Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. UNLESS THE GOAL IS TO LOSE, LUKE WALTON NEEDS TO BE WEARING A SUIT DURING GAMES. WE ARE NOT SURE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING, BYRON SCOTT.
This guy is really good (and apparently bowled a few frames last night). The player's backing him up...not so good.
Walton played seven minutes last night, a timeframe during which Milwaukee outscored Cleveland by sixteen points, part of a stretch where a 22 to 10 lead became a 28 to 41 deficit. Walton’s PER is NEGATIVE 9.9. His Offensive Rating is 28. During his twenty-three minutes this year, the Cavs have been outscored by thirty-eight. I know the amazing bench disparities of the first three games are not all Luke Walton’s fault, but his name needs to officially become “Luke Walton’s Expiring Contract”, and we do not need to see him on the court. Play Leuer or Play Samardo.
Really, Byron, fix the rotations in general. The Sloan / Gibson backcourt is not going to work. Playing five bench players as a unit (especially including Walton) obviously leaves the Cavs at a major disadvantage. Generally speaking; keep two of Kyrie, Andy, Dion and TT on the court. The 31 to 6 run was amazingly frustrating for me to watch, and I am sure it was for Coach Scott, too. He has the ability to do something about it. Please make changes immediately.
Aside from the horrendous seven minutes fueled by the Sloan – Gibson – Miles – Walton – Zeller quintet, the Cavs were the better team last night. They were a Brandon Jennings buzzer-beater away from overtime. This seems encouraging, as on the second night of a back-to-back, on the road, against a possible playoff team; last night was the type of game I could foresee the Cavs being dominated. They were not though. After falling behind, they clawed back to take the lead early in the third. The teams traded buckets the rest of the way, until Milwaukee stretched to a seven-point lead with under two-minutes remaining, as Cleveland showed a shocking inability to contain Mike Dunleavy or Larry Sanders. If last night serves as any indication; those two may receive All-Star invites, with their 46 points befuddling Cleveland on only 21 field goal attempts. At the end though of course, Mr. Clutch, Kyrie Irving scored seven points in the last minute-and-a-half to force a tie. A desperation Milwaukee buzzer beater sealed Cleveland’s losing fate, and the Bucks walked away 105 to 102 victors. The battle of the bench was won by Milwaukee 62 to 15.
I don't like Brandon Jennings or Mike Dunleavy anymore.
A few notes:
Offensively, Kyrie proved great again. He scored 27 on 63% true shooting, nailing jumpers off pull-ups and out-of-spins, and attacking the paint. The way he puts spin on the ball to convert layups off the glass is amazing; Derrick Rose-esque. His seven assists generally set Cavs bigs up for easy finishes. The Kyrie-to-Andy screen-and-roll is a thing of beauty that needs to stay in intact. Occasionally sloppy however, one of Kyrie’s four turnovers came with a minute to go, marring the otherwise excellent comeback. Finally, Kyrie obviously worked on his left hand during the summer, but on at least one occassion last night, he shot lefty even when unnecessary. Kyrie, we know you are good; there is no need to add degree-of-difficulty.
Somewhere between Lebron leaving, the hurt wrist last year, and tank-a-palooza 2012; the phenomenon of Anderson Varejao “taking a leap” has been overlooked. He tallied 20 points and 17 rebounds last night. During a twelve point third quarter; he drilled three jumpers and flashed his high-post drive into a righty hook. Last year’s averages of eleven points & eleven rebounds are surely in play this season. Borderline all-star discussion could be reasonable. Sometime in the last two seasons, Andy hit his ‘peak’, and it is a joy to watch. I do think he is over-helping on defense, frequently allowing his man scoring opportunities. The Nazr Mohammed drive-from-the-three-point-line on Friday night was one example; last night’s Larry Sanders explosion another.
It was not a great game for Waiters. He nearly air-balled a three. A possession later, he lost the ball in traffic, then complained about a perceived foul, while his guy, Monta Ellis, sprinted down court for an un-obstructed lay-up. He missed a box-out, allowing an easy Dunleavy finish, and seven of his twelve field goals were of the inefficient ‘long-two-point’ variety. But I ain’t mad at ya, Dion. He’s engaged on defense, and has displayed both an ability to get to the basket and be a shot-maker. From a twenty year old who is three games into an NBA career, I am content with his output.
C.J. Miles has been bad. Almost impossibly bad. Like he can’t get worse. Averaging 3.3 points and 2.3 turnovers per 17 minutes is not what Cleveland signed up for. Last night, he shot 0 for 6 and lost the ball three times. He’s not a good three point shooter, but is hoisting them at career-high frequency, including 3 more last night. His drives are out of control and a complete mess. He has not shot a free throw in three games. After Omri Casspi’s horrendous start to last season, now CJ this year…did Lebron leave a curse that forever befalls Cleveland small forward acquisitions? I hope not. Miles has a seven-year track record as a tolerable NBA player; this has to get better.
Speaking of Omri Casspi…where is he?
Alonzo Gee played really well last night, finishing with 18 points and 6 assists. He repeatedly put the ball on the floor with solid results, including a lefty baseline drive for a layup, and later, a ferocious posterizing of Larry Sanders. He canned two shots from long range, and nabbed a couple of steals. Even when it’s working really well; I still get nervous every time AG handles the rock. Something deep in my brain tells me, “this should not be part of the offense. He should be shooting open threes and finishing fast breaks”. Anyways, all the dribbling worked for him last night. His defense was occasionally suspect however, as he wandered away from Dunleavy, in part allowing the aforementioned offensive explosion from the Bucks’ small-forward-sub.
Donald Sloan scored eight, making two from deep, including once while getting fouled on the last possession of the third quarter. His other make was a twenty-foot shot-clock-buzzer beating jumper. This is all fine and well, but offensive-success-via-Sloan-jumpers seems nonreproducible. As a career 31% long-range shooter in the D-League and only 17% in NBA games; his early season 60% shooting is probably unsustainable. Even with those three made threes in five attempts, his PER is single digits. In my obligatory need to reference this; let Dion get the reps as second-string primary ball-handler. He needs the experience for later, plus the team is probably better now. Or keep playing the most overmatched lineups in the entire NBA. The choice is yours, Coach Scott.
Man, that stretch with the pick-up league lineup masquerading as an NBA second string was brutal. It felt like Byron Scott was mad at me for something and he was punishing me by making me watch such awful basketball. “You think I enjoy watching this?! I don’t. But you made me do it. Now, think about what you’ve done.”
I’m sorry, Byron. Whatever I did to upset you, I take it back. Just don’t put Luke Walton back on a court with Donald Sloan and CJ Miles again, please!
Kevin (and others): I think Scott is playing Walton is the early season so teams can get some film on him to hopefully determine he’s still at the least worthy of being a 10th or 11th man on an NBA roster. Cuz with his expiring contract looming critical at the trade deadline, teams that are likely to trade for his contract would rather sit him at the end of their bench rather than be forced to buy him out.
But, ya, he’s no power forward, and he’s generally played like crap…but he’s a good guy, has got great bloodlines, and the Cavs are just doing him a little favor right now–making him more attractive to other teams. Would be nice if Luke could hold up his end of the bargain and at least hold his own on the court, but so far all he’s doing is playing himself out of the rotation and out of potential trade-deadline deals. But those two words–”expiring contract”–are magic in the NBA!
Agree that Waiters should be the second-unit PG alongside Boobie at the two; I’ll suggest Casspi should be given a chance to start at SF, with Gee coming off the bench to lead the second group along with Waiters. CJ Miles looks absolutely horrendous, but a guy like that generally needs to play to come out of that kind of funk, but he may have to take a seat for a while.
And Leuer and Samuels both need to see some consistent minutes, even if they’re only 10 to 15 per night, instead of Walton, and right now, Miles.
Last nights game was the first one I’ve seen since last year. But been keeping up with the posts and recaps on this website (thanks to Mr. Hetrick’s analysis’s or is it analysese?)
Anywho, got my first glimpse of the “bench” that all you have been criticizing. Egads! While watching that monstrosity in action, one thing kept coming back at me. At the very least the starting 5 is gonna be exhaused 20 games into this season but its gonna lead to injuries.
The starting 5 plays balls to the wall to start the game. Then again when they come back in. And then again in the 4th. Byron can’t expect them to maintain that level for 82 games. Kyrie having to drive over and over again, no matter how well he does that, keeps bringing up the image of Rick Mahorn’s elbow to Mark Price’s head. He’s going to get hurt if he feels the pressure to constantly have to make up for the bench’s failures.
AV constantly fighting bigs in the paint for hustle rebounds and jumping around like he does might lead to an ankle injury or a fall leading to a wrist injury again. The way they were going after loose balls last night was like a playoff game instead of game 3 to start the season.
Every possession on this team counts so much more when the starting 5 is in due to the bench putting them into such a bad hole.
And yes, chance of injury is possible on every possession but I feel the way these guys were playing against Milwaukee on the 2nd night of back to backs in the first week of the season is gonna increase the odds.
Also, all I know of Omar Casspi is what I saw last year. You guys say he had a really good preseason. CJ Miles looked horrid last night. Lets hope Byron gives Omar a chance soon as I’m sure he’s losing confidence not getting minutes when he played well in preseason and then he might press too much when he does get his chance to prove he belongs. Yes, he’s a professional and that shouldn’t matter but he’s also human and loss of confidence happens all the time in sports.
And of course, Walton needs to sit for the rest of his Cavs career. He can play on the Heat all he wants.
Looking forward to some lineup changes next game.
Amen Kevin. This can’t be stressed enough: Luke Walton proves that you can’t win an NBA game in 4 or 7 minutes, but you can certainly lose it. Playing Luke Walton at power forward is like playing Drew Gooden at point guard. No. That’s being generous. It’s like playing Hasheem Thabeet at point guard. It’s like playing Boobie Gibson at center. I feel like the Cavs are playing 4 on 5 when he’s on the floor. There was an exchange last night where Fred McCloud asked, “Austin, why do you think the Cavs bench is playing so much better in the second half?” At which point I screamed at the TV:” BECAUSE LUKE WALTON IS NOT PLAYING!”
There comes a point at which the coach and the organization are selling out the starters and the rest of the guys giving maximum effort. A Walton / Sloan pick and roll is tanking in October. I know I called for entertaining losses, but I don’t want to have to watch it.
Gee looked great on offense: possibly his best game offensively as a Cav. He’s finally learned to go left! He got buckets or fouls on two possessions doing that. Teams are still sitting on his right hand, but if he keeps going left, good things are going to happen.
TT looked fine, I can’t get on his only 6 boards because he helped make it possible for Andy to gret 17. He wasn’t really noticeable on offense or defense for most of the game, but at 30 minutes, the lowest of the starters, he could have easily played another 7 minutes: the 7 minutes that Luke Walton played.
Waiters had some great moments, and a couple poor ones. The fumbled drive in the last 3 minutes hurt, but it was a rookie play. His sins are sins of effort and execution. He seems to relish defense and passing.
Miles seems like he has to get to his “spots” to be effective, and right now, he has no idea how to get to those spots, and the team isn’t helping him get there. The team needs a real backup point guard or to play Waiters there, you know, if their goal is winning.
Kyrie is one of the best closers in the game right now. That is all that need be said. HOWEVER, what the heck was he doing on the inbounds defense at the end of the game? He was guarding NO ONE. Standing to the side, no hands up, not guarding the ball or any other player… With .7 left there is absolutely no reason to guard the inbounder, unless you want to put a really tall player on him to bother the pass. There’s no possibility to pass back to the inbounder, so Irving should have been guarding another player. When it was obvious the action was on screens from the top of the key, Irving should’ve jumped out there. This is an execution or a coaching error. If it were me, I’d have put Tristan or Andy on the inbounder to bother the pass. To get a shot off in .7, the pass has to be absolutely perfect and this is much harder to do with someone pressuring.
Anderson Varajao: tied with Pau Gasol as the best high post player in the league. The new all-star rule sucks because Andy is playing center better than any player in the East right now.
I am starting to sour on Byron Scott. He’s either making consistently bad coaching decisions, being force to play rotations that don’t make sense by the front office, or trying to lose or maybe not trying to win.
I honestly do not comprehend Byron Scott’s line of thought. It scares me. Maybe he owes a favor to Bill or something.
BScott seems to be trying to balance two things that limit his ability to let Waiters run the 2nd unit: 1) limiting Waiters minutes to 25-30 and 2) getting Waiters and Irving on the court at the same time. If Waiters runs the 2nd unit, you would have to cut into number 2). I think this would help the team in the short-run, but in the long-run I would rather see Irving and Waiters learn to play together.
In my view, even in the long, Waiters should be expected to be ‘a guy that runs the offense when Kyrie sits’. Might as well start getting reps doing that now. Splitting his time evenly between with-Kyrie and without-Kyrie has benefits.
A bit of lineup staggering would also be beneficial towards getting Miles and Zeller some minutes with Kyrie. Certainly Zeller is part of the future, and Miles may be, too. All of these guys need to learn to play together in a variety of packages.
Kevin – I agree. But that is in a world where both Waiters and Irving play 35-40 minutes a game. If Scott played them at those minutes, I am sure he would make sure that at least one was on the floor at all times (like the Heat with Wade/James). But, because they want Dion to come along slowly, in the short-run they would have to cut into the Irving/Waiters minutes together drastically if they want Dion on the floor for all of the minutes that Irving is not.
I like the read, just disagree with Gee on defense. He gave Jennings issues all night long and wasn’t on Dunleavy most of the night, that would be the back up team of Miles/Walton/Boobie.
Scott probably doesn’t want to overwhelm Waiters and that’s why were not seeing him overlap into the second unit. He needs to learn to play with Irving. Perhaps he could leave Kyrie on the floor with the bench slobs and then rest KI with Waiters. I dunno. The starters are solid.
Kevin, I think you kind of focused on the negative with Dion last night. You kind of picked out individual plays that quite frankly you can do to any player on the court, including Andy. But I ain’t mad at ya, you just have high exectations. Waiters defense continues to impress. Oh and yeah, it’s early but looking at the all the rookies so far, it looks like first team All-Rookie for Dion. He’s arguably the 3rd best rookie so far and I see no reason why he can’t continue to improve on that position. Btw, an O-fer for Beal last night. Neither he nor MKG nor Barnes is averaging 8 points. Grant looks a tad bit “smarter” today, eh, doubters? Just sayin…and yes, it is way early…
Btw, free throw shooting last night for the Cavs was atrocious. Obviously cost us the game…
Walton looks like Will Farrell playing basketball…horrible.
Hot Sauce,
If Kyrie plays 34 minutes, then 14 Dion minutes per game would be as ‘back-up’ PG. He could play sixteen minutes with Kyrie, if Dion played thirty per game. Personally, I would be fine with that. I want to see additional line-up mixing. Zeller and Miles both deserve more of an opportunity to play with Kyrie, Dion, or both.
Kj,
I’m trying not to view Dion solely through rose-colored glasses. I agree his defense has looked stout. A nice play early was the TT / Waiters trap, that led to a poor Jennings pass, a Kyrie steal, and finished with a Gee transition dunk. Pretty cool sequence involving all of the 25-and-under core. Also, with regards to free throws, D-Wait needs to start making them. 50% on the season so far.
NATE! Thanks for bring that up on the last play…Kyrie didn’t even have his arms out…gotta defend to the last shot!
Corey,
I probably could have been more fair about Gee’s defense. I concede that many of Dunleavy’s points were not Gee’s fault. There were at least two possessions though when Gee was guarding Dunleavy, but wandered away and left an open three. In addition to the names you listed, there was at least one play where Dunleavy posted Waiters and shot over him. That will happen when the Cavs match Dion up on 6′ – 9″ tall guys. Cavs just couldn’t answer Dunleavy, which seems odd.
I think the Cavs are easing into the season…even though we don’t like it.
There’s tons of potential with Kyrie-Dion, you have no idea what Grant is telling BScott to do regarding the second unit.
Waiters minutes will grow, but remember, he has NOT played anything like an 82-game season…neither have Kyrie, Tristan, or Alonzo.
Agreed. Once again great read. I’ll be here throughout the season. Love the Waiters talk on here, as it seems to be the most credible source to read on the net and not being in Cleveland any longer(Zona) this is my go to for Cavs news. Keep it up.
I was at this game and while he struggled at times, waiters passed the eye test IMO. He needs to get stronger with the ball ( a couple times he made nice moves to get to the hoop but couldn’t finish or had the ball knocked away) but that should come with experience. He had some good passes and was engaged on defense, although he was guarding dunleavy for a stretch and got torched. Obviously, he has a ways to go, but hes gonna be a good player and pair well with Kyrie.
I dig, Kevn and it’s “wine-colored glasses” not “rose-colored!” Ha!
Omri Casspi is hopefully in dress clothes sitting next to Luke Walton for the rest of the season.