From Distance: Lesson from the Past

Four point play…

1. When I was doing my masters, a student friend of mine taught me a life long lesson. She was a charming sort, always quick to smile, and very focused on her studies. Good Folk. The lesson?

Whenever we’d be hanging out and someone would start to tell a story that wasn’t particularly entertaining and/or necessary, she would throw her head back and yell, “Don’t Care!!!”

Like straight up, “DOOOOOOoooooooonnn’t CAAAARE!!!!

It was amazing. She refused to waste another precious second of her life on planet earth. Yet, she did it with such good humor that the offending storyteller had no other recourse than to smile shyly and end the boring story to which we were all being subjected. No rancor. No acidity. Just the merciful completion of an annoying moment of existence. I don’t think many people could have pulled it off the way she did.

Most people can’t deliver such a flagrant disregard for someone’s thoughts while seemingly still respecting the person delivering said thoughts. She certainly had a gift, but it’s not like it was magic.

Many people all over the world are able to separate ideology from personhood on a day to day basis (ok, maybe I am being wildly optimistic with the use of the word many).It’s just that her efficiency and good nature made people reevaluate themselves more than they questioned whether she was rude for prematurely cutting off their lame old stories.

She forced an introspection by being utterly honest. Notice, I didn’t say brutally honest. There was nothing brutal about it. On the contrary, she was almost sweet in her overt nature. Maybe that’s the problem.

The fact that the phrase “brutally honest” is a fixed phrase is rather disheartening. Why is it that we have to equate “real talk” with brutality? Honestly isn’t always the “nicest” way of handling a situation, but it is rarely a bad way to handle one.

With that, I need to say to all of you who are worrying about the Cavs’ mini-slump.

Don’t Care!!!!!

Seriously folks. It just isn’t important. People are breaking their eyeballs on the ESPN trade machine for guys like Kent friggin’ Bazemore. What, so the Cavs can have another athletic wing who thinks he “has arrived”, has no shooting gravity, and isn’t really a lockdown defender?

Don’t get me wrong. Kent Bazemore isn’t awful. He just isn’t worth any of the draft capital that the Cavaliers can offer for him. Any deal worth doing is going to need the picks and Cap Space equalization that the contracts of Iman Shumpert and/or Tristan Thompson could offer. Unless the Hawks are itching for a deal that nets them Rose, Shumpert, Zizic, and Calderon for Baze, it’s not worth it for the Cavs. Considering his 2016 contract, he isn’t worth any future picks.

2. Enough about trades. The Cavs already have enough integration to do with Isaiah Thomas’s return. One thing that I foolishly got excited about was the rotation adjustment Tyronn Lue made against the Magic. In that contest, Lue took Thomas out first so IT would be fresh to run the second unit. Cedi Osman finally got some meaningful burn with the other starters, and it was marvelous. The third quarter run that propelled the Cavs to a 40 point quarter was fueled by Cedi’s energy and LeBron’s greatness.

Of course, Lue immediately went away from Osman in the following game against the Wolves. I’m the one who has continually talked about the necessity of lineup tweaks during the regular season, but I wouldn’t have been heartbroken to have seen Cedi get some more first quarter time.

In any case, the Cavs are using the regular season as practice. The lineups are completely in flux because the Cavaliers don’t practice. The games are the only time in which the coaching staff can evaluate lineup possibilities. I’m all for that. It would just be more pleasant to watch if it seemed Lue understood that one should test the same lineup a few times in a row to see if it can build some chemistry instead of immediately trying something new.

“Naja”. In German, that essentially means, “a very slightly annoyed whatever“.

3. We are halfway through the season and the Eastern Conference still has more teams over .500 than the Western Conference. Predictably, the Warriors, the Spurs, and the Rockets continue to rule out West. Somewhat less predictably, the Celtics have continued to pile up victories behind their dominating defense.

Currently in the second place in the East is that Canadian team Drake likes. People are too frequently yelling “don’t care” in regard to the Toronto Raptors. Yes, it’s hard to get too excited about a Raptor team that has been easily dealt with in previous postseasons. I don’t see them winning four games of seven against LeBron James, even with DeMar DeRozan having found the key to his outside shot.  Ya know what, I think people might be yelling “don’t care” exactly the appropriate amount. Abort.

The Miami Heat be streaking! Okay, this is more about my affection for James Johnson than anything Miami related. Additionally, I have professed my love for Slovenia in this very space, so of course I love me some Goran Dragic. Unfortunately, old friend Dion Waiters will miss out on his 1.1 million dollar bonus as he continues to recover from his ankle issue.

Even without Dion, the Heat have won eight of their last ten with the help of old Herculoid, Wayne Ellington. How has he never received a decent contract? I’d trade Shump, Rose, and some cash for him immediately if it were legal.

4. Annoying as it might be, Stephen Curry is going on a midseason tear. Since his return from injury, Curry is dropping 35 ppg in only 32 mpg. That is, er, something. What is even more ridiculous? Curry has average 6.6 three-point makes per game over his last five. Yes, he is averaging six and a half makes in 32 minutes of game time. That’s insane. So much for that cold start to the season.

As much as Cavs Nation make dislike Curry come June, we owe it to our basketball fandom to catch a few games here and there. The dude is the natural progression of hero, Mark Price, after all.

Quickie: Like any metric, Real Plus-Minus isn’t a perfect stat. Still, it is fun to look at the bottom of the league to see whether the eye test matches down there as much as it does up top where guys like Curry, Bron, and Harden reside.

Worst player for the Cavs according to unified metric? One Derrick Rose at 447 of 468 players. He only played seven games, Ben! Lighten up! Hmpf. Seven games too many.

The next worst Cav is Tristan Thompson at 381st place. Sigh. The number backs up my own eye test anyway. Meanwhile, Channing Frye is sandwiched between Kris Middleton and Taj Gibson up in the top 100. Yes, not a great stat. I realize all of my biases are just dying to be confirmed. Just sayin’.

I think it is about that time. There is a little voice in my head yelling “Doooooon’t Care!” My friend’s lesson and gift to me. Like the abrupt cutoff to the theme music of  “Better Call Saul”, don’t be afraid to end.