Mailing it In: Anger Management Edition
2014-04-14
No great and groundbreaking work from the C:tB staff this morning, though Tom Pestak might have something a little later today. Instead, we thought we’d give you an open forum. This season, more than any since the LeBrocalypse, has been frustrating. So what are you frustrated about? Kyrie Irving’s ability to put the brakes on competitiveness at a moment’s notice? The media? Mike Brown’s defensive schemes, and lack of — you know — plays? Andy’s Mustache? Spencer Hawes’ facial hair homage to Hugh Jackman? Our lack of Charge coverage? The 99.9% Sergey free 2014? Tristan’s stunted development? The haphazard way this team completely changed four times in a season?
Let it all out. We all need catharsis, and we want to know. We’d change the font to Comic Sans if we could. Conversely, if you’re one of those annoying, “positive,” glass-half-full people who doesn’t enjoy a good b***h fest, tell us what you’re looking forward to in the off-season, the summer, and next fall, so we can laugh at you. (I kid. We probably won’t laugh — just snarl begrudgingly — jealous of your ability to keep perspective.)
Steve, my point was that saying there’s “no debate” on the issue is silly. There’s plenty of debate. And, of course, many people are naive,but that doesn’t make them “wrong” or you “right.” Your hubris doesn’t trump their naivete and your opinions aren’t universal.
I hate the fact that we drafted the first player in NBA history to peak both mentally and physically at 22. Damn Grant.
I’m sorry Nate, but the idea that because something is legal means it’s not a plight on society is one of the most naive things I could think of.
Unfortunately for your point and many, many people, the legality of many things are not tied to how much a plight they are on our society.
And of course, both are regulated by the government to ensure that they aren’t widespread anyway. The government doesn’t want anyone to be able to dabble in those fields, just a privileged few.
Oh, there’s certainly plenty of debate… obviously, your opinion is the minority one, since both these things are legal…
Probably because there is no debate about the role that predatory sub-prime loans and gambling play upon our society.
Steve, we don’t need to get into a Marxist/capitalist debate here…
If we are drafting around te 10 spot I really hope we get Stauskas. Dude has a chance to be great. I don’t know what defensive stalwarts (Wille Cauley Stein) that all be there at 10 which the team needs.
“Meh, Michael. Predatory, certainly, at times, but subprime, not necessarily. Quicken avoided the worst of the subprime mess, and while not sterling, is not the worst either. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mortgage-mess-why-quicken-loans-may-not-be-as-squeaky-clean-as-it-claims/”
“Not the worst!” A Cavalier rallying cry.
“As for the gambling, he’s a business man. I’m of the opinion that I’d rather people be gambling in Ohio than Michigan or West Virginia… ”
This is pretty nonresponsive to the point at hand. Taking advantage of the less wealthy, less educated, and most desperate as a sign that you know how to run a business?
I hate that our players’ injury status is a mystery every night. Like where is CJ Miles!? I hate that Mike Brown can’t design one God damn inbound play. I hate that our alleged star player doesn’t realize that if he actually tries consistently on the court, then the media will have less questions. I also hate how Irving can’t handle the media. Grow up!! As JHill said, I hate how mike brown seems like he has to play his starters, especially Irving. I hate how this team shoots so many shots 2 feet inside the 3 point line. SO… Read more »
Terry Pluto’s concluding thoughts on the season. I must say that I agree with most of it . . . particularly the Kemba Walker part:
http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2014/04/as_cleveland_cavaliers_season.html#incart_river#incart_river
I don’t think that Mike Brown is a terrible coach, but this team doesn’t really fit his strengths and vice versa.
I hope with next season comes the ability of an executive in this organization to not overvalue some of these players. Kyrie is not a winner. This is year 3, and his statistical profile is closer to that of Steve Francis/Stephon Marbury/Devin Harris than it is to anyone else. Had the Cavaliers been smart enough to be patient, they could’ve had their own pick top-10 pick, probably somewhere 4-7, trade Kyrie for a top 1-3 and end up with some combination of Wiggins/Parker/Gordon/Randle to play with Dion and TT (another player the Cavs shouldn’t be afraid to trade, though he’s… Read more »
I thought this was a basketball website.
Meh, Michael. Predatory, certainly, at times, but subprime, not necessarily. Quicken avoided the worst of the subprime mess, and while not sterling, is not the worst either. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mortgage-mess-why-quicken-loans-may-not-be-as-squeaky-clean-as-it-claims/
As for the gambling, he’s a business man. I’m of the opinion that I’d rather people be gambling in Ohio than Michigan or West Virginia… To the assertion that he doesn’t know how to manage professional relationships, I say, “pshaw.”
Amen, Michael, amen. I get that Cavs fans love his grandiose, though completely empty, proclamations, but the dude is a sleazeball through and through.
@Nate – Gilbert made his fortune off of predatory, subprime home loans; and now he’s cashing in on an interstate gambling business, under the guise of “revitalizing” Cleveland. He’s one of the worst owners in the NBA.
“No wonder Kyrie wants to get out of Cleveland, it took less than 3 years for the fans to turn on him.”
Don’t lose 50 games a year, and the fans will have a hard time turning on you.
“The man is not a billionaire for nothing”
He does seem to be pretty good at scamming the lower classes.
The thought that Dan Gilbert “is totally clueless on how to choose GMs and manage professional relationships,” is laughable. The man is not a billionaire for nothing. But I appreciate the need to vent. Do I like the Mike Brown hire? No, but agreeing with Underdog, I don’t think Brown is going anywhere right away. The way this team finished the season will probably lead to Dan bringing in someone to be the new “face of the organization…” George Karl, Doug Collins, Donnie Walsh… someone of that gravitas. Otherwise, I think Gilbert will go young. Michael Zarren from Boston, Eli… Read more »
Comments on what was already stated:
It’s okay that KI can’t carry this team by himself but he shouldn’t sulk on the court. It’s not a good trait of the leader of the team. The stars of this league don’t do that though.
It’s year one of Mike Brown. He made some adjustments over the years of his last run with the Cavs. Let’s hope he does the same this time. The Cavs seem to have a bunch of ‘name” asst coaches. What are these guys doing?
That is a cute baby, We could have won more games with him than our current papa’s baby as leader. K I thinks the grass is greener on other side, then we should trade him no matter what, you can’t win with this type of distractions. We already had a moma’s baby who made us look like we don’t belong by going on national TV and announce his almighty departure. The good thing is that KI is papa’s boy , I think we are kind of lucky there! What would happend if he was another mama’s boy. Look we need… Read more »
Everyone bashes Kyrie as if he’s the main problem with the Cavs. There are so many holes on this team and its always easy to bash the best player who has supposedly has the attitude problem. Dion is the hero, Kyrie is the heel. It is hilarious, Dion is probably the most selfish player I have ever seen and the Cavs fans like him because he’s the anti-Kyrie, not because he actually can carry a team. The problem starts with Dan Gilbert, who is totally clueless on how to choose GMs and manage professional relationships. Picking Mike Brown was a… Read more »
MB is not a terrible coach, he is a so – so coach. It makes no sense to replace him unless you have someone much better. The problem is figuring out who that might be. One move that cannot go wrong is hiring George Karl as the guru. I would trust him to figure out who the coach should be, and what players to keep. KI is a big mystery. With the right coach and team, he might still become a superstar, but it is by no means a sure thing. Hope he has a monster last game. For one… Read more »
I love that we were so good on some nights and hate that we were so bad on others. I hated the loss to the Lakers and Sacramento Kings . . . and then Milwaukee and Boston – just when we began to feel good about the team. All season I kept telling myself that the NBA has turned into a league of blowouts where even the best teams lose by 20 points on occasion . . . that even real good teams win two then lose one (a winning percentage of 67%). I love that a Kyrie and Dion… Read more »
I would actually respect Kyrie more if he took a dump at mid-court.
All eyes are gonna be on Kyrie for fan appreciation night. Does he just go to the locker room and not come out again? Does he tear his jersey off like Lebron at the end of the Boston series? Does he take a shit on the Cavs logo at mid court?
allstar weekend was memorable…The Dion v Hardaway Jr Show and Kyrie winning MVP….I thought it would lead to good things going into the 2nd half of the season….i was wrong.
I hate our coach. I don’t think he is right for the team. I hate that everytime I see JHill post I think of Jemele Hill posting and I get aggravated and want to disagree because I can’t stand her. (No offense JHill … Jemele though? A lot of offense) I hate that te media just wants te Cavs to continually fall apart. They want Rie to leave us high and dry like Bron did. I hate that we weren’t good enough to make the playoffs of the Hawks or Bobcats. Loves, I love how Dion plays. Dudes got that… Read more »
I hate Luol Deng losing the ball in traffic several times per game as though he has some sort of neurological disorder.
Statistically this team is much better than last season. I’m bothered that I can’t determine if this is because of Mike Brown or despite of him. I was frustrated with many of Byron Scott’s line-ups/coaching decisions (offensive coach) and now I’m complaining about Mike Brown not being able to coach an offense and I have very similar complaints about his line-ups/coachind decisions. Althought the team seems to flow better with Dion than Kyrie, by no means do I think we are better off with Dion and no Kyrie. At the end of the day they have to learn to play… Read more »
“He can’t adjust properly. His substitutions.” Yawn. Vague accusations that mean nothing to me. Every poor five minute stretch of basketball is subsequently blamed on his lineups. Then when the next lineup plays like garbage too, well, it’s still Brown’s fault. There was no magic tough with this team that was going to get them to play like we hoped and dreamed they would. Not with Irving playing like he did so many nights. “Brown can’t coach young players or at least I’ve never seen him coach up a rookie.” And how many truly talented rookies was he supposed to… Read more »
Good call Bo! I’m getting tired of Dan Gilbert and I do think he meddles too much. He needs to turn over the team to a basketball guy then hide in a cave into they’re relevant again.
Totally agree with Bo.
Particularly: “This league is full of hands-on owners and it almost never goes well…”
Mike Brown takes so much heat because we know him. We know his shortcomings and his strengths and I gotta say, his shortcomings greatly outweigh anything he brings to the table. He can’t adjust properly. His substitutions. His inbound plays. Maybe there is no other coach who can do better with this team. Maybe it is completely because of the players and not Phil or Pat or Doc or Red or Tom or Pop could’ve gotten this team to the playoffs but we KNOW Grimace can’t and didn’t. But we didn’t even look to see if there was a Hornacek… Read more »
I hate that Mike Brown takes so much heat for not being able to spin straw into gold, as if we suddenly got a new coach, things would be righted. Phil Jackson isn’t walking through that door, and even if he was, he wasn’t going to turn Irving into the player the Cavs needed him to be in one season.
I think the thing that bothered me most about this year was the re-hiring of MB with no semblance of a coaching search; it was borderline unforgivable. We’ll never find out, but I wonder who was responsible for that hire. Hopefully it was CG pushing really hard for an old friend because if Gilbert played any substantial role, we have problems. No one questions Gilbert’s desire to win, but he NEEDS to turn this team over to a basketball guy (a la, gulp, Arison in Miami). This league is full of hands-on owners and it almost never goes well…
Worst things on the season: Andy’s mustache Kyrie Brian Windhorst The Atlanta Hawks Tristan Best things: Anthony Bennett, Delly, Zelly, Andy, and Spency (you’ll disagree on the first one, ask me later) Z More wins How to improve: Move Austin Carr to assistant coach/film person. He would be good at getting the players to fix their issues by having the incentive of just having good comments/shutting up if they actually play well. His nagging that he can’t really do anything about (fixing defense, everything with Tristan) is getting on my nerves. I would also welcome trading Kyrie/a package involving Kyrie… Read more »
Nomad, I’ve seen people on other websites call him that so I can’t take credit but I like it too.
And look at Jason throwing the hammer down to get rid of Austin Carr!
I’m so sick of Austin Carr. For the love of all that’s holy, can we get a decent color commentator in there who actually adds value?
Things I hated about this season: – Dion and JJ jacking up 20 foot jumpers with 18 seconds on the shot clock. – Brian Windhorst – The effort of everyone not named Delly and Spencer – Luol Deng and TT getting blocked 12 times per game. – Ugh…Brian Windhorst again. – Tyler Zeller getting called for traveling…constantly! – Losing SIIIIIMMMMMMMMMS Things I loved about this season: – SPENCER HAWES BEING HAWESOME – Delly treys – Delly, in general – The game inside the game of Hawes versus the officials – Fred & AC, cuz duh. – Z getting his uni… Read more »
RC —-I am still laughing at the nickname ” GRIMMACE “—-it is so appropriate
Im Pissed at the lack of competitive sprit that Kyrie Iriving shows like he has no fight in him whatsoever i never seen anybody like him. He has no in between to his game he’s either trying to Hard or Not trying at all. I do not see him as a leader. I need my lead guard to be fearless somebody that will fight and stand up to anybody. Kyrie just isn’t that guy. Nobody following that guy into battle nobody! #TEAMDION and as far as Overall potential I think he will end up being a better player
4 words…What’s Not To Like?…get your bow ties out, gentlemen.
Put it this way, back during Brown’s first run with the team, take Lebron out of the equation like we never had him back then and just put in a regular all-star type player in his place. We know those teams ain’t getting 60 wins, those teams wouldn’t be taking Boston to game 7, definitely not beating Detroit because who else was gonna get 28 points in a row (or whatever it was) in the 4th and OT to will the team to victory. But do those teams even make the playoffs as a better than 5 o 6 seed?… Read more »
This team ain’t pulling no turnaround next year with Mike Brown at the helm. No matter who our players are, no matter if we keep Kyrie or trade him.
Dude was a good coach with Lebron but lets face it, Lebron got 75-80% of the wins thru his sheer talents and abilities.
He inspires zero confidence going forward. Nice guy he may be, NBA head coach he sure is not.
the only positive ( and I catch myself when I say positive ) is the lack of play by all of our draft picks ( Bennett/ karasev/ felix ) ) due to mike browns conventional wisdom—-it will be like having 5 picks this coming year—hopefully 2 or 3 are ready to help
I glad this is a rant post. I don’t want to be reasonable. Biggest disappointment: Brown not holding Kyrie’s feet to the fire. He did wonders to improve Dion by making him accountable but it was Hands Off for the Diva. How many times have we heard Brown’s biggest complaint on the ball sticking? So much he was literally counting the seconds Kyrie had the ball. Kyrie defied him time and time again with absolutely no incentive to change. Kyrie’s shooting percentage and ppg have regressed. Assist and rebounds are about the same. I wish Brown would have the stones… Read more »
jhill —-I nominate you as my ” spokesperson ” job well done—said everything I wanted to say—-feel a hell of a lot better now—-GO CAVS
I don’t remember a season where the team “quit” in so many games. New York, San Antonio, Sacramento, the Lakers, the Bucks… I don’t remember a season where the team made so many awful moves in the offseason: Letting Livingston and Ellington walk, Anthony Bennett, A grossly abbreviated coaching search, Earl Clark, Bynum, Anthony Bennett — and then tried to make up for them by trading future picks for rental players…
I’m optimistic, though, because the Cavs still have Nick Gilbert.
This was the worst of 44 years of following my team. Coach Brown has not brought the team together. He recognized Delly’s talent but we never knew what to expect from any of the starters most games. We should have traded for Chicago’s coach instead of Deng even if it required another first round pick.
I hate the inconsistency. I hate the disappearing acts on defense. I hate the lack of focus, will, fire, passion, etc. from Kyrie, aka Team Leader Irving. I can’t stand how long it took the Cavs organization to discover it needed to change direction as a franchise, hire a new coach and GM, and still have the same problems with the team as the past 3 years… I do love JHill’s disdain for the Cavs’ fear of benching starters who don’t show full effort. But most of all I hate that a Cavs team with arguably one of the top… Read more »
I personally have some perspective. Going from 24 wins to 40+ was always a long shot, regardless of our biased optimism. We improved by a few wins. And now we should know that Kyrie isn’t a max player and can adjust our plans accordingly. It is certainly a set-back, but I’d rather know now than after we give him $20 mill a year for 5 years. I say we trade this incredibly talented yet unreliable player who proclaims himself the team’s leader and then goes and does everything you don’t want to see a leader do (quit when it gets… Read more »
I hate how Jhill beat me to everything I was going to bitch about.
This was the season where I told everyone the Cavs had a chance at the fifth seed and then a chance to upset if they played the ancient Brooklyn Nets in the first round. Or we’d get the eighth seed, Bynum would be dominant, and we could trouble the Heat to a six game series. Little did I know on paper, or on 2k14 means nothing to how a team plays. I don’t think Chris Grant did either. So, where are we? Last year the Wizards finished the second half of the season at 19-22. The Cavs are going to… Read more »
I don’t like that when our starters don’t show full effort they still get to start the next game. You know if Tony Parker gave some of the same kinds of performances Irving has this year he would ride pine for a game or two. And if you have to punish them all you do it, Deng, Varejao and Jack have been around long enough to know what the coach was doing and they wouldn’t get pissed if he did it to send a message. Why are our coaches consistently afraid of their own players? How does Bret Brielmaier manage… Read more »
I hate how our team was significantly better this season and it shows in pretty much all the stats. Especially considering he completely lost our locker room at points the goof Mike Brown led to improvements.
I hate how I think Chris Grant is an evil genius who purposely signed Andrew Bynum knowing he would sink our ship before it really got going because Dan Gilbert wanted to win and Chris knew we still weren’t good enough and had to fake trying to get better even though he was secretly going for just one more draft pick.
I can’t stand that our team can’t execute a mid game inbounds play. Like it’s the most difficult play in the damn world. I really hated how much TT struggled down the stretch, I think Mike Brown killed his confidence in the little mid-ranger he was trying to work on and I feel as if we might as well just trade him if we are keeping Mike Brown. Mike Brown has ALWAYS stunted the offensive growth of our bigs. Did anyone even think Varejao was capable of putting up 20 points in a game before Mike Brown left? No exactly… Read more »
*nods* Mmm. Hmm…
I’m pissed because our coach refuses to play the players that help us win. The combo of Delly, Dion. Just because Irving is there, he doesn’t lead to us getting wins consistently. When Dion has the ball do you guys ever notice that our veterans cut more because they know that if they get open Dion will actually pass the ball. It’s as if Kyrie can’t pass unless it’s the way the play is designed. Which I think is flat out stupid. I don’t like the “when we get down by 5 points in the fourth both Dion and Kyrie… Read more »