone is complaining about the pettiness and vitriol in the Cavs players meeting. It’s a good thing. It means the Cavs are finally giving a ****. Usually, this doesn’t happen till February.
We’ll see what happens on the court…talk is talk…
My problem is if it is all directed at one guy, especially Love. If that is the case it is counterproductive since the real problems lie with the flaming dumpster fires that are TT, JR, IT, Crowder, and Wade/Lebron’s effort and complete lack of interest for multiple games. Putting the blame on a scape goat doesn’t fix the real problems that can only be solved by owning up to one’s own failures and the subpar leadership we have seen so often for years and years.
I love the title that these guys brought us in spectacular fashion in 2016. With that said, as a fan, I’m sick and tired of the drama that is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Whether LeBron stays, goes, whatever.. I hope we blow things up and totally rebuild this thing. I’m looking forward to watching young guys play and develop more so than watching a bunch of veterans whine and give little effort.
I have done that for many decades, and I am here to tell you that being in a situation where the Cavs might win it every year is not so bad for a change.
I agree, but when it looks like there is a very real possibility that LeBron is gone after this year, and there is so much dysfunction, and it looks like there is little chance we beat Golden State in the Finals, I won’t be disappointed to enter into rebuild mode if LeBron does leave.
simmo read your post on LeBron not happy with kev—-is this LeBron’s “underlying ” way —-due to trade deadline so close —to get kev traded —-if so kev is not stupid –he sees/ feels / senses/ hears things around him —so maybe this all came to boil with him last Saturday and in his own way said ” screw it —I am SICK —-SICK OF ALL THIS B.S ( LEBRONS B.S )—–
Hard to know – all we can do it sift through what we hear. Unfortunately this gets warped by those who leak hot takes to media. Hope all the players know what was said in the meeting, have no issue & go forward together. A team divided cannot stand….
Zach Lowe on Kevin Love: Love mostly tries on defense. It’s not his fault Ty Lue slotted him at center, and I’d bet the Cavs try starting Tristan Thompson there again soon. Love gets zero help from any of Cleveland’s perimeter defenders. Last weekend’s 148-point humiliation against Oklahoma City might have been the laziest, most flat-footed game I’ve ever seen LeBron play on defense.
—
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22182683/zach-lowe-2018-nba-all-star-starters-reserves
CAPS ARE TO “VENT “—-WIl calm down soon !!!—thanks simmo
Understood. MAY JUST SO THAT MYSELF FOR A SPELL! GRRRRR.
Just notices you are losing some of the new punctuation.
SO TRUE MIKE P—–IT DOES TARNISH THAT ACHIEVEMENT —SO SAD TO SEE —–DON’T THINK YOU CAN BLAME KOLBY FOR THIS——-THIS WAS 4 YRS IN THE MAKING —-AGAIN THINK THAT IS WHY GRIFF/ KY ” JUMPED OFF THE TRAIN “–COULD SEE THE TRAIN WRECK APPROACHING —KEV WISHES HE WOULD HAVE JUMPED WITH THEM
Another very unfortunate aspect of this drama is that it totally distracts and dampens the incredible 30,000 pt milestone LeBron will achieve tonight.
The casualties will keep piling up until something is changed. The past four years have just been too difficult on the team, the coaching staff, and the front office. Seems like everything is reaching a bit of a tipping point.
Earth to JMay: The last four years have included one championship and three finals appearances, and counting. Not that shabby.
I’m not referencing achievements. Just the cost of earning them. Success can be difficult and painful, especially for the Cavs. Even when you are going to three straight finals, it can be emotionally and mentally draining. Personalities clash and people get upset. Even in the middle of a championship run. That can all happen simultaneously with a championship and finals appearance, as the Cavs have already shown us. I’m not discounting the end results each season, that doesn’t mean the journey hasn’t reached critical mass.
AND YES THROUGH ALL THIS (PAST 4 YRS )—KEVIN’S FATHER ( WHO PLAYED IN THE NBA ALSO ) HAS NEVER GONE PUBLIC —-DO YOU HEAR THAT LAVAR AND KY’S FATHER —–JUST A JOKE !!!!—- WE ARE DEFINITELY POINTING THE FINGER / BLAME AT THE WRONG PERSON ——–SORRY I HOPE THIS TEAM DOESN’T EVEN MAKE THE PLAYOFFS —THAT IS WHAT THEY DESERVE WITH THEIR IMMATURE / SELFISH ATTITUDES / AGENDAS
Can’t say I disagree with any of your points newnomad, but I do question your use of allcaps under your new handle. Some things are sacred… ;)
KEEP KEV —TRADE THE REST ( SARCASM TO SOME EXTENT ) JUST CAN’T BELIEVE THAT KEVIN ( DUE TO THE ALL THE B.S. DIRECTED AT HIM SINCE HE ARRIVED ) HASN’T GONE BALLISTIC / DEMANDED A TRADE —-HE IS THE CONSUMATE PROFESSIONAL —–HE COULD HAVE LEFT AFTER YR 1 BUT LEBRON CONVINCED HIM TO STAY ———HAVING “2ND THOUGHTS ” NOW KEVIN ???
Cavs are playing horribly and get blown out at home. Having an “emotional” team meeting is front page news after that, where guys get called out? I would be surprised if everyone was fine with everything right now
A team meeting where one guy is singled out and blamed despite barely playing due to illness? A guy that has been the least of this team’s problems all season? A guy that has had the fewest attitude problems and caused the least drama for the last four years? These fools are children. Based off this and all of the needless bs the last four years, the passive aggressive tweets, the cliques, the pouting, they are socially underdeveloped.
We may finally be seeing the reason why this team is underperforming. And my gut feel – it’s only a feel, based on what I’ve seen on court this year – is that LBJ isn’t happy with Kev. Next day or so will tell a massive story of where we (sorry EG!), the Cavs are headed. Bond and win, or fragment and …. well, fragment.
Maybe. I don’t get why it would be love over anyone else, especially since Love is arguably playing the best he has for this team. If anything he should be pissed at his boys TT, wade (for bad shots and bad d occasionally) and JR. Same with Crowder and it.
COULDN’T WAIT TO GET ON CTB TO VENT——YEAH LET’S MAKE LOVE THE “WHIPPING BOY ” ONCE AGAIN —-WTF—-IF THERE HAS BEEN 1 PLAYER OVER THE LAST 4 YRS WHO HAS BEEN THE “TRUE PROFESSIONAL ” –IT HAS BEEN KEVIN !!!!—–GRANTED HE MAY NEVER MAKE THE ALL NBA DEFENSIVE TEAM–BUT OVER ALL HIS EFFORT HAS BEEN THERE EVERY NIGHT !!—YEAH HE PROBABLY WAS / IS SICK——SICK OF BEING AROUND ALL THIS FRIGGIN BULL SH-T AND CONSTANTLY BE THE FALL GUY —-FOR HIS SAKE I WISH THEY WOULD TRADE HIM ———YEAH LET’S GO BACK TO THE FIRING OF BLATT FOR A TEAM THAT WASN’T GALAVNIZED —GIMMEE A FRIGGIN BREAK——HARD TO SUPPORT THIS TEAM / BULL CRAP ANYMORE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I was Love, I would be tempted to go off on his reduced shot attempts since IT returned, and that he can’t throw himself the ball. Love has been too classy to do that. IT was coddled slowly throughout his injury, and Love goes home once for being very ill and he gets this grief. Ridiculous.
I’m betting Isaiah was the mole.
Wouldn’t be surprised, they are buds. It’s a trainwreck, but take heart, the Bullets are an even bigger disaster.
Would like to see Koby Altman make a public appearance to try to quell the media’s narrative and attempt to galvanize the unit – Griffin did that several times in times like this and always seemed to keep the chaos at a manageable level
Lue certainly doesn’t have the right words to say…
Altman has been nowhere to be found. What a joke.
Last summer was certainly a coup for the Cavs’ organization…
Has he publicly said anything all season? If so, I don’t remember it…
Don’t think Altman has opened his mouth more than once, since Griffin introduced him.
Only thing I remember was him introducing DWade & then IT in press conferences, and on that last one was full of cheap salesman buzzwords and a forced smile. Who knows, maybe he pulls the rabbit out of the hat soon, but in the meantime….. I miss Griff!!!
Hope so Simmo. Of course, above I meant to type “….since Gilbert introduced him.” Must have Griff on my mind, and the Cavs sorely miss him at this point. Altman just doesn’t have the same gravitas.
So Love gets piled on after the ENTIRE team gave up 148 points in a HOME game which tied a franchise record from when team was expansion one. Geez, this is ridiculous regardless if even 50% true, the fact it leaked out shows no one is in control, not Lebron, not Lue, not even Gilbert.
Eh. I’m taking this as a woj hit job.
possible, but fact it leaked to top NBA beat writer is not good….keep that shit internal
Woj is great with scoops but any complex narratives are generally bent towards the service of his long term grudges and to service the folks that keep Him supplied with scoops.
Good point. How can Woj possibly have so many sources that actually know something? He must be paying off favors the only way he can.
By feeding them his leftovers.
Hahaha sorry, wrong message board.
Woj is the vile agent of discord and discontent especially to those who do not kowtow to his media aristocracy. And those who kowtow to him, he always pencilled as sympathetic figures who were mere victims of circumstances like he did with knuckleheads Dwight Howard and Reggie Jackson.
This team is exhausting and really sucks the fun out of being a fan a lot, if not a majority, of the time now. I wish for once in four years they would just get their #&@! together, act like professionals with careers, and stop the high school juvenile drama.
I hear ya.
Being an old dude, I have gotten better at following from a bit of a distance. For decades, each season it was a long shot that the Cavs would make the playoffs, or go far. In the LeBron 2 era, they always run into a mid season Flail Fest. So far, they have pulled out 3 years out of 3. This year the FF is deeper, but the depth is also deeper, so I think there is a good chance they will figure it out.
The Boomtown Rats are getting back together to record “I Don’t Like Januarys” for LeBron.
What a clown car.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/955636272181272576
Yikes. Felt that Kev pulling out hurt the team in what was a huge game. Amazed that there is even a whiff of discontent about it, and hope to god this doesn’t mean irreconcilable problems between Kev & others.
No problem. Trade the “others”.
Love has taken so much crap ever since he got here. Yeesh. How petty of these players. And I’d love to know who is dropping all this info to Woj.
Hottake alert. This team is dumb and I think it is because of culture created by LeBron’s antics and attitude towards the regular season. Dude messes around the whole regular season, passive aggressively tweets nonsense about his teammates, and then gets pissed at guys for not caring when he clearly doesn’t a lot of the time. I think the Kyrie relationship falling out and the inability to create a stable offensive and defensive system over the last three years is partially due how the regular season is such an afterthought to LBJ.
The fact there are factions does not bode well. It seems incredibly juvenile and equivalent to a high school level of social maturity.
Well if there’s one thing good thing about this – this team thrives in chaos so maybe this is just what we need.
What a shark show. So go ahead and trade Love and miss the playoffs. Why not, this draft is loaded they say. This crap is exhausting.
If it was part of a general airing of grievances, then ok, maybe. But if people were piling on Love, that sucks because he’s not even close to the biggest problem this team has.
But multiple lines of evidence have indicated he has never exactly been all that tight with LeBron and his boys, JR, TT, etc, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was singled out as a scape goat. Because the so called leader of this team acts like a teenager judging from all of the drama the last three years.
Hard to say. This could all be woj bending the story to his anti LeBron narrative.
Maybe. Doubt he’s making this up out of whole cloth. Love missed most of the game, so what – don’t allow 148 points to the freaking Thunder.
Especially given that Love is the only starter playing anywhere near his potential.
He could be taking one off hand thing and blowing it up. Also, kev could be his source
Which specific Woj stories show his anti LeBron narrative? I am unaware of this.
Just Google “wojnarowski anti lebron”
It’s unfathomable to me that Lue hasn’t changed things up. It’s one thing to play a few games to see if you can work out some kinks. It’s entirely another to lose 10/14 games and not even consider changing up the lineups. The team was clearly playing better with TT, IT, and Rose not playing, when they won 19 in a row. IMO, it’s one thing to protect the vets and provide some stability. Its entirely another to keep losing games and not reward the players who are playing well. Calderon, Korver, and Wade have played pretty well throughout the season. Cedi and Frye have earned minutes. TT and IT have not. And JR & Crowder just aren’t playing well. I don’t know how you fix those guys, but they don’t deserrve to be starting and playing so many minutes.. Lue has got to sit the players who aren’t playing well and reward those who play well. Sacrifice the consistency / stability and reward performance. Make it a meritocracy.
The other thing that boggles my mind – is we have all sorts of advanced stats these days. They may not be definitive, but they seem to be reinforcing things like this starting 5 is terrible. That the Cavs defense – in certain lineups – is killing us. These things are also observable by watching. It also suggests that some lineups do quite well. It’s amazing to me that Lue isn’t using this information to at least TRY to find some winning lineups. Indeed – the Cavs have lots of talent and it might be difficult to find the right combinations. But Lue isn’t trying! And they’re not getting better. Heck – you could randomly assign players on the court and then look at performance and do better. I would trust a computer coaching this team over Lue.
Agree that TT and IT have been worthless. Not so clear about Rose.
https://twitter.com/oldseaminer/status/955601552940716033
the ultimate kitty
Capela’s job would be much easier if he just joined a 73 win team.
Kidd out. Lue should be next. Fizdale will bring us on track
https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/955570526512070656
Simmons totally deserves for Stevens to take the Kentucky/ Carolina/ Duke job, and the Celtics to hire Scott Brooks.
IT, Crawder and JR for Lillard.
TT and Frye for DeAndre Jordan.
Sh!t, that would be great.
Hehe it would be a great trade but definitely not happening.
would you take hill for IT straight up –have to think about it—-just don’t see IT returning next year –which means the main part of the ky trade will play about 40+ games somewhat healthy as a cav —while kyrie will be ‘carving ” out a legendary career in boston —-just feel if we can get decent value for IT ( and yes I do like him as a player / person ) we need to do it to somewhat “buffer ” this trade from being a total disaster
The salaries don’t remotely come close to matcling in a straight up Hill for IT deal. And even if they did, the Kings probably would not do it. As Windhourst believes, IT’s value may be just his expiring $6+ million contract
Could probably get Rubio and Favors for IT and TT from the Jazz. Rubio can defend a bit at least.
IT is a sunk cost and our motivation shouldn’t be to “buffer” the trade but rather to make whatever moves possible that would convince LeBron to stay
I would “test the waters ” with IT—-see who “bites “—if it looks good –go for it—again (mentioned earlier ) need to get SOME VALUE from the kyrie trade
Another Windhourst nugget: Lue playing the current starting five is like swimming a race with a big rock tied to your leg. And Windy even mentioned the possibility of trading IT.
So did McMenamin on the radio today.
Maybe IT to Kings…the fans there still love him. (I don’t dislike him personally, just saying Kings’ fans were crushed when he left)
What could the Kings offer in return?
George Hill for IT straight up?
As part of a George hill trade…there would need to be fill in stuff…
see my Cavalier Christmas shopping article from late November. It has this exact trade
It is not looking like IT will fit in with the Cavs. You never know, but he is a FA at the end of the season, and is expecting a pile, which he will not be getting. It is hard to imagine any team offering much for IT at this point, but surely the Cavs would be interested.
People saying Lue won’t get fired unless they go on an extended losing streak. They will continue to lose if they keep playing Thomas and Lue is the coach… So…
Maybe he can top Byron’s 26 in a row?
Another stunning opinion of Windhourst is that IT has been so bad on the Cavs, along with the long term health issue, his value in a potential deal is merely that of an expiring contract. Wow. Cannot be more damming than that.
it’s like he’s been reading my columns or maybe just watching the games
+1. Never heard Windy so tough on the Cavs. And I know you were correctly down on IT from the beginning.
Watch: Bucks will sign Fizdale and we’ll stand pat with Lue
Being reported Monty Williams is a frontrunner…
Bucks going after monty Williams. Another great choice.
I don’t understand Lue at all, but I’m not sure that a complete overhaul of the coaching staff mid-season is the right direction. There’s no one on the bench that could replace Lue, and bringing in even Fizdale would be a huge undertaking mid-season.
Really never see a team bring in an outside coach midseason…if Lue gets fired, I’m sure one of the assistants will coach the rest of the season. I think they’ll turn it around enough that Lue is safe. (Till offseason, at least)
so according to the players THEY WANT CHANNING / FRYE on the floor –ty chooses not to play them—-I call that a NON GALVANIZED LOCKER ROOM
AGREE WITH YOU ON FIZDALE—FORGOT ABOUT HIM