#CavsRank Moments: 18-16 (All The Emotions)

The next three moments are all fairly emotional ones. One of them quite possibly ripped a title away from Cleveland. Another one made me try to decode Twitter messages for far longer than any human being ever should. And, the final one really made me think about how similar these NBA super athletes are to us everyday folk.

18. Kelly Olynyk Sucks?

Moment number 18 is simply called “Kelly Olynyk Sucks?” I’m not too sure why there is a question mark after this moment. It’s clearly a statement. He averaged ten points to go with 4.1 rebounds and shot 40.5% from deep last season. He’s a seventh/eighth man. And, on top of that, during the 2015 playoffs, the only time he has ever done something of significance, he averaged just 4.5 points a game and 1.3 rebounds.

Let’s get to the something of significance and why Mr. Kelly has actually made this list. During the 2015 playoffs, the Cavs had the luck of drawing the young Brad Steven driven Celtics in the first round. They weren’t the most talented team. Isaiah Thomas was their best player and unfortunately for him, Iman Shumpert had and still has a knack for stopping sub six foot point guards. The Celtics didn’t have the talent to compete, but they had the physicality wrestling moves to compete. Brad Stevens turned his team into some 1990 NBA goons. They laid hits on the Cavs at every possible turn, and the refs let it happen.

Kelly Olynyk came to prominence in game four on a fairly routine play with 5:22 to go in the first quarter and the Cavs up by eight. After a Boston miss, Kelly fought for an offensive board with Kevin Love. Besides being a dumb thing to do since Kevin is the premier white guy rebounder in the NBA, Olynyk still did it. And, then he did something even more ridiculous. As Love secured the basketball with his right arm, Kelly grabbed Love’s left arm, which was boxing out. He then placed both of his hands on Love’s arm and pulled it away from his body, while using his own, much pastier, body to keep Love from going with the flow. Love’s arm then separated from his shoulder.

No one will ever know why Kelly did what he did. I’ve suggested several theories on the blog in the past ranging from Kelly being the most uncoordinated player in the history of the NBA all the way through to him possibly being on PCP, having a mental breakdown thinking he was in an MMA fight, and wanting to actually be Kevin Love. We’ll never know what theory is correct until the long haired Canadian wonder writes his autobiography: Behind the Headband and the Arm Yank, How I Kept My Hair Silky Smooth While Changing the Course of NBA History.

After Kelly committed the terrible foul on Love, he increased Cleveland’s hatred for him by refusing to go on the court when Kendrick Perkins was in the game. Poor Jae Crowder took the brunt of Kelly’s beating when Perk leveled him with an illegal screen. J.R. Smith would later knock Crowder out throwing his hand flagrantly back  wildly to hit him in the head on a rebounding play.

Despite losing Kevin Love to a dislocated shoulder in game four, the Cavs still swept the Celtics. And, they ultimately made it to the Finals. However, without Love and Kyrie Irving (lost later in the playoffs) the Cavs never really stood a chance. The injury to Kevin just made everyone feel like Cleveland really wasn’t destined to win anything, ever.

Bonus Fact About Kelly Olynyk

When you search for his basketball reference page, Google suggests that many people think he’s a lady.

17. Subtweeting

There are different types of leaders. Some are charismatic. Some lead by their actions. Others exercise power softly, through manipulation. And, some, usually the greatest ones, subtweet. Most people display a variety of the above leadership styles. LeBron James is no different. He’s a beast on the court always flirting with a triple double. He gives speeches about coming back from being down 3-1  in the Finals. He shoots looks at Timofey Mozgov that let him know if he misses another dunk, he will have to walk to the next game all by himself.

And, he harnesses the power of Twitter without direct mentions of people better than anyone that has ever dared be a keyboard warrior. LeBron started using Twitter to lead the team back in 2015. It started out when Kevin Love was struggling in his first season in Cleveland. He didn’t know how to make friends on or off the court.

Stop trying to find a way to FIT-OUT and just FIT-IN. Be apart of something special! Just my thoughts

— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 8, 2015

Immediately, people suspected this had something to do with Kevin Love. However, the King let the speculators speculate. And, Love, along with other Cavs players, had to sit staring at their Twitter feed wondering if they were fitting-out. Iman Shumpert worried his rap career was fitting-out. Iman’s worry stopped after Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported who the tweet was about:

LeBron James acknowledged after the Cavaliers‘ 120-105 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday that his tweet late Saturday night was referencing teammate Kevin Love.

LeBron’s next big foray into subtweeting came in March of 2016. He typed off a crazy subtweet barrage over the course of a week. It started off with this gem:

It's ok to know you've made a mistake. Cause we all do at times. Just be ready to live with whatever that comes with it and be with…..

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 1, 2016

What? Apparently, according to reporters, he was talking about the Cavs’ lack of enforcers. He had a point, but why not come out and say they need to make Timofey Mozgov take MMA lessons to protect them from the Celtics?

Two days later after coming back from a mid-season vacation to visit Miami the King had this to say:

Can't replace being around great friends that reciprocate the same energy back to you in all facets of life

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 3, 2016

Naturally, according to the world, this meant that LeBron wanted to go back to Miami. He missed being with D. Wade. Rest assured though, this Tweet was simply telling the Cavaliers they needed to be more like his Miami teammates. Message received. It should also be noted that around this time rumors surfaced from Stephen A. Smith that Kyrie Irving was no longer happy in Cleveland.

After another two days LeBron let off another mind blower.

The ultimate level of chemistry is when you know what I'm thinking without saying a word and we execute it. Visa Versa. #TheDC #SFG

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 5, 2016

This was an especially weird one because the Cavs may not have been playing the most beautiful ball at the time, but they all knew one thing: LeBron needed the ball for iso plays. The team knew that. Simply put, give James the ball. They were actually doing that.  That’s why this subtweet was a failure. The people it was obviously meant for would never know it was for them because they were all about what the Tweet was saying. They weren’t messing up so badly on that front to think James would talk covert smack.

His next Tweet came just one day later.

It's this simple. U can't accomplished the dream if everyone isn't dreaming the same thing everyday. Nightmares follow. #TheDC #SFG

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 6, 2016

This one again seems pretty obvious and is another subtweet fail. Isn’t the dream to WIN A TITLE? The team wants that. Every NBA player wants that. It was also revealed by Cleveland.com’s own Chris Haynes that #thedc meant the Da Vinci Code, if that helps anyone understand this stuff more. This tweet, again, was so obvious that it was probably hard for the team to figure out it was meant for them. As a leader you have to say enlightening things, and if you’re gonna be passive aggressively subtweeting, make sure it’s something someone clearly isn’t doing, so they realize it’s meant for them.

While the subtweeting doesn’t seem like a big deal now, it was a big deal back then. I spent at least three news cycles emailing my fellow bloggers about these Tweets, despite labeling them bogus from the start. The King just needs to come out and say who all those Tweets were meant for. I’m still waiting. Either way, especially with his later Tweets, I’d have something to talk about. He’s either saying really obvious stuff, which I’ll ridicule him for, or he’s talking to someone other than the Cavs and those Tweets take on a whole new life.

What if LeBron is talking to Savannah in that last mentioned Tweet. It could be all about putting their kids asleep at 9:00 PM, instead of 10:00 PM? #SFG as a parent.

16. J.R. Smith Cries

J.R. Smith has a had a career that’s as colorful as any NBA player. He has been suspended for marijuana, fighting, and cold cocking an opponent. He was involved in a car crash that killed one of his best friends and did jail time for it. He has gotten in a fight at a club. He switched “C’s” with “K’s” on Twitter and people thought he had joined the Bloods gang. He has been fined for untying peoples’ shoes. And, he earned the name the “pipe bomber” after asking a female friend, “[if she was] trying to get the pipe?”

Back in 2015, Smith came to the Cavs with Iman Shumpert in a trade which sent Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk to the Knicks, and Dion Waiters to the Thunder. When the trade happened, I was up in arms. I thought Smith was a knucklehead that would ruin any seriousness the locker room had. I was wrong though.

J.R. Smith showed time and time again that he could make timely shots. Throughout the Finals he set nasty screens. And, in game seven, he hit two 3s in a row at the beginning of the third quarter to bring the Cavs within two points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skk_8pFcnpI

It was a much needed barrage that helped the Cavs win the title.

At a press conference after winning the title, J.R. let loose. He sobbed and thanked his family. He had come such a long way. J.R. was so human in that moment. Everyone has messed up so badly at some point in their life and thought they would never come back from it, until their family stepped in and picked them up. It was one the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen come from the game of basketball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnC5ROZdANo