Randoms: Reopening

Forgive us, Cavs fans. It’s been a struggle to know what to say in the face of so much change, uncertainty, and upheaval in the NBA, the country, and the world. So we’ve spent a lot of time saying nothing. I’ve been particularly stung by the desire to write but stuck on feeling that everything I want to say would be wholly inadequate, trite, or just plain wrong. In addition it feels hard to care about basketball and a silly little sports franchise with so much of import happening globally. But in these times where we may not be able to be together physically, one of the great aspects of sport is it provides a sense of community and common interest in a world where we can all feel increasingly isolated.

One of the things that makes the current political unrest so much more palpable is that there are no sports, no movies, and little new content being spun up to distract us all from the pain of the African American community exploding into the national consciousness through the Black Lives Matter protests. In many ways that is a good thing. So much if what we’re seeing is due to a fundamental reckoning that needs to happen with the way that our communities are governed and policed. The fact that there are no sports and dwindling entertainment options around makes us pay attention with a focus we may have lacked otherwise.

There is danger in lost common ground, though. The shared regional identity that sports provides can transcend race, socioeconomics, and politics. There are those who say that great African American football players did just as much to change the perceptions of blacks in America and the deep south as civil rights activism ever did. Without the shared interest will we just retreat into our neighborhoods and political tribes? Or are sports just a distraction to keep us all from thinking about how deeply unfair our system seems to some?

I can’t answer those questions, but I do believe that sports can teach us lessons on how to strive to improve as a person, to sublimate ourselves for the good of the whole, and to find common ground with our peers. To that end,I’m proud to be an NBA fan. The league has been at the forefront of positive change in the American conversation about race and equality and continues to strive to get better. Empowering young black men to be conscientious agents for positive change has been among its greatest contributions.

An exemplar, Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff appeared on the Woj Pod Monday with Charlotte head coach James Borrego and echoed those sentiments.

#Cavs HC J.B. Bickerstaff on the NBA being at the forefront of social change in sports: "We are by far the best of the four major sports leagues in our country — by a long shot."

— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) June 9, 2020

Bickerstaff’s leadership appears to be exactly what this team needs in this moment, and the ties he’s creating in Cleveland and across the team organization will likely last beyond his hopefully long tenure as Chris Fedor notes on Cleveland.com.

This is a two-sided issue. Either you’re for equality or you’re not, there’s no neutral. I think that’s where we’ve been caught for too long, we’ve let people off the hook in being neutral. I don’t think we can do that anymore. Racism is not just a black problem. It doesn’t just impact black people. It won’t change unless we all make a conscious decision and effort to help change it…

Bickerstaff has engaged with coaches around the NBA, and leaders and coaches in Cleveland, around a platform of violence prevention and engagement. It is hard to imagine John Beilein resonating with the city and the players like Bickerstaff.

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During the Woj Pod Bickerstaff went on to talk about how “pissed off” the Cavs players were by being excluded from the NBA restart. After a truly exciting 11 games in the Bickerstaff era, it was a real disappointment to say goodbye early to this iteration of the Cavaliers. Probably most depressing is the likely departure of Tristan Thompson who appeared on his way out of town at the trade deadline, and there were even rumblings of a buyout after the team failed to move Thompson. Instead, Thompson embraced his role as sometimes starter and bench force after the trade deadline arrival of Andre Drummond.

After the trade deadline, Cleveland got a rejuvenated Tristan Thompson who put up eye-popping numbers that we never dreamed possible.

Those three point shooting numbers of 46% over an eight game stretch were a testament to Thompson’s work ethic in his time with the Cavs. They did come because teams were leaving him wide open, and that won’t happen if he shows he can hit them with consistency, but nine years ago did you ever dream Tristan Thompson would post a 27-point 3-3 from downtown performance like he did February 12th?

With the salary cap in a “who the heck knows?” situation, it appears very likely that Andre Drummond will opt in to his $27 million dollar option. I know some people like him, but the dude does nothing interesting for me on a basketball court. When he plays hard early, he often fails to have anything in the tank late, and his ponderous offensive game, including some triples tries that would make Kevin Love blush, leave me cold. I know Ben Werth thinks he’s a good defender when he wants to be, especially at playing angles, but I just always question his motor.

I suppose much of this is a “what have you done for me lately?” conversation, and a conversation about which player makes more sense in the modern NBA. Tristan helped bring the Cavs the greatest championship in NBA history and his defensive flexibility made the three headed monster of Love, TT, and Nance in the front court a bear to deal with defensively. It remains to be seen if Drummond can offer that kind of switchability and ability to generate offense when he’s not the focal point, or to be a role player if that is what is required of him for his team to win.

I guess it just comes down to the fact that I’ve enjoyed Tristan Thompson the person and Tristan Thompson the leader immensely over the last nine seasons, and if trading for Andre Drummond means losing TT, that trade feels like a disaster to me. I imagine T-Top’s jersey will be hanging in the rafters some day. I’m not sure I can say the same for Drummond.

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There’s been a lot of talk about what the teams who are on the outside of the 22-team bubble are going to do when the NBA reconvenes. The lack of ability to play out the season seems like a real disadvantage to those eight front office when it comes to evaluating talent and deciding who to bring back next year. To that end, there’s been talk of those teams having mini-camps and mini-summer leagues separately and together as our old friend Sam Amico reports.

The Cavs and Pistons were recently singled out as an example of teams that are in close proximity and could hold a joint practice and small set of games — in the event their ins’t a full-scale summer league.

The NBA season was suspended March 11 and next season isn’t expected to start until early December. So teams not in Orlando want to avoid having close to a year off before resuming play.

This is a must for teams, especially those with lots of young players to decide on. The real question is how much are veterans and pending free agents going to participate in these activities?

The Cavs and the other bottom dwellers have a vested interested in evaluating the professionalism of who stayed in shape and worked on their game versus who didn’t with young and old players alike, but teams also have an interest in not risking injury to veterans in “meaningless” activities. (The fact that regular season games and improving with your team can now be considered “meaningless” is part and parcel to the NBA’s problems right now).

As always, count me on the side of those who feel these guys are paid to play basketball and not to sit around and avoid getting hurt. Hopefully the Cavs are all raring to go in that department too. Conversely, Kyrie and Kevin Durant’s recent decisions to entirely forego the 2020 playoffs seems comical for a team that claims they have future championship aspirations.

Brooklyn Nets next coach requirements:

• Philosophical alignment w/ Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving + an ability empower them.

• Shared vision w/ Marks & front office — the bridge between the FO & players, communicate analytics.

• Winning experience in some form or fashion.

— Billy Reinhardt (@BillyReinhardt) June 9, 2020

I do enjoy that we’ve gotten back to normal enough that we can make fun of Kyrie and KD again. The Mark Jackson Nets era is going to be lit.

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Also, there’s no guarantee this thing plays out in Orlando. Right now, we’re reaching an inflection point as we ramp into a second wave of Covid-19 infections. Florida is not going to be the best place to be. I question the wisdom of opening Disneyworld next door to the NBA bubble, and if the mouse can truly keep everyone isolated. But the most accurate forecaster I follow says it shouldn’t get too bad this summer. (A depressing thing to say when you realize that lines on the graph correspond to the number of dead human beings). If you want some very good short term forecasting of what Orlando could look like, check out Youyang Gu on Twitter, and his website covid19-projections.com, specifically his Florida and Ohio pages.

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I’m kind of rooting for the Cavs’ to end up fifth or sixth after the draft lottery. Everyone at the top of this draft looks like fools gold to me. Stay tuned for more draft coverage.

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In the grand scheme of things, we probably wouldn’t have thought much about the end of the 2020 Cavs season all that much if the fates had allowed it to play out. But having missed it, I know the lack of routine and connection with my fellow Cavs fans 2-3 times a week felt like I had a part of my identity stolen. It left me a little rudderless, to be honest. I filled the moments with walks with my kids and my dogs that I hadn’t taken before, and the lack of a commute was a blessing. But I also felt isolated and unmoored much of the time with few people to connect to, and that’s a large part of why I stopped writing. I needed the routine of the season as a framework. I don’t know why, but the rhythms didn’t feel right without it. This was a small forbearance in the grand sum of wrenching global dismay, but I missed basketball. I missed you all.

We all lament those moments we didn’t get to see this year: a few more games of Kevin Porter Junior’s jaw dropping precociousness, a couple more nights of Collin Sexton scoring like a demon, Kevin Love getting the old magic back, the three center lineup shutting down opposing offenses, Cedi getting hot from three, Darius Garland doing some Harlem Globetrotter passes, Dante Exum and his old man finishes, Andre Drummond bulling guys over for two, Austin Carr saying something delightfully inscrutable…

Hopefully when we reconvene in the late fall, this team won’t look too much different than the one we watched this year, and hopefully they’re just as fun as when the Cavs are at their peak. As for CtB, we’re going to try to be here a little more often, but we will be changing some things up. Look for a melancholy fond farewell from a staffer this week, and draft, free agency, NBA, and just whatever the heck we feel like coverage in the days, weeks, and months to come. And as always, Go Cavs.