Cavs-Related Bullets:
-And so another Cavs basketball season semi-officially begins anew. Let’s get to some notes:
-Another shaky debut game for Antawn Jamison, who started the game and went 1-9. The good news: unlike Antawn’s historically terrible Cavs debut, this game didn’t count. If one guy had to have a horrible night on Tuesday, I’m glad it’s a guy who’s not fighting for minutes.
-Your team leader in minutes, rebounds, steals, and blocks tonight: a one Jamario Moon, who also shot 3-5 from the field and only turned it over once. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again; the more the ball moves and the offense works like it should, the more effective Jamario is.
Last year, you knew the team was rolling on all cylinders when Jamario was hitting wide-open threes, getting out on the break, and converting alley-oops. Since the team no longer has the size or LeBron James necessary to win without the offense working, Jamario Moon should be the proverbial canary in the coal mine this season.
-Tom noted this earlier, but Boobie made 10 free throws tonight. To provide some context, Boobie made 34 free throws last season, over the course of 1,068 minutes. His high for free throws in a MONTH was 12. Boobie made exactly 10 free throws from February 4th to the end of the regular season last year. (He made a grand total of two free throws in the playoffs.)
So tonight was very encouraging for Boobie’s potential as an all-around scorer. Does this performance earn a shirt? YOU’RE DARN RIGHT IT DOES.
It’s good to have basketball back.
-Ramon Sessions: great pure point, brought energy, changes the game, makes the offense work. Not great at making the ball go in the basket all the time. The latter is less important than the former, but hopefully he can score more efficiently than he did tonight in the future. Still a very encouraging performance.
-Hey, Anthony Parker! I do not have high hopes for him this season, but he made 4 of his 5 shots and both of his threes tonight.
-Love seeing Hickson get 5 offensive boards and 10 free throw attempts. Do not love a starting power forward who doesn’t shoot threes go 5-13 from the floor. The work on the post moves and the mid-range jumper is all well and good, but J.J. is, was, and always should be a finisher first and foremost.
-Ryan Hollins: 4 fouls and 3 turnovers in 15 minutes. That’s a screw-up every 2.14 minutes, folks. Still, the man is clearly talented.
Bullets of Randomness:
-The Bobcats seem like a team that would look bad in exhibition play — when the games count, they win because of their defense and intensity rather than their offensive talent. However, they’ve got a veteran core and are coming off a playoff season, so they don’t have a whole lot to prove in exhibition play. Just a theory.
-A year ago, I would have TOTALLY been freaking out over the fact that LeBron went 0-3 from the line in his first game. WHY DOES HE NOT SHOOT 700 FREE THROWS A DAY IN THE OFF-SEASON? WHY DOES HE NOT SEE THE VALUE IN THIS? Well, that’s not my problem anymore. So I’ve got that going for me. If you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my basketball anhedonia meeting with Gilbert Arenas. Until tomorrow, campers.
Nice to see such a rave review of Sessions’ PG skills. Jeez, what is this team gonna do at the C position?
thanks, john! please don’t move to miami.
Had a lot of fun at the game. I like the run and gun style. We have a lot of interchangeable parts on this squad. Looking forward to the regular season!
My comment is about the lack of airing of the preseason Cavs games. It would have been great to see the game on tv and get more excited about the team’s transition-especially given they won the first game! That was sweet to the ears hearing that we won despite that other guy leaving town. It bothers me though that all we could find to watch was that other guy’s first game on tv to watch. I think the cavs should consider airing the remaining preseason games as a PR consolation gesture to the fans to showcase our talent in their new roles along with their/our new coach.
I was happy to see the cavs win yesterday at the Q, hopefully one of many to come(I can dream right…). I really enjoyed the up-tempo of Scott and it seems like Moon and Sessions are perfectly made for it. Hickson did good but if he continues to attack the basket in such a sloppy way, he will eat a lot of blocks… Yes he is athletic, but he was not smart about the way he attacked the basket with 2-3 defenders around him…
Boobie looked good but he shouldn’t be the ball handler, I know Mo was out but Boobie looked out of step when trying to go fast speed…
Overall good game for the cavs. A win is a win even in the preseason. I still go with 35 wins +/- 3…
Go Cavs!!!
Request — could we please not do the Voldemort thing with LeBron? He’s a basketball player.
And it just seems more silly than a poignant protest of him.
I agree with Krolik. Not saying LeBron’s name is dumb. I never liked when people refused to say Michigan either. It’s just plain stupid.
I have to say, from a pure basketball perspective, I wouldn’t mind seeing Heat vs. Lakers in the finals, but it is gonna hurt if LeBron wins this year. Buckle up for a long season guys…. we are irrelevant again.
I’m pretty sure we were irrelevant even when LeBron was with the team. That’s what it was always “LeBron and the James gang” every time the team was mentioned. Cleveland must seem like a cancerous growth to people.
Kevin, I think its more like a benign tumor. You can’t really ignore a cancerous growth.
Great song and post, John!
You’re right, ben. You had the more astute metaphor. I tip my hat.
is it just me or is the last year of PDCavsInsider tweets gone?
Yeah I just noticed that Scott. I wonder if he’s manually deleting all of them.
Hey, you provided the direction, I just tinkered a little bit