The Point Four-ward: When Steady Is Exciting
2014-09-12
Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…
1.) Kyrie Irving drew some compliments from commentators Marc Kestecher and Fran Fraschilla during ESPN’s broadcast of Team USA’s 96-68 win over Lithuania in the semi-finals of the FIBA World Cup. During the fourth quarter, Fraschilla mentioned how “steady” Irving has been throughout this tournament, adding that when you think about Irving’s performances it’s difficult to pick out a bad one. Irving has been “average” at worst, and generally “very, very good.”
Irving, who played a team high 34:27 minutes on Thursday, also led the team in scoring with 18 points. His +19 was second only to James Harden’s +20.
2.) While a lot of attention has been paid to the relative goodness of Irving’s defense, his steadiness running the point for this team should jump out to Cavs fans just as much. When we last left Irving playing with a collection of really good players, he was winning the All-Star Game MVP last February. But that achievement always came with a caveat: no one plays defense in All-Star Games. Everyone looks, at least, kind of good. So, it’s been interesting (and exciting) to watch Irving run with this collection of star(ish) players and have the games actually matter.
What Irving has shown is that he can sublimate the score-first mentality he’s wagged thus far as a Cav, run a pretty nice pick-and-roll, pushed the ball well in transition and even hit some spot up shots after freeing himself up off the ball (though, his shot, compared to the quick release of Steph Curry, looks like it could use its morning cup of coffee). His efficiency has also returned, which should come as no surprise. Against Lithuania, Irving went 8-15 from the floor. He also added four assists for a club that hasn’t exactly been making love to ball movement on its Barcelona vacation.
Irving’s fancy handles were still very much on display, but rather than stalling the team’s offense, as his daring displays of dribbling so often did for the Cavs last season, they got peppered in. If part of Irving’s maturation is understanding when flash can be legitimately effective in throwing off his defender (rather than looking like a car spinning its wheels in the mud), Irving should be back well on his way back to the dynamic and efficient player Cavs fans fell in love with in his first two seasons.
If you’re looking for what a typical Kyrie Irving game might look like in the upcoming season, it wouldn’t be a shock if it looks a lot like the quietly effective game that helped Team USA down Lithuania.
Steady is exciting. Steady is sexy. Steady’s all about the Ws.
3.) Thursday’s game also gave Cavs fans the chance to revisit this generation’s Bowie-over-Jordan: the Cavs opting for Tristan Thompson over Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas in the 2011 NBA Draft. Valanciunas was solid against Team USA with 15 points and seven boards, but watching both him and Andre Drummond on the floor — and with thoughts of Rudy Gobert still dancing in my head — and, heck, even with Miles Plumlee Miles Plumlee-ing around… well, you get the idea. The Cavs had plenty of chances in the last few drafts to bring on a center of some consequence (alas, poor Tyler Zeller…) and they haven’t. This is not a crack on Thompson (or on Dion Waiters, winner of the “it’s between Waiters and Andre Drummond” war room convo in 2012), but it points out that there are some very good young centers out there — both domestically and internationally — and the Cavs absolutely need to focus on getting their own model.
Oh, yeah, I forgot… Alex Kirk. Disregard that previous paragraph.
Sorry…
4.) But, just in case you’re not convinced that Kirk is the Cavs’ long-term answer in the post, here are a few international big men who could be available for the Cavs in the 20-30 range next summer. Ilimane Diop from Senegal is 6-11 and is touted by DraftExpress as being “an exciting prospect” and “good shot blocker” who “has a good feel for the game.” Mouhammadou Jaiteh is also 6-11 with a wingspan’s wingspan of 7′ 4″. “When [Jaiteh]’s dialed in,” Jonathan Givony wrote while scouting this summer’s Adidas EuroCamp, “his sheer size allows him to be a factor around the rim as a finisher and rebounder.” And don’t forget about Andzejs Pasecniks, a Latvian big so raw his nickname could be “Crudo” who, even at 7-1, may not be done growing.
See what I just did there?? That’s some real live 2015 NBA Draft talk.
BOOM!
And who said we had to give that up just because we should have a very good team?
Kyrie Irving – looking Chris Paul-like in the FIBA games.
agree with the above 2 comments—believe we have seen so much improvement in his game——–contract issue settled ——exposure to competitive practices —-mike brown is gone —–LeBron/ love / marion / miller and the other new players pressure is off to be the man every night —motivated what he sees/ what we have here in Cleveland —wants to be part of something special—-kyrie is going to show the true kyrie this ear—should be exciting
Anyone else cheer inwardly when FIBA MVP, Kyrie Irving, was called for fighting through a screen in the second quarter? Non-Cavs fans at the sports bar I was at could never understand the significance.
This young man is going to have quite a season.
I am with you. I totally understand the “don’t count your eggs, …” aspect, but it sure seems that about 90% of what could go right, has gone right for the Cavs. The next decade could blast the “something bad always happens to Cleveland” theory to bits.
hopefully the deng remarks were made by a “FORMER ” CAVS – front office person otherwise does this allow LeBron to rethink about resigning with Cleveland —hopefully dan gilbert is quick to react / respond to this —do a thourough investigation and get this behind us as soon as possible —we do not need/ want any of this baggage hanging over the cavs head going into the season
Here is a bummer: The Danny Ferry quote about Loul Deng is attributed to someone in (then or now?) the Cavs front office. Also something about “when we got him, the Bulls had run him into the ground”. I hope this turns out to be someone gone, for example, Grant. Given that Grant is the fool who traded for a player “run into the ground”, it is a little hard to see how it is him. I think Grant played a smart hand for the first couple years. You can debate his draft picks, but without a time machine to… Read more »
I don’t think the Deng trade hurts us at all though. We don’t need those 2nd round picks for the next couple of years. We have a pretty full roster and veterans are wanting to come and play for the Cavs for once. The Bulls won the trade, but we didn’t really lose anything.
At the time, the Deng move was something that Cavs fans had been clamoring for for a long time. We had been begging for a small forward for years – in desperate need of one to get to the playoffs – and Deng was frequently identified as a player they wanted. Cavs fans also placed zero value on 2nd round picks and were eager to trade in a few assets for something meaningful. Despite the mileage, his stats hadn’t suffered. One could logically conclude that you could reduce the 29 year old’s minutes and he’d get back to full strength.… Read more »
I partly disagree. What fans were clamoring for Deng? It was well known that he was injured, and had played more minutes than ANYONE ELSE for two years running, and was getting a bit old to be playing every minute. What do you mean second round picks? That is second round picks + a first round pick (Sacramento) + right to exchange first round picks with Cavs (not worth much due to subsequent developments that Grant had ZERO inkling of). The trade also removed a big problem for the Cavs main rival: A longtime fan favorite demanding more money than… Read more »
This Bulls team is no rival of the Cavs. The Cavs have no rival in the East. You are underestimating the amount of talent the Cavs have added this offseason.
I agree with you about all these things. But the picks given up for Deng would have been nice to have had in the flurry of trades getting things in place for LeBron and KL. Or to have now, to combine with the three expiring contracts in a possible trade for someone needed. My problem is trading serious resources for a two month rental of a guy who was hurt, exhausted, and past his prime. Deng might have a couple more decent years left, good for him, I like him. He mostly needed a couple months off to recover and… Read more »
Sure, I agree that it wasn’t the smartest thing and if this offseason had turned out differently it may have hurt the Cavs. But as it is, that trade will have no bearing on this team’s future.
Well we signed a backup PG today. The Cavs have clearly been trying to upgrade the backup guard positions with Miller, Jones, and now Crawford. I’m still hoping we get Ray Allen.
Obviously they felt like we needed some better guards than the garbage we were bringing off the bench last year with Jack and Delly.
1. Who got signed? I don’t see anything about it.
2. What is your problem with Delly? He is not a starter, but is a valuable role player and would make the roster of every single NBA team. Have you ever played B-ball?
Just an illogical dislike of Delly. The guy is a great role player. He’s AV in a guard’s body. No reason to dislike the guy.
Granted, we shouldn’t be giving him 20+ minutes per night, but 10 minutes for energy and defense sounds good to me.
Chris Crawford: undrafted rookie free agent out of Memphis. Solid size, can shoot the three, but shot 37% from two last year. Solid assist to turnover ratio. He’s not going to change the calculus much. I’m betting he won’t make the team.
I agree with Raoul, hindsight is, has been and always will be 20/20. All of the players mentioned are too early in their careers to label definitively. Going forward, I think it will prove out that Waiters was the better choice over Drummond. Maybe Tristan’s game won’t stack up to either Jonas or Faried, but neither of them will get to play with LBJ, KI and KLove for the next few years either. And yet again the ghost of Tyler Zeller is mentioned. I don’t know why people miss this guy so much. I remember plenty of games where he… Read more »
Yep, Tyler Zeller was moved to get us LeBron. I don’t know why anyone has a problem with this. Backup centers are a dime a dozen.
Tell that to last year’s Heat team.
Yep. Tyler Zeller was becoming a legitimate starting C. The guy was becoming efficient and was getting pushed around less. He’s also a willing and able passer.
It would have been tremendous if we could have kept him. However, he was necessarily traded to make room for LeBron. Zeller is never going to be an All-Star. He’s just a capable starting C for the next 10 years.
I’ll take LeBron and the roster as currently constructed. Zeller is not a big loss, but we definitely could have used him.
Okay, but I won’t tell it to the previous two Heat teams (before Wade couldn’t really contribute at the same level)
Also lost in the Jonas/TT debate is that Jonas was apparently on record as not wanting to play in Cleveland at the time. That can’t be ignored as part of the ultmate decison.
Eh. That is really debatable. Lots of info has come out since that it was just mostly made up Chris Grant BS.
Haha a Kirk mention! I don’t really think he’s the long-term answer, but I also think he’s as good as it’s going to get this year for UDFA rookie defensive centers. Not the highest praise, I know, but it’s something! I’m somewhat curious if people who are smarter than me think he has any chance of being any good at all in the NBA or not. I was screaming and hollering at my TV when Faried went into the 20’s saying “no way the guy who broke Tim Duncan’s rebounding record goes this late, even in D2!” Nice to know… Read more »
He wasn’t in D2. Faried played in the D1 tourney, remember?
Raoul – or maybe the Cavs could learn something from the last half decade and stop drafting power forwards in the 1st round every single year. Especially when they were just going to nab Kevin Love all along
You guys need to drop the loser mentality that makes you want to go back in time and redo things with a knowledge of how the future turned out.
I was also working on a piece called “Cavs Win Every Game Until End of Time” but I chose to go with this. Guess I ran with the wrong idea…
Eh. It would have been nice to pick another big instead of Thompson. But at least he’s now the backup big instead of being used as a starter. He’ll be good as a backup.
There’s not much wrong this roster as it is. Getting LeBron and Love covers up past draft stupidity.
Let’s not forget who else played in this game that the Cavs passed on: Kenneth Faried. Now I get it, 4th pick versus 22nd pick, but there was talk pre-draft of Tristan at nine, and Faried at 14, so it’s not like they were that far apart leading up to the draft. The lesson: the draft is an inexact exercise, and extreme outliers ought to be taken seriously (Kenneth Faried was an extreme outlier as a rebounder.) There’s nothing about Valanciunas that blows me away. He’s tough and strong and competitive, but I don’t see any overwhelming skills. Now this… Read more »
Yes, I wanted a shot at Gorbert as well. Wanted either him or Steven Adams out of that draft. Crap.
On the Gorbert line….if he continues to emerge, doesn’t that make Kanter and/or Favors expendible in Utah?
Yep; Lowe covers this in a recent Grantland. We ought to keep our eyes on Utah: I’d take each one of those guys. Let’s hope Gobert uses this FIBA experience to make a leap in production and force the Jazz to make a decision.
There has been a rumor floating out there that Timofey Mosgov could come to the Cavs in a trade. Living in Colorado, I go to a fair amount of Nuggets game and can attest to his passing ability, rim protection and overall hard play. I don’t know what the Cavs can give in return but he’d be a tremendous player in a Blatt offense.