Culty Catch Up: Fourth/Christmas Edition

Each week there is a ton of NBA media pertaining to the Cavs and the league in general that deserves recognition. A lot of it goes unread because there just isn’t enough time to keep up with it. Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered with six to eight notable reads/videos (the last two reads are up in the air just like the Cavs bench production this season) from the past seven days to get you through the weekend feeling entertained, caught up, and much smarter. I’ll throw in Dion’s Neon Man Of The week and some other features to add to the entertainment.

The Cavs experienced a season ending achilles injury to Anderson Varejao and a Christmas Day loss this week, but they still managed to bounce back against the Magic on Friday. However, they had to bench Kevin Love in the fourth to pick up the win. Is that a sign? I don’t know and don’t want to think about that until the Detroit Pistons game at 4:30. For now, I’ll show you what a news cycle marred by the 25th of December yielded.

I’m going to travel back in time one week for the first piece, well pieces. Over at Sheridan Hoops, writer Danny Schayes examined the NBA’s one and done policy. He went through the history of it in part one. Then he moved on to numbers looking at whether or not players who stay in college perform better in part two, and he finished his series offering a solution to the policy in part three. In short, the current situation isn’t really producing better players. One and done players/guys out of high school drafted high succeed more often than players drafted later with more experience. Furthermore, a college guy with four years under his belt who is drafted high has about the same chance at success as one drafted late. Basically, talent reigns supreme, and NBA men don’t really learn more about a player the longer they watch him. Be prepared, Schayes wants college kids paid in some way. Radical.

That series is going to count for two spots today.

–

People looking for a more objective view of the Varejao injury should check out the Terry Pluto Cavs summary for the week. It’s a tough injury, but Pluto is reporting that the Cavs think Andy will be back healthy. Furthermore, his contract is unguaranteed in the last year and will be helpful in the long run for the Wine & Gold.

With the Cavs over the cap, Haywood’s contract and a $5.3 million trade exception are the only things that can be used to add a significant player in a deal — without trading a key player.

So the Cavs wanted to create another $10 million trading chip for 2017-18. But they also believed Varejao still was a productive player who could remain somewhat healthy.

–

If you love basketball and this blog, the only Eastern Conference teams you watch are the ones playing the Cavs. The West is the best right now. Zach Lowe did a power ranking for just that reasoning over at Grantland. A team currently not even in the playoffs topped the ranks. The Thunder are amazing in all sorts of ways this year. No injury can stop them.

It is very hard to bet against Durant, Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka in their primes. It will be tough to come from the no. 8 or no. 7 spot, and Durant needs to get through this season without any recurrence of his foot issues. But he’s looked great, and the Thunder have outscored teams by nearly 21 points per 100 possessions when all three stars are on the floor, per NBA.com.

That team is probably the most athletic in the league right now. That’s not good news for the Cavs if they have to play them in the finals.

–

Kevin Pelton has a piece for ESPN Insider examining Tim Duncan’s historical steadiness and Anthony Davis’s unbelievable greatness. This is just more evidence that Tim Duncan is a robot. His bug eyes face seems like an emotion an alien life form would believe humans do often, since everyone knows aliens have large eyes. We have all seen the pictures and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

–

Reading is overrated sometimes, so I’ll end with a video. Since I have a degree in English, metafiction stuff is my favorite. You have to be able to make fun of a genre to be able write great, right? Well, metacommercials are here. And, if all of that made no sense to you just enjoy the commercial and not being an English major.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxKzKxfgM_0

The Christmas Day commercials were great this year. The above one is my favorite, but I appreciated the State Farm one with Don Stockton and John Stockton. And, I was baffled that LeBron James is still pushing the K900 because when I think of luxury I definitely think of Kias. I don’t even need a commercial to help me make that connection. Seriously though, the concept of a Kia as a luxury car blows my mind. However, I did a little research and learned that LeBron actually likes the K900.

Dion’s Neon Man of the Week

John Wall of the Washington Wizards is the Neon Man this week. Even though Wall and Waiters have had words in the past about who is part of the best backcourt duo, Waiters has to respect Wall for standing up to the Knicks’ Quincy Acy after being fouled hard in the fourth quarter of the Christmas Game.

Acy was ejected, fined $15,000 and will be suspended one game. Justice served.

Dion is also his own man of the week. He has been stepping up his defense lately and absolutely shutdown Dwayne Wade on Christmas when he was covering him. He limited him to 2-9 shooting according to Terry Pluto. And, Dion has had three steals in each of the past three games. This is the turning point for Waiters. If he can play defense even when he isn’t scoring (he had just eights point on X-Mas), he will be a huge part of the Cavs bench.

Bottom Lines of the Week

Russell Westbrook had 34 points, 11 assists, five boards, and five steals in the Thunder’s Christmas win over the Spurs. He took just one three the whole game and relentlessly made the Spurs deal with him sprinting into the paint.

–

Kevin Love gets the quote of the week after the Cavs won against the Magic without him in during the fourth quarter.

“It’s all about the matchup,” Love said. “Had it been different, it might have been a tough pill to swallow. Tristan was doing a phenomenal job on [Nikola] Vucevic, forcing him into tough shots and blocking shots. It was really how they matched up. They went small. It wasn’t hard for me at all. I was up pretty much every play I could be.”

Hopefully, David Blatt will now feel more comfortable benching Love. Love has been called a weenie more times than any other Cavs player I can remember and sometimes, when he isn’t playing defense, he might serve the team better from the bench.