Links To The Present: January 4, 2011
2011-01-04
“Cavs fans were given a taste of Christian Eyenga on Sunday night, and by all accounts, it was hard not to like what they saw. In his 15 minutes, Eyenga showed athleticism, hustle and a refreshing energy. It wasn’t pretty, but it was something. And with his 4 points and 3 rebounds, I found myself asking, is it time to turn it over to the youngsters for good?” [Martin Rickman]
“As the Cavaliers sit with a conference-worst record of 8-26, Byron Scott will be forced to turn the team over to his younger players. Testing the waters with young, athletic swingmen like Alonzo Gee and Christian Eyenga (the 284th all-time leading scorer in franchise history!) will be the only way that Scott can see what he has as a foundation while the front office looks to take the proper steps for successful rebuild. That said, expect a lot more of Eyenga in the coming games as Scott will continue to see just where his rookie’s energy and athleticism can take him.” [Scott Sargent]
In other Cavalier Young’n News, Byron Scott and J.J. Hickson had a sitdown at some point in the last week that Jason Lloyd characterizes as “brief, stern, and one-sided.” As we’re well aware, the two have been bickering at one another via post-game quotes for the majority of the season. There are two seemingly arbitrary gestures in sports locker rooms: the player’s only meeting and the “clearing the air” talk between coach and player. If J.J. finally “gets it” because of his sitdown with Scott, I’ll happily eat my words.
After looking like a downright awful offseason acquisition over the first quarter of the season, Ramon Sessions has been one of the Cavs’ most effective players of late. Jodie Valade of the Plain Dealer contends that Sessions may have simply needed time to adjust to a new offense and new teammates and Bob Finnan cites that the former Timberwolf’s jumpshot has been markedly improved over the past few weeks.
Injury note: both Boobie Gibson and Andy Verejao expect to play tomorrow night against the Raptors.
On The Twitters
“I can’t want until the phony Heatlemania has bitten the dust.” [Kurt Helin]
“If you haven’t seen Kemba Walker play I do suggest you tune in. The kid has Barry Sanders type moves with the ball in his hands.” [realcavsfans]
I still understand not playing the young guys ahead of the vets. They are still trying to showcase the vets and move them. There probably isn’t much Jamison can do to make himself more or less valuable, but maybe a guy like Daniel Gibson can still show other teams something. I’m not saying they should or should not move Gibson, but it’s a theory.
Krolik you are a beauty. Your blog is sick.
Rich — i tried posting on your blog yesterday, wishing you good luck with the project, but for some reason it wouldn’t get pass the loading screen after hitting publish. I was using my iPhone btw. So here it is, good luck with project and I do plan on being a regular. Anyways, at this point on the season there’s no need to keep playing the veterans, other than to get some trade value out of them. So keep Jameson/Parker/Varejao in there to up their stats and maybe lure a title contender for one of them… As for the youngsters,… Read more »
I glad to see all the young guys play. Between Manny, Gee, Eyenga and Samuels, somebody has to prove to be a real asset. Honestly I’ve been disappointed that specifically Gee and Manny who were both top notch offensive weapons in college/D-league have both seemed to lose their desire to really push the ball and drive to the hoop. Maybe it’s because Coach Scott has told them to focus on defense or because the competition is so much better, but honestly I’d like to see all four of these guys more aggressive. I actually expected that they would be more… Read more »
I’m as excited as I’ve been since the beginning of the season. Eyenga and the other young players could end up being terrible, but the team was playing terribly anyway. At least there’s something new and interesting to watch.
I hate to be so down on Eyenga, but my god he made some atrocious defensive mistakes in his first game. I mean, I know it’s game 1, but some of them were so bad you wonder how anyone, no matter how young, could make them. The one that sticks in my mind was on a trip down the court, after Stevenson had JUST hit a 3 the possession before, Eyenga stands and watches him launch another with 1 second on the shotclock instead of running at him and flying by him. I was in disbelief that someone seriously just… Read more »