Links to the Present
2013-07-01
Free agency notes and thoughts by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst Monday on WKNR, Cleveland’s the Really Big Show. Interviews with Sergey Karasev and Chris Grant from last week after the draft are posted here as well.
The Beacon Journal’s Jason Lloyd comments via twitter that there is no real movement from the Cavs organization on the Greg Oden Front.
The Cavs are interested in Andrew Bynum according to Glenn Moore of Cleveland.com.
Dion Waiters’s basketball camp started Monday at his high school, Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, and continues throughout the week. Here is a nice little writeup on Dion in the South Jersey Courier-Post by Jeff McMenamin.
Kyrie’s down under right now. Check out his twitter page for a bunch of mini videos of his time in Australia.
Speaking of Twitter, here are Anthony Bennett’s Twitter pics. Fascinating. Happy Canada Day, TT and Tony. (It was Monday).
@ Kyrie SwIrving
Thabo: 48.1 FG%, 2012-13 reg season
Tony Allen: 44.5 FG%, 2012-13 reg season
Only 3%, but not sure why you think Allen shoots better.
That being said, Franklin will end up a much better player than Felix and I look forward to you explaining why Felix was still a better pick.
Yes, nearly everyone agrees that he missed opportunities in the 2nd round. And we’re frustrated over that.
If it turns out that free agents don’t want to come to Cleveland, we’ll have to value our 2nd round picks more. And we’ll have to become successful on hitting on them. However, I’m hoping the Cavs will be able to add a few players once the first wave of players are signed and teams begin to jettison contracts.
@Hot Sauce – I’m not calling for his head. In my opinion he missed some opportunities in the 2nd round.
Vesus, the fact that grant brought him in to work him out shows he clearly was making a conscious decision that Carrick was a better prospect. We don’t need an undersized innefficient point-forward, we need an efficient off ball SG (Dion, Kyrie, and Bennett will do most of our ball dominating over a 2nd round pick, one would hope). They are both good at Defense and rebounding, althought yes, it seems that Franklin gets higher marks in both areas, but Carrick was no slouch. And the difference would have to be quite large to make up for the difference in… Read more »
Wages of wins certainly loves him, Vesus.
When I talk about Jamaal Franklin, I’m not just talking about a “projected first rounder”, I’m talking about a guy that grant brought in to workout so clearly there was at least some interest. Maybe the workout changed Grant’s mind, but I find it hard to believe that a guy with his motor and skill set will fail to deliver at least 2nd round value. I agree that Grant wasted the 2nd round entirely; Franklin will turn out to be the steal of the draft.
But here’s the thing on the second rounder they traded away. Why would you trade away a second rounder and then sign an undrafted free agent? Wouldn’t you rather give Erick Green, who led the nation in scoring, a shot rather than an Australian scrub?
@raoul – that made me laugh. @Nate – You make some really good points. I personally don’t think the blogs or media are clueless. What I don’t understand is the aggressive way they slander Chris Grant’s skills before a player has even played a game. We can all agree that evaluating talent is difficult. But to say Grant “mishandled” something or made the “wrong” pick is silly. Grant made an informed call. To me, it seems more interesting and constructive to try to understand what Grant is doing, rather than argue about how you (I don’t mean you personally, but… Read more »
I have to say that I couldn’t disagree with Raoul more. The draft previews are not made by the “clueless.” I consider it like the difference between open sourced and closed sourced software. There is wisdom in crowds. Both approaches have their advantage. People who analyze college players in the media and blogosphere, some of them have amazing talents. Many of them have ended up in NBA front offices. Jon Hollinger, basically got a job running an NBA team after about 15 years of doing this on his own and working his way up to ESPN, etc. What has become… Read more »
For example,
Everyone was astounded NN didn’t go first. What’s the matter, didn’t the team read my predictions?
Everyone was astounded NN didn’t go second. What’s the matter, didn’t the team read my predictions?
Everyone was astounded NN didn’t go third. What’s the matter, didn’t the team read my predictions?
Everyone was astounded NN didn’t go fourth. What’s the matter, didn’t the team read my predictions?
Everyone was astounded NN didn’t go fifth. What’s the matter, didn’t the team read my predictions?
Finally! A team read my projections to figure out what to do!
Tom,
Who cares if players are “projected to be first round picks”. By who? Most of the draft previews are made by the clueless. You seem to think they know more than the teams scouting departments and GM’s. If these guys knew anything, they would be getting paid big bucks rather than living in their mother’s basements.
Hot Sauce – it was mishandled in my opinion because Felix most likely could have been brought to camp as an undrafted FA. Some of the other guys sitting there were projected to be 1st round picks and future rotation players. Second round picks are unguaranteed so you want to think of it as a great place to experiment and try things without the burden of a rookie contract. Glen Rice just dominated the D League and led his team to the championship. Mike Muscala has improved considerably every year and was a statistical juggernaut last year. You can try… Read more »
“There is more to analyzing a prospect than shooting percentage.” Chris Grant would agree. And, after extensive evaluation, he thought that two future picks were better than 31, and thought that Carrik was the best choice at 32. The idea that these decisions were “mishandled” is based solely on the rankings various media outlets built up in the public’s head, which clearly Grant thinks were wrong.
Let’s give it some time and see who is right.
I’m not going to lose sleep over the second round at all. I’m fine with Grant maintaining his cap room. There’s no point in him overpaying a backup PG or SF early in free agency just to do it. There will be other teams who blow it up after free agency. Atlanta isn’t getting Paul or Howard. I can’t see Ferry signing Milsap and Mayo just to make a run at being .500 for the next couple years. I liked Ellington and wanted him back, but perhaps Grant said that Miles and Karasev being your wing 3 point guys was… Read more »
@ Kyrie SwIrving
There is more to analyzing a prospect than shooting percentage. Are you suggesting that Thabo Sefolosha is a better player than Tony Allen because he shoots a higher FG%?
Not to mention that you’re comparing Franklin’s biggest statistical weakness to what appears to be Felix’s statistical strength. Just because one guy is a better shooter doesn’t mean he will have the better career. Franklin does literally everything else better except protect the ball. He also had a much different role in school as the offensive and defensive focal point.
errr, I meant Felix is an inch taller and a better shooter and all that.
I don’t understand, outside of all the predraft rankings, why everyone hates Carrick and thinks Franklin would be much better. Franklin is 11 months younger, i guess, but he’s also an inch taller (on a team with a short backcourt), shoots 10% better from the field AND from 3 on a team who’s starter himself has never been a knockdown shooter, and played in a tougher conference. He also rebounds extremely well for a SG, though not quite as well, and he doesn’t pass as well or get to the line as much, but he’s also doesn’t turn it over… Read more »
I don’t understand all the vitriol pointed at howard. I understand some of it, but to pretend like he’s not worth a max deal? I mean, he has acted really immaturely the last 2 years, and has a serious injury issue to deal with, but he looked like he was feeling better toward the end of the year, farther removed from his back surgery, and the guy is 27 and coming off a “down” year where he only averaged an 18/14/2.5 post all star break. His free throws still suck and aren’t looking like they are getting any better, but… Read more »
@ Vesus
“Seriously though, I would just love to have 2 minutes to find out what the hell Grant was thinking when he took Felix over Jamaal Franklin. He was a first round talent…..absolutely ponderous.”
The Cavs mishandled the second round. That’s probably the one thing that all Cavs fans are in universal agreement about. Franklin, Crabbe, Ledo all would have been good additions to the roster. Especially with letting Ellington go. Withey also would have made some sense at 33.
well, the rumor came from someone based in a large city southeast of here.
But the real point is that don’t be surprised by either
(a) what DH decides to do or
(b) a big move by CG (Paul Gasol?)
p.s. collective cap room across NBA >>> the quality of 2013 FAs
I haven’t done extensive stat research on Bennett like some of the bloggers here, but I noticed that he compares pretty favorably to Paul Millsap, except he is already a much superior long-range shooter. Plus he is coming to the league after 1 year in school, which bodes well for his future development. So if we got a better version of Paul Millsap with the #1 pick, it’s not ideal but it could definitely be worse. Seriously though, I would just love to have 2 minutes to find out what the hell Grant was thinking when he took Felix over… Read more »
The Cavs ARE going to hear from a Lakers big… but it’s not Howard.
The theme of this city … It’ll take to time to build _____.
So I was watching some of Bennett’s highlights last night and I’m genuinely excited about him. I know the competition wasn’t great but he catch and shoots quickly and with confidence. He looks extremely versatile and finishes with aggression. Not just the power of the dunk but his whole attitude, looked like he was yelling on every finish. I know it doesn’t necessarily translate into skill but the Cavs need someone with an attitude to fire up the crowd and change momentum. I like this young team and think they’ll be fun to watch, especially when they accept Brown’s defensive… Read more »
Ben F – You’re right. I took another look at the 2014 class and it’s not all that great. The top-tier guys are players who will most likely resign (Kobe, Dirk, Duncan). There are some intriguing second- or third-tier guys, like Gortat, Deng, Gasol, but I worry about overpaying those guys. Maybe I’m just making excuses for them to keep open the possibility of Lebron coming back.
Cory, You’ve obviously never been to Boise. I’m surprised any crank has made it out of the town. But I live in Stark County, so I can’t exactly talk.
JJJJ – IF Lebron opts out (not a sure thing) then he is worth pursuing next year. If he doesn’t, what other free agents are there? The 2014 flexibility is kind of not as important as many national pundits would have you believe.
The only reason why I can see our 2014 flexibility being important is because Chris Grant wants to destroy some team looking to cut cap costs in order to be players in the 2014 Free Agency (sort of the way he did the Grizzlies this last season.)
The chances of LeBron coming to Cleveland are much better than the chances that Dwight being worthwhile for ANYONE.
JJJ I agree. Kinda dead out there except for the rumors I’m not keen on (Oden/Bynum). Also, a good handful of Kevin’s Scenario 1 and 2 guys are already agreed to be signed or rumored to be signed.
Rick in Boise – S&T isn’t really even necessary anymore. A S&T only allows a player 4 years with 4.5% pay raises…we can offer Dwight that exact amount as an UFA anyways.
Man, that interview makes me miss Brian Windhorst. With all of the free agent speculation going on, he’s one of the few people who is clued into what the Cavs are thinking and what players would make sense within that. When I hear the rumors that Sam Amico and others are throwing out there, I just can’t bring myself to believe that the Cavs are going to throw away their 2014 flexibility for Pekovic or anything like that. I don’t think Lebron will be coming back, but I do think the Cavs will leave that possibility open. And I don’t… Read more »
I was unaware that crystal meth made it’s way to Boise already…There is zero chance in hell that Howard would ever sign with the Cavs.
I have always wondered why we were never even mentioned in the Howard race. We have easily enough cap room, assets for a sign and trade and a young team which would easily make the playoffs with him. Obviously the reason we weren’t is that no free agents ever sign here but I’d ay we have more chance than golden state or Atlanta (now Paul has re-signed).
I would be very happy with that deal rather than just tying all our hopes to LeBron AGAIN!!!!
Insane rumor du jour. From Utah Jazz mid-level employee. Asked “where is Dwight Howard going?”… he replied that his top management believes Eastern Conference but not Atlanta, rather a surprise team with tons of cap room and a hole at C. He said there’s only one team who fits that… :) (he also said that if this rumor could have come from DH’s agents so…. “insane” may well be the operative word, LOL) Anyway, what if CG isn’t waiting for Lebron to come home but is quietly setting up something big like this? (Is a S&T feasible so Howard gets… Read more »