Not a (Cavs Scrimmage) Recap: Wine 66, Gold 52

The Cavs are back. And, the Austin Carr who has an infectious smile is also back.  When I turned on the stream tonight, he was the first person I noticed, and he looked happier than he has in any of the past four seasons.  His exuberance is definitely because LeBron James is back with a new friend, Kevin Love.

The introductions for the scrimmage felt surreal.  The crowd went nuts for all of the Cavs returning talent; they screamed for Matthew Dellavedova, said Wild Thing in unison for Andy, and shook the Q for Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, and Kyrie Irving.

Then Love and LeBron were introduced, and I had flashbacks to fourth grade when I would watch wrestling pay-per-views.  The pay-per-views would cut out sound and sometimes even video during the wrestlers’ introductions because the crowd was too loud for the equipment to handle.  It felt like the live feed might cut out when LeBron sauntered out.  Instead, the feed just got super choppy because so many people were showing their excitement by tuning in online. I seriously wonder if more fans of other teams tuned into this one scrimmage than tuned in to all of the Cavs games last year.

The scrimmage was just three quarters and the Wine and Gold teams switched up players constantly.  Each quarter the score was reset and the players would come out like it was a new timed pick-up game.

Andy had 12 points and LeBron had 13 points.  Kyrie had ten points to go with six assists while Love finished with nine points and six rebounds.  James Jones made three threes. Mike Miller made a 37 foot shot as the shot clock was winding down.

Thoughts:

1.  Tristan got to run with the first team at the center spot.  I wonder if he will start there this season. I’m hopeful he does because this game was a Tale Of Two Tristans. When Tristan was on the floor with the starters, he got rebounds, looked strong, had a put-back dunk, and finished little give offs near the rim .  He even blocked Alex Kirk once if I’m remembering right.  His decisions were quick when he had the ball and good stuff happened. When Tristan was on the second team, he was catching the ball a lot near the elbow and trying to make things happen.  He bricked shots and looked like the Tristan that got blocked a lot last year.

2. Andy looked right on the second team.  When he caught the ball, he made the right pass or shot, which the kept the ball moving beautifully. Andy made the second team offense move like the first team offense did whenever he was on the floor.  He was also sprinting to the hoop after he set a pick, which is always nice to see.  Andy ran around like a maniac, so he must be healthy again.

3. The first team offense was Spursian when it was moving the ball.  Each pass and every movement was precise.  Kyrie dribbled the ball less than he ever has while wearing a Cavs uniform; the ball moved more by air than by dribble.  There were open shots everywhere and nobody had to force anything.

4.  Transition basketball is awesome.  Everyone knows that.  Now Cavs fans get to see it on a nightly basis in a little less than a month.  Kevin Love makes almost one out of every three rebounds/inbounds into a fast break. Kyrie, Dion, and LeBron all benefitted from his full-court passes by getting easy points.  Love will get this team ten points a night from passing to a man sprinting down court wide open.

5.  This play goes down as the first time I jumped up and screamed “Cavs” this year.  My girlfriend and neighbors are going to get very annoyed during this season, as I know this play is just the first of many great ones.

6. Dion ran the floor and played decent enough.  He made an open three and took a dumb pull-up shot.  He also hit LeBron with a nice pass for an open shot in the first quarter.  Dion needs to focus on his defense and just running the floor if he wants to be with the first unit.  If he wants to take reckless shots and dribble more, he needs to be on the second unit.  I love Dion, he’s actually my favorite Cav, but I don’t want him to clog up a beautiful offense.

7.  Why was James Jones wearing pants during the scrimmage?

He shot 3-3 from the three point line, and he even chased his guy around on the defensive end.  He might be able to play a few minutes a game with LeBron on the floor.  He knows how to make his open shots.

8.  Mike Miller looked spry running up and down the floor with the second team.  He made 3-5 threes during the first two quarters and played off of Andy nicely.

9.  Kyrie anticipated a few of the picks set on him and fought around them or just avoided them altogether to slow his man down.  This is promising considering this was a scrimmage and players weren’t looking to shut anyone down.

10.  Lou Amundson shouldn’t be playing for the Cavs. His hands are most likely made of adamantium. It seemed every tip-in he tried was too strong and rebounds bounced off his hands.

11. Brendan Haywood can’t defend crafty centers.  Varejao carved Haywood up in one-on-one post up situations. Haywood is clearly still trying to get his basketball body back.

12.  Alex Kirk is big.  He will get in people’s way and he showed some ability to come out on guys.  Whenever Thompson had the ball away from the basket, Kirk ran up to him and started poking at the ball.  I couldn’t tell if this was because Kirk is a pesky defender or if it’s because he was dealing with Thompson.

13.  Kevin Love and LeBron played exactly how I wanted them to.  They were amazing within an offensive system and didn’t have to freelance to look good.

14. Chris Crawford is a big point-guard.  He just looks bulky and seemed to be a little slow when he was on Kyrie. Kyrie blew by him; however, Kyrie blew by everyone this game with his crisp handles.  I don’t think Crawford is going to see a ton of floor time, if any, this season. Delly didn’t play amazing, but he got the ball up the floor and made the first pass to start the offense.

15.  Kyrie looked great on offense.  He usually found the right man to get the ball to.  He drove into the paint several times and passed out to an open LeBron or even James Jones to get a better shot.  Last season Irving would have put up the shot regardless of who was on the floor.  He’s making better decisions daily.

16. The new Cavs court features the Cleveland Skyline. It’s very subtle, but it gives the court its own little flair.  If you look hard, you can see it in the above picture.

What did everyone else notice tonight?