Mailing it in
2013-03-14
No major content this morning, and so far it’s a slow news day for the Cavs. So we’re mailing it in. Open lines today, Cavalier fans. We could talk about unheralded gems in the draft, Shaun Livingston and his thoughts that there will be a bidding war for his services, your favorite Boobie Gibson memory, or the symbiosis between narrative and narrative structure in literature and blog posts. Carpe diem, my friends.
Keeping the bench intact is not necassary. Its not guys, sorry. If we were to replace these guys (speights, Walton, Livingston, Ellington) with D-Leaguers like pargo, it would be a huge problem, yes. But if we replace these guys with a top 10 pick, a mid first rounder, and 2 decent low-end free agents ala Miles, we’ll be just fine. Andy is coming back for some portion of the season, TT Kyrie Dion and Zeller should all be improved, and they’ll all have a lot more experience playing with each other regardless of if the second unit is new. Do… Read more »
Thorpe moved Dion up to 3rd in his rookie rankings behind Lillard and Davis….
@$ Victor Oladipo: I love his game and think the Cavs would have possibly the best guard rotation in the league with him. If you played against a smaller SF you could run all three. He’s relentless and an above the rim player and Cleveland needs one. Nerlens Noel: They’ll have to get a top two pick to get him so I’d say it’s doubtful. I can’t see Grant passing on Noel if he’s available. I’d go with Tyson Chandler maybe as a comp, but Noel can handle the ball really well for a big. Big time above the rim… Read more »
Count me as one who thinks we need to retain a significant portion of the bench bunch. Theses are the guys that are making the difference. But if we get a bunch of guys who don’t know how to play, the Livingston and Walton, in particular, will be useless if surrounded by guys who don’t know how to play. As for the stretch run, nice post on the schedules. I think we are a bottom 5 team w/out Kyrie playing much. That will give us a chance to either get lucky (draft Noel) or have a decent shot at Shabazz… Read more »
Uhhhhhh $, Nerlens Noel is supoer raw offensively, like raw to the point that I feel like I could beat him at HORSE. That’s not too say I don’t like him. He moves defensively amazingly well and defends the rim. I see him having aspects of Tyson Chandlers game and aspects of Ben Wallace’s game (I can’t think of anyone other than Wallace who moved as well on pick and rolls). The knee injury could leave him limited but if he’s okay he should be a dyanmite defender. As for Oladipo I agree with everything you said. The guy just… Read more »
My Big Board: 1. Victor Oladipo. The dude is so nasty I just want to see him play on our team. He’s crazy athletic and never stops running. He’d be so much fun to watch run the fast break with Neon Dion and K Swirves 2. Nerlens Noel. Yeah he’s got a f*cked up knee but he’s got so much potential. Maybe like Amare Stoudamire type game. He probably will have trouble guarding big centers, at least at first, but he will make up for it by his tenacious scoring. 3. Cody Zeller. He’d be exciting to watch play next… Read more »
And I posted this on FTS, but figured I’d share the wealth: Since we all clearly have nothing to do—here is a link that is great news for #tankstrong-ers and #0tto-ers out there: http://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS Thus far, the Cavs have had the 3rd easiest schedule in the NBA, meaning we play a lot of really good teams down the stretch without Kyrie—I smell a 5 or 6 game slide coming up here. This slants toward WC teams because the East is trash, but the Jazz have played almost the easiest schedule so far of Western Conference teams, so they have a… Read more »
And whatever happened to Milan Macvan (Sleeper according to Fraschilla) or Ejike Ugboaja (The African JJ Hickson, anyone?)?
I wonder why it’s assumed in the article that there will be much higher bidders than the Crabs? He’s been great for the young guards, we aren’t spending much on guards b/c of the rookie contracts of Dion and Kyrie and Scott loves him. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he ended up resigning here on a 3-year/7-8mill contract, unless he just hates living in Cleveland.
I know it’s not realistic, but given that it’s a slow mailbag day, I was curious to see what opinions were for the ceiling for this team if everything went favorably.
JAG – brilliant comment. Really, it sums up my fears of this draft.
Evil Genius, it’s too much to ask that all of that falls into place. Realistically, you (or I) shouldn’t assume the worst either – reality falls someplace in between.
Thanks Jim and Steve. I was just a bit worried because before Thabeet was drafted Jim Calhoun said he was one of the most dominant centers to play the game, and although Nerlens put up better freshmen numbers, Thabeets Sophmore and Jr year look similar to what Nerlens has done. I have faith that Grant will pick the right player, but was just curious about what you guys thought.
Im getting excitd about a possible Otto Porter/Bazz and Kelly Olynyk fjrst roundbut if we went center 1st (Noel, Len (eh)) then I’d like to see a Dario Saric at 16.
At this point, the most realistic scenario is Ellington and Livingston coming back. I don’t see either Walton or Speights being here next year. I think they sign Oden in the summer as well. As for the draft, I can honestly say I have no idea, mainly because the Cavs have “surprised” us each if the last two years. If one looks at college PER for a sign, the 7-footer from Gonzaga and Cody Zeller both have PER’s over 30…FWIW…
“Livingston, Ellington and Walton might be key players that the Cavs need to retain to keep the team’s development moving forward. ”
This is ludicrous. Whether or not these guys are back will not matter at all on the development of the Cavs. The Cavs will go as far as Kryie, Dion, TT, 2013 draft pick plus whatever free agents we sign over the next two offseasons. The idea that the Cavs future depends on 3 decent but hardly irreplaceable castoffs is crazy.
Very astute observations, JAG. Furthermore, here’s the risk with Noel: he’ll be a rookie for the next two years. He won’t get a camp next year, he won’t even be at full strength until about this time next year (even if he comes back “early”). So basically, the Cavs will have two first round rookies in 2014. Now, given the amount of picks the Cavs have in this year’s draft, and the depth of it, this might not be the worst thing in the world. If they draft Noel, they can afford to take a keeper high in the second… Read more »
If Speights opts out and Livingston finds an interested suitor and leaves, the Cavs may well be looking at using this draft just to replace their second unit, They will be hard pressed to even keep running in place with the current squad replacing a group of savvy vets with raw rookies. If the picks are high enough, they could even end up paying those rookies as much money as they would’ve had to pay those vets in order to re-sign them. Walton was useless working with a group of developmental players before the arrival of the current bench bunch.… Read more »
If all those things hold true and we assume that our young guys continue to improve (which is a reasonable expectation), then yes, we are a playoff team. IF Dion becomes a beast, Porter/Bazz play and develop better than expected then we are a mid tier playoff team. continued growth after next season and a key FA pick-up (or two) and we can be a higher tier playoff team – with the ‘right’ FA then possibly a contender in 2015.
If everything broke right for the Cavs: 1) Oden signs and is able to play 20 mins a night and stay healthy 2) AV comes back strong and plays 65+ games and stays healthy 3) They’re able to re-sign Livingston and Ellington to manageable contracts 4) The ping pong balls bounce right and they have a shot at Porter or Bazz 5) Tyler adds some bulk and gets to come off the bench in a less demanding role 6) Kyrie stays healthy enough to play most of the games next year 7) Dion and TT don’t regress What’s the range… Read more »
Spots – sure, teams will probably not start Livingston, but they will likely expect to play him more than the Cavs, with established young players who should be getting plenty of run at both guard spots. Now, if you’re expecting Kyrie to continue to get beat up and miss a lot of time, and need to cover for him, sure, pay extra for Livingston, but then I think we have a bigger problem to deal with. Luis – not even close. Noel was one of the best players in college basketball this year and still hasn’t turned 19. At 18,… Read more »
Screw Oden, draft nerlens.
no not at all noel is 100 times better athlete he is also not a terrible ball handler or passer for a big i think from the granted limited i saw gobert reminds me more of thabeet
Do you believe that Nerlens is similar to the player that Thabeet was in college (who was drafted second overall)?
I think the fact that Livingston realizes he fits our system and have good peices around him will help us retain his services. Not that he’ll give us a ‘discount’ but I don’t think many teams will be that interested in a backup PG who still has questionable knees, and the fact that he fits our system and has shown it makes him worth the Cavs keeping for a reasonable price. On the other hand, there are a few PG’s in the draft who we could turn to with our 3rd pick if he does walk. Another minor thought, Livingston… Read more »
Is it time to bring Sasha Kahn over?
Fortunately, their next three games are at Pacers (probably a loss anyway), Kings, and at Suns. If Kobe misses all three, Accuscore simulations only drops the percentage of the Lakers making the playoffs from 71% to 69%. The Kings and Suns are very winnable without Kobe.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/55778/lakers-may-have-to-move-on-without-kobe
Tom
Luckily, Gasol might be back next week, and Howard is playing better. Both Utah and Houston have difficult schedule to finish up with. Still, it will be tough for them to hold on to the final spot. Darnit, we’ve got plans for that pick!!! lol
@Jon – just read about Kobe’s ankle. Hopefully he can get back on the court soon. I wonder if the Lakers will run an offense through Howard now.
I do agree that Livingston has earned himself a bigger contract, I still don’t think it will be too hard for the cavs to retain him. Teams won’t be bringing him in to be a starter, so everyone is going to be offering him backup PG money. With so many teams strapped for cash because of the CBA, smart teams will stray away from overpaying reserves. Our competition would be teams with not-so-great PGs with decent cap space who have been historically terrible at using their cap space (so basically just Detroit). I think we went through the same ordeal… Read more »
I see the Cavs starting a trend of draft and stash this year, especially with second rounders. I’d love to see Brazil’s Lucas Nogueira fall to one of the Cavs’ second round slots. NBAdraft.net has them taking him with the Heat’s 30th pick on their latest mock draft.
Will the Cavs actually keep any second round pick them make over the next four years?
Kobe’s severe ankle sprain is potentially big news for the Cavs.