Not a whole lotta Cavs-related stuff going on right now, I gotta admit. From around the league:
-Tim Thomas is apparently about to re-up with the Mavs for year, while Skip is still looking for a job. the lesson: if you wanna miss a lot of time for personal reasons, it helps to be tall.
-So MJ’s going to give Pippen’s induction ceremony. Vegas places odds of a LeBron/Heat potshot at 5:2.
-Durant is your Vegas favorite for next season’s MVP. There’s no doubt he’s the league’s new golden boy, and may well win the award next year, but is he really the league’s best player next season?
-So the Cavs worked out Tracy McGrady. They won’t sign him, which is welcome news to be and likely many others. My question is this: McGrady was never that athletic in Houston. His assets were always his passing ability, height, and outside shooting (the latter wasn’t great, but passable.) Why is everyone acting like he can’t be a part of a rotation after another surgery? To repeat: T-MAC HAD NO ATHLETICISM IN HOUSTON. This puzzles me greatly.
-ESPN’s Cavs prediction: 13th out of 15 teams in the East. Ouch.
Seriously, that’s about all I have for tonight. Consider this an open thread of sorts if you must. Until tomorrow, campers.
I had been checking this site about 20 times a day since your last post… started to get a little worried. Then this post gets snuck in without a Twitter link. Awesome.
And yes, T-Mac can be a part of a rotation somewhere, IF he’s willing to be just a rotation player. We don’t know how he will handle the decreased role.
T-mac has to understand, just like shaq did, that he no longer has the same playing skills he once had. It’s only obvious. The fact that he doesn’t have a team to play for yet, let’s him know how undesired he curretly is.
Good luck to him. He was a good player and can still be a 10-14ppg player if placed in the right rotation. I honestly think Chicago could had been a good fit for him, but apparently after trying him out, Chicago saw that something didn’t work for them and decided to pass…
its amazing how much espn thinks the cavs will suck this year….theres no way theyll be worse than the knicks pacers or 76ers to name a few….ive said before the cavs will play .500 ball and maybe sneak in the playoffs as an 8th seed…not being super optimistic but i think this team will play harder knowing they have a lot to prove and byron scott’s uptempo style will help the team…
i thought mcgrady went to the bulls or something hahaha….guess not….how overrated was that guy…its funny that him and his cousin, vince carter are friggen train wrecks….thats a horrible family curse…
If you really think TMac was overrated or just a “good” player, check out this great piece from Eddy Rivera
http://www.magicbasketball.net/2010/08/04/the-tracy-mcgrady-manifesto/
Durant is the best scorer in the league. That doesn’t mean he is the league’s best player. However, the Lebron backlash could work in his favor. If OKC wins 50-55 games, and Durant puts up numbers similar to last year, I think he’s MVP.
Despite E$PN’s predictions, I still see the Cavs ending up (unfortunately) right around .500. I.e. exactly where you do not want to be in the NBA. With the large trade exception, Mo, Jamison, we have some attractive pieces to contenders. Hopefully we are sellers come trade deadline.
I don’t know what being the leagues best player has to do with winning the MVP award. Shaq would have about 5 if it went to the best player in the league. Durant will win the award next year, and to top it could make a serious arguement for the best player in the league by season’s end.
This team should have an average year. I put them just under the Bucks in terms of overall first five talent. They only lose out because of lack of depth currently.
I have no idea how good the Cavs will/won’t be next year. The team has been so LeBron-centric during the last several years, it’s hard to say. The only player on the roster that was even close to being an all-star without LeBron is Jamison – and he’ll likely be traded and/or have a diminished role. In addition to LeBron, Delonte and Big Z are also gone (Shaq too), so only JJ, Mo and Andy remain from our primary line-up from the past two seasons of 60+ wins. Losing 50% of your core is almost impossible to rebound from, especially when LBJ was part of it.
So, where is the hope that we will end up being even a decent team? Is it the new up-tempo offense, the development of JJ & D Green and/or the hope that Eyenga turns all that athleticism into the second coming of LeBron? Maybe Jamario, Jawad and Boobie will have break-out seasons. I don’t know. I’m a Cavs fan – always have been and always will be, but I tend to agree with ESPN that 13 out of 15 teams seems about right. I certainly don’t see a .500 season.
I guess I see the Cavs in the classic rebuild stage. We can make a coupple trades and pick-up some good draft picks and two seasons from now (assuming we can also keep the talent we develop) I see up being good again. But I just don’t see next years team as anywhere near the playoffs.
There will be no substitute for LeBron’s playmaking abilities. NONE.
The Cavs are going to be extremely bad for years to come.
…and I don’t care. I love the Cavs anyways.
I think the cavs will stay right around .500 this next season, but that is going to hurt more than help us. We’ll be stuck in mediocrity with no high draft picks for a couple years. Byron Scott will provide a good change of pace though.
Anyone else simultaneously bummed and unsurprised at the lack of nationallly televised games? Gotta say this bums me out. I’m on the west coast and I used to mark my time by when the next TV game was.
Between this and the new NBA Jam… man…
I like to joke that when you have a bad job you gotta focus on the fringe benefits. The TV schedule and loss of LBJ in NBA Jam, etc. Those are like fringe horrible opposites of benefits.
I don’t have much else to say except last year at this time this blog and Cleveland Cavs fans in general were abuzz with discussion about our new additions.
#sosad
Eh. The Cavs can be good if they want to and buy in, but the lack of an explosive swing man is really brutal. They have to be a push it and get easy buckets, and be efficient in the half court team, because they have mediocre individual defense. The thing that pisses me off about the NBA is they could be good, but I doubt Jamison and crew will do more than go through the motions. As for the East, Boston just trumped the Heat. They will absolutely punish the heat inside in the playoffs. No true centers is going to KILL Miami. There’s no way they can beat Orlando or Boston in a playoff series without some serious officiating help.
The Heat will Definitly Have Officiating help. that was the reason they won the title in 06. and As for the Cavs, I’ a fan for life I live in Cleveland but next summer I will be taking my Talents somewhere else but will never change my Allegiance. Wine And Gold forever. We will be battling Detroit for the Gutter of the Central Division and thats fine with me, I’m looking forward to seeing what JJ will bring to the table this year 20/10 guy possibly if he has a reliable 15 footer. As Austin Carr would say he Could use that to Get Himself a Bird and take it to the hole to Dunk on someone. Go Cavs
i’m kind of dreading finding out what kind of team the cavs have this season. i can’t really see them getting to 500 without lebron. take jj, i have a lot less faith in JJ without lebron feeding him. frankly, i think his trade value may plummet after the season begins and his clueless-ness on defense and immaturity on offense are highlighted. here is hoping i am wrong
The Cavs don’t have an all-star caliber big man or wing player. Hard to even be decent w/o one of the two (of course, Hickson COULD develop into that guy in the post..but that’s up in the air right now).
I personally ranked the Cavs 12th..ahead of Indiana, Detroit, and Toronto. So…thats like 32 wins or something.
35 wins tops IMHO. Hopefully they prove me wrong.
So the question is, who’s gonna be your starting 5?
I’ll go with:
Mo
Sessions
Jameson
JJ
Parker
Just did a double check on the roster and looking into Ryan Hollins I came across this vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g624a09xKQ&feature=youtube_gdata
The guy definitely has talent, but his numbers don’t show it.
If he could add 10-15lbs of muscle, bringing his weight up to 240ish – that would work wonders when battling for rebounds.
I can definitely see him and Mo/Sessions having a good pick-n-roll.
Actually thinking about it some more, I can see Hollins as a good supplier to
either Jameson, JJ or Andy. Imagine a pick-n-roll between Hollins and Mo/Sessions/Boobie and having JJ, Jameson or Andy waiting for a pass with a quick cut to the basket.
Hollins will have a trendous advantage over a defender with his height, and if he start going towards the basket with an open floor, you either let him or leave another player open for a n easy basket.
What y’all think?
Joey1320: Hollins hasn’t made and impact in the league since he came in, what makes you think he’ll all of the sudden start making a differnce now? Any player will have a few highlights that they can pull together. He’ll be a defensive presence because of his size, and he can run the floor decently well for a big, but I don’t share your optimism about being great in a pick-in-roll situation with the talent we have on this team.