Links to the Present: Being Hurt Edition
2014-02-27
As a Cavs fan, I know all about hurt. Usually, they are hurting me emotionally. Sometimes, they are hurting themselves physically. You just never know.
“Since the advent of rookie-scale extensions and maximum contracts, no player has turned down a max extension offer before entering the final year of his rookie-scale deal. Irving potentially has the chance to make history” [Amin Elhassan, ESPN]
Amin Elhassan gets into the actual options Kyrie Irving has regarding his upcoming contract decisions in his article about the young guard for ESPN insider. Irving can sign a max and demand a trade, just sign and stay, or force his way out next season by playing out the year, becoming a restricted free agent, and taking a one year qualifying offer to enter unrestricted free agency the following season. If Irving does turn down the max offer, at least the organization is making history.
There is even a poll up at ESPN about whether or not Kyrie should sign the max extension. The results are a solid no.
NBA.com has set up a special page for former Cavs big man Zydrunas Illgauskas’s jersey retirement March 8th against the Knicks. The page goes through the early injured Big Z’s accomplishments over the years.
“Before being drafted in 1996, Big Z had averaged 20.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game for the Atletas Basketball Club in Kaunas.” [Joe Gabriele, Cavs.com]
For the next ten days until the jersey retirement ceremony, Cavs.com will be running a continuing “11 DayZ of Z” article series detailing his career.
Cavs.com also has a top 11 collection of Big Z’s best radio calls from retired Cavs broadcaster Joe Tait.
“Q: After porn star Ava Devine offered to have sex with every player on the Cavs team if they made the playoffs, they won 5 in a row before tailing off. How is this not a bigger story? How would you rank the current Cavs roster, in order from least likely to most likely, to follow-up on this offer should the Cavs make the playoffs? Anthony Bennett has to be most likely, right?
—Jim, Cleveland” [Bill Simmons, Grantland.com]
Cleveland gets a unique nod in Bill Simmons’s mailbag this week. Do you blame the Cavs for losing so much recently after seeing that video interview and realizing Ava Devine is probably serious?
“There’s been some speculation that Fredette will opt to sign with a team who will give him playing time during the seasons final few months instead of latching on with a contender.” [Bryan Rose, Fansided.com]
The Cavs fit of the description of non contender, but it has been reported they are not the right non contender for Jimmer Fredette. Of course, that hasn’t deterred the Cavs interest. [Sam Amico, Fox Sports; Mark Stein, ESPN.com]
KJ, it was yanked off by the request of the guy who wrote it. My email is right here on the blog. If you ask, I can forward you the thread. I do not take suggestions that this blog is anything but independently run lightly.
Will be very interetesed to see what gets edited. You understand this looks very fishy, right, John? You understand the perception, and perception is everything, they say, is that an article critical of ESPN was yanked off of a blog that is an affiliate of ESPN, right?
A full explanation post on this blog is called for, I would say…
Nate’s article is scheduled for next week, as it’s not done yet and we didn’t want it on a game-day Friday for linking/traffic purposes. He accidentally hit “publish” instead of “edit.” When he figured out how to get it un-live, he could.
Dunno. I am betting the Truehoop/ESPN guys put the kibosh on it. I call bullshit of course but whaddya expect in a corporate dominant world? Too bad cuz Nate’s article was really good and rightly called BS on the needless, baseless speculation about Kyrie that ESPN has been trafficking basically all season.
The Mods need to come clean and address this censorship. Come clean and clear to all of us, who are active participants in this blog…
KJ, I got a glance at an article today. When I refreshed the page, it had vanished. I think it was about ESPN bad rapping Cleveland.
What is the deal?
Lock him up he just got his 1st triple double!!! He’s on his way for more1!
Kyrie’s passing these past few games has been sublime. You sign this kid for as long as possible, as soon as possible. No question.
Did the fact that this blog is part of the Truehooo network which is owned by ESPN mean the Mothership had the blogpost pulled? Answers, please, Mods. Krolik, did you have any say in this?
What happened to Nate’s article???
I’m a victim of my own expectations I guess, the way Dion and Kyrie played off each other right before Dion went down was what I was expecting to see all season. I sometimes fail to break things down into perspective thinking that Kyrie is literally a year younger than myself, never really got to learn team basketball because he was hurt in college. I think to myself, hey I’m a veteran, I’ve been in high pressure situations before and I’m alright and I expect the same of others. And I most certainly wasn’t being paid even 1% of what… Read more »
not take his crazy max contract i mean. Obviously others have left.
Underdog, I don’t think the majority of fans agree with JHill. It’s silly, literally silly, to say he doesn’t improve playoff teams. He plays at an even higher level than he already does when he’s surrounded by good players who anticipate. There are a lot of talking heads that are talking. Cavs fans watch, like you said, because it’s fun to watch Kyrie play ball. And their record aside, the cavs are more fun to watch this year than last year. The chances of Kyrie leaving are, in reality, pretty slim. In fact he’d have to be the first person… Read more »
Just like constant stream of negative jokes about Cleveland lead people to believe that it’s a horrible place to be . . . the constant drivel about Kyrie’s shortcomings is causing Cavs fans to under-appreciate him. Kyrie is not – right now – an elite player. So what? He possesses several skills that NO OTHER PLAYER in the NBA has. He is 21. This month is finally learning how to play team basketball. When he fully grasps the concept – other teams won’t know what to do with us. In the last two wins the opponents frantically hounded Kyrie in… Read more »
I said replace the PG, not just add him to the team. The stats show, there is really no discernible difference between him and other good guards. Which means his value is lower than perceived. If you say, replaced Jeff Teague with Kyrie Irving does the end result change that much? Also the comment about Irving giving boring interviews is true when you compare him to Dion. To be honest I think I’ve done a good job of recognizing his effort on defense since the Lakers game, he still sucks but at least he’s trying now. I do think that… Read more »
Ben, you are not the first person to posit this thought, but everyone needs to relax with the “LeBron did the worst a player can do to a franchise” narrative. He was a free agent, and decided to go to a different team. Yes for whatever reason he seemed to give up in that Boston series, yes The Decision was an immensely stupid marketing move (although no one ever mentions it raised $2.5 million for the Boys and Girls Club), and yes it sucked to be a Cavs fan that day. But he never promised to return to the Cavs,… Read more »
They are STILL Cavs fans in Vilnius (even though Z was from the evil, slimy Kaunas, LOL)
JHill…clearly you are biased against Kyrie. But to say that he doesn’t improve a playoff team like Indiana, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas, Minnesota, Atlanta, OKC…
Let’s at least be serious, ok?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeZKwvuZs1c&list=UUawXRnfJ0RB_vZtxecZeMvA -Pete Holmes manages to get a not boring interview out of Kyrie.
I think it fits the ESPN narrative. LeBron was forgivin because he won a championship, the same way everyone outside of Cleveland forgave Ben Roethlisberger after he won a superbowl and Kobe a ship when they both had their respective rape cases. Kyrie isn’t going to take any almost there team to the finals. Look at any playoff team and switch him with their PG do they even get better? Almost every team the answer is no. No even Miami where all he would have to do is shoot, Chalmers is a better shooter and defender.
LeBron famously (at the time anyway) quit on the Cavs during the last Boston playoff series. We really should have won the championship that season. If LeBron doesn’t develop a phantom elbow problem, we probably win the title and he is essentially forced to remain in Cleveland. You can’t leave a team after winning a championship. I bring this up because Kyrie still has far more national respect than he really deserves. He is an outstandingly flashy young player who blew away expectations in his rookie year. Coming out, Mike Conley was often described as comparable talent. (at the time… Read more »
I don’t understand it, why does ESPN want Kyrie to leave Cleveland?
Whatever, they should just trade the little Lord Fauntleroy. Then everyone else will see him blow defensive assignments, not pass to wide open teammates, and pout when he doesn’t get his way.
Nate, I read that piece too. The image of blind children doing shakespeare in a dumpster is striking. Overstated, but striking.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-shootaround-to-cav-and-cav-not/
“It’s not like Deng and Hawes were the reincarnation of Pippen and Barkley, but they gave the Cavs an air of ‘real production’ and not ‘blind children performing Shakespeare in a Dumpster.'” -Chris Ryan