Links to the Present: Don’t Tank Edition
2014-04-11
The worst victories of all are moral victories, but I’ll take any type of Cavs victories at this point. After the Atlanta Hawks won on Wednesday night, the Cavs were officially eliminated from the playoffs, even though they decimated a Pistons team that played like they enjoyed being humiliated in some perverse way. The remaining three games could have drafting ramifications for the Cavs if they win. A higher draft pick would be nice, but it should not be the Cavs front office’s only worry. The team is playing great, and these extra wins could be a wonderful springboard going into next season.
Rich Exner of The Northeast Ohio Media Group explained some of the draft ramifications if they win out in his article from yesterday.
But the Cavs could easily fall to 10th or below in the lottery standings, reducing their odds. Tenth place carries a 4 percent chance of picking in the top three, and an 87 percent chance of picking 10th.
In ninth place, the Cavs would have a 6.1 percent chance to earn a top three pick.
–
One of the biggest reasons the Cavs should keep pushing for these moral victories is the steady development of Tyler Zeller. He was a force against the Pistons and could use some time with better line ups to see just how much he has developed. Matt Shantz at Fansided has a great article up about Zeller’s improvement this year.
Per 100 possessions, the Cavaliers were -3.9 in net differential, but they were a -1.7 net differential with Zeller on the floor. Although this is still a negative number, it gives Zeller the fourth best net differential on the team, behind only Matthew Dellavedova, C.J. Miles, and Anderson Varejao.”
That stat just goes to show that Matty D and Tyler are decent pieces for the Cavs.
–
As someone who got a technical in his first recreational basketball game of the year, I envy Mike Brown’s comments about officials. Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer reported that Brown wasn’t keen on the idea of challenging NBA officials.
“Selfishly, yeah, I’d like to be able to throw a red flag out there to argue a point. But I wouldn’t push for it because I enjoy the speed of the game and I also enjoy as crazy as it sounds when you’re watching games and you see a missed call and you’re like, ‘Oh, man. He blew that.’ Then you talk about if for a while. That’s pretty neat.”
–
Kyrie Irving came out in support of his former teammate, Derrick Gordon, who became the first openly gay Division I men’s college basketball player. Jason Lloyd reported some of Kyrie’s quotes for The Akron Beacon Journal.
“I never had a problem with homosexuality,” Irving said. “Even if one of my teammates was a homosexual, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But to see guys in sports coming out now is part of life.”
It’s a wonderful thing to see so much support for gay players at all levels of sports.
–
Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal and The News-Herald has a piece up about Anderson Varejao’s pending return to Brazil for an NBA preseason game against the Heat next season.
The Cavs center said if he had to guess, there could be as many as 50 members of his family on hand for the game.
“It will be a great experience for the team to bond, and culturally to see something different,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said.
There’s bad Kyrie again…getting tired of his act, to be honest…Dion and TT always seem to bring effort. Kyrie? Not so much…
The defensive guru did just give up 119 to the worst team in the league…I don’t hate Brown. I really don’t. My biggest criticism of him on the season was that he couldn’t control the locker room turmoil and how many games this season his team gave no effort whatsoever. They could have made the playoffs. They didn’t. They’ll end up winning 10 games more than last season and that is improvement even though it’s not as much as we or the organization expected. I’d give Brown a C+ on his job this season. He didn’t meet expectations, but the… Read more »
Not a big supporter of Mike Brown but he’s a better coach than Spoelstra.
the most important part of questioning / talking to a ref is —WHAT THE PLAYERS SEE——-THAT YOU HAVE THEIR BACK——YOU WILL TAKE A STAND FOR THEM——-the players need to see this from their coach—-it will generate a more cohesive group and will get more motivated / positive play from the players——MIKE BROWN MAKE A STAND FOR YOURSELF—YOUR PLAYERS—-YOUR TEAM !!!
Thanks grover, thanks for feeling the need to explain how working the refs works. I’ve never seen a NBA game before, so I was unclear on that. Now I’m almost as smart as you, right? Brown was talking about actually throwing a challenge flag, not just letting the officials know he thinks they blew that one. And of course “Brown admitted there are times he’d love to have a red flag to throw to challenge a call” – so actually, yeah he would do it. And Brown works the refs plenty. You’re reading into a lot that isn’t there, and… Read more »
Actually not, Steve. Working the refs is a legitimate part of coaching. If you give a ref an earfull, they are more likely to call things your way the next time down the court. Refs aren’t robots; they’re human. They can succumb to influence, and they usually do. It’s not a coincidence that as the surviving teams get deeper into the post season, the coaches talk more and more about the officiating in between games at press confernces; they are trying to exert influence. There’s not a single coach I listed that hasn’t ran out onto the court to scream… Read more »
and the Mike Brown haters are really reaching for something today.
“….Brown wasn’t keen on the idea of challenging NBA officials.”
Reason #872 why Mike Brown is not a championship caliber coach.
Quick: think of a recent “championship coach”. Greg Popovich. Pat Riley. Doc Rivers. Chuck Daly. Erik Spolestra. Does anyone have any visions of these guys standing quietly on the sidelines with their hands in their pockets, not giving the officials an earful when they saw things they didn’t like?
Me neither.
I got nothing….
And so goes the long off season.