Point Four-ward: Much Needed Break
2017-02-17
The Cavs enter the All-Star “Break” with a hot streak in February, winning seven of the last eight games. Â With so much going on during the regular season, many players use this time to go on vacation and relax. Â Considering the talent of this Cavs team with three All Stars, the Cavs somehow enter the break with minute concerns, injury fallout, and trade deadline/buyout anticipation.
1. Kevin Love is to miss some time, which begs some questions
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Kevin Love is out for an extended stretch. While described as a “minor knee surgery” to remove a “loose body” any type of knee surgery can be tricky for NBA big men.  The most alarming part of all of this is that Love tried to play through the injury.  Let’s hope Ty Lue has learned his lesson and the Cavs can avoid future injuries like this.
BREAKING: Kevin Love undergoes arthroscopic surgery on left knee and will miss approximately 6 weeks (via @cavs). pic.twitter.com/SAXQjk9haH
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 14, 2017
Love is projected to make it back in time for 8-10 games remaining in the regular season, but one must ask if the chemistry will be the same in such a long absence. Â It also doesn’t help that the Cavs may be rolling out a starting lineup that will only play eight games together to end the regular season.
2. J.R. Smith may be nearing a return…
Next man up, from the injury list. Â J.R. Smith may be returning sooner rather than later, as he’s been recently taking part of pregame warm ups without a cast. Â It’d be great to get JR on the court but considering that Shumpert has been lighting it up as a starter, maybe rushing Smith back to start would not be the right move. Â Considering that as a member of the starting lineup, Shumpert has averaged 10.0 ppg vs 7.1 ppg as a bench player, it may be beneficial to allow Shumpert to keep his place given the chemistry, and let JR operate as a deadly offensive threat as a sixth man, which he’s done before…
J.R. Smith warming up tonight without a cast in the Nike LeBron 13 Low pic.twitter.com/KrFleK2NnB
— B/R Kicks (@brkicks) February 16, 2017
It’ll be interesting to see how the Cavs decide to work JR back in. Let’s not forget that the Cavs have experimented with Shumpert starting and JR off the bench, a plan they used en route to a Finals Appearance in 2015.
3. This team will probably be a little different….
#Cavs trade center Chris Andersen to #Hornets for second round draft pick.
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) February 13, 2017
The Cavs made a minor move this week in opening another roster spot by trading away Chris “Birdman” Andersen and cash for a second round pick (which is highly likely to never come to Cleveland). Â An empty roster spot will probably be used on a big or a point guard but the Derrick Williams pick up is even more impactful now with Kevin Love being out for the next six weeks.
Ownership has given #Cavs green light to increase payroll/tax, per AmicoHoops source. Team said to be working on several trade possibilities
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) February 14, 2017
Armed with a couple of trade exceptions, the Cavs have the ability to take on a player in a trade. While the amounts aren’t large enough for a star level player, it’s nice to see that Gilbert and ownership is willing to add payroll to give the Cavs the opportunity to repeat.
4. Again, R-E-L-A-X
I can’t emphasize this enough. Â It may seem doomy and gloomy for the Cavs but these players thrive in these situations. Â Love and Smith are projected to make it back into the lineup in the regular season. Â The Cavs, despite their horrible start to 2017, still maintain a decent lead over Boston. Â LeBron, after having asked for a playmaker is now saying “our GM will get the right guys.” Â Don’t worry about the regular season too much, you’ll just pain yourself. Â Buckle up in May, when the Cavs will be fine and ready to defend their title when it matters most.
Whats up with Kyrie being a total dumbass? Seriously? A flat earth?
Was that before or after Kyrie picked Ray Allen ahead of LeBron for small forward on his all-time NBA team?
Two very big head scratchers that is for sure. Sadly they are equally preposterous.
kyrie update: http://bleacherreport.com/nba-hot-takes?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial
He looks to be goofier than Trevor Bauer. I hope he doesn’t get any drones!
Very funny. I like, “He can’t figure out his defensive rotations either.” I just can’t believe that Irving considers the round earth to be perhaps “completely fake” in his words. And he went one year to Duke.
Yes, hard to believe he said that, but he is only 24. That’s why the don’t let people under 35 become president. Folks older than that are smarter and more level-headed and don’t make outrageous statements and don’t put the country and world in danger….oh, wait!
Big business news on Cavs. According to Vardon, Jeff Cohen and Nate Forbes are out as vice chairmen of the team. Griff now reports just to cavsdan
LeBron thought the organization was holding back. Now those two guys are gone and the wallet is open…
Just raising that as a possibility. Dan has been known to have volatile relationships before anyway, so there might be no connection to the team’s spending.
Jokic is kind of an amazing passer for a big man…
Potato coaching the World team in the Rising stars game… Got the Zinger and the Joker in the same front court…
Anyone see this? How many teams can Jeff Green play for? Gotta be a record…
https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/832677331411931136
When you’re just that good, everyone wants you…
I think EG is correct. We will be looking at buyouts.
In following with Ty Lue’s evil plan… MWAH HAH HAH HAH /s
This is fallacy. There just aren’t going to be many buyouts this year with teams close to a playoff spot.
Can we switch away from General Hospital KLove Edition? Maybe to topic #3? Any chance Cavs sign any of the still available old guy guards that were worked out awhile ago? Perhaps Farmar? Recognize this likely happens after 3-way trade and buyout possibilities have materialized.
Bill Walton is fun in moderate doses. It’s been like a decade since I last received his worldview/poetry. I think I’m not set for another ten years.
Seems doubtful. Probably more likely they scrutinize the post-trade deadline buyout list for vets who aren’t recovering from major injury and have actually contributed somewhat to an NBA roster this season…
Any half decent (body and mind) PG will be sufficient. Once the 3rd of the playoffs and the finals come, he won’t see more than 10min IMO.
We have a solid team and, specially with the addition of DW and Shumps resurgence. So Farmar, Cole or even N. Robinson if he’s willing to play.
According to the ESPN article regarding Love’s injury and surgery, Ty Lue contradicts himself and rather stupidly.
First he says that going into the game, they already knew Love was going to need surgery and playing was not gling
sorry my phone suck…
…going to need surgery. But then he mentions that there was no sign other than swelling and he was also not informed by his staff. (This part is concluded by me per the article)
So the question is, did Like really know what was going on with Love’s knee?
Or is he trying to save face now that this information has come forth?
Or does he just have a speech impediment?
Hey hey… It’s my stupid phone. I swear.
No, I meant Ty Lue kind of has a speech impediment and everything he says comes out garbled. This makes it more amazing that he is such an effective coach.
Coaches make dumb decisions about when to play and not play guys. Ty seems a little to wrapped up in the regular season and has made short sighted decisions because of it, including the questionable decision to play Kev with a knee injury. But the very dumb decision was to talk about the decision with the media, which was baffling, unprofessional, and showed a distinct lack of gravitas.
Why? Why was it dumb to talk about with the media? This makes no sense whatsoever. Lack of gravitas? Mike Brown had gravitas. Ty Lue has a title.
He admitted he played a player who was already heading for surgery… if he knew that, then he shouldn’t have played him. Even if they didn’t have an MRI yet with results, they should have sat him until he did… Basic common sense (which I know is sometimes lost on you).
Nope. This is absolutely not correct.
Lue “Hey medical staff, if Love wants to play, can he injure himself more?
Medical staff “Nah, the current injury is what it is regardless”
Lue “Thanks!”
The end. You see? We have no idea the deliberations that went on. This knee jerk reaction that Lue is at fault here is driving me nuts. The Cavs are maybe the smartest organization in the NBA. They wouldn’t do something dumb like play a guy to injure him more.
The only proof we have is what Ty Lue says to the media… and that was not a good look. You have no idea what really happened either, so maybe get your alternative facts straight or stop drinking so much Kool Aid…
But you immediately go to the sinister/ignorant angle that Lue is incompetent. Instead of looking at how teams generally operate and have actual policies for injured players that involves a medical team.
I don’t think it’s sinister… I just think Ty has a blind spot when it comes to when and when not to play guys sometimes. I also think he does get defensive or arrogant when it comes to this issue. I don’t have many complaints about him as a coach, but this is my primary one.
Your “analysis” comes from the Baghdad Bob school of viewing current events. Lue commenting on the injury as he did was amateurish, and the walk back of his statements was painful to read and accept. Two different reporters said Cavs management wasn’t happy with how Lue handled this, but in your world, everything is awesome of course.
Are you the only person that knows about these two different reports? If you have secret info, you cannot belittle the analysis of those without your insider status.
It is always dumb to share the details of any decision you make because that leads to a bunch of ninnies nitpicking and second guessing everything you did.
Who you calling ninnies?
Because you don’t talk about the details of deliberations on whether guy is going to play or not and the details of his medical conditions with the media. First, it’s unethical (a borderline HIPAA violation if Love wanted to pursue it!), second it gives everyone the opportunity to second guess you, third it gives unneeded information to rival teams.
The blame Lue crowd wants us to think this:
Love “Hey Ty, I’m injured and can’t play”
Lue ” Hey Kevin, too bad, you have to play this game or I will hurt you even more”
Love “No, I’m injured”
Lue “I will cut you”
Love “OK, I’ll play”
Lue “Good, good, my evil plan is working”
No, nobody thinks that. It does smell like ametuer hour and the quote itself wasn’t intelligent regardless of the actual facts.
Amateur
I think you should replace Sean Spicer Cols…
That would be epic…
For me, Cols would be a toss up to replace Sean Spicer, Kellyane, Baghdad Bob or Joe Isuzu.
Except Cols is a liberal and getting moreso by the day
Wow attacking & labeling some when talking Cavs in the political spectrum is a bit over the top here.
As to “Let’s hope Ty Lue has learned his lesson and the Cavs can avoid future injuries like this.” Is there some reason to think that Lue went against medical advice?
Most serious athletes are playing through pain approximately 100% of the time. Most of the time the pain goes away. You always try to avoid surgery unless you need it.
So we are blaming Lue for Kevin Love’s injury? This makes zero sense.
Not exactly blaming him for the injury… but why play a guy on a back-to-back who has knee pain? Not blamed, but there was some negligence. As for avoiding surgery… you know a great way to avoid surgery? Resting. Criticism isn’t blame.
All in all, though, we’ll be fine. Love will have time to come back and get reacquainted with the team. JR will have time to come back. Maybe having Love out and JR limited will give PT to a new acquisition to form some kind of chemistry before April.
I ain’t scurrrred.
There was no negligence. The Cavs have a medical staff. They cleared him to play. Do you really think by not playing that game he would’ve avoided surgery? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?
Also, Love was playing barely 31 minutes a game. So there goes the entire minutes argument. Dude was injured and got surgery. Don’t blame Lue for that.
Nope.
If you didn’t play players with pain, you would have to recruit fans from the stands to get five guys.
No, but this is not exactly the kind of quote you want to hear from a coach…
“He was already heading for surgery,” Lue said. “It was already [hurt]. Loose bodies were already in there, so he just played through it. And then after it got to a certain point, he got the MRI and he found out it was loose bodies floating around.”
Why? What is wrong with this quote?
You don’t play a player who is “already heading for surgery…” And if you do, you don’t say it to the media like you’re proud of that fact. I mean c’mon, even you have to see the flawed logic here…
Ugh. You are not looking at this situation correctly. Acting like Lue is some dictator who just willynilly decides to play injured guys is ludicrous and not at all what goes on in professional sports.
No, you’re missing the point. Knowing how to rest or protect players from themselves has been a weak spot for him. He does himself no favors by saying things like this to the media.
It is? Has there been a rash of injuries to blame on Lue? JR Smith broke his thumb? Lue’s fault. Love has some knee problems? Lue’s fault. Anyone else get injured we can blame Lue for?
I’d blame Lue if J.R. had broken his thumb but wanted to play through it and Ty just let him do it… I’m not blaming him for the injury… I’m blaming him for not sitting a guy out with knee pain when he knew there might be damage…
The voice of reason. We haven’t even seen our whole team out there yet (Love + JR with an integrated Korver & D-Will). Let’s not go tearing things up (trading Love/Shump) for a hypothetical matchup vs. GSW (a team we already defeated w/out JR, Korver, & D-Will). Let’s pick up a minor piece or two & make a run with the deeper team with the best player on the planet leading us & see how that goes.
agreed
I wouldn’t blame Lue for a loose body in somebody’s knee