Summer League Recap: Cleveland 82, San Antonio 70 (or I’m your Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Bomb)
2014-07-14
The Cavaliers summertime instructional team raced out to a quick lead over the San Antonio Spurs, building leads of 25-11 after one and 41-23 at the half before fending of a Spurs second-half run to notch an 82-70 victory in Las Vegas, Sunday afternoon. In what will, no doubt, come to be known as the “Crystal Ball Game” sometime around next June when the Cavs’ varsity unit puts a similar smacking on the Spurs’ A-team to win the 2015 NBA Finals and… and…
[experiences shortness of breath … light-headedness … reminds self of “marathon, not sprint”… counts to 10… okay, I’m back]
The Cavs Summer League team looked pretty impressive in upping their record to 2-0 in the Sunbaked Classic.
Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett each scored 13 points, Matthew Dellavedova had a team-high seven assists and Will Cherry scored 14 consecutive points in the fourth quarter for the Cavs when the Spurs were starting to threaten. Cherry finished with 21 to lead the team.
The Spurs were led by Ohio State product DeShawn Thomas’s 21 points and 5 rebounds.
•Summer League can be a bit of a Funhouse mirror sometimes; whatever you’re looking at is almost always distorted in some way relative to the NBA. There have been true star turns at Summer League who have never really shined as bright in a regular season game. How good a team is in the regular season usually equates to how recognizable (or un) a Summer League roster is from a regular season one. Assistant coaches handle the head duties and the majority of the players, veritable basketball perfect strangers, have only practiced together a handful of times.
The Cavs might be the exception to this rule. Take, for instance, Bennett’s performance: 13 points on an efficient 5-8 shooting, only three shots from deep (one make) and a game high, arguably game changing 14 rebounds. Bennett scored early, seemed to disappear for much of the middle only to come back with a coffin-nailing emphatic jam in the game’s final minute. So, while many would expect a former number one pick in need of a redemptive narrative to come out firing (as he did and did and did Friday night), Bennett played essentially how Cavs fans might hope to see him play this season. He played within the offense and let the game – and the rebounds – come to him. Bennett’s strengths are obvious. He has a nice touch, especially on midrange shots, has arms like a crane’s boom and even slipped a couple nice passes into his stat line. His ball handling and court awareness are going to be a work in progress (as many will wonder how he can rebound so well yet always seem to be floating beyond the three-point line on offense) but Bennett is showing real skills and the ability to respond to coaching (hence, the fewer heaves from deep) thus far. All good signs early in the summer.
•Wiggins also scored 13, but shot only 3-11 from the field (1-3 from three). Like Bennett, he faded in and out of discernability on the court, going long stretches without making his presence known, but his defensive mindset was on full display. In the third quarter he missed a jumper and immediately hustled to steal the ball back off the rebound and draw a foul. He also stretched out for a nifty left-handed block of fellow rookie Kyle Anderson’s driving layup. Wiggins also showed a capacity for in-game adjustments as, when it was clear that his outside shot had stopped falling, he clearly made a point of driving to the basket. One of Number 21’s weaknesses coming out of Kansas, though, was his inability to finish strong at the basket and that was (unfortunately) also on display on Sunday. Still, he was able to use his drive to get to the line where he went 6-8. He also registered half of the team’s four total blocks.
•Dellavedova continues to look… well, like a guy who played a bunch of meaningful minutes in the NBA last season. Delly just always seems to be in the right place, ready to make the right pass or (well, you wouldn’t know it from this game where he took only three shots, making one) taking the right shot. He seems to be about a step and a half ahead of nearly everyone else on the court which, again, is what you’d expect from a guy who spent last season fashioning himself into an NBA rotation player. I can not stress this enough: last year, I thought Dellavedova was nearly invisible on the court in Vegas. This year, I can’t stop watching him.
•It’s been really fun to watch the team play David Blatt ball and, by in large, this is the main reason why you will have somewhat underwhelming scoring games by the guys you would expect to be the focal points of the offense. The ball just keeps moving which, even on the Summer League level, is such a welcome change from the general ball-domination of the Cavs primary handlers the last couple of seasons. It’s also the reason the team’s ignorable centers, Jack Cooley (15/5) and Alex Kirk (6/2) wound up with easy looks (if not always sure-fire conversions) at the rim. Everyone on the Cavs already seemed to embrace making the extra pass and when the team was really clicking in the first half it was beautiful to watch, even if done mostly by players who will be playing in Europe come the fall.
Again, there is so little to trust in trying to equate Summer League ball with the regular season variety, but this team is showing flashes of the offensive flow and defensive aggressiveness that Cavs fans were told would be the hallmarks of a David Blatt team. The coach’s blue jeans-and-polo shirt look don’t hurt either.
•But along came the fourth quarter, here came the Spurs, and there went Cherry to run away with game honors. Looking like a 6-1 (if you believe the listing) Nate Robinson, Cherry seemed like he was in attack mode every time he touched the ball. Early on, it was bad attack mode, but once his shot started falling, the bullet-quick guard from Montana put the whole team on his back and showed them the way home. Cherry was hitting from inside and out, in transition and in the half-court. His sudden flamability is likely also the reason that Bennett and Wiggins were not bigger factors down the stretch. The team rode the hot hand and that hand was Number 53’s.
Carrick Felix rebounded from an invisible first game and had a nice box of seven points on 3-5 shooting with four boards, three assists and a steal. The second-year swingman from Arizona State still didn’t look completely comfortable, but he was able to show off some of the all-aroundness that made him a second round pick in 2013.
2014 second rounder, Joe Harris, looked fine in his debut. The 6-6 guard from Virginia scored just four points in 21 minutes, but showed great awareness on defense by, twice in the second half, keeping his arms straight up-and-down while still back pedaling and causing his man to miss a bunny at the rim.
Now, in honor of Cherry’s game, folks, please enjoy you some Runaways…
Wiggins isn’t ready to start. That’s fine everyone is missing the point of how fun a Delly Wiggins bench backcourt can be to watch. It’s potentially defensively devastating against other teams role players. Just two insane dudes running around. Them two will both draw a tech each per game I’d bet. Add Felix in and a three man small ball bench lineup with three insane little guys just running all over could be awesome. We don’t need Love, next season I’m pretty sure Deandre Jordan is an unrestricted FA. THAT would be awesome.
IF Dion keeps putting in effort on D, I’d love to see Delly, Dion, Wiggins playing together…
Deandre Jordan would be a terrible fit offensively, he can’t shoot AT ALL. We need floor spacing from a big as well as shot blocking and rebounding. Its going to be tough to find someone who can do all that but that would be exactly what we need.
Recap from the Cavalier Summer League: – Bennett seems to be playing in full blossom now that his health and body is in sync. Although I do not see him being a upper echelon starter in the NBA in the next three to four years – his rebounding skills and outside shooting touch should allow him to play heavy minutes in whatever rotation Blatt needs. For those who may or may not know – Blatt is a heavy passing and back-door cutting tactician. With LeBron and Kyrie handling the ball – expect Tristan, Anthony and Anderson using the picks to… Read more »
Thoughtful post, but not sure I agree that Miami and Chicago are favs.
Miami won 54 gams with LeBron and wasn’t able to finish first. With Rose, shouldn’t we have a “wait and see” approach?
For the Cavs, we only won 33 games but also replacing Blatt for Brown and having zero Andrew Bynum games played has to bump our win totals up by at least 3-5 games? That’s before adding the 20+ wins LeBron (not to mention contributions for Wiggins or healthy Bennett) would add…we have to at least be among the favorites, right?
I figure we’re probably in line for 56 wins or so. Count on LeBron (with fewer minutes played than last year) for 13 over what we had last year at SF (crap, then Deng), and other contributions (coaching, Bennett, Wiggins, continued development of others) for 10 more. That’s probably a 2-3 seed, and a second round playoff berth at least. It’s hard to judge, though, because our coaching was really terrible last year and potentially very, very good this year, or the players could tune Blatt out. That seems really unlikely though. It definitely appears that at least the SL… Read more »
Be my Cherry pie would’ve been just as fitting for article title
One thing Tony needs to start doing: when he gets a guy on him in isolation, especially from 10-20 feet, instead of always trying to beat his defender with a dribble move, or an (ugh) step-back J, put his backside into the defender, get into the post, and score or make a play for someone else. That’s where Tony’s bread and butter is going to be. Get that man to the film room and put on some clips of Carlos Boozer, Zach Randolph, and Corliss Williamson.
Agreed. I’ve been annoyed that given his size and athleticism, he doesn’t really use it down low. For the time being, I’m chalking it up to youth, and will allow for that development to (hopefully) come over time.
Agreed, if he’s coming off the bench. If he gets put into the starting lineup, he’ll be needed as a stretch 4.
Right now, the starters look like this:
C Varejao
PF TT
SF LeBron
SG Waiters…possibly Wiggins
PG Kyrie
Who providing the floor spacing in this lineup? If they do pickup Miller, I guess LeBron moves to PF and Miller is at SF. Maybe then, you start Wiggins and you have some flexibility for hiding Miller on defense. Not sure if Ray Allen is a better solution or not.
Post all-star Dion was a 38% 3pt shooter, and his mechanics got better and better throughout the year. In April he hit nearly 47% of his threes; an unsustainable number, but I think we can count on him for at least 36%. Kyrie can hit 40% of his threes when he isn’t the focus of the offense all the time. LeBron can hit 37%+ from 3. Varejao is money from 18ft. The only guy who DOESN’T space the floor in that lineup is TT. I really, REALLY don’t understand this huge worry that we don’t have shooters. We do. And… Read more »
If they’re counting on guys to hit 36% of 3pt shots, there’s a problem. That’s at or below league average for qualified players, and won’t provide the spacing they need. One of the reasons Miami won in 2012-13 is Ray Allen and Chris Bosh shot over %40 on 3 pt shots in the playoffs. There’s a reason they’re pursuing Mike Miller. He shot %45 on 3’s.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not great, but the fact that any of these guys can be triple threat players has me excited. They CAN shoot the three effectively, and any of them can blow by someone and either get an easy layup or make the right pass. Dion, Kyrie, and LeBron on the same court making plays, especially with Wiggins and/or AB to finish, has me pretty excited.
Dion hit 41.7% last year on catch-and-shoot threes: a solid number. LeBron was one of the best players in the league at catch-and-shoot jumpers, where he shot 47.6% from the field, and 48.8% from three, for a whopping 65.5% eFG%. Also among the league’s best: Anthony Tolliver, a current Charlotte free agent. Sadly, Tyler was a very good catch-and-shoot center. Dion’s upward tick should help, but the Cavs will need a shooter, but it’s not the end of the world, if they don’t get an elite one. Also, Kevin Love’s catch-and-shoot numbers for the Timberwolves? Not earth-shattering. Love was decent… Read more »
Maybe he’s not that good of a post scorer. It’s not that easy to score from there. We could use it though. Andy, Thompson also suck at post scoring.
I was just thinking that that hack Scott Raab must be so mad that his meal ticket makes him look pretty bad with that stupid book.
just watched —THE RUNAWYAS —CHERRY BOMB —-like some of the cavs this ol man is out of breath/ breathing hard—-OUCH MY WIFE JUST SMACKED ME !—enjoyed the story/ music
I was also thinking the more appropriate song for Cherry Bomb is Spoon’s You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb.
My two cent review: – Cavs showed fantastic movement offensively and defensively out of the gate, which gave everyone on the floor good perimeter looks, which everyone was hitting in rhythm, getting the Cavs to a 20-4 lead out of the gate. – For the next 20 minutes, buyoed by their early success outside, the movement stopped, and the team went from using movement to generate good looks to standing on the perimeter, waiting for the ball and chucking it. But good defense kept the solid lead. – After Cherry took control in the fourth, it energized the team, the… Read more »
Bennett looks great
Wiggins looks better than advertised. His jumper looks nice and he’s super quick and able to make something out of nothing
Those are the key takeaways from the first couple of summer games. The rest of those guys aren’t going to be playing too many minutes.
andy understand your concern with dion/ Bennett attitude wise ——there will be no locker room issues this year LEBRON will guarantee that —he will police/ control it and if you don’t conform you will not have the good fortune of wearing a cavs uniform and playing with the best player on the planet—–is powelll going to play some summer games —want to see this kid play–
Powell played a couple of minutes. Made two turnovers got frustrated with himself and never came back in the game.
Nice writeup. But:
– The Spurs were led by Ohio State product, DeShawn Thomas’s, 21 points and 5 rebounds.
– He also stretched out for a nifty left-handed block of fellow rookie, Kyle Anderson’s, driving layup.
GET THOSE COMMAS OUTTA THERE!
Why dump the commas?
Austin Carr: “GET THAT WEAK GRAMMAR OUTTA HERE!”
Deshaun Thomas* if we want perfection
Yep, I had the comma gun on spray late last night. Good eye, @scott. They’ve been corrected.
In the little bit of interview I saw, Bennett seemed somewhat unsettled about the Lebron pickup – presumably because of what it means for him. I haven’t seen any interviews with Dion in the last few days, but I wonder about him as well. There was a great feeling around this team going into the new season, with the team having drafter a guy who fits with, and doesn’t displace, the rest of the core. Even the announcement of seeing Wiggins as a 2 and not a 3 didn’t change that, because with second unit and small lineups, Dion would… Read more »
“Even the announcement of seeing Wiggins as a 2 and not a 3 didn’t change that…”
The announcers did a halftime interview with David Griffin, and he backtracked on that a bit. The narrative changed to: “Well, we eventually see him as a tall 2, but in the short term, probably more of a 3 that can guard both positions.” Clearly, he caught the feedback on what that meant for Dion, and made some adjustments.
Is that really the truth? Time will tell.
Cherry certainly made himself some money from this outing. Europe is full of lightening quick, undersized American PGs who can go off. He absolutely forced some possessions leading to Delly demanding the ball from him, but it was a small example of how Blatt is willing to roll with a hot scorer down the stretch. Cherry was basically doing his Tyrese Rice impersonation. Anthony Bennett’s first season makes more and more sense as we watch this year’s Summer League performance. I have rarely seen a guy who is so reliant on being fresh and in shape. When he has energy,… Read more »
Nice recap. Bennett looks like a potential beast if his basketball IQ starts to catch up with his athleticism. He took a few bad shots early in the game, but he made them. Wiggins defensive motor is definitely exciting. His ball handling on the other hand, is frightening. His defender was salivating every time he put it on the floor. I agree on Joe Harris too, he looked decent. I was skeptical about that pick, but if he can give the Cavs a couple of solid minutes a half he’ll be useful. The Blatt + Lue combo seems like the… Read more »