Links to the Present: Beyond Bubbleball

In case you didn’t notice, we were off for a few weeks, to catch you all up, we decided to round up some of the best Cavs content from that time. First off, as the reconfigured playoffs continue in Orlando, some Cavs players are returning to Cleveland for individual workouts.

Great to see all the young guys, Kevin Love, and Jordan Bell putting in work in Cleveland. https://t.co/PHNwtMhBRr

— Cavs:TheBlog (@CavsTheTweets) August 22, 2020

There is a possibility of the Cavs participating in some scrimmages in Chicago starting next month. Some of the best writing about this possible new ‘bubble’ in mind for the eight non-Orlando teams has come from the Detroit Free Press. The Freep published an eye-opening and extensive interview with a primary care sports medicine specialist from Johns Hopkins University, focusing on the impact of an extended layoff from organized sports on athlete bodies. It’s an interesting read.

After an extended period of low activity, resuming high-level basketball in a short period of time can be detrimental.

Dr. Geoff Dreher, a primary care sports medicine specialist for Johns Hopkins, has begun counseling his patients about the importance of slowly easing into intense activity once the end of the COVID-19 pandemic allows them to do so. Not doing so increases the risk of injury.

Catching up with some basic moves on the non-draft, personnel side of the ledger: the Cavs’ crowded front court has gotten somewhat less crowded, as backup center Ante Zizic is going trans-Atlantic. He appears to be moving to David Blatt’s former team, Maccabi Tel Aviv. Zizic was getting paid $2,000,000, so he doesn’t create a lot of room salary-wise with his exit. He played in 22 games this past season, averaging 4.4 points in 10 minutes per contest. With Zizic’s departure, Colin Sexton (in the form of the first-round pick via Brooklyn) is now the sole remaining roster legacy of the Kyrie Irving trade.

Probably not top ten but forgot the real steal of the deal. Ante Zizic. https://t.co/pTHmkhRnFu

— Cavs:TheBlog (@CavsTheTweets) May 16, 2018

Zizic also outlasted Marquese Chriss as a member of the Cavaliers, as this classic Cavs: the Blog deep dive on Zizic points out.

Andre Drummond looks inclined to pick up his massive $28+ million option with the Cavs next year, so 2020-21 (whenever it starts) is going to be a solid experiment for what might be a new young core for Cleveland. For some informed speculation about how Drummond’s future meshes with the Cavs’ draft lottery options, Evan Dammarell has a piece on the Cavs being in the perfect situation up with Forbes.

After you get past the trio of Ball, Wiseman and Edwards, there are plenty of more NBA-ready prospects ripe for the picking. There’s Southern California big man Onyeka Okongwu, arguably one of the top defensive players in this year’s draft class. On the wing, there are also players like Auburn’s Isaac Okoro or Florida State’s Devin Vassell.

He also penned a piece last week on the Cavs’ need to bring back Tristan Thompson.

If Drummond and the organization cannot agree to a long term extension, then the Cavaliers should work out a deal with Thompson instead. Thankfully, Cleveland still has Thompson’s bird rights, so they wouldn’t be forced to use their $9.3 million mid-level exception on him. Instead, a fairly realistic offer that works out for both Thompson and the Cavaliers would be a three-year, $30 million extension. The team then looks to trade Drummond by the annual trade deadline and bring in bad contracts with draft picks attached to them.

Drummond’s enigmatic role on the J.B. Bickerstaff Cavs was dealt with in a CtB deep dive on his matchup against Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers. Is it possible that the Cavs will look to retool Drummond’s game? If you’re looking for a point of comparison as to the role of the big man in today’s NBA, Myles Turner is again a good stand-in. Turner averages 34% on 4 three-point attempts per game; Drummond hit a total of 4 three pointers as a Cavs last year. Upon arrival in Cleveland, ‘Dre was an abysmal 1-21 (4.8%) for the year as a Piston. In 2018-19, his most active year as a three-point shooter, Drummond averaged 13%, going 5-38 which is just shy of his career average of 14.6%.

Andre Drummond on his two three-pointers: "I've been working on them for eight years. This is the first team that's let me shoot them."

— Greg Swartz (@GregSwartzBR) February 10, 2020

Speaking of threes, there is a Cav who, given a more high-volume approach, would be glad to heave a tide of 3-pointers at the hoop and raise the collective percentage. Namely Kevin Love.

In keeping with his epic summer of 2019, Kevin Love has had a genuinely interesting “off season,” even if it arrived prematurely. He won the Arthur Ashe Award and endowed an academic chair of psychology at the University of California – Los Angeles. In a collection of vignettes put out by the NBA in mid-August, Kevin Love conveyed a funny story about a long phone call from Bill Walton when he was being recruited as an undergraduate for UCLA’s legendary basketball program, complimented Lindsey Gotlieb, and commented on Bickerstaff, the Beachboys, the Comeback, and much more.

I remember Ben Howland put me on the phone with Bill Walton and he was talking all about Southern California and the girls and my uncle with the Beach Boys and playing at UCLA and there’s nothing like it.

It was a 30-minute phone call and I remember I didn’t have much input. Because Bill likes to talk.

Tristan Thompson has the support of his teammates for a wine-and-gold return next season. Write’s FTS’ Chris Manning.

Larry Nance, Jr., gets a shout-out as the Cavs “only above-average asset” in an otherwise dismissive story. Nance’s participation in an “ask me anything” online session in July led him to recollect some early memories of watching Shaq team up with LeBron in Cleveland.  The Cavs put together a nice feature on Junior, which included some quotes from his father about All Star aspirations.

Every time I watch this, it hits me all over again how fortunate I am I to be to play here in Cleveland ❤️💛 https://t.co/0Z03xzmWSv

— Larry Nance Jr (@Larrydn22) August 3, 2020

Dylan Windler, whose leg fracture kept him from playing a single regular-season minute in 2019-20, is back at work. He is due to make about $2,000,000 this coming season. In a long interview with Chris Fedor, Windler was not absolutely bullish about returning – the best that can be said is that he no longer has pain when he jumps and he’s ready for some scrimmaging after a long time off. Interestingly his closest friends on the 2019-20 squad sound like Brandon Knight and Jaron Blossomgame – neither of whom are still on the team. However, the Fedor piece is a worthwhile read and hopefully Windler’s NBA debut and development can be a nice sub-plot for the coming year.

Matthew Dellavadova’s season was recapped last month by Chris Fedor, with a prediction that the Cavs would re-sign him. If nothing else, the article reminds the reader that the Aussie had to vie with Dante Exum for minutes after the Cavs traded Jordan Clarkson to the Jazz. It also reminds the reader that Delly had a fantastic run at the FIBA World Cup for the Australian team. Incidentally, reviewing this film might be useful for scouting purposes for the suddenly-hapless Denver Nuggets, who are getting filleted by the Utah Jazz and Australian sharpshooter Joe Ingles.

Sports Illustrated said “the Cavs looked focused and determined under J.B. Bickerstaff.” It might not hurt to recall J.B.’s quote about getting the Cavs “Invited to the Party” and consider it as a motto for 2020-21.

In lieu of long press conferences with Toby Altman, it might pay to revisit the Cavs’ introductory press conference for the meteoric old man of 2019, John Beilein. Dan Gilbert failed to properly button up his shirt, but he was at least honest, saying “I didn’t even know John Beilein until 11 days ago, then we hired him 8 days ago, then we went to the draft together 7 days ago.” Ah, leadership.

On the business side of the ledger, Dan Gilbert took his company public on August 6, and promptly made something like a staggering three dozen billion dollars.

The IPO for Rocket gives us a closer look at the wealth of Dan Gilbert. At $30B, @cavsdan is among the 40 wealthiest people in the world. https://t.co/hVKkOlu9UI

— Devin Scillian (@DevinScillian) August 6, 2020

If you’re keeping track of the numbers, the Cavs franchise itself was estimated about a year ago to be worth $1.51 billion. This was 24^th of 28^th in the NBA, and less than the $2.175 billion value of the Cleveland Browns franchise, but still a 20% gain from LeBron’s last year with the Cavs.

When Gilbert will be able to sell tickets again for live events is anyone’s guess. The league had already reportedly lost “hundreds of millions of dollars” in October due to changes in China following on from Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting protests against the Chinese Communist Party’s handling of Hong Kong.  Former Cleveland Plain Dealer beat reporter Brian Windhorst wrote that some 40% of league revenues come from ticket sales and arena sponsorships. Everyone’s tolerance for uncertainty seems far higher than it had been six months ago, but there are still quite a few questions to be answered about the Cavs and the league’s broader future, even amid the excitement of the bubble playoffs and a possible return to scrimmaging and practices for Cavs players.

Look for more draft content in the coming week, and Go Cavs!