Preseason Game Recap, Part 2
2011-12-21As Colin discusses below (see his game notes also)…Last night, the Cavs missed a golden opportunity to finish the preseason undefeated. From a team perspective though, obviously there isn’t too much to read into the game. The Cavs’ crunch time lineup was Ramon Sessions, Anthony Parker, Alonzo Gee, Omri Casspi, and Ryan Hollins…until Hollins fouled out and was replaced by Luke Harangody. This was the only action that Harangody saw all game, and he missed a wide open 10 footer that would have won the game. We hopefully won’t see this sequence of events ever again.
I’ll add a few bullets to what Colin addresses:
• The addition of Irving, Casspi, and Thompson, plus the return of Varejao – brings a lot more energy to the court than the Cavs showed most of last year. It was great to see the Cavs playing with some speed and passion, even in a meaningless game. Seeing Varejao on the court again is awesome; he finished with 9 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block and 3 steals in 25 minutes.
• Jamison is going to shoot more this year than is probably good for the Cavs. As the only “established” NBA offensive player on the team, Jamison will look to shoot frequently. He was 3 of 11 from the field in 24 minutes.
• Irving is definitely a more dynamic offensive player than anything else the Cavs have. He had a few effective drives late in the game; one resulted in an and-one to cut a Piston’s lead to one. Another of his drive / kick-outs ended with a nice swing of passes around the perimeter, leading to a Casspi three (also cutting the lead to one). In addition to his three assists and zero turnovers; he made a really nice pass in the lane to Hollins, but Hollins was fouled and couldn’t convert.
• Early in the 4th quarter; Thompson had a steal, outletted it to Irving, who passed ahead to Casspi for a transition dunk. That was a really nice sequence involving the new guys. Hopefully there is a lot more of that this year.
• The Cavs made 17 of 31 on free throws. If this continues, it will obviously make winning very hard.
The Cavs are probably headed back to the lottery, but the team should be fun to watch this year. Bring on the regular season.
SG, C are the two main holes we have. We should have a top 5ish pick and 20 mil to spend. dont see why we cant contend next year. Irving, Casspi, Thompson, Varejao. with Sessions, Gibson, Samuels, Eyenga off the bench. 2 above average players away. Drummond from UCONN would be great, as would Beals or Barnes or Gilchrist or Jeremy Lamb.
I think the Cavs may be best served by letting Jamison play out the season. Trading him probably means taking back a bad contract to get draft picks. The Cavs already have Irving, Thompson, and alot of draft picks. Rather than taking on a bad contract for even more draft picks; the Cavs should probably start building around the draft picks they have and the cap space they have (bring on good contracts). That’s the direction I’d like to see them go at this point.
I didn’t see the game, by all accounts I’ve read/heard Casspi looks like the best new acquisition and Kyrie and Tristan have shown flashes from time to time but to inconsistent to consider eithe one a game changer —- yet. Grant and the Cavs will and have gotten a lot of scrutiny for what they’ve done with the team. From picking Irving #1 (which a lot of people agreed with) to Tristan at #4 (very few agree with this pick), the trade for Casspi (mixed reviews), the amnesty of Davis (still not sure why we did that, could have done… Read more »
@Dave: Using amnesty on Davis was the right move. Because of it, the Cavs will now be roughly 30 mil under the cap after this season. I can see them going after Eric Gordon (probably would take a max contract and some luck). Possibly Javale McGee, if he can develop some sort of post game.
They may trade Jamison, but don’t expect much back. I doubt they would want to take back any long term contracts. That’s why they didn’t use they trade exception. If they can get another expiring contract and a draft pick, it’s a good move.
Fun to watch when Irving and Casspi are on the floor together. Otherwise we watch Jamison settle for bad shots.
I wish the Cavs got rid of him. He doesn’t do anything the Cavs need right now. At least someone might have traded for Davis next year (expiring and can still help a good team). What do we see the Cavs getting for Jamison’s contract?
The best scenario I can see is some multi-team deal for Dwight to NJ. Maybe GSW and Hou get involved as they were burned earlier. Any silver-lining here?