Links to the Present: Stuff To Get Edition
2014-05-07
There are lots of things the Cavaliers need. The team needs an MVP, Shaun Livingston, maybe Mark Jackson, chemistry, and definitely a center. We will start with the MVP.
Yesterday, Kevin Durant accepted his first MVP award. He beat LeBron James decisively by grabbing 119 out of 125 first place ballot votes. Durant averaged career highs of 32 points and 5.5 assists throughout this regular season, and he might have averaged the most feel good comments per minute of any press conference I have ever seen. Ben Golliver of The Point Forward has the press conference video and pulled some of the best quotes out if you don’t want to watch the whole thing.
[Durant] On his mother: “One my best memories I have is when we moved into our first apartment. No bed, no furniture, we all just sat in the living room and just hugged each other. We thought we made it. … You wake me up in the middle of the night in the summertime, making me run up a hill, making me do push-ups. Screaming at me from the sidelines of my games at eight or nine years old … When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.”
I love moments in the NBA that make me think outside of just basketball.
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Zach Lowe of Grantland has his preview up of the Brooklyn and Miami series as well as the Spurs and Blazers series. Who knew a year ago Shaun Livingston would be playing on a team that has a chance to beat Miami in the playoffs? Livingston has come back to his old form and is playing very well.
Livingston emerged as the team’s preferred option on LeBron, though Johnson will spend a lot of time on James. Livingston’s defense is even more valuable in this series than it was against Toronto, and he’ll likely move back into the starting lineup over Anderson.
Although the Nets lost last night, Livingston did move into the starting lineup again and played 32 minutes. That’s three more than Deron Williams. Livingston is a free agent after this season, and I would love it if the Cavs made an offer to him. He’s a great defensive talker and could be a stable veteran presence for the team.
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Mark Jackson was fired for reasons that have nothing to do with basketball, since the Warriors have been playing some of their best ball under his tenure. The players were still on his side.
“Over the last three years, coach Jackson has challenged me as a player and person,” Curry said in a statement. “His experience and guidance has helped each of us grow in this league… Can’t thank him enough for all he did for me. I wish him all the best as he transitions to the next chapter.”
The Warriors, a team once known for their terrible defense, have become a very efficient defensive team ranking tenth in points allowed per game for this season. The Cavs could use a coach that is ready to guide young players and give inspirational speeches, as Jackson is known to do.
Marcus Thompson of the San Jose Mercury News said Jackson is staying positive.
“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish,” Jackson said. “A lot of people had a lot to do with it. It’s a great opportunity. I wish them nothing but the best. The record will speak for itself. These players and the organization, it’s a different place than when I got here. I’m proud of that.”
Could Mark Jackson be saying that about the Cavs organization some day?
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Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer wrote about John Wall and Bradley Beal’s success. The big take away from the article is that these two guys know their roles and want to win. That sounds simple, but after seeing Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving play together, it is anything but simple. Randy Wittman, the Washington coach, knows this too.
“If a guy’s not willing to accept a guy to be his equal or close to his equal, it isn’t going to work. I don’t care who you’re talking about. If you don’t ever accept that you need anybody else with you and you’re losing because of that, that’s going to be hard.”
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The center position is the center of attention again for the Cavs. Hiroki Witt of Right Down Euclid thinks that Tyler Zeller just needs more playing time in order to achieve. And if that can’t happen or the team has given up on Zeller, maybe the team can draft a center. Mike Mayer at Fear the Sword has a list of center prospects up. I’m partial to Mitch McGary and so is he.
He’s a traditional center with a solid post game, and he played his best basketball when he had a really talented point guard (Trey Burke) creating easy looks for him around the basket
Now, the next thing to be figured out is how similar Trey Burke and Kyrie Irving are.
“the guys played hard for brown all year”
Are you kidding me?
You can say “yeah, but we missed it in the east” but the weakness of the eastern conference was surely taken into account when setting that goal, as I don’t think too many cavs fans or front office people thought we would come near making it in the west.
Nate, Hyperbole man. It was an underwhelming and dissapointing season, but missing out on your goal by 5 games and being in the thick of it in the last 2 weeks of the season isn’t a flaming dumpster of a season.
Dion found out he has a 3 pointer in his arsenal, the guys played hard for brown all year and improved significantly on D, Bennett started flashing some of his UNLV talent in the latter half of the year, and we’re still the 2nd youngest team in the league. Not really a flaming dumpster.
Successful people and organizations judge success or failure by setting goals and then measuring the achievement of those goals. Right or wrong, the Cavs goal was to make the playoffs, and they failed to acheive that goal. The Kings never had that goal, so their expectations are much lower. In addition, let’s review some of the things that made this season a train wreck. The worst rookie season by a No. 1 overall pick since the 1950s. AB, I believe, is the first NBA player to be drafted No. 1 and receive no votes for rookie of the year (who… Read more »
Kj, I find myself agreeing with you again. People forget that Wall has one more year of experience than Kyrie. I expect a substantial leap next year from Kyrie. Also, I can’t be the only one who thinks Dion could easily have a “breakout” in next year’s playoffs the way Beal is right now. I think Zach Lowe is in love with his jumper but the national audience doesn’t realize how talented he is. And to anyone that read Amico’s chat today, I thought he was way too critical of the Cavs season. I thought they would win maybe 38… Read more »
Hot Sauce,
Perhaps. However, unlike Barnes, Beal put together a pretty good overall second season (17 ppg/ 42% FG/ .40% 3pt). Beal also has one of the prettiest jumpers in the game. I see him and Dion as far superior to Barnes. But who knows….
I fear Bradley Beal’s playoff “breakout” is similar to Harrison Barnes’ last year – he got hot over a small sample of games and people are over interpreting it because its on national television and there are limited story lines to analyze.
I like Beal, but, outside of 3’s, he has struggled to score so far in his career.
Nate thought Sac “improved” while he thinks the Cavs had a dismal season. #forest4thetrees
Seriously, dude. ;)
I guess if you can squint, you can find this year’s 28 win version more appealing than last year’s 28 win version. And of course, the Maloofs being gone really isn’t a point in favor of Malone. Nor is that Cousins seems to have maybe gotten his act together, and the Kings still couldn’t scratch out one more win than the year before. And I’d say “poised to keep building” can be twisted to fit any crappy team that is about to pick in this year’s lottery.
Steve: I thought Sacramento improved. It wasn’t a steaming pile that it had been the year before. They still have giant holes on their roster, but the Maloofs are gone, DeMarcus Cousins has dropped a notch on the crazy scale, and they’re poised to keep building.
Indeed, KJ. Hope to see Kyrie make a similar leap like Wall did this year. Definitely possible. Beal is also stepping his game up:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/10894902/examining-bradley-beal-postseason-breakout-2014-nba-playoffs
I look forward to some nice battles between Kyrie/Dion and Wall/Beal.
I have hopes tha Kyrie follows the Wall route. Wall took a ton of criticism about him not being a max-type player but he signed his deal and went out and be and a real point guard. Look, I must have said this a dozen times last season but Kyrie has to be the one to buy in to this. He is the only one. Has nothing to do with Dion or Mike Brown (despite what Amivo foolishly believes). If Kyrie makes an effort to lead this team in the floor as a PG, then this team takes a Wash-like… Read more »
Also, yes please on McGary in round 2. Who knows if that back will ever heal up, but that’s the kind of risk you have to take in round 2.
Mike Malone may have gotten a lot of credit for the GS turnaround, but the utter lack of improvement in Sacramento and the Warriors defense taking a big step forward without him suggests that the credit may be misplaced.
Agreed on Mark Jackson. There was all sorts of talk last summer about how Brendan Malone was the real architect of the GS turnaround and how Mark Jackson is a prima dona. I don’t always love Mike Brown, but I don’t ever worry about him embarrassing the city and the franchise. The lame thing about this is that GS is now the most coveted coaching destination in the league.
Livingston is playing very well, and I would love to have him. Livingston’s only got a few years left. I’m sure he’s looking for guaranteed playing time. So, whose minutes does he get? Irving, Waiters, Miles, and Delly should get minutes. I would love to see him replace Jack’s minutes, but seems unlikely the Cavs can find him a new home. Will Karasev enter the mix next year? That would be nice to see. Adding Livingston would typically be a good problem to have, but I think this team needs consistency and solutions. But, that’s debatable. Also, let’s be clear… Read more »
Shut up about mark jackson. He wasn’t willing to move from LA to SF/Oakland area, he certainly isn’t coming to Cleveland. He got fired for good reasons, when you are a constant pain in the ass for everyone you work for and your teams playoff runs regress, you aren’t going to keep your job. Not saying he’s a bad coach, but he isn’t an option for Cleveland with Dan Gilbert and a 2000 mile gap between here LA.