Pre-Season Live Thread: Cavs vs Hawks

Well, no LeBron tonight, but supposedly Cedi Osman practiced today, so hopefully we’ll get some satisfying Jedi action. For the Hawks, DeAndre’ Bembry and Miles Plumlee are out. I know you’re heartbroken.

The Hawks are a weird team, sort of where Houston was a few years ago when Yao and McGrady hobbled off into the sunset. They could choose to completely blow it up and go to tankville, but they probably won’t. While they certainly won’t be great, they still have a competent coach, and some talented young players and will probably hover between 30 and 40 wins. They also went the analytics route and added some guys that RPM loved in Ersan Ilyasova and Dewayne Dedmon. Cavalier Favorite Kent Bazemore and the recently hookah bar brawling Dennis Schroder can resemble a talented back court. Taurean Prince or Italian Shepherd, Marco Belinelli, will probably round out the starting lineup.

In addition to triumphantly shipping off Dwight Howard (they were reportedly rejoicing when they traded him) the Hawks lost Tim Hardaway Jr. John Collins and Tyler Dorsey came via the draft, and the Hawks additions also included John Jenkins, Josh Magette, Mike Muscala, Former dunk King Jeremy Evans, our old friend, Quinn Cook. I’ve pined for Muscala, Evans, Jenkins, Dedmon, Ilyasova, and even Cook over the years. This is either a Nate Smith Moneyball squad, or a murderer’s row of mediocrity.

There are even some team connections as Calderon and Tavares spent time with the Hawks organization in the last couple years, and are looking for preseason revenge. Let’s hope they’re powered up. Go Cavs.