KneeCap: Summer Cavs 88, Laker (mostly) Regulars 80 (or, The Endless Cavalier Summer Continues)
2016-07-15
The Summer League Cleveland Cavaliers, led by Jordan McRae (standing in for LeBron James) and Kay Felder (standing in for Kyrie Irving), showed once again how little the regular season matters (even if it’s just three games), in defeating the previously undefeated and favored Los Angeles Laker Summer Squad last night in Las Vegas.
The Orange Mamba (McRae), doing his best Black Mamba impression, scored a game-high 36 points to lead the Cavs to an 88-80 come-from-behind upset of the Lakers in the second round of the Las Vegas Summer League tournament, and his sidekick Killer Shrimp (Felder) chipped in 20 with the bulk coming in clutch time (MFQ Jr. anyone?). His continued crunch time performances and diminutive stature might just have earned him a new favorite nickname from me… 69 Inches of Clutch.
Trailing by as many as 19 points, and 52-36, at halftime, the 14th-seeded Cavaliers rallied to outscore the Lakers 52-28 in the second half, dominating them down the stretch. The teams were tied at 70 with just over seven minutes to play, when the Cavs went on an 11-3 to take control, 81-73, with 2:42 remaining and never relented.
If you missed the game… you can catch the highlights in under 10 minutes below…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMIJSa5LBgk
If you just want the Orange Mamba and Killer Shrimp highlights, go here…
McCrae finished 12-for-22 from the field and had nine rebounds. He had 14 points in the first quarter and 20 points in the second half. Felder finished with 20 points, three assists and a steal. The dynamic duo carried the Cavs with 56 of their 88 points, as no other teammate notched double digits. Cleveland started cold, shooting 1-for-14 from beyond the arc, but controlled the glass with a 49-34 rebounding advantage. The Cavs also outscored the Lakers in the paint 42-34.
Awesome highlight for Orange Mamba…
https://vine.co/v/57dlp90ZBYE
Awesome highlight for Killer Shrimp…
https://vine.co/v/57pd3BriQg3
Los Angeles, who had several starters and rotation players suited up, had five players in double figures, led by D’Angelo Russell with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists. Second overall pick, Brandon Ingram scored 13 points, and Larry Nance, Jr. had 12 points and 10 rebounds before taking a nasty spill on a dunk attempt and reportedly suffering a fracture to his right hand.
With the win, the Cavs extend their seemingly endless summer and advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals where they will face the fifth seeded Brooklyn Nets. No matter what happens from here, it certainly seems like both McRae and Felder have already impressed their most important fan…
OK.Who just watched them @cavs come back from -19 & beat the Lakers? Love watching @JordyMac52 & @2kayzero tear it up in Vegas! #CavsSummer
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) July 15, 2016
GO SUMMER CAVS!
#EndlessCavsSummer
Can you combine trade exceptions to match a salary for example if your going for 13 mil player combine exception to get to that salary
I don’t believe you can combine them, but Nate is more of the expert on that…
Can’t combine.That’s why it was valuable for Griffin to get the $4.8 million trade exception in the Delly sign-and-trade to use on Dunleavy. That kept the larger Varejao trade exception intact ($9 million-plus).
Now that I have given it two minutes of thought, I realize the BM is much more valuable than Kaun. The Cavs will win most games without having to worry about matching up well with a big center. Birdman is tuff enough to eat up lots of minutes in that situation, and save the wear and tear on TT.
Isn’t there still one open roster spot?
The other good thing about Birdman is that (provided he has anything left), he’s played with LBJ and knows where to be on the floor when he plays with him…
eh? I think they need a real big of some sort. Kaun was dirt cheap…
Did Kaun qualify as a “real big”? I mean at least the Birdman played last year in 20 games… He’s also 6’10, same as Kaun…
In this changing league of position-less basketball, do you really need a big other than TT, KLove and Frye with a few minutes a game from Birdman?
No but Moz helped in a few games. Kaun was a cheap big. Is Anderson really a big…any bigger than TT? Have they abandoned everything but small ball 3-point gunning(with a side of Lebron being awesome)?
Kaun 6’11, 260… Birdman 6’10, 245… so a little smaller, but no more expensive than Kaun. With the style they play, there’s no real reason to have a big clogging up the middle… Remember, TT KLove and LBJ are terrific/elite rebounders… just not a lot of need for a traditional big anymore. It’s not like Drummond hurt them last playoffs…
Yeah not panic for sure but I’d like them to cover all bases. Not sure what Birdman can do at this point.
TT will play about 30-32 minutes per night… Frye will play 10-15 and Birdman will play 5-10… I bet they even play KLove at the 5 a bit as well… Could see maybe one additional vet for the bench at some point, but no real reason for concern…
This is surely a good move. But, it would be great to somehow pick up a good big man when everyone else is going small. Of the few good big men out there, some are on teams that never win, and might force a trade. If so, DG+DG will figure out a way to get such a person.
I really wonder if having a traditional big man is all that necessary anymore… Maybe it’s because we just saw the Cavs win a championship without one… I mean, who were the big men when Jordan was winning championships? Bill Cartwright? Luc Longley? Were those guys any good?
Well these BIG MEN are getting paid BIG TIME right now so it would appear many throughout the NBA value them.
Everyone is getting paid big time in this cap explosion… doesn’t mean big men are more valued. I mean I like Moz, but he’s not worth what the Lakers paid him. If we start seeing a proliferation of actual talented bigs again (KAT in Minny and The Brow in NO are the only two that jump instantly to mind… maybe Drummond now that the hack-a rules are changing), then maybe that narrative will change…
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/17085996/sasha-kaun-traded-cleveland-cavaliers-philadelphia-76ers-make-room-chris-andersen
Did we get another exception for Kaun.
No just cap space to sign Birdman I think…
I’m interested to see how this
The suspense is killing me…
It’s a slasher flick….the suspense is over…
You guess are hilarious! Glad CtB doesn’t charge anything to read these gems! Did Cols ever finish that sentence?
I meant “You guys…”…not “guess”
It wouldn’t be the first time he passed/zoned out mid-post…
MRI shows Nance has a sprain, not a fracture.
Well that’s good news for him and the Lakers
Actually, a bad sprain can be worse than a fracture.
You’re right. But in this case, the Lakers say Nance is day to day.
The Lakers’ franchise is day to day…
http://www.lataco.com/wp-content/uploads/5442ec40-96b0-11e4-ad65-c916fbfebf38_JJB1715.jpg
The east sucks. Outside my f Cavs. The west sucks outside of Warriors. And we know they are frauds.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7131/524/1600/fraudalert.gif
Just the opposite! The West will Suck! It’s hilarious to hear the panic from ESPN talking heads that the only team people will view in the West will be Warriors now. Ratings are gonna nose dive for the rest of those teams in the West. The East is more competitive and I can’t wait to see it!
Kaun to 76ers. Whatever will we do!
So they can sign Birdman…
DWade made the East even weaker by going to Chicago. Don’t know who the Cavs greatest test may be this coming year. Best guess would be Boston.
The only test IMHO would be if a team in the EC trades for Westbrook. The only two teams I could see pulling that off in the EC would be Boston or Miami. If health wasn’t an issue, the Knicks could be interesting and the Pacers should be better, but no team really got appreciably better in the East. Celtics made the biggest acquisition with Horford, but TT has owned Al the last two post-seasons… The Raptors didn’t get any three point gunners to get better, and the Hawks traded one big for another with D12.
Cavs will be much better: S&M (Shrimp and Mamba) are an improvement on Delly and Mozzy right now, and will continue to improve.
Boston should be better.
Atlanta might be the same, or worse.
Indiana should be better.
Detroit might be about the same.
Chicago should be worse.
Miami will be much worse.
Toronto has an additional year to gel, should be a little better, and is likely to be #2 again.
Every other team got worse.
Toronto lost the main reason they got two games from us on their home floor, Biyombo. Indiana, may have gotten better, but still seem hardly a threat. TT obliterates Horford.
Even the West seems to be much weaker. OKC is decimated. TD, although not a huge piece, retiring ends an era in SAS and I don’t expect them to be championship contenders until they get another top five point guard.
GSW and CLE seem like will rule the league. Can’t wait to see Lebron humiliate their embarrassment of riches.
I think many of us fall in love (lack of better words, I apologize) with proven stars of the past and forget that many of them are going into decline before our eyes while the younger players are getting stronger, wiser and will soon surpass these stars in a couple of years if not sooner. The East is so young and they are on the rise. It’s going to be a fun year. It’s too bad if ESPN media doesn’t catch up with reality and just enjoy the damn games ! Enjoy the variety instead of focusing on only 3… Read more »
Detroit and Milwaukee should both be much better. In fact I would guess Detroit wins 50 plus games. Think Indiana and the Knicks could be interesting too.
What makes you think Detroit will be much better? Because they added Jon Leuer and Ish Smith? They might win 50 I suppose, but it won’t be because they’re better, but because the EC is worse… Milwaukee will be improved, but they still don’t have much in the way of outside shooting. They gained Teletovic but lost OJ Mayo…
Bummed that we hurt Larry Nance Jr., although the D looked pretty solid (announcer called it a charge before realizing the injury occurred). Nice to see the kids playing well. I’m pleasantly surprised we’ve won two games in the tournament.
Go Cavs!
Gotta love the 5 assists for the game, though. Yikes!
Lot of missed shots early that would have been easy assists… Later, it was mostly ISO ball with Mamba and Shrimp
He hurt himself by trying to posterize someone in garbage time. Really bone headed decision.
Game 7 is on again on NBATV right now…
Felder is 10 times as advanced as Delly was at this point. High hopes for him. If he can develop a bit more range over the year he will be good in the few backup PG minutes available.
Wow! Cols is getting on board, moving the KS from the “sucks” to the “awesome” category!
Your ridiculous hyperbole knows no bounds.
Actually, you’re right. Delly was completely unremarkable in his first SL. Got 10x better by training camp.
Delly was miserable his first two seasons. But I see you are already forgetting all the lessons we just learned in order to rip a player for no good reason.
Wait… who’s ripping a player again?
Yeah one that isn’t even on the Cavs roster anymore.
That’s why he led all rookies in RAPM his rookie year and played a bigger role in the playoffs than any second year player in the league in his second year: cause he sucked…
Cols another prime example of why you get so much blowback. Can’t you let a topic rest ever? Particularly your narrative on Delly. Enough !!
Nostradamus predicted that in the 2037 summer league, Cols would still be using Delly as a benchmark of suckage.
I doubt Felder will ever play non garbage minutes in the NBA. Just my opinion. Delly was way, way ahead of him his rookie season. Must be amazing to live in your house of mirrors.
I guess we’ll see. Not sure how you know Delly was ahead of him his rookie season… you know, since he hasn’t played his rookie season yet… If you’re going strictly by Summer League, then Felder is ahead of where Delly was in his first Summer League…
So, EG, has Felder looked as good as you expected? I know you were high on him even before the summer league. Give me your ” out on a limb” prediction whether he becomes one of our back-up point guards with Mo this coming season. Thx
He’s actually looked better than I thought he would. Aside from the couple of careless turnovers late (the 8 second call and the crosscourt pass into traffic), I think he’s shown himself to be a very clutch player from the jump. As Nate and Mike have said, he needs to work on his three ball, because if he can start hitting those with respectability, it will really open up his drive and kick game. I’ve been most impressed with his defense and tenacity so far. He wasn’t advertised as a particularly great defender, but he’s shown a tremendous willingness to… Read more »
And three point shooting is the one thing that most players get better at as they get older. I read somewhere that Damon Jones will be reconstructing LeBron’s long shot this summer. Ordinarily, it would seem hard to rebuild a basic like that in your 30’s. But LeBron’s outside shooting form is atrocious and he is such a smart player and hard worker, that there might be a major improvement. That would elevate him from being the best player to “by far the best player”. If Jones helps LeBron and Killer Shrimp shoot threes, Dan should give him a huge… Read more »
I am still in shock that Mo played in the last couple games instead of Orange Mamba.
I was too. He is really quick offense. Lue’s rotation were very bewildering on the backup PG position in the Finals. BUT….. Cavs got the win. That is all the matters.
He’s intriguing. Nice elbow jumper, and decent first step. And he definitely competes. But he’s shorter than Nate Robinson, and his form on his long jumpers (anything past college threes) is atrocious. Definitely has to work on his lower body. His legwork is all over the place on those.
Defensive awareness is solid, but he seems over matched at times against d-leaguers, nba guys are gonna eat him alive on both ends at times. He is gonna have to put in the work.
Nothing so far has indicated that he won’t put in the work… Just to make it to this point at his height would seem to display his work ethic. And, you’re right, he’s going to have problems when guys go right at him on D, but I’d take what I’ve seen from him so far over Mo’s “D” any day…
If he doesn’t develop a good three point shot (and it will be tough to get one off over taller defenders in the NBA), I don’t think he can play in the NBA.
He’s played a total of four games… give the dude a chance