Links To The Present: March 16, 2011
2011-03-16
“It’s a battle of the bottom dwellers in the NBA tonight at the Power Balance Pavilion. With Cleveland and Sacramento both being in the 15th slot in their respective conferences, there is much reason to believe that this should be a close game. Though, the Cav’s have lost 27 of 28 road games, and average allowing 109 opponent points per game in those losses, the Cav’s just might have found themselves a manageable opponent as compared to the Oklahoma City Thunder; assuming the Cav’s shut down Kings guard Marcus Thorton.” [Eddy Jansen]
“It’s tough to do, in the face of his salient argument, but I’m going to have to disagree with Byron [Scott’s argument that the Cavs should have been more physical in their loss to the Thunder]. It’s been two days since the game, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the Cavaliers didn’t show a lack of heart or dedication to winning by not knocking Westbrook down as he drove. It was probably just that they didn’t want to be complete and total jerk-holes.” [Kelly Dwyer]
“Almost three weeks ago, Ramon Sessions not only lost his best friend, but he also began to look over his shoulder regularly to see what’s closing in on him.” [Jodie Valade]
“[Samuels and Hickson] are both most effective in the paint. Instead of getting in each other’s way in the lane, Hickson has taken his talents to the perimeter — and it hasn’t been pretty.” [Bob Finnan]
I found this one via our colleagues over at WFNY. This isn’t necessarily Cavs-related, but Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a scathing indictment of David Stern, describing the iron-fisted tactics with which he commissions the league. I’m positive any avid NBA fan has read a Tyrant Stern column or two in their perusal of newspaper pages or the world wide web, but this is one of the more damning I’ve read. Is anyone else incredibly conflicted about David Stern? I usually find him to be charming, informative, and thoughtful in interviews, but you read about the stuff that goes on behind closed doors and he seems like a [jerk] with a Napoleon complex.
On The Twitters
“As a Cavs fan, I’m intrigued by the prospect of Kyrie Irving playing in the tournament. As an OSU fan, I am terrified by this development.” [Andrew Schnitkey]
“Wonder if Byron Scott is trying to scare his young team Bull Durham style? ‘You lollygag your way down to first…'” [realcavsfans]
“First 65 games were what now? RT @SamAmicoFSO Cavaliers coach Byron Scott criticizes team’s approach, calls the final 17 games ‘an audition'” [Michael A. Young]
In regard to David Stern he is just a small weasel with a superiority complex who’s league is starting to become very corrupt almost on par with MLB which is already a joke in itself. Its apparent every commissioner in the 3 major leagues are all ignorant. I thought Gooddell was a good dude but to have him sit idle and let this lockout occur is sickening. Back to Stern, this same guy overreacted to the Malice at the Palace…completely ignored the Donaghy scandal and hasnt once changed how NBA refs officiate. There are still horrible calls being made and… Read more »
Bob Finnan stated, in his piece, that Gee and Harris both have team options on their contracts for next season. Do you think that either of them has earned another year, even in a 12th man role for us? I personally love what Manny has done in what limited burn he’s gotten over the course of the season. He seems to be confident, and fairly well-rounded. Gee, on the other hand, and this is going to sound bad, is a dime-a-dozen player. He reminds me of Mario West; tenacious, good defender, very limited offensively, good dunker. I thnk manny could… Read more »
Really irks me when people refer to the Cavs as the “Cav’s”. C’mon man.
Yeah I don’t know what to say about Scott. On one hand I have a hard time believing Mike Brown would allow a team to go 12 and something. He got Sasha Freaking Pavlovic to become a defensive stalwart – that’s right, a head-case euro player that once boldly claimed that he didn’t actually need to play defense became one of the Cavs best perimeter defenders under M Brown (when the Cavs were one of the best defenses in the NBA). The Cavs could have 0 wins and the masses wouldn’t blame Scott. The Cavs got a raw deal this… Read more »
The team’s best offensive player is Antawn Jamison. There is no taking root when you have a team that is that talent deficient.
I have to agree with Scott. In fact, I’d go a step further and say that it’s time to start talking about strategy. Byron can’t keep throwing it on his players without offering his corrective methods. I remember in the beginning of the season, he did an interview on Cavaliers Live or whatever that show is, and he said, “The offense is going to take awhile. Fans need to be patient but the pay off will be worth it.” Well, we’ve been waiting and the offense hasn’t taken root. We’ve been patient and we get no answers, just skittered blame… Read more »
I believe that the next time Byron Scott takes ANY responsibility at all for the team’s shortcomings this season — for their errors of commission and omission, for their lack of effort and their inability to grasp and execute his systems of playing offense and defense, for ANY goddam thing about the way the team has played — will be the first time that he has done so. Byron Scott seems to think that it’s enough for him to show up and go through the motions of coaching. He apparently believes that there is no connection whatsoever between his performance… Read more »
Sterling is a real bastard. How the hell does he get away with this year after year? I’m generally indifferent to Stern, but it’s inexcusable that he silences coaches and players while allowing Sterling to go unpunished for his innumerable, horrible transgressions. Absolutely disgusting.