Randoms: Love, Help, and the NBA Offseason

I’ll spare you the mugshot. Unfortunately this morning starts with troubling news: according to the Mahoning County Sheriff’s office, Kevin Porter Junior was arrested last night on a weapons charge. Until all the facts are out, I’m withholding any judgment. Many on Twitter are wondering what KPJ was doing near Youngstown on a Saturday night, allegedly driving around with a loaded gun. I can feel Cory Hughey simultaneously annoyed with me for the implications of the association and also agreeing with me.

This is the second concerning bit of news about Porter in a month. A cryptic Instagram message last month led to concern among the Cavs org, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. JB Bickerstaff and Koby Altman reached out after the news broke, to which KPJ responded in a since deleted twitter post.

“Media is the [worst]. … appreciate you for the prayers & concerns but it ain’t that,” the former USC standout said. “I’m fine. Been thru my worse times already, can’t get worse than what I already been thru. Love & Thank you.”

KPJ is 20.5 years old and one of the youngest guys in the league. You worry about him and all the young people coming out of the mess this country is right now. They all need so much help, and they all watch each other messaging at each other and at each others’ throats, without ever listening. Some of us hole up in our houses while some of us try to take on the world defiantly, thinking that the world we inhabit is trying to control us while simultaneously we think we can control world. I don’t know what any of that has to do with driving around Youngstown with a loaded gun, but I think we could all use some help… and some grace.

I watched one of my all time favorite films last night, A River Runs Through It. It seems topical to quote the source novel’s author, Norman Maclean who retells the last sermon he heard from his father, a Presbyterian minister.

Each one of us here today will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing to help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don’t know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them – we can love completely without complete understanding.

Watching Kevin’s infectious grin after he knifes through the lane or even after he goes out of his way to run into a ref, it’s hard not to smile and shake my head at the same time. I hope he and his career survive his youth. I hope he accepts help from someone… Because he’s hard not to love. He’s beautiful.

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I do love this Cavs team. I missed watching them so much. I miss communing with a collection of fans. I miss improbable wins. I miss bemoaning Collin Sexton. I miss him coming back 20 seconds later and making me jump out of my chair. I’m so very torn.

If anyone has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to restarting sports, it’s the NBA, who ran the most successful restarts of any sports in America with the NBA and the WNBA. But it also feels like things are spiraling out of control nationally while the NBA plans for fans in the stands

With the draft just a half a week away and the league clamoring for clarity around dates, the NBA has finally announced teams can start making transactions.

This will kick off a truly wild week for the NBA:

– Trades are allowed to take place beginning Monday at noon.

– The NBA Draft is Wednesday night.

– Free agency begins at 6pm Friday.

– Contracts can be signed Sunday at noon. https://t.co/M4JEnf66E7

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 15, 2020

The Los Angeles Lakers are in advanced talks with Oklahoma City on a trade for guard Dennis Schroder, sources tell ESPN. Deal expected to include OKC acquiring LA’s pick at No. 28 in Wednesday’s draft. Deal can be completed at noon ET on Monday.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 15, 2020

My heart has been in my throat more than a couple times in the last few days as there have already been a trade rumors around Kevin Love, despite the likes of Sam Amico and Briand Windhorst saying there is zero interest around the league in Love. There are always rumors like this, though, which I (after throwing up in my mouth) immediately discounted.

Scoop: Warriors and Cavs have held talks on a deal that sends Kevin Love to Golden State.

Draymond Green would be sent to a 3rd team, per league source. pic.twitter.com/L6zueO3YGg

— Hoops Provider (@HoopsProvider_) November 13, 2020

Everything about this idea feels ridiculous. First off, Everything Golden state does this offseason will be with an eye towards beating the Lakers in the playoffs. Dumping Draymond Green makes zero sense in that regard now that he is coming off an easy recuperation season. He’ll be key to lineup flexibility, rebounding, and stopping Anthony Davis and LeBron. Additionally, the Warriors don’t want to trade Andrew Wiggins bad contract for Kevin Love’s bad contract (especially when he and Dray play the same position). If the Dubs do any transaction with the Cavs it will be because they struck out getting stars like Jru Holiday and Nikola Vucevic (and maybe Aaron Gordon), and are looking to get a piece to play center.

An Andrew Wiggins for Andre Drummond trade with the Cavs makes some sense. The Warriors don’t want to include their ownership of Minnesota’s 2021 pick in any trade for a “star,” because the 2021 draft is gold. The Wolves’ pick is top 3 protected, but unprotected in 2022 (also looking like a great draft). I don’t see any scenario where the Wolves end up making the playoffs next season, so it’s likely a lottery pick. Additionally, the Warriors seem very enamored of Deni Avdija, but he seems like a reach at the No. 2 spot. There’s a lot of noise, but one of the rumors is that the Cavs would like to move up for James Wiseman. A trade like this might make some sense for both teams.

Basically, for the privilege of eating $60 million of Wiggins’ salary after this season, Cleveland gets to switch picks this draft and next draft. Honestly, that still feels light to me, so maybe Cleveland finagles another prospect or future pick out of this. But they would end up with Wiseman who is 7-2 with a 7-6 wingspan and has as much upside as anyone in this draft. (Check out Spencer Davies’ profile on basketballnews.com).

This all assumes that Andre Drummond opts in and that Avdija is there at 5 for the Cavs to swap with the Dubs. I haven’t heard any word on when the opt-in/opt-out dates are, but Drummond would likely have to agree to opt in, or re-sign a contract that makes sense (the Cavs have his bird rights). It’s all going to get really complicated.

If there’s one thing I’m sure of, though, despite the Sean Deveneys of the world reporting that Cleveland is “eager to dump Kevin Love,” it’s that Kev and the Cavs are stuck with each other for the foreseeable future. The Cavs aren’t giving away any assets to trade him, there aren’t many worse contracts they’d take back, and Kevin is probably not returning to all-NBA form at 32 years old.

That’s is fine with me. My wife only watches Cavs games to lust after Kevin. It’s why I put on a Love jersey and nothing else before emerging from the bathroom in a cloud of steam and Harry’s aftershave at the end of every date night. I don’t want to have watch Warriors games with her.

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This man has no time outs left. https://t.co/ALBVaPHqK5

— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) November 13, 2020

Speaking of Deni… there’s been a lot of talk that the Cavs have focused on two guys at the number five pick: Avdija and Obi Toppin. I dislike the idea of both of them.

Deni’s problem is that he’s a marginally athletic point forward with some playmaking skills, but it’s hard to tell what he’d actually be good at. He has had some moments as an under 20 player, leading Israel to a gold in the FIBA U20 Euro Championships in Tel Aviv, averaging 18.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.4 blocks and 2.1 steals per game, according to Wikipedia, but I’m very concerned about his shooting. Once he got up to the top league Maccabi Tel Aviv, his stats got pretty pedestrian.

The sub-60% free throw shooting is a real red flag. Ben Werth scouted him for me in a recent email.

My shorthand on Avdija is he is a less rigid Casspi type athlete with Cedi’s general feel on O. At times looks like he could really be something but has zero left hand and is too small for his post work to be effective at the next level. Casspi plus with more PnR handle but similarly streaky as a shooter. In the right system, he could be good, but I don’t love his lack of lateral wriggle.

For me, he doesn’t do anything that Cedi doesn’t do, and there’s nothing he does as well as Cedi does it.

As for Toppin, there’s so many more concerns than upside points. Yes he can shoot and dunk, and he’s a fairly smooth offensive player, but he’s a disaster on defense with footwork and recognizing how to play the pick and roll, he’s also the latest of late bloomers. If you follow me, you know I was super high on Brandon Clarke last year, but the difference with Clarke is that he was amongst the very best defensive players to come out of the draft in some time, and his athleticism matched his analytics. He was also a late bloomer, but he played his final season at Gonzaga with a strength of schedule far above Dayton’s. I’m very concerned Obi could be an Anthony Bennett all over again.

Of course Obi is not undersized for an NBA four, and he has real athleticism, but he is older than Collin Sexton, and he plays the exact same position as Kevin Love who isn’t going anywhere. And of course, there’s this.

Why would you draft versions of Cedi Osman and Larry Nance Jr. that are much worse on defense when when you already have Cedi Osman and Larry Nance Jr.? https://t.co/fl1ENkZFb4

— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) November 13, 2020

That being said, it could all be smoke. Many of us old school CtB’ers like USC’s Onyeka Okongwu (check out David Wood’s profile). According to the twitters, the Cavs met with Okongwu in the last week, and if there’s one rule of the NBA draft, it’s that unless you have the first pick, you don’t announce who you’re taking before the draft. To me the Avdija and Toppin rumors seem a bit too perfunctory. While I’ve no doubt that sources from within the Cavs are leaking that info, I find it hard to believe that leak isn’t coordinated from within the Cavs… which is a long way of saying, “we’ll see what happens.”

Truthfully, I think the Cavs trade up to take Wiseman or grab Ike Okoro. If those two are off the board at five, all bets are off. There are even rumors that the Celtics have offered multiple picks to move up to the fifth spot.

RUMOR: The #Celtics have offered the Cavs their No. 14 pick and another first round pick to move up to No. 5 in the Draft, according to @terrypluto.

— ☘️ 𝘽𝙊𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙉 𝘾𝙀𝙇𝙏𝙄𝘾𝙎 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ☘️ (@BosCelticsNews_) November 15, 2020

I doubt the Cavs would bite for all three of Boston’s picks. 14 is too far back in a 11 deep draft, and the Cavs would figure out where to put all those players. Boston punted on trading for a star for years and is now stuck with a bunch of draft picks no one wants. It’s what they get for trading a shrimp with a bum hip for Kyrie Irving.

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It will all get fun in the next week, and I’m looking forward to the distraction, but as the Nationals’ Sean Doolittle said way back in July, “Sports are like the reward of a functioning society.” And we’re sitting at the worst this country has been with coronavirus infections and deaths. Hospitalizations are rising. Deaths are rising, and remember that these numbers lag two weeks behind infections, and we’ll be up to 200,000 new infections a day soon. It’s so weird to be talking about sports. It’s easier than disease or elections though.

So take care of each other, folks. Try to protect as many people as you can. Stay home. Wear a mask. Call your political representatives and ask them to start doing what they can to prevent deaths. Look out for the vulnerable and do what you can to help. We’ve got to love each other.