That goatee is fantastic.
The Chronicle Online wrote a nice piece about the Cavs’ depth at the small forward position this year. I don’t really think that Omri Casspi counts as depth, exactly, but hey- to each man his own. And C.J. Miles just keeps coming through on the quotes. Here’s the link.
Also, a promising article from the Plain Dealer about the health of the team this year going into training camp. From Kyrie: “I’m 110 percent. No problems. I’ve been playing since the 15th of September. I’m just really excited to start training camp.” That’s nice to hear, isn’t it? Here’s the link.
On a side note, I think we can all agree that Kyrie NEEDS to maintain that goatee. It’s perfect. For all we know, this is the adjustment he needed to make “The Leap.”
Tags: Alonzo Gee, anderson varejao, c.j. miles, Kyrie Irving, Omri Casspi, plain dealer
What if he shaved his head and kept it?
@ rodney mac
Then he’d look like Byron Scott. That’d be awesome.
So Casspi remains the whipping boy of this blog. Casspi can play basketball and his ceiling is higher than that of Gee and Miles. Miles’ stats last year were worse than Casspi’s. A year that Casspi himself want’s to forget. The way I see it is that the Cavs only real small forward is Casspi. If he has a good season, the Cavs will probably be in the playoffs. If he fails again, the Cavs better look for a good small forward urgently. Both Gee and Miles are 6’6. As such you must have exceptional qualities to be a serious small forward. Gee improved a lot last season. That did not translate to teams coming looking after him in the free agency. Miles has also not being on a upward slope. What indicates that the trend is changing? The new team? Gee and Miles are nice players, but they are not the players that the Cavs need at the small forward. Casspi is the only player that has the potential to be there. It’s up to him to prove he can do it.
What have we seen from Casspi that suggest he has a “high ceiling”? He came to the Cavs as a mediocre small forward with two skills: solid athleticism and a league average 3PFG%. He didn’t shoot well at all last, and played poor defense. He’s regressed every year since his rookie season. He had one or two decent games last year. I just don’t see what he has shown that suggests he is more valuable than Gee or Miles. I don’t think those guys are all that great. But they’re better than Casspi.
Dani, since you asked. What Casspi shows is only his talent. He has never learned to play basketball because he did not come through the college basketball system (as many other foreign players do). He was a bench player in Europe because of his age (and bad available coaches). He was drafted by the wrong team. If he was drafted by the Spurs, Nuggets, OKC or the Bulls he would be a terrific player today, but he would not have been selected to the all-star rookie team or as a rookie of the month. SAC with the turmoil between Westphal, Cousins and Evans etc. derailed Casspi. Casspi with his background could not possibly adjust to Byron Scott’s requirements last crazy season. Now he knows what is expected from him. Next season he will probably still be “work in progress”, but he will show significant improvement in offence and defense. The guy is very ambitious and he is on a mission. He’s not going to give up.
@Stefan, I really do hope you are correct, I had high hopes for Casspi last year and I hope that he does bounce back and actually starts over Gee just to show him that just because he put up pedestrian numbers on a bottom feeding team doesn’t mean he can hold out of contract negotiations on the team that actually gave him the shot in the first player. I understand if he dropped like 20 a game for us but he didn’t. I think Casspi and Miles ceilings are higher than Gee’s. Lets just hope we can do what the Spurs seem to do time and time again… take players who are reeling and put them back on the path to success.
Thanks for the feedback J Hill. Predicting the future is really not my field. In the scrimmage tonight Omri Casspi was very good. Not only did he shoot 4 of 5 (80%FG), but played well overall. I hope it’s a sign of him coming back. Like I said, he can play and I believe Scott will guide him to the right direction.
That’s interesting, Stefan, I hadn’t really thought of that- he definitely has the right to a longer adjustment period than your average NBA player. Look, I would love to see him succeed. He’s an Israeli Jew, and I’m Jewish as well, so that’s a source of pride for me. Couple that with the fact he’s a Cav, and he’s one of the players in the league I would most like to see succeed. However, there’s only so long you can make excuses for a player. Omri Casspi has been in the NBA for three seasons. And he has, like it or not, regressed in each of the years following ihs rookie season. Would better coaching have helped/ Yes, without a doubt. But he hasn’t shown us much of anything yet. He had perhaps one or two solid games this year. If Casspi turns into a starting small forward this year, I’ll be cheering along with everyone else. I just think it extremely unlikely, given his career so far.