Cavs: the Blog - Cleveland Cavaliers TrueHoop Blog

It’s Friday!  What better way to kick off the weekend than links?

ESPN recently released their NBA Future Power Ranking and has the Cavaliers at number 8 – a nice jump from number 12 last August.

FSOhio’s Sam Amico sent out a teaser of a tweet last night, saying that the Cavs have been, “working on ‘something major.’”  He added that, “[they] have talked to one team in particular a couple times about No. 1 pick, but it’s exploratory only at this stage.“ Wonder what that means…

Although he hasn’t been linked with the Cavaliers much thus far, UNLV’s Anthony Bennett will visit with the Cavaliers this Monday.  As the Plain Dealer’s Mary Schmitt Boyer points out, his recent rotator cuff surgery makes it impossible for him to work out for the team.  Perhaps they want to get an idea of how the shoulder is healing?

Finally, Kyrie has been named the cover athlete for NBA Live 2014.  Check out this cool video of video game Kyrie on the PD’s website.  Does this mean I should give up my loyalty to the NBA 2k series?

Enjoy the weekend!

A few links to kick off a new week…

Kyrie Irving appears on the cover of Slam.  A lengthy article, briefly touching on Kyrie’s response to the Scott firing; his relationship with his dad; and some goals for next season.

From Mary Schmitt Boyer: Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller received invites to the USA Men’s National Team mini-camp in Las Vegas this July.  This summer’s camp won’t include many established stars, but instead focuses on identifying future players.  The event should serve as a great mid-summer milestone for this trio of players as they hone their games during the off-season.

Tristan Thompson recently sat down for an interview with Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.  It’s a good read: Tristan talks about his work in the community; working on his game in Cleveland this summer; and learning Coach Brown’s system.  They also spend a lot of time talking about Canadian basketball players.

According to Slam Online, Dion Waiters says the Cavs, “don’t want to settle for no 7- or 8-seed.  We could probably be a 6-seed or something like that.”  Though unsaid, this projection seems interwoven with a strong inclination towards analytics.  Clearly he learns much from Chris Grant.  Make it happen, young padawan.

Here’s a little article about Dion from Jeff McDevitt at cityofbasketballlove.  Really the article is about Waiters’ cousin, Traci Carter, who is following Dion’s footsteps and leaving Philly to attend a New Jersey boarding school.  Dion discusses his similar move aiding personal development and also a “no friends” mantra on the court, explaining his on-court demeanor.

Chad Ford’s latest mock draft shows the Cavs taking Nerlens Noel and Sergey Karasev, thereby completing their starting lineup of 22-and-unders: Irving, Waiters, Karasev, Thompson, and Noel.  I can dig it, but a bit more experience will be needed to hit Dion’s sixth-seed projection.

Dr. James Andrews told ESPN that Noel is doing well with his recovery.

Mary Schmitt Boyer answers a lot of readers questions yesterday.

–Update–

Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio offers a news dump about the Cavs: the interest in Ben McLemore, an Andy update, a list of available big men, Danny Granger’ status, and this offer, which is a little hard to believe.

The Mavs offering the 13th pick and veteran forward Shawn Marion to the Cavs for the Cavs’ two second-round selections (Nos. 31 and 33) and a 2014 pick. The Cavs passed on the offer.

In case you’ve just emerged from a self imposed period of ludditry, the Heat are returning to the the NBA finals for the third year in a row.  And no, I’M NOT BITTER.  Now that that’s out of the way, some Cavs news.

DraftExpress.com has completed it’s latest mock draft and has Cleveland selecting Nerlens Noel #1, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope #19, Erick Green #31, and Ricky Ledo #33.

Cavs will be holding workouts this week with Caldwell-Pope, and, I’m sure, many others.

Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report checks in with a list of draft picks that would be “a perfect fit” for the Cavs.

Machine Gun Kelly apparently won a regional Emmy for his work on the Cavs intro video.

Oy.  It’s a slow news day in Cavalier land.

Well, the Dion Waiters twitter feed is always prolific and fascinating.  From what I’ve gleaned, he was working out at Cleveland Clinic courts late last night, has a charity bowling tournament coming up, and is running a basketball camp in NJ later this summer.  I’m really excited about that first bit of news.

Finally, and most significantly, Vitaly Potapenko is returning to Cleveland.  The pride of Wright State, and the Cavs’ 12th pick in the 1996 NBA draft, the “Ukraine Train” has been hired as a player development coach for the Cavs after a stint as an assistant in the D-League, most recently for the Santa Cruz Warriors.  Potapenko played for the Cavs for a little over two years before he was traded to Boston for Andrew DeClerq and a first round pick.

Vitaly’s handle was always one of my favorite Cavs nicknames.  Is it a top 5?  Commentariat, give us your favorite Cavalier monikers.

– Update –

Thanks to Colin McGowan who found these Dion Waiters laptop rapping videos, and who noted, “I knew they existed.  Not from any sort of source.  I just sensed it.  Somewhere in the universe, clips of Dion Waiters rapping in front of a webcam existed.”

More draft combine news out.  The agility, speed, and leaping measurements are out, at least for those who participated.  Here is the link.  One of the best bloggers in the business, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, does a good job pondering what it all does and doesn’t mean, here.

The big winners?  Shane Larkin of Miami bested the vertical (44″), the 3/4 court sprint (3.08 seconds), was tied for second in no step vertical (34.5″), and was 5th in agility drills.  At 5’10″, Larkin can jump and touch four inches above the rim from a standstill.  I’m 5’10″, Shane Larkin, and I hate you.

Other winners include N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie (pictured above) who had a 40″ vertical, a 10.19 agility drill (#1), and a 3.10 second 3/4 court sprint (#2).  At 6’7″ with a 7’2″ wingspan, expect this showing to push Leslie into the first round, where he would be a good backup plan to Otto Porter.  Cody Zeller had a very nice showing as well, with a 37’5″ standing vertical, a sprint time of 3.14 (#6), and an agility time of 10.4.  Those are extremely good numbers for a guy who measured over 7 feet in shoes.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the 6’6″ shooting Guard from Georgia also posted very nice speed and agility numbers, likely increasing his draft stock after a season where he posted good numbers, but his team played poorly.

Players who didn’t fare so well included Deshaun Thomas who posted the worst agility drill at 12.94, the fifth worst sprint at 3.53 and a 32″ vertical.  My boys Rudy Gobert and Kelly Olynyk were the slowest of the bunch at 3.59 and 3.57 seconds respectively.  Olynyk at least posted a decent agility drill, but Gobert trailed only Thomas at that too.  DraftExpress has been tracking these things for a while now, and their results weren’t good historically, either.  In Gobert’s defense, players of his size rarely compete in these events, and I give him his props for trying.  His numbers compare favorably with a guy not quite his size, Brook Lopez.

In other news, Mary Schmitt Boyer of Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer explores whether the Cavs should acquire Paul Pierce and many other topics in her “Hey Mary” Q&A.

In the big man round-up, Terry Pluto drops the intel that the Cavs are interested in Greg Oden still, and the News Herald’s Bob Finnan notes that the Cavs could be a landing spot for Pau Gasol, as well as conjecturing on multiple topics like whether Andrew Bynum will get a max contract.

Due to massive computer issues on my part, a podcast with Robert and Colin has been delayed.  Fortunately, there’s lots to discuss on the draft front.

To start, both Mary Schmitt Boyer from the Plain Dealer and Bob Finnan from the Morning Journal note how the Cavaliers are doing their best to find an underrated, special player during this week’s combine.

Jason Lloyd over at the Akron Beacon Journal covers how, surprisingly, the Cavaliers will not meet with Otto Porter at the combine.  Thankfully, he notes, Porter has made it clear he’d like to play for the Cavaliers.

On Bleacher Report, Greg Swartz details how Mike Brown will improve the current Cavs squad’s D.  Suffice to say it will be a challenge.

Finally, Rant Sports’ Cody Williams touches on Shaun Livingston’s season with the Cavaliers, and speculates about his future.

–Update–

DraftExpress just published the NBA Draft combine measurements.  Notables include Rudy Gobert with the third biggest wingspan, (7’8.5″), and the second tallest standing reach (9’7″) in combine history.  Also, Otto Porter ranks among the lightest players for his size in combine history at 6’7.5″ and 198 pounds.  The entire sortable historical database is posted here.

Not a lot of Cavs news lately, but there have been a couple stray bits of information that filtered out over the last few days.  Let’s round ‘em up.

In not so shocking news, another mock draft, this time at nbadraft.net, has the Cavs taking Otto Porter at number three.

Saturday, Bob Finnan of the News-Herald told us not to expect the Cavs to “spend like summer of 2005.”  He also reported that the Cavs are expected to “kick the tires” on O.J. Mayo in free agency this summer.

Bill Simmons over at Grantland finally completed his annual NBA trade value series which stretched over three weeks this year.  He ranks Kyrie Irving at #7, one spot ahead of Chris Paul. He sums Kyrie up nicely and ominously with a comparison to current Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson.

So we’ll see about Irving, an electric offensive player who is already one of the league’s best clutch scorers.¹⁵ He’s only two years into a favorable rookie contract. And he’s also just 21 years old, a baby for God’s sake. There’s a lot to love. Ironically, I think he’s Kevin Johnson 2.0 as a basketball player — just as devastating off the dribble, just as unstoppable getting to the rim. Let’s hope that comparison doesn’t stretch to his durability, too.

Oh, and the footnote?  “15. He’s a weak defensive player right now. Has to be mentioned. Not good at all.”

In the best news of the weekend, Mary Schmitt Boyer of Cleveland.com / The Plain Dealer dropped this pleasant bit in her “Hey Mary” Q&A column: Anderson Varejao is off blood thinners and should be ready for training camp.

Finally — and the connection to the Cavs is tenuous at best — Grantland’s Zach Lowe profiles Buckeye alum, Mike Conley.  I’ve been saying all year that Conley is the most underrated player in the NBA, and one of the best two way players out there.  If there’s one player that Kyrie Irving should be emulating when it  comes to development, it’s Conley.  Similarly ambidextrous, Conley has gone from being a “frail” defender to one of the top five in the league, and has become a pick and roll savant.  Irving could do a heck of a lot worse than becoming a better version of Mike Conley.

Self indulgently, I’ll leave you with this gem from Simmons on pick-up basketball, just cause I liked it so much.

I love playing basketball — even now, with my body breaking down and my game decaying to alarming degrees — if only because it’s one of the few places left on earth where you can connect with total strangers like that. Age doesn’t matter, backgrounds don’t matter, nothing matters. You have four teammates, they can be anybody, and you either know how to click with them or you don’t.

–Update–

Well, speaking of teams of five random guys, nba.com posted the all-rookie squads this afternoon, and Dion Waiters made the first team, along with Anthony Davis, Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, and rookie of the year, Damian Lillard.  Tyler Zeller represented the Cavaliers on the second team, but was the lowest vote getter on the two teams.  Still, the fact that Zeller beat out the likes of Moe Harkless and Andrew Nicholson when voted on by a panel of 30 NBA head coaches bodes well for him.  Congratulations, Dion and Tyler.

Breaking conjecture: Chad Ford—in his pre-lottery mock draft that, while interesting, is the hypotheticalest article because we have no idea where the Cavs will be selecting come June—has the Cavs taking Otto Porter with the third pick. We’re probably going to be beating each other over the head with chairs by the time the draft rolls around while debating the merits of Porter, Victor Oladipo, Alex Len, et al., so I advise that, for your mental health, you not worry too much about what the mocks say until at least after the lottery. Otto Porter, though, huh? He has very long arms, a great motor, and intangibles so strong they threaten to become actual things. I give it an A-minus. (I have almost no idea what I’m talking about.)

Oh, and Kyrie Irving is going to hold some coaching clinics in his native Australia this summer. No word yet on whether or not, during downtime, he plans to shoot a commercial in which he dribbles through a pack of dingos, crosses up a koala, then finds a kangaroo—which basically has the same catching and leaping ability as Tristan Thompson—for the slam, but that would be super cool. (Get at me Nike’s marketing department! I have tons of great ideas!) Maybe the kangaroo could wear a Thompson jersey? (See what I mean?)

“One name that makes sense is former Cavs guard Eric Snow, who was an assistant under Larry Brown at SMU this past season. He doesn’t have vast coaching experience, but he seems like he’d be a Brown-type guy. He’s disciplined, hard-working and no-nonsense. Snow, a Canton native, played for the Cavs from 2004-08. The Cavs could keep one of the holdovers from Coach Byron Scott’s staff — Jamahl Mosley or Nate Tibbetts — or perhaps Canton Charge coach Alex Jensen. One former player who likely called Brown is ex-Cavs forward Donyell Marshall, who is living in the Cleveland area. He coached in the NBA Development League two years ago.” [Bob Finan - The News Herald]

“It was a stunning admission, even from a man as emotional as Dan Gilbert.” [Marla Ridenour - Akron Beacon Journal]

“The Cavs are interested in Oden, but I’m not sure if that interest is going to translate into a deal _ and certainly not before this summer’s free-agent signing period begins in July. Oden will have other suitors, and he may go to the highest bidder, which probably won’t be the Cavs. A lot will depend on what happens between now and then, especially with regard to the NBA lottery and draft and, perhaps, trades.” [Mary Schmitt Boyer - The Plain Dealer]

“So frustrated did the Cavs owner become that after the Cavs 113-103 loss to visiting Denver on Feb. 9, Gilbert tweeted, “We have made good progress recently but when the Cleveland Cavaliers arrive back to the top tier of the NBA we will be a DEFENSIVE 1st team.” This came during the team’s best month of the season.” [Mary Schmitt Boyer - The Plain Dealer]

“Dan Gilbert explicitly called firing Brown three years ago a mistake, though it seems most people still think he was right to do it back then. My feelings that summer were mostly of despair. I didn’t think LeBron was going to come back, and I doubted any other coach would be as good for the Cavaliers as Mike Brown. I didn’t like the firing then, but I believe I was in the minority.” [David Zavac - Fear The Sword]

“What’s next: His contract is up and if Scott were still the coach, the plan was supposedly to let him test the market. That likely remains the case. But there’s little doubt Livingston is Brown’s kind of guy. Consider it 50-50 that he returns.” [Sam Amico - Fox Sports Ohio]

Of players involved in more than 10% of the Cavaliers possessions, Shaun Livingston fared best in raw plus minus.

Free Agent List by Team

Commentariat: choose 1 free agent you would like the Cavs to pursue, and provide your ideal (try to be realistic) contract details.  I’ll start: DeMarre Carroll: 4 years @ 2 million a year.  He was given the most opportunity to contribute in February, where he averaged slightly over 20 minutes a night.  During that stretch he posted an ORTG and DRTG of 109.6 and 95.3, respectively.  His per-minute numbers stuff looks like a slightly more active version of Alonzo Gee.  But based on some advanced statistics, Carroll had a superior season.  He’s also 2 inches taller than Gee and the Cavs are undersized at SG, SF, and PF right now.  I think he could be an upgrade over Gee in Mike Brown’s system and would command a smaller contract.  A 4 year contract would bring him to age 31.

So what are we talking here? Tyler Zeller and the Lakers pick? It's a deal.

I don’t have anything particular to say about these recent rumors, and don’t want to write a thousand words about it anyways.

One is an unflattering take on Cleveland’s fantasy to obtain LaMarcus Aldridge. To summarize, the theme is that the Cavs are doomed.

And Chris Broussard at ESPN says Cleveland is eyeing Kevin Love and Aldridge, due to the franchise’s poorly kept secret that they want to lure LBJ back in 2014 (insider content).   Ummmm…that’s a lot to chew on, too.

Barring details of what comprises these imaginary mega-deals, I’d rather think about the draft.  Kevin Pelton thinks that Otto Porter is worth 3+ WARP next year; slightly less than expected from Love or Aldridge, but it is a reality that I can comprehend.

Sorry about the limited opinion here.  Next week, I promise some draft related content.  Hopefully twice.

Commenters, make sense of it all.

UPDATE: Mike Brown claims he has NOT reached out to any assistants.

https://twitter.com/PDcavsinsider/status/327136225288933377

John Kuester will re-join the Cavaliers.  Boy is this moving quickly, and in plenty of time for the staff to meet with Chris Grant and the analytics department to go over draft scenarios.

https://twitter.com/SamAmicoFSO/statuses/327091453044076548

Just to re-iterate, the Cavaliers, in 2008-2009, won 66 games, and sported the 4th most efficient offense in the NBA.  They did this, despite doling out 4000 minutes to Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, rookies J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson, Lorenzen Wright, and Tarence Kinsey.

More from Amico:

“Brown, officially introduced as the Cavs’ coach Wednesday, will add former Detroit coach John Kuester and former L.A. Lakers assistant Kyle Triggs to his staff, a source told FOX Sports Ohio. Nate Tibbetts and Jamahl Mosley will be retained from Byron Scott’s staff, the source added.  Bernie Bickerstaff, who took over for Brown briefly with the Lakers earlier this season, could also be added in an advisory/coaching role.”

“[Jamahl] Mosley has spent the last two years working with power forward Tristan Thompson and was vital in the player’s progress between his rookie and sophomore campaigns.” [Scott @ WFNY]

Link to the Past:

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2008/12/brown_credits_assistant_kueste.html