Podcast: Talking Cavs with Mark Neal
2016-02-05https://soundcloud.com/dayton-radio/tom-pestak-from-cavstheblogcom-talks-all-things-cavs-with-mark-neal-on-dss-1
Mark and I covered the start of the Tyronn Lue era, Kyrie’s training montage, and Kevin Love as a changed man.
Additionally we covered the All-Star game, the increased emphasis on defensive schemes in the modern NBA, Steph Curry’s PER, and more.
Hopefully you woke up to Robert’s Point Four-ward. Here’s what I woke up to:
https://twitter.com/tompestak/status/695460116980768768
Good job. Very interesting. You were on spot talking how Blatt would (to his credit) go to a defensive line-up when he felt the game was slipping away. He would do this a lot in the 3rd quarter . There was a lot of talk about that last year around the playoffs. I remember NBA analyst dissecting that about the Cavs bench. There is no shame for Lue to continue that in certain game situations in the present. IF it works, why fix it? He has plenty of time to get his stamp on this team. I mean, the team… Read more »
Blatt was helped by having Lebron James and a herd of veterans, to be fair.
Yeah the Blatt firing, in a vacuum, is indefensible. But obviously there were circumstances that led Griffin to make the call.
“If that’s a part of the game and you have a guy that is a bad free-throw shooter and you put him on the line, that’s a part of strategy. That’s no different from a guy that can’t shoot well from the outside and you try to make him shoot bad from outside ”
Lebron on the Hack a rule, uncovers exactly how teams are stopping him.
I agree with LeBron.
There has to be a strategy to deal with the problems of “hack-a” without letting some of these guys off the hook.
Re the Delly medium dark roast, someone in marketing has to get it straight: There’s nothing medium about Delly.
His mid-range jumpshot maybe.
The coffee is good. It’s milder than I expected, but tastes very good.
Got me going today!
Tom, thanks for the pod. I’m excited to see the changes to the new site. You guys give me tons of hours of entertainment when I’m at work, so I’d love to give something back. If you guys need any help with the site I’m a web developer by trade and would love be involved. Anyways, keep the content coming..Can’t get enough CtB coverage!
Can I contact you via the email you provided in the comment? If you have a better contact email me at thomas.pestak at gmail
So pumped about the changes…hope things go smoothly Blog Round Table! Loved what you had to say about statistical comparisons between eras. Nothing against Oscar Robertson…but Lebron would have averaged CRAZY numbers had he played then. Lebron does, of course, have the benefit of having had the opportunity to develop his basketball knowledge from a viewing guys like Oscar and Magic and whathaveyou…so comparing across eras breaks down in that sense as well. Does Lebron become Lebron without the history of the league to view and learn from? Probably not. Fun question…does anyone consider trading Kevin Love to whomever drafts… Read more »
Interesting – depends how we didnt win the title and how klove performed in playoffs. But Id consider it at least. (Of course I dont see a world where the other party would do it, but thats not the point of the question)
I think you’d probably have to trade Lebron for Ben Simmons. You are talking about a potential franchise changing player on a rookie contract. You have to give the other team more talent in return since you are getting cheaper control. You’re basically giving someone a championship window in exchange for a future championship window. Kevin Love probably wouldn’t do it.
I think he is similar to Wiggins in potential and could go either way. And right now I’d rather have love than Wiggins. No, it would not take Lebron to get him. Lebron at age 45 coming out of retirement maybe…but you’d have to throw in sooooo much more than just Simmons.
That’s true. But I have a hard time thinking LeBron wouldn’t have dominated if he’d played in an earlier era. But that’s a good point – he got to watch Magic and Michael and learn from them.
Tom! I haven’t actually listened to your podcast yet but I’m about to! But I just have to say…who else is a bit miffed that Chris Bosh is in the dang 3 point shooting contest and not JR…or, i don’t know, ANYONE Else?!?? How do the powers that be justify that?
J.R. himself doesn’t seem particularly happy about it…
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14720937/cleveland-cavaliers-guard-jr-smith-unhappy-all-star-weekend-snub
Shouldnt Kawai be in the contest?
Yeah it bothered me and it is just wrong for Bosh or a few others to be there in front of him. But I think we know the reason he is still scripted and the technicals don’t help, and I don’t agree for that to keep him out.
He is going to have to earn it another way which I think he knows all too well and he has truly stepped up his game here. More motivation!
Yeah I wish I understood how they choose 3 point contestants.
J.R. should definitely be there