0015 – Is It Summer Yet?
2012-11-19
It might be early in the season, but six straight losses have us feelin’ a little blue.
On today’s podcast Tom Pestak, Nate Smith, Dani Socher and I spent some time talking about what we’ve liked and haven’t liked so far this season. Topics we touched on were the Cleveland Cavaliers’ bench, Tristan Thompson’s game, Kyrie Irving’s passing, Dion Waiter, Tyler Zeller, and why the heck we keep getting blocked so much. Plus much, much more.
As always, we’re on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cavs-the-podcast/id528149843
Also, you can find us on SoundCloud at http://soundcloud.com/cavstheblog/0015-is-it-summer-yet
Keep on the look out for more podcasting fun soon!
UPDATE: I need to fix the intro – it’s time to mix it up a bit. Any musicians/DJs/Etc. interested in helping me make a new intro song email me at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or tweet at me @malfii – I’ll feature you on a podcast in exchange!
I’m actually excited in a way to see the offense go through Saint Weirdo (I’m all for the nickname btw eff those who don’t appreciate appropriate anagrams). It might actually aid Weirdo in his maturation. It’s a bummer to hear of our star going down, but he’ll be back soon. I always felt the Cavs were built to be a lottery team this year. The bench isn’t an accident. It was intentional to cost them games. If Kyrie was healthy they’d still be a deep lottery team. This will just further cement that. We’re all here because we care. We… Read more »
How exactly has JV performed better than TT, The Nupe? Talk about another Zombie meme! The “Jonas is better than TT” is turning into one…
I think the JJ trade was good on multiple levels. There is a reason that both M. Brown and B. Scott benched him and he saw the court again more because of injuries to other players than any other reason. Some people thougth it was just a bad coaching decision by M. Brown to bench him, but when Scott did the same thing, that tells me there is/was something else going on with JJ. Also, JJ was asking for more money than we were willing to spend on him, he never could learn the offense (besides at C where it’s… Read more »
The NUPE, At the time of the draft, I thought Klay Thompson was limited as far as potential. He was good last year, and people were excited about him, but at least through 10 games this season…he’s been really bad. He’s almost 23, too. Next year is pretty much the start of his prime. With Leonard, it will be interesting to see his performance in a few years once he is separated from the Parker – Ginobli – Duncan crew. Generally, I agree with your sentiment though. Very few of Grant’s decisions have had enough time to either prove good… Read more »
Only somewhat related, but who was the source of the “Valanciunas won’t come to Cleveland” rumors? Was it his agent speaking directly to the media or was it a “source close to him” that told “someone with the team”, that then elaborated to the media? A link would be helpful. It’s not possible to bring Valanciunas up without this rumor being mentioned, and while I’ve seen the rumor 1000 times, I don’t recall the source.
Oh it’s free, sorry, no complaining then. What a great podcast!
Less Hickson next time please.
Cols – who would you like me to make the refund check out to?
Cols…I have no idea what podcast you were listening to but, considering the podcast was almost exactly one hour, I don’t think we spent 1/2 of it talking about Hickson.
Good lord people
Did you just spend a half hour of the podcast discussing JJ Hickson?
Yep. Please, no more of this.
Grover – I’m acutely aware of Varejao’s improving FT% throughout his career. I used it as evidence for his value in my post last week. (check it out if you haven’t) I highlighted it because….drum roll please….It’s VERY RARE.
I still think Grant’s trade of Hickson was one of his better decisions as GM. There was no guarantee there was going to be a season or that Hickson would even play for the Kings. Omri hasn’t panned out, but Hickson didn’t pan out for the Kings either. At some point (2015 or 16 probably) the Cavs will be getting a top 12 pick for him. JJ was a starcrossed player. He was a big who could neither defend the paint or stretch a defense out with a midrange game. Rather than fork over $7 million a year or more… Read more »
Tom- have to take a bit of an issue with you here: “most players never improve their FT% more than a few %-age points”. I beg to differ. Here’s the FT% trend for Andy Varejao over the course of his career: Year 1: 54% Year 2: 51% Year 3: 62% Year 4: 60% Year 5: 62% Year 6: 66% Year 7: 67% Year 8: 68% Year 9: 76% Varejao’s hands and touch were as bad or worse than TT’s are in his first couple of years. What sets TT apart from JJ is work ethic. Due to that, I’ll stay… Read more »
My problem with the HIckson talk is that after we traded him, he was cut by one of the league’s worst teams. Now, he’s about the 5th best player on a 0.500 team. I have a hard time envisioning the scenario where I say “too bad we don’t have JJ Hickson”. As far as Valanciunas, Hickson, Sessions vs Thompson, Zeller, 12th pick in 2016; I am fine with what the Cavs have. The big variable is Valanciunas (I can completely live without the other two), which to me, has little to do with Hickson. Cutting ties with Hickson, and any… Read more »
While we’re talking about bad hands – Ben Wallace had terrible hands, and I feel like Drew Gooden had bad hands. If this was TT it would have been blocked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utun3FmLxbQ
I was a JJ fan but Tom it is LUDICROUS for you to comment on TT’s hands while talking about JJ who had not-good-hands, to put it mildly… And I’m sorry but where TT was drafted is besides the point. There is practically no such thing as value in the NBA draft due to it being only 2 rounds and only 15 players on each team. This notion seems to be, to me, a NFL draft thing which is almost ALL about value due to the length of the draft and the numbers of players for each team. There is… Read more »
Jason –
I’ll do my best to up the volume – weirdly, garage band has it sounding totally balanced.
As much as I am defending this stuff…. it is really hard to look back at that 2010 draft and play monday morning quarterback. I’m glad we picked Kyrie which wasn’t a total slam dunk. I think the other stuff makes for an interesting argument but I am not calling for Chris Grant’s head or anything. I really like picking Waiters over Barnes too.
Before you’re releasing the podcast could you try and up the volume a bit or something? I find the podcast to be generally pretty quiet.
Mallory, I get that. I just think JJ was on his way out for basketball AND non-basketball reasons. I think Byron and CG had their minds made up. If JJ stays, does he develop under Byron given all the nonsense from ’10-’11? Do you move away from Byron for the sake of JJ? I think the answer to both of those is “No.” I don’t really like Casspi, and I think he was just a flier. My judgment of a passable player in exchange for JJ will be based on the Kings’ pick, should we ever see it. If we… Read more »
Kevin – I totally understand the cultural residue sentiment for trading Hickson. It’s just hard for me not to think this team would be in a better place going forward if they’d have tried to teach Hickson some defense and left him at PF backing up Varejao, had drafted JV 4th alongside Kyrie, and signed Sessions (still a young player) to a reasonable deal to play backup. Now you’ve got a core of young players that includes: Kyrie/Sessions, Dion/Boobie, Gee/scrap, Varejao/Hickson, and JV (a true center and younger than TT). Maybe not, but I think you can at least make… Read more »
Tom,
Regarding the Cavs getting blocked so much; I don’t know. TT, Sloan, Samuels and Gee are all in the bottom 10% of NBA players for the percentage of their shots being blocked. Of all NBA players with over 100 minutes this year; TT has gotten the highest percentage of his shots blocked.
Here’s my long-term solution…ditch Sloan and Samuels. Turn Gee into the combo back-up he is meant to be. Hope Tristan gets better with age. That’s all tongue-in-cheek, but three of those four things should be easily accomplishable (just not this year).
I’ll add this, too – everyone on here, particularly the ones who rage over us continually drafting in the lottery, pounds home the idea of assets. We gave up an asset, no matter how small, for a non asset (I don’t see anyone knocking down our door to get Omri) – that’s definitely not a good thing.
Kevin – The argument isn’t if Tristan can be a passable player, it’s whether or not he was worth that #4 pick. See below for more: NDK, your comment is true – there weren’t a TON of guys available last year who look like stars (You forgot Faried though) but there may have been a player that, paired with Hickson, Kyrie, and now Waiters, made a lot of sense. The fact was we already had a passable player (Hickson) with a similar skill set to Tristan, at least on offense (has TT”s D been THAT breathtaking? I’d say no) and… Read more »
Tom – Those are fair points. But if Hickson can warrant a wishful thinking cap in year five, why shouldn’t Tristan warrant it at year two? It’s not that I think he’s a superstar-in-waiting, but I think more patience is a reasonable request. I agree with whoever’s assessment it was that he shouldn’t have bothered with a mid-range shot this summer. Free throws, hook shots, and a pump fake would’ve been just fine with me. He’s still a strong offensive rebounder, a (slightly) improving defensive rebounder, and is holding his mark to to a single-digit PER. If you think he… Read more »
JJ Hickson also had the worst hands of any power forward I’ve ever seen. We’d be trading blocked shots for turnovers out of bounds. I’m convinced that TT can learn how to be more creative on his shots. I’m not convinced JJ will grow bigger hands.
NDK – here’s the difference between giving up on JJ Hickson too soon and what you are trying to imply we are saying about Thompson. 1.) No one advocated we TRADE Tristan Thompson for some below average wing player. If the Cavs do that, I promise you I will be pissed. 2.) JJ Hickson has a proven track record of being able to finish around and above the rim. He is an excellent rebounder, and he has good form on his shot. His flaws are that he’s always out of position on defense, he takes too many jump shots, and… Read more »
I’m not suggesting we overlook his flaws. They’re legitimate and need to be addressed, and I’ve personally lowered my thoughts on his ceiling a bit. But it’s ten games into year two, and more and more people just sound like they’re done with him already.
I think Kyrie’s performance last year has skewed people’s perspective on how quickly young players should develop.
NDK – I haven’t given up on TT yet – like Nate has said, these guys are still essentially rookies. That being said, his improvement, thus far, from year 1 to year 2 is minimal, and he actually seems to have lost a step (like Tom said) In general, I have some major frustrations about this team. There’s an overwhelming sense of forgiveness on this blog, which I get – we love these guys and want to view them through the prettiest lenses possible. But I for one feel like it’s our duty to dissect every aspect of our team… Read more »
Tom Pestak, Early this season, by percentage of available misses, Hickson is a top-ten defensive rebounder in the league, on par with the Reggie Evans’s and Anderson Varejao’s of the world. If that keeps up, great for him, but it is a huge leap over his career averages. If that decreases to inline with his career averages, he is still just JJ Hickson. His assist and turnover rates are at career worsts since his rookie season, his block percentages are at career lows. The RAPM stat that I noted in Saturday’s recap considers him as performing worse than TT so… Read more »
Mallory, As one of the ‘forgivers’, I agree with your sentiment that someone needs to be critical of player flaws. I appreciated Nate’s posts last Thursday about Kyrie’s defense. Kyrie is undoubtedly horrible at defense; worst in the league last year according to Synergy Sports; bottom 6th percentile this year according to RAPM. This franchise just finished with a superstar that was above the law. If the new superstar isn’t performing in some regard, he should know about it, even if it is reasonable to assume he will improve with age. Like you said; the only way to get better… Read more »
I’m kind of amused by this sequence: “Did we give up on JJ too soon?” Then, most of the panel (or just Mallory) is looking for every opportunity to give up on TT in his second season. Awesome.
I love the Dion love in the podcast. I thought it was funny that only one person was worried about shot selection and when called on it, just sort of changed the subject. On the defensive problems, I think they’ll get better eventually. They might need a coach who has a better defensive philosophy (but stay away Mike Brown), but I think that they have the talent to be good defensively and players usually pick it up after a couple of years in the league. Overall, I like the podcasts, but I think you guys may need to keep it… Read more »
The Cavs have been blocked 89 times and have swatted only 21 shots. Both worst in the NBA.