Links to the Present: August 7, 2012
2012-08-07
Note: We have a new links aggregator at Cavs: The Blog named Dani Socher. Unfortunately, we’re having some technical problems re: getting Dani’s account set up, so I’m posting his stuff from my (Colin’s) account. Bear with us. We will make it through this together as a family who love each other very much and sometimes argue about sports.
“Free agent forward C.J. Miles has signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to a series of tweets from the Salt Lake Tribune‘s Brian T. Smith.” (Sports Illustrated)
“At this point, Cleveland seems content to wait this thing out and bring back Gee for just one year if they have to. They aren’t going to offer a multi-year contract and bid against themselves — that’s just bad business.” (Conrad Kaczmarek)
“So in the meantime, while football is getting ready to start and baseball is going through all their trade deadline hoopla, here’s some random basketball thoughts to pass the time.” (Andrew from WFNY)
“Tolliver, 27, has attracted interest from Minnesota, Indiana and Cleveland…” (Michael Lee)
“Alonzo Gee has not gotten any offers from other teams.” (Bob Finnan)
“Barbosa has spent the majority of his NBA career providing instant offense and energy off the bench as a backup at both guard positions. That’s something the Cavs could use, as their backcourt currently consists of reigning Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, lottery pick Dion Waiters and veteran Daniel Gibson, and possibly Sloan and/or recently obtained Jeremy Pargo.” (Sam Amico)
“(Cavaliers draftee) Milan Macvan signed a two-year contract with Galatasaray.” (Djordje Matic)
“NBA opening night: Wizards @ Cleveland, Boston @ Miami, Dallas @ Lakers.” (Marc J. Spears)
Notes
Miles is a decent add for small-forward depth, but he’s nothing to get excited about…Alonzo seems to be getting a lot less interest than expected, and the Cavs are fine with that…Some good Cleveland basketball thoughts from Andrew at WFNY…Tolliver is still young and talented, and another decent PF could be great for the Cavs…Barbosa could provide a spark off the bench, and the roster isn’t full yet…Milan Macvan was drafted with the 54th pick in 2011, with low expectations abound…Wizards vs. Cavs could be fun, Kyrie and Waiters vs. Beal and Wall should be a matchup to watch for years.
Tristan shot 61% from the field and rebounded well in summer league…given that, i don’t really care what percentage he shot from the line. Again, i’m not sure why people are so bearish on the Cav’s playoff hopes. In the East, i expect them to be clearly superior to Charlotte, Detroit, Toronto, Orlando, and Atlanta Probably superior to Washington, Philly, Milwaukee, and Chicago Competitive with New York, Brooklyn, Indiana, and Boston And of course inferior to Miami Even if they lose out to all the teams i consider them competitive with, they’re still the 6th seed. For them to miss… Read more »
@Matt I don’t even know what TT’s Summer league FT average was. Watching each game though, his stroke looked like total garbage again, after he really cleaned it up in the last part of the season. That is concerning, small sample size or not. As fas as Gee v Miles is concerned. I will go on record again as to saying Miles quite an upgrade. If we are going to talk about how Gee was better when he had a good point guard, perhaps we should also note that Miles was better when D-Will was still on the Jazz. Gee… Read more »
oh good. haha don’t know how I forgot that, at least they won’t out rebuild us in our own conference!
The Hornets are in the west, Matt.
Warren and Cory, Lebron in his second year got the Cavs to a tie for the 8th best record in the east and a winning record, if the Cavs got close to a .500 record in the weaker east they would most likely make the playoffs and at least qualify for my “legitimately competing for it” argument. Now before you tell me Kyrie isn’t lebron (and he’s not) lebron also carried a team with the following players and their minutes played rankings during 04-05 2 Jeff McInnis 3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 4 Drew Gooden 5 Eric Snow 6 Ira Newble 7… Read more »
@Cory- Yeah, people expect them to be an instant playoff team because the Cavs hit on Kyrie and got a superstar. The lone superstar factor isn’t the only deciding piece in the puzzle of how to make the playoffs. If it took Durant and Lebron that long to do it coming into the league, we need to be patient allow our expectations to be a bit more realistic. Can’t force too much pressure on these young guys and expect it to help.
Has anyone noticed the anomaly going on in Minnesota. They will have 10 white guys on there team next year in a league where whites are probably 15%. I don’t think its a concerted effort or racism I just think its interesting. They will have Love, Rubio, Pekovic, Kirlenko, Ridnour, Shved, Stiemsma, JJ Barea (who isn’t Caucasian but still looks white) Robbie Hummel, and Chase Budinger. Now they are trying to trade for Andy. I know that at some point people will cry racism during any discussion over this anomaly but its still interesting.
I never bought that they were a playoff contender early in the season. Their schedule was very back loaded. It was a heavily condensed season and the Cavs were better rested early on than their opponents. In their first 13 games they only played three playoff teams. Did those thing contribute to their start? Probably. Varejao going down and trading away Sessions exposed the absolute lack of depth. No playoff contenders had D-Leaguers playing meaningful minutes like the Cavs did. The depth should be slightly better this year. I’m glad the Cavs didn’t take on a large contract this offseason.… Read more »
Matt- My aforementioned potential stat line of 12 ppg, 9 rpg, and 2 bpg was just a line that I think Tristan is capable of posting if he continues to improve at the pace he was during this past season. Am I expecting TT to post those number? No, not really, but If I had to pick one of those stats he would match or exceed I’d day it would be the 9 rpg. Also, I don’t see how you or anyone thinks that it’s good for a team to miss the playoffs just to get a higher draft pick.… Read more »
writers*. That’s what I get for trying to be clever
Dani, Mallory….we’re adding a lot of writer’s who I originally thought were women before seeing a “his” possessive used
Among teams competing for seeds 2-7 in the east, you could make the argument that the Cavs have the best point guard, the best center, and the second best shooting guard. Zeller, Tristan, Gee, and Boobie should all be quality rotation players, by any team’s standards, so what’s not to like here? Also, don’t count out Azubuike…he was a 45% 3 point shooter and had a 20 PER before missing the last two seasons to injury. If he’s anywhere near his former self, that’s another quality rotation player. And what’s with all the concern about defense? Our D at center… Read more »
The east will be drastically different this year. That is for sure. I think the Nets will be a playoff team for sure, barring injury. Atlanta? That’s a big if. If Horford regresses, that team could implode. Orlando is probably out of the playoffs. The team I think will jump up to take Orlando’s spot? I think even with the subtractions, Philly is a playoff team. So two teams drop out: Orlando and Maybe Atlanta. I think New Jersey takes Orlando’s spot, and We’re fighting every other team for the 8th spot. I think Toronto will be much improved (because… Read more »
All 4 of the good things don’t have to happen, and any one of the bad things could happen and we should still compete as long as Andy and Kyrie both can play 75% of the season. We could have a poor bench (though miles, Gibson, and Zeller coming off it seems to not be drastically bad) and Gee can regress, but if Kyrie makes a leap in improvement and Waiters just plays like a top 5 draft pick drafted to get into the paint and convert/dish, and Zeller plays like the low cieling High floor player he was drafted… Read more »
The problem, is that SO MANY THINGS have to happen. Optimistic might not be a strong enough term. Let’s, instead, look at any number of possibilities, and how, in my opinion, they would keep the Cavs out of the playoffs. 1.) Injury to Varejao (it’s happened before) 2.) Injury to Kyrie (it’s happened before) 3.) Regression from Gee + continued lack of improvement from Casspi 4.) Bench getting completely destroyed It’s kind of like everyone forgets that Ramon Sessions was (at one time) the most productive player on the Cavs. If you can all recall, one of the few strengths… Read more »
Also, we aren’t talking Cavs last year – Jameson + minutes for Tristan + 2 rookies = Playoffs. We are talking Cavs last year -Jameson + more minutes for what should be a significantly improved Tristan and Kyrie + 2 highly touted rookies who fill glaring needs – Complete hole at shooting gaurd (should be, still to be seen) + 60% more games from Andy and 20% more for Kyrie if both stay healthy = 7th-8th seed contender. Obviously thats an optimistic view, but its quite realistic. If the cavs stay healthy, they should definitely be fighting for a spot… Read more »
no, not when the devil you know is the one of the worst defenders in the NBA, is my point. There is roughly a 0 percent chance that Zeller will play significantly worse defense than Antawn. And Not playing turnstyle defense and taking efficient shots and trying on defense directly correlate to wins. Wins are the outcome of what happens on the court, they don’t appear magically because you have enough veterans on a roster. I agree Antawn’s pure volume on offense will create holes and put pressure on Kyrie, Tristan, Andy, Dion and Zeller to fill, and their percentages… Read more »
Matt – there is a difference between what the eye sees and the bottom line. Since it takes wins and not “trying hard enough” or “not playing turnstile defense” or “taking more efficient shots” to get into the playoffs, color me skeptical that replacing Jamison (team leader in minutes played) with rookies and Tristan is going to suddenly put us in the playoffs.
Even the “best” rookies are generally horrific on defense. Everyone is assuming the Cavs will be better this year because they will invariably be more exciting.
But defensively, better the devil you know, ya know?
tsunami, in theory your points make a lot of sense, in practice, when Antawn jamison is your high usage vet, replacing him with a rookie who makes rookie mistakes will still mean you’ll have more efficient shots, and getting rid of him can only, and I mean this literally, help a defense. He is the worst NBA defender these eyes have seen. Antawn was the all time leader in veteran mistakes and turnstyle defense. to say zeller might get killed on the block implies that he will at least be trying, a big step up from “Be mesmerized by my… Read more »
nathan – I like the optimism. But if you are going to start by using the whole “almost a playoff team last year” and extrapolate from there… Jamison had a pretty high usage rage last year – he’s gone. And while it will be much more rewarding to watch Waiters than AP – I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of “rookie mistakes” this year. Whenever you replace aging veterans with rookies your defense suffers. Few rookies excel at defense other than maybe on-ball perimeter defense. Zeller might be great in a few years but he… Read more »
I figured it out when you said “Even if it’s only from 10 ft.” :) Looking back, I probably should have divided the roster in to Guards, Small Forwards, and Bigs instead of going position by position. I definitely agree that ideally, they Cavs frontcourt should always look like Varejao OR Tristan with Zeller OR Leuer OR Jones but I haven’t thought about it enough to have an opinion on who would work best with who beyond that. On an unrelated point, did anyone else notice what a rebounding beast Zeller was in summer league? With Varejao, Tristan, Zeller, and… Read more »
Nathan – I’m referring to TT in that first paragraph. I accidently left out his name….lol
Nathan – Nice analysis. I agree you can’t really tell what he’ll do from summer league. However, he looked pretty comfortable with the ball, and was looking to score most times. He really needs to develop a jumpshot. Even if it’s only from 10 ft. Right now, he’s trying to drive every time. He’s going to become predictable. Whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, I think he needs to be partnered up with Zeller in the front court. Since TT plays close to the basket on offense, the Cavs would be better served having a C with some… Read more »
I doubt Cleveland makes the move there for Williams, even if it’s a possibility. The move for Andy, if any, probably be for draft picks. I have a very hard time believing that the Cavs want 3 guys on rookie contracts picked in the top 4 in the same year. The cap implications on that are too staggering.
Ben, TT only took a handful of FTs in summer league, its a sample size not really worth much. Miles has regressed the last few years and has never been considered an above average defender, so I would definitely take the newer to the NBA, still likely improving Gee over him in a heartbeat. Also, almost all of their numbes are similar, except that Gee consistently gets almost twice the rebounds Miles does and scores more points per shot, and was playing a whole lot better than that last year with a healthy Andy and Kyrie. Miles is probably better… Read more »
@ Nathan, Nice breakdown. Totally agree that our shooting should be much improved by getting Boobie off the ball more and Kyrie at times. I strongly believe that Andy should start at the 4 and Zeller at 5. They can switch many assignments depending on matchups, but it gives us a Big Z type player to pair with Andy. I think Zeller has a shot at first team All-rookie depending on how they classify Davis. He will immediately step in and play thoughtful basketball, make open jumpers, and constantly run the floor. People don’t seem to realize that he was… Read more »
Regarding the trade the Cavs don’t want the salary that trade requires us to take. Right now Kahn in an effort to create the whitest team ever (only mostly joking is offering 2 first for Andy but the cavs are holding out for better
Derek- I chose not to add that to the links, since it seems there is literally no truthfulness to the rumor, and it has faded quickly. Personally, i’m glad.
Interestesting post, Nathan. Even though it was rather lengthy. However, I do disagree with your opinion on Tristan. Tristan’s improvement throughout the condensed season showed that he has a great work ethic so I think he will continue put in a lot of work to improve enough to at least be a solid starting PF next season. Will he make the all-star team? No, highly doubtful, but I don’t think 12 PPG 9 RPG and 2 BPG aren’t out of the question. If (Big If) Tristan can put up the aforementioned stat line I think that will be about middle… Read more »
Oh wow, much longer winded than I expected. Sorry for the wall guys, I didn’t realize how long that was getting typing in this little box :P
I’m not sure why people are so bearish on the Cav’s prospects for next season…It’s like no one remembers that they were in playoff contention for much of last season before a series of injuries led them to wisely throw in the towel. Barring further injuries, it seems like this year’s edition should be better than last year’s, so I fully expect them to be in the playoff hunt again. By the position, PG: Kyrie ranked 5th among point guards in efficiency as a rookie, and with Rose’s departure, only Parker, Westbrook, and Paul could realistically outperform him next season.… Read more »
So, if nothing happens with any big player deals that have been rumored off and on so many times, I wouldn’t mind if the Cavs just pick up some basic level players (and some vets) to fill out the roster to allow for the young guns to get the max amount of floor time. I like Barbosa a lot and think he could contribute well to the team. I do not like Tolliver and not sure how well he can contribute without taking time from others. As far as the Wizards vs. Cavs, I am looking forward to it. I… Read more »