Links to the Present: Beyond Bubbleball
2020-08-24In 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 24th of 28th 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!
Hard to believe the Lakers are giving minutes to JR.
I think they think they need 3 guys not named LeBron or Davis to rotate on Kawhi & PG13. Without Bradley/Rondo, Bron spends a lot of energy on offense. At least until the last 5 minutes. Plus, there is no reliable 3rd option on O.
Kawhi: Davis + Kuzma. Need mor size. Green & JR in a pinch, but both likely too small/skinny. Maybe KeBron late. Morris?
PG13: Green & JR. Probably too quick for Davis. Likely some Kuzma. KCP likely too short. Maybe some Bron.
FWIW, state if the roster right now.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered = 8. Love (32, $31.3 mil), LNJ (27, $11.7), Exum (25, $9.6), Cedi (25, $8.8), Garland (20, $6.7), Sexton (21, $5.0), Windler (24, $2.1), KPJ (20, $2.0).
Player Options = 1. Drummond (27, $28.8).
Non-Guaranteed = 3. McKennie (28, $1.8), Bell (25, $1.8), Wade (23, $1.5).
UFA = 2. TT (29, $27.8 Cap Hold), Delly (30, $14.4 CH).
NOT SURE HOW I CONNECTED BUT GOOD TO BE BAVK ……….” MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE” 👍🤪
glad you’re doing OK NOMAD!
Woohoo!! Let the anecdotes flow Nomad, we could use ’em.
Hey guys I am alive 👍😋🍺😜
I’m currently observing events in the US from here in the UK so I might be missing something and would appreciate clarity if that’s the case, but if the NBA actually ends their season over the awful events in Wisconsin what are they hoping happens? From my vantage point the officer’s actions have been condemned by the vast majority, he will be investigated and likely stand trial over what happened. If you have a system where police have guns and the freedom to shoot a suspect they deem a threat, then it seems impossible to ever eliminate these kinds of… Read more »
part of the problem is that there’s no cohesive plan from the players, because they all have different views about the situation. From the reporting and gossip i’ve seen, some are tired of the bubble, some wanna play, some wanna cancel the season or put pre-requisites to starting again. As for the demands i think they might make, the most basic one would be to arrest the cops and charge them with murder and go to trial. That step hasn’t been accomplished and might never be accomplished. To characterize the possibility of justice in this situation as “likely” seems way… Read more »
Well, specific to the shooting(s) in Wisconsin, you cannot charge the cops with murder because the victim is still alive. And you want whatever you do to stick, so some investigation is always necessary. But I agree, an arrest would help there.
At least the little racist, Trumper, shooter boy has been arrested & charged. Though the local cops did give him and his fellows plenty of love the night before. Disgusting.
ah thanks for the correction, attempted murder I guess would suffice.
Great explanation CLF. Certainly not the only difference in police / law issue between US and here in AUS, but a significant one I think – investigation of police shootings here require the police in question to qualify deadly use of force by demonstrating that they felt their life was being threatened. ie “he had a knife and was approaching me”, “had a gun”, “he pulled a gun out of his glove compartment”. If a weapon is not sighted, unlikely any shots are fired. If no weapon was close to being used against them, it’s likely that cop is going… Read more »
Good stuff Simmo, great point about the sheer number of guns in the US.
The only legal recourse for that is amending the Constitution, and the threshold to do that is just ridiculously high.
No one wants to eliminate police. That is BS. The issue is that “the police” have many protections/immunities that ordinary citizens do not have. And these protectins make it very difficult to weed out/punish the many bad apples. They are either written into state/local law or included in collective bargaining agreements, or both: qualified immunity, the ability to see grand jury evidence against them & dispute it, the right to see evidence against them BEFORE being questioned, and in some places, strict rules on firings. Thus, one way to bring about reforms is to defund “the police” and create another… Read more »
Yep.Cops need to not be untouchable for criminal behavior, which is basically what they are now. Also, tons of cops are just racists. They should be monitored for social media activity in the same way I am in my office job. To those who may say, “just don’t resist arrest!”, watch this.
I applaud the NBA players and coaches and refs. Use what power levers you have.
FWIW, on the draft, I view Avdija, Vassell, & Okoro a bit differently, positionally.
For me, Avdija is more of a 3-4 type with handles. He can’t defend 2s. He’s a forward. Weakest defender of the bunch but best playmaker.
Vassell is the typical “wing” for me. Too thin to guard 4s. Maybe for more physical 3s (Bron, Kawhi) as well. Perhaps not quick enough for quick 2s. But a good shooter & SF big 2 type.
Okoro has PJ Tucker defensive chops. 2-4. Maybe some 1s. Best defender. Worst shooter. But good cutter & excellent finisher around the rim.
Players on strike tonight. Good for them. That video is sickening. As was the cops’ behavior with the shooter last night.
So many NBA owners & FOs have no class. They were down Sabonis & Lamb & Dipo was nowhere near 100%. Yeesh.
Dame & Porzingas out for game 5s. Beverley also likely out.
Saw that Dame is likely out for game 6 even if Portland wins one without him. That series is over.
Nice piece on the general goings-on.
One nitpick: Beach Boys.
On the Kyrie trade, I have made lengthy posts on this before, but we still have assets incoming from it (and the pieces that then got traded). But Sexton & Nance are the big ones, IIRC.