Links to the Present: Other People Edition
2014-04-08
One of the the hardest things to deal with in life is someone saying something about your feelings that you know is absolutely wrong. Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters are dealing with that type of situation right now. During an interview on ESPN’s “First Take,” Josh Gordon let it be known that he thought Kyrie and Dion were not overly friendly with each other.
“[Dion Waiters is] my neighbor in my building, so we hang out all the time. I’m aware of the rift in the locker room. That’s just alpha males and supreme athletes trying to share the spotlight.”.
A few days later Cavs: The Blog’s own writer Robert Attenweiler interviewed Brian Windhorst. Windhorst said Kyrie wanted out of Cleveland and wasn’t close with LeBron James anymore. Kyrie probably wishes there was a machine that could take a text based picture of his thoughts to prove he is best buds with Dion and wants to be in Cleveland forever. Unfortunately for him, he had to settle for a press conference with Dion to try and show everyone they don’t know what he is thinking.
Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer captured everything about the Irving, Waiters, and Gordon saga that led to a press conference with her article yesterday. She pulled the most salient conference quotes just in case you don’t want to watch the actual video. If you thought Dion and Kyrie were faking friendship, Dion’s statements are so stream of conscious you will think otherwise (the video gets the realness across much better than the quote alone).
“Yeah, we still need to learn certain things. But I think at the end of the day, we’re genuinely friends. I love him as a friend, teammate, everything. I just want everybody to know that. I don’t hate this guy. I’m pretty sure he don’t hate me. I know he don’t hate me. I hope he don’t hate me. Rome wasn’t built in one day. We’re still young. We’re still planning to stay together. We’re still working. As long as we’ve got great communication down, it’s fine.”
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Last night, Kevin Ollie, a former Cavalier won the NCAA mens basketball tournament. Boyer offered a praise filled article for Ollie that mentions how much of an influence on LeBron James he was.
Ollie’s arrival coincided with that of rookie LeBron James, and Ollie became a mentor to the young James, who tweeted his support last week: ”Wanna send a HUGE S/O to my former teammate Kevin Ollie and UCONN on advancing to the Elite 8. Keep it going K.O.”
Zydrunas Ilgauskas loved him too.
“When he first got here, we didn’t have real stable veteran leadership,” Ilgauskas said. “We didn’t have a winning culture. Having Kevin around helped us. He was part of what started that good run we had. It had to start somewhere, and he was there at the beginning.”
The piece left me thinking about the current Cavs. Who is the Kevin Ollie for Kyrie Irving? Who is making a winning culture with the Cavs? I thought it was going to be Luol Deng, but it seems like he is not someone the team will give a new contract to.
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On Friday, the Cavs got a mention in Bill Simmons’ mailbag when people compared Kyrie’s stats to those of Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, and Isiah Thomas. The Sports Guy had some fun with a comparison of his own.
SG: My counter to Kyle and Aamir …
Player A: 21.1 ppg, 6.3 apg, 3.6 rpg, 43.1 FG%, 36.6 3FG%, 20.1 PER
Player B: 21.3 ppg, 6.9 apg, 3.3 rpg, 43.8 FG%, 29.1 3FG%, 21.6 PERPlayer A? Kyrie. Player B? Devin Harris in 2009.
(YES! I just won the “Who Could Freak Cleveland Fans Out The Most With a Blind Player Comparison To Kyrie Irving” Contest!!!)
I’m not too insulted because it could be worse a player comparison. Devin Harris is probably going to be in the playoffs with Dallas this season.
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Numbers aren’t another person, but at least numbers don’t lie. Cavs: The Blog‘s Kevin Hetrick has a quick read about Tristan Thompson on gotbuckets.com. Kevin has been doing a review of his 2011 pre-draft predictions and Tristan came up as the #11 guy.
Seth Partnow of whereoffensehappens.com created a Rim Protection Points Saved stat using the player tracking SportVU data. According to his stats, Tristan ranks 147th in shot contests per 36 minutes and 159th in points saved per 36 minutes due to rim protection; comparable big men include Carlos Boozer and Brandon Bass.
The numbers are not friendly to Tristan at all.
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Numbers may not lie, but they also make no sense at times when looked at next to each other. Cavs.com has a piece up about different Cavs stats numbers right now. Did you know the Cavs have had 17 straight games where opponents have scored under 45 in the paint? That leads the league. Tristan must be doing something right.
Hey Steve, Deng is too banged up and that is why Chicago really didn’t want to sign him. Also Deng is no Nance, Nance was a steady force and didn’t have any complication. Like I said before , we got to get creative and add a good free agent + draft an small forward.
Go Cavs.
Tony O – that was what Deng was supposed to be, how did that work out? The problems of this team run deep.
And TV63, yeah, you went way too far, and made it personal. You don’t get to be all huffy when you get it back at you. Your ramblings about the timing were nonsensical and paranoid.
Yeah and I remember when he asked for too much money. Which was like half of what we gave Jarrett Jack.
Remember that time the Cavs had Shaun Livingston? http://grantland.com/the-triangle/beat-the-heat-how-brooklyn-turned-its-season-around-and-how-it-could-win-the-east/
One thought: we all agree how ridiculous the claims that CtB was paid, or part of some conspiracy with ESPN.
Given that, let’s take this silliness as an instructive event in how meaningless public gossip about anyone’s personal feelings (athlete’s or media person’s) is just hot air.
I think that Nate Smith and John Krolik need to put down their Cristal and take a break from their blogger groupies and strippers and get back to reality. I personally saw John Krolik get out of his Lamborghini and the license plate said Deth2Cavs and the plate cover said “Paid for by ESPN”. Honestly I don’t understand why so many people are pissed about the Windy interview. That’s not a big deal to me, he’s been saying that about every half decent player that plays for a small market team. I don’t understand why people aren’t more pissed at… Read more »
@Tony O-
“What Cavs need is a third wheel and I mean a Nance type free agent to stabilize the team and create a positive atmosphere .”
You mean like…say….Luol Deng?
@Tony O-
“What Cavs need is a third wheel and I mean a Nance type free agent to stabilize the team and create a positive atmosphere.
You mean like…say….Luol Deng?
TV, I apologize for overreacting. I was embellishing for hyperbole and humor, and did not mean to make any attacks “personal,” or excessive, nor call you names. Your comments got my dander up because the professionalism of Robert, myself, and the other people that work on this blog were called into question. And since we don’t get paid, all we have is our reputation. But in attempting to be humorous I was excessive and vindictive, and for that I apologize. I hope you continue to be a reader and commenter.
My Apologies,
Nate
@Nate Smith WOw I never thought for you to be reduced to name callng and personal attacks. I have said repeatedly on here that I did not think this blog (not any writer by name) knew what ESPN was going to do with the onslaught on the negative campaign against Kyrie. So please get that straight. Yes many people believe ESPN had an agenda to “Pile on” Kyrie at that specific point in time. You can believe otherwise and I will too. It’s a free country dude. There is absolutely no need to fling personal attacks on someone who you… Read more »
Nobody likes to lose especially if you are professional , winning cures everything . What Cavs need is a third wheel and I mean a Nance type free agent to stabilize the team and create a positive atmosphere . It’s up to front office and the coach to fix that. I don’t know the bulk of free agents available yet, but I think we can find that one free agent and a good draft to steer the team in the right direction . In sports you only have a window of say six to ten years to do something and… Read more »
Finally read Robert’s interview w/ BW – where exactly is the controversy in that post? Hasn’t that been the general consensus all year? Kyrie’s underwhelmed this year – Check, Hawes & Tristan don’t deserve big extensions – Check, Dion is proving he’s likely a good player – Check, and Gilbert will likely make a mess of the GM hire ala Dan Snyder – Check (ISIAH THOMAS? WTF?!?!?), and we still have dreams of LBJ coming home (tho ain’t happening) – Check. So again nothing new.
I can’t believe the trolls got Krolik so riled up :)
@JohnKrolik – A word of advice: Don’t feed the trolls. Sort of like Gremlins – Don’t feed after Midnight. Only bad things happen.
Ha Ha! Firefly was a nice touch. I think the reality that is coming into focus is that this ‘project’ of a team is slower in coming to fruition than we would like. Exciting conspiracy theories aside, I hope the Cavs organization gets this right and brings in some proper mentoring leadership (players or coaches). LeBron had Z and was still a dumb kid when he made the Decision (the decision made sense but the Decision was an unmitigated disaster) and pouted for a year in Miami when winning championships wasn’t so easy to come by and he wasn’t everyone’s… Read more »
irrational conclusions are endlessly amusing
As a long time lurker and infrequent commenter, the parallels between religious folk who believe that gods “talk to them” individually and sports fans who can’t string together logically coherent analyses keeps me tuned to the comments section here every time. I don’t think I’ll uncover a gem worth musing over but rather more reasons that I’m grateful that I know no one here IRL.
I hate the fact that Kyrie/Dion felt a need to discuss thier relationship. Never a good idea to let what the press says get in your head and to take time out of your schedule to discuss it. I’d much prefer that if they are interviewing about something else and it happens to come up that they address it directly – but never have a special conference about it. All that means is that they are bugged by the media reports and they can never ‘win’ the public argument about what thier ‘camp’ says or doesn’t say or about how… Read more »
Give it up John. We know you’re in cahoots with Windhorst to undermine the entire Cavaliers organization because, well, just because.
And I don’t know about Robert, but for all this “talk to me like a man” stuff, I own this blog, my PERSONAL EMAIL and my twitter are right here on the sidebar, and apparently people on multiple websites are talking about me being a part of a conspiracy and accusing me of getting payoffs while I’ve gotten exactly zero emails about it. I personally guarantee that if you email me with a question about any of this, I’ll email you back. Hell, I’ll call you on the goddamn telephone if you’re not satisfied.
Absolutely freaking ridiculous. Makes me sick.
Goddamnit, I so wish our lives were ANYTHING what Cavs blog commenters think they’re like. We mostly just watch Pro Wrestling and “Firefly” reruns.
Oh…
[hangs head]
…there was no payoff.
Wait. There was a payoff?!? Sweet!
Well, said, David.
@TV63 Josh Gordon said those comments on the March 27th episode of “First Take.” ESPN is pretty crafty if they knew the blog was going to run an interview with Windhorst on the night of the Hawks game, (that honestly Kyrie probably didn’t see until after the game, since he was probably preparing for the actual game during the day) that would bring up Josh Gordon’s week old comments and ultimately sabotage the team. I love conspiracy theories, but even I can’t buy that one.
So, let me get this straight, TV63, there’s a conspiracy which involved in Robert sitting down for a chat with Windhorst, and then Windhorst spilling the beans (which he’s already spilled like 5 times), and then Robert taking a day to transcribe the stuff, then proof it, and then somehow magically posting Friday before one. (Seriously, Robert worked his butt off on this to get it posted in a timely manner). And then someone (I don’t even know who) at ESPN innocuously asking Josh Gordon (of all people) what he thought of the whole Kyrie/Dion thing, and then tying that… Read more »
My only criticism was the timing. That’s really really MILD from some of the accusations that Cav Blog got paid Mucho dollars from Windhorst and ESPN to circulate the story. I’ve read that on the other blogs (I’m not making that up) and replied to some of the comments that this is really nice blog with great writers and whatever this negative fallout is; it was not intentional.
I do not believe this blog intentionally knew what was going to happen and I have said that more than once. But to say Oh it’s just a coincidence on the timing of the 2 ESPN stories with correlation of the Hawks game. No way people are buying it. You can be mad all you want. It’s not My personal persecution complex. LoL Kyrie well yes since it’s mainly about him. This is what people are saying out there guys like it or not. This blog has taken some heavy criticisms lately on many of the other blogs. RealCavs, FTS,… Read more »
@Nate, Dion is the one that asked why the stuff is being reported on right at the end of the season, not us. Personally I don’t think the Windy article is a big deal. Just Josh Gordon riding in on it’s coat tails seems to add more to it and make it a MUCH bigger thing than it is. Why the hell was he even asked about the Cavs? Seriously. Windy has been writing the same stuff since we got Kyrie, pretty sure on draft night he started the Kyrie wants out of Cleveland articles. I expect those articles from… Read more »
“I don’t understand, what do they have to do? ”
Maybe win a few games? Is that a good start?
Some of you guys REALLY need to step away from the corkboards. It’s honestly hilarious knowing for a fact how much simpler all of this is than you’d like it to be.
“Looking back now between the Windhorst interview AND Josh Gordon coming out the same time, ON the biggest game night Cavs have had in years does look like a premeditated and intentional agenda from ESPN against the Cavs and Kyrie Irving.” Really? You are basically accusing us of sabotaging the Cavs on purpose. Listen. I can’t control what people say. All I can do is report what people say when they say it. Same thing with everyone else who writes for this blog, and everyone who works for ESPN. Get over your persecution complex, because Robert reported that both he… Read more »
I don’t think there’s a conspiracy of the national media vs. the Cavs. More likely, Dion probably expressed frustration at times about the Cavs situation and Kyrie to Josh Gordon. Probably wasn’t a big deal but Josh Gordon simply noted that he was familiar with some locker room tensions. At the same time, Windy just happened to give his honest thoughts about the Cavs (none of which seem egregious). Cavs the Blog could have released that article at a different time so as to not throw added negative commentary at the Cavs during most important point of the season. Nonetheless,… Read more »
Btw Love the pic of Dion, Delly, Hawes! Supposedly, after the tough loss to Bobcats, Kyrie, Dion and some of the other team mates went to the Barley House VIP for a beer. If they did so; GOOD! It certainly isn’t an act of immaturity if they did. This team has developed a commardity with one another which is a very good thing. It had been said in the Cavs personnel that Hawes really likes playing with Kyrie, Dion and Delly in particular. Likes everyone else too.
If anything this stuff will make Kyrie want to prove people wrong and sign a big extension.
Looking back now between the Windhorst interview AND Josh Gordon coming out the same time, ON the biggest game night Cavs have had in years does look like a premeditated and intentional agenda from ESPN against the Cavs and Kyrie Irving. It made most of us Cavs fans just disgusted by the whole thing. I don’t get this friend, Gordon who is basically a paid ESPN snitch on his own friend Dion and Kyrie. It gets a Slime rating of +10. He got paid rather it be in endorsements, of gifts in airline, food, hotel or cash. He wasn’t Mr.… Read more »
As far as Wade and LeBron go, on top of being pros even they were a lot older too. It would have been epic if Dion and Kyrie had a team pool battle against Josh Gordon and a friend of his choosing to prove their friendship. That would be an epic cavs.com video series.
The worst part is that we have such a goofy players coach that can’t seem to get his players to provide consistent effort.
People have already forgotten it took Wade & Lebron about a year & a half to figue out how to co-exist. And they both had already been professionals for 6+ years.
I don’t understand, what do they have to do? At jump ball just start giving each other an HJ to show people they don’t hate each other? They are two young alpha males learning how to play team basketball on the same team. Some games it looks like brilliant basketball, other days they take turns playing ISO ball and the whole team blows. But the games where the basketball is good are starting to happen more and more often.