Podcast Episode 95: Ky, Ny, and Sigh
2016-04-11https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/podcast-episode-95-ky-ny-sigh
Kyrie Irving was a big topic of this podcast, and Tom Pestak, hopped up on NyQuil, showed up to help me and David Wood discuss the enigmatic Cavs point guard. We all wondered why the hell Irving can’t use a screen, why the Cavs even bother setting them for him, and how demoralizing it must be to play with him at times. Will he ever “get it?” Can he ever be a consistently competent defender? And does he have to many off the court distractions? (Warning, the opinions discussed in this section were highly unprofessional and speculative and are only the podcasters’ opinions and impressions and should not be taken as anything other than pure conjecture).
We also talked about LeBron throwing guys under the bus , if Mozgov has any value, Lue’s rotations, and the Cavs’ optimal starting lineups. We gave a quick playoff preview of who we would like to see the Cavs play in the first two rounds, and who scares us. (We’re all scared of the Heat). We also went out west to decide if anyone could stop the Warriors, and what Draymond Green would sound like ordering Taco Bell. Tom brought it all back to Cleveland with a a Reggie Hodges story. Whoop.
We can be heard above, on SoundCloud, or on iTunes.
Kyrie is the greatest streetball / playground / And-1 player in the league. He really is Uncle Drew. He doesn’t know how to work in a team structure and doesn’t know how to play defense – and isn’t really interested in learning how. His talent is unmistakable but I don’t think we’ll ever win a championship with him as part of the “big three”. (Go ahead and prove me wrong please).
In his last 10 games, LeBron James is shooting 60.7 percent (111-of-183) and averaging 27.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.2 assists. -mcten
Stop ruining this opportunity, Kyrie.
THAT “LITTLE PATCH OF WHITE ” ON HIS HEAD WILL BE TOTALLY WHITE BY THE END OF THE PLAYOFFS——IF HE THINKS IVERSON MADE HIM LOOK LIKE A FOOL ( WHEN HE WAS A PLAYER IN THE PLAYOFFS ) ——THESE OPPOSING COACHES ARE READY AND WAITING —–HOPE TY IS ALSO
Lue is probably the worst head coach in the EC playoffs. as was mentioned in the pod.
Actually, I can’t think of anyone in the WC playoffs that is better than him either.
worse*****
AND OUR 1ST ROUND OPPONENT ( PISTONS HAVE WHO AT CENTER) —-LUE REMAINS cLUE less —-HAVE NOT SEEN ANYTHING SINCE HE HAS TAKEN OVER TO GIVE ME CONFIDENCE GOING INTO PLAYOFFS ( VAN GUNDY MAY MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE A FOOL )
Lue is nothing more than a figure head and somebody’s puppet.
Lloyd and Fred McLeod are reporting Lue has made Tristan the starting center from this point forward. It’s fine against Hawks. Insane against 7 footers of Whiteside, Valanciunas and then Drummond. Lue is still changing the line-ups this late in season. I bet he outsmarts himself on this move. I have no confidence in this coach to get us out of Eastern Conference. He’s pandering to someone.
What? TT needs to come off the bench.
Our bench will implode & expect our opponents to capitalize on it just like the Bulls did. I don’t have a problem with this against Hawks . But against elite 7 footers? Lue has lost his damn mind.
Agree with Tom that almost any criticism of KI gets you called a ‘hater’ in some quarters (and really, ‘hater’? Are we all 13?), but he’s been bad this season. The Cavs are just better right now with Irving on the bench.
The Cavs’ offense, although still shy of a well-oiled machine, is functioning better than at any time in the past two years. Kyrie’s assists are up. He is trying to change his game, which is probably a difficult thing to do. It seems like the current expectation is that Kyrie be a ball distributor with the first unit and switch back to iso mode with the second unit (because no one else on that unit can create his own shot). They are still working out the kinks disappointingly late in the season, and not where I expected the team to… Read more »
All good points brought up in the pod and in posts — Kyrie is such a talented and frustrating player, but up until the moment he single-handedly costs us a playoff series, I’m not going to worry whether his potential is being reached. That’s something for the offseason. If everything clicks for him in a couple weeks, gravy, but I don’t think his flaws will hurt us much in the playoffs as long as LeBron is around. Think about how much is at stake for LeBron: the man’s lifelong legacy, winning one for his cursed hometown… What do you think… Read more »
Thanks for the podcast. I had to laugh at the surprise from Tom on Kyrie’s revolving door of girlfriends. I’m sure it has been a factor to his “distractions” this season. I don’t see him wising up on the girlfriend problems anytime soon. Btw there is Drake connection in that last relationship if you like to entertain conspiracy theories. But Dear Lord, I never expected his performance to slide this bad or his desire. The team I fear is the Heat for the same reasons Nate laid out. They are a team that is still peaking. Their coach is clearly… Read more »
Drummond would absolutely destroy the Cavs in the paint. Reggie Jackson would also be a pain for our guards. Would much rather see Indiana.
Also, hoping that Boston and Miami become the 3 and 6 seeds. Would much rather see Atlanta or Charlotte in second round and have to deal with only one of Toronto, Boston, or Miami.
Fun fact of the day: Kyrie’s assists, PTs, 2P%, and FT% per 36 minutes are UP this year from last year. His 3P% is DOWN 10 percentage points.
If he can start shooting the 3-ball like last year (or any other year of his career), this team will be tough to stop.
Kyrie has a low basketball IQ
Despite any criticism, Kyrie’s capable of being a brilliant basketball player. I’m certainly not rooting for his failure and hope and expect that he turns it around in the playoffs.
It’s been a rough yea, but the playoffs are a different animal. There have been plenty of players who were mediocre regular regular season players but awesome in the playoffs: Kenny Smith, Danny Green, Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Boobie Gibson…
I’m not ready to write off Cleveland. This team is unreadable. I can’t tell if they’re out in the first or nba Champs. Should be a fun ride though.
As up and down as Kyrie has been this season, I doubt he’ll be much different in the playoffs. He may need a healthy offseason to get his game back all the way. I think next season is make or break for whether his mental approach will ever change.
He did show signs of progress last season. Maybe the tendinitis in the playoffs came from actually trying to play D for the first time in his career.
I wonder what a full season healthy under Coach K might have done for him…
Amen! I agree with this post, Nate.
Enjoyed the pod, guys! Tom you should be getting a kickback from Nyquill…
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hnr6qce or http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=z4kps4q
I’m kind of wondering if trading Kyrie is better than trading Love. Love’s been getting kind of frisky this whole year when he doesn’t have to share the floor with the human ball hog.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine
Save the trade first to get the link.
“ORANGE MAMBA MCRAE AND KING KAUN “—ASSIGNED TO CANTON CHARGE—-GOING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP—–HOW ABOUT AFTER THEY WIN BRING UP THE ” MIGHTY QUINN ” TO FILL MO’S ROSTER SPOT FOR PLAYOFFS
No Shump last two games. Maybe not a huge loss now, but if he isn’t fully healthy, the Cavs are going to be even more thin and unathletic off the bench in the playoffs.
No first round pick next year but Cavs really need to find young, athletic talent to give them minutes off the bench. Continuing to re-sign veterans at the twilight of their careers to give minutes off the bench is simply not working.
I guess no one has activated the Cols signal
I’m not in the mood for his unbridled optimism. Maybe belligerent optimism is closer to what I mean. Either way, no thank you.
I couldn’t stand right now to see his “The Cavs are awesome”, and the other pablum that he often posts. My favorite Colsian moment this year was his meltdown when he realized he woudn’t be on the podcast. And thank you for that.
I am still very optimistic!!! Cavs going to Finals with decent chance to win it all — especially against SAS. They will lose some frustrating games in the playoffs because that is what they do, but their good outweighs their bad by 2 to 1. Which is all you need in 7 game series!!!
Go Cavs!!!!
Maybe he went Zero Dark Cols on us…
Yes, I feel Kyrie is defiant. Does anyone remember his reaction to a post-game question regarding the stat showing Cavs shot better the more the ball was passed (and what that meant for his game)? The look of disgust on his face was palpable.
Sure do. As you recall, the shooting percentages went up significantly the more passes that were made. And Lue put those percentages on the locker room blackboard for emphasis. In addition to his look of disgust/so what, I remember he said “….that’s interesting” and was very dismissive.
ALOT OF NATIONAL MEDIA GIVING ( IF THEY PLAY EACH OTHER ) THE PISTONS A GOOD CHANCE TO BEAT THE CAVS IN THE PLAYOFFS ———–SOME ARE SAYING SHUMP SHOULD SEE LIMITED ( SUBBING IN ) PLAYING TIME —THIS IS A PLAYER WHO WE SIGNED TO 40 MILLION CONTRACT TO BE ONE OF THE CORERSTONES ON THE CAVS ——ARE EXPECTATIONS OF SHUMP / MOZ AND AQCUISITIONS OF MO/ R.J GOT US EXCITED FOR A TRIP TO THE FINALS
He has regressed this season. Maybe because he’s a new father, maybe because he lost the start of the season, maybe he just lost his fire, but for whatever reason, he’s not as effective as last year. We will have to see if he, like the Cavs as a whole, can flick the switch.
I’d say we have about a 30% chance to lose to the Heat or the Raps. I’d say we have about a 1% chance of losing to the Pistons.
http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2016/4/10/11402178/john-carroll-ol-anthony-latina-invited-to-browns-local-day
This is the guy I was talking about. Really sharp kid. Also a beast.
John Carroll has had a few really strong prospects the past few years. Those guys plus Mount Union make for a dang tough OAC conference (as a BW grad, I know this firsthand).
AGREEING WITH MIKE —–HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A HUGE KY FAN ( BUT IF WE GET ELIMINATED EARLY IN THE PLAYOFS —WHICH IS A STRONG CHANCE OF HAPPENING —-THERE WILL BE SHAKE UPS )—-I WOULD NOT GIVE KY AWAY / CAVS STILL HAVE LEVERAGE / WOULD ASSUME MANY TEAMS LINED UP TO TRADE FOR KY—HIGHEST BIDDER WINS ——ALTHOUGH WHAT WE SAY DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING—LEBRON WILL HAVE ( GRANTED THAT HE STAYS ) FINAL SAY ON WHAT THE CAVS OFF SEASON MOVES SHOULD BE —-WE HAVE SEEN HOW KEV PERFORMS WHEN KY IS NOT IN LINE UP
If Kyrie plays like he has been during the playoff run, I would be more inclined as Nate said to trade Kyrie and not KLove to improve the team. You discussed Irving’s incredible lack of chemistry with any Cavs player, and after all this time I can’t see him figuring it out either. If Irving brings a solid point guard and another strong rotation player who plays stellar defense, I would make that trade.
The problem is, what team has that combination of players that would be willing to deal for Irving? The key to his trade value is he is still so young.
Phoenix
Who would you want? Bledsoe?
That was amazing how you blamed Delly’s bad play on Kyrie!! Good move. Kyrie had 8 assists. No one mentioned that. Haha.
Kyrie gotta get better. But analysis not balanced.
Did we? Thought we were pretty fair with Delly and blamed a lot of his problems on not having a roll man, but also looking worn down and missing his shots. But Kyrie and he are held to different standards cause Kyrie starts, plays more minutes, and has a much higher contract.
Yes. You were good about calling out Delly. I agree. At one point, though, you suggested that his struggles might be related to playing with KI. But it was mostly a suggestion. I just thought it was kind of funny given the KI/Delly debate on the blog. Generally, you guys seemed pretty down about the team. Bench sucks, KI sucks, rotations suck, D sucks, even Delly sucks. I really think its not that bad. To me, the main thing is a lack of consistency. When they play poorly, you are right – its because of a bunch of stuff sucks.… Read more »
Delly and Thompson both need rest. Its stubborness or shortsideness not to see it and rest them. Just because they are young and “bench” players doesn’t mean the don’t need down time to recover.
I gotta say that the NyQuil seemed to act as a sort of truth serum for Tom, and he went on some amazing rants! You guys really hit the nail on the head with your Kyrie discussion. At some point we will have to accept that Kyrie is essentially a fully formed player and if he isn’t good enough in his role within the big 3, then a change may be required. Honestly I think you can still make the same argument with Kevin Love. It’s not because Kyrie and Love aren’t good basketball players, but there seems to be… Read more »
Have to agree, the common theme seems to be “he’s young”. But this is his fifth year in the job and he doesn’t seem to get it. If he was doing a 9 to 5 job there’d be serious concerns after 5 years.
The game is a mixture of talent and IQ. Those with talent but no IQ are more disappointing than the other way around.
Sorry to say, that’s how it appears to be.
There is no reason to be certain that Kyrie is fully formed. Plenty of other young point guards have made dramatic improvements in their game at Kyrie’s age. Chauncey Billups and Steph Curry come to mind.
I think the “he’s young” card is no longer playable. At a certain point, a guy is who he is. Kyrie has shown glimpses of being a complete player, but he’s always regressed to his comfort zone, which is iso, lazy defense, and generally failing to play the scouting report/run plays/pass. There have been four coaches who have failed to get through to him, as well as the best player on the planet. He has not been inspired by devastating finals loss and injury.
He is who he is.