Five on Five: The Aftermath
2017-06-16
1. What positives can be taken from this NBA Finals?
Mike: There aren’t a lot of positives, but some are there. While they lost two of the last three games in the series, the Cavs showed that they could play with the Warriors over that stretch. The argument could be made that the gap in talent isn’t as enormous as the narrative—or the Cavaliers’ mediocre play in the regular season—suggests.
Another positive was that Kevin Love showed that he could be a positive contributor in a series against Golden State. While he shot just under 39% from the floor, he also shot that same percentage from three, and averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds, two steals, and an assist and block per game while playing at least passable defense. Yes, he struggled with scoring in Game Five, but outside of LeBron James and Kevin Durant, every player in this series had at least one bad game. The narrative that Love can’t play against the Warriors should at least be muted, if not dismissed entirely. Besides the obvious excellence of LeBron James, both Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith really raised their level of play as the series went on.
Eli: While the Cavs failed to repeat as NBA Champions, some positives could be taken from the 2016-2017 journey. LeBron is still the best player in the world. Kyrie is the most dominant 1 on 1 player in the league, and arguably the best drive and finisher under the rim ever. Kevin Love has improved as the third man and is the ULTIMATE role player with rebounding, three-pointers, and the occasional post-up or pin down, one-armed and-one.
Unfortunately, other than the three players expected to standout, no one else really seemed to standout in a positive way. Shumpert and JR Smith both really regressed (Shumpert was good as a starter, relatively). TT was solid for most of the year, but failed to truly show up in the Finals. Frye was exposed defensively and Deron Williams didn’t show up on the biggest stage.
Cory: That Kevin Love is a keeper. David Griffin wasn’t wrong a few years ago when he said that anyone is tradeable. Everyone’s got a price. I don’t want them to deal Love though unless it’s an absolute homer, and yes I would consider Paul George, and to a greater degree Jimmy Butler as homers. I just don’t think those deals will be on the table. Love finally fits in with the team, he played better defense than the majority of his teammates in the Finals, and he’s on an incredibly below market deal for two more years. I’d much rather them keep him, than deal him away for parts.
https://twitter.com/IamAkademiks/status/875413094373220352
Nate: LeBron James is still the best player in the NBA. Cleveland can play with Golden State. The wine and gold should have won game three, and would have with better minutes management. The game five collapse was due to similar reasons. My standouts are obviously James whose played about as well as anyone could play and Kevin Love who was outstanding in four of the five games (unfortunately not Game Five), and played excellent defense in the first four games.
Mallory: Kyrie and Love are actually two way players! Who would’ve thought it! (ME! I DID! KEVIN LOVE KEVIN LOVE KEVIN LOVE!)
On D, Kyrie fought through and under screens, stayed in front of his men, and put in all-around effort. Love contested shots at the rim and was sneaky good at disrupting the sometimes seemingly unstoppable offensive rebounding of the Warriors. Considering TT gets most of the press for his rebounding prowess, it was fairly evident to anyone who watched closely that Love might actually be the craftier guy under the rim.
On Offense, Love struggled at times (most obviously in game 5) but continued to try to do the things he does well, even when shots weren’t falling. The Cavs failed to get him involved early in Game 5, which is generally a death sentence, but his effort never dipped. You can fault the guy for not hitting his shots, but if he works this hard all the time, there’s no reason to believe he won’t show up next time.
Kyrie showed the flashes of his usually brilliant self. He pulled up a bit too much for my taste, and, in general, the Cavs should’ve been attacking the rim FAR more – when they did, the momentum swung in their favor. Kyrie was firmly entrenched as a focal point of that attack, and as the series continued, blossomed as we all expected he would.
I have many, many qualms about Lebron’s D, but I still fully believe, despite Durant’s series, that he’s the best player in the world. What more is there to say?
Lastly, major shout-out to the likely-to-retire RJ, who clearly is a shell of himself athletically, but played his hardest and stuck to the game plan (and within his abilities) on both sides of the ball. If this is, in fact, his final year, he will sorely be missed by this team.
2. How about the negatives?
Mike: The biggest negative was the Cavaliers not being able to play with four quarters of sustained effort in the first two games of the series for the second year in a row. It’s not just being down 0-2 in the series that hurt, it’s that their margin of error became nonexistent (see Game Three), and the Warriors were able to build the confidence that comes from playing ahead. The blame for this falls on the coaching staff for not having the team ready, the players for building bad habits in terms of both defense and giving less than their best effort, and the rest of the Eastern Conference for not putting up much of a fight to push the Cavs.
Eli: The Cavs lack of depth/future. The Cavs are one of the oldest and least athletic teams in the league and it was clearly exposed. GM Lebron deserves some blame for this as he’s had a penchant for depending on older veterans. Coach Lue also deserves some blame for quirky rotation decisions. Deron Williams was not the answer in the Finals but Lue rolled him out, game after game, only to get torched. The Cavs will likely have a much different team next season with many back of the end bench players contracts coming up.
The Cavs can’t win with Love/Irving/James scoring 70-85 points and the rest of the team not really showing up. Defensively, the Cavs had horrendous habits for most of the year and some of it trickled to the key moments in the Finals. When asked Lebron even acknowledged that it irked him that the Cavs didn’t try in the regular season. The Cavs will likely try harder next year.
Cory: The rotations. We may have overrated the Cavs big lineup with Derrick Williams, but Lue never even tried it out. He’s athletic and long, and hustled during the regular season like he was playing for his NBA life, because he was. I don’t doubt that he would have given them more than Deron Williams did. The fact that they never figured out to slow the pace of the game when LeBron rested. There was a point in Game 5 that the Warriors were on a run in the second quarter and I was screaming at the TV for Lue to call a timeout since he still had five left.
The end of Game 3 really stands out though. That was the backbreaker of the series. They needed to generate something in the final minute and a half, and didn’t. I thoroughly believe that if the Cavs would have won Game 3, that the series would have ended up going the full seven games.
Next year I really want them to watch every single Warriors game in the film room, and prepare for that series all season long. They can win 50+ games in the regular season alone. This Cavs team is much more dangerous as hunters, than they are as the hunted.
Nate: Well, only Kevin and LeBron showed up in the first two games. The offense was often staid and unimaginative despite all the extra time to prepare. Despite 100 games of prep, the team did not have any idea of how to mount a competent attack when LeBron wasn’t on the floor. The Shumpert and Deron Williams backcourt was a flaming dumpster fire of hot garbage. And there were few games where the Cavs were firing on all cylinders.
Listen, I like Tyronn Lue but he got exposed here. His lack of innovation was frustrating. His game five adjustment? Play LeBron 46 minutes. The Cavs could’ve hired anyone off the street who plays NBA2K to make that coaching move. I am tired of the phrase, “the Cavs have to play perfect to win.” Well, yes. That’s true. It’s the NBA freaking finals. You have to be the best team in the world. You can’t fail to show up in the first two games (I’m looking at you, Kyle Korver, Deron Williams, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, and Kyrie Irving), or fail to come up with new plays (Tyronn Lue), or fail to finish around the basket (Kevin Love). Why do you have to play perfect to beat Golden State? Because they play close to it at times, and they rarely beat themselves. You have to play that way too. The Cavs didn’t, and they all deserve the blame.
Mallory: Lets start with the offensive flow – clearly, given the average scores across the games, the Cavs weren’t lacking in offense – they scored 91, 113, 113, 137, and 120 points – but the WAY they did it, running and gunning, at times sloppily pulling up and jacking shots early in the clock, and trying to beat the younger and more disciplined Warriors at their own game – left me with a sour taste. I’m sure everyone spent moments of every game screaming at their TV to slow down and attack the rim; when the Cavs did, as we saw in game 4 and the early parts of game 5, the Warriors fouled early and often, and didn’t have a chance to get into their groove. But the consistency of the Cavs offense, save for game 4, was abysmal, and was a major reason why the Warriors were able to force turnovers and cause chaos for the Cavs D.
Much of this has to do with this disappearing act of pretty much every Cavs role player. TT was a total non factor on BOTH sides of the ball (seriously, awful) and showed only brief flashes of the hard nosed defender and rebounding expert of last year’s finals (averaging a measly 4.4 rebounds per game for the series).
The only way to describe Shumpert’s series is humiliating – he was a complete and total disaster on D, going for mindless steals over staying in front of his man (two particularly bad sequences stand out – one, where he went for an idiotic steal on Curry, fouling him towards the end of the first half and sending him to the line, and another where he again went for a mindless steal and got BLOWN by for an easy layup). On offense, he was a scary bad 4 of 17 from the field – not surprisingly, the game where he went 1 for 1 was the game in which the Cavs won. Shump, take note – no one wants to see you bringing the ball up the court and pulling up for a long 2 with 18 seconds on the clock. EVER.
D-Will did his best to compete with Shump for the honors of worst in the series, acting as sieve on D and missing wide open three after wide open three. Korver tried his hardest on D and for the most part stayed in front of his man, but missed wayyyy too often for a guy who was supposed to be the spot-up king. JR was great in spurts, but, in typical fashion, made at least one or two bone-headed plays a game.
I feel for Lue – he did his best to play with the rotations that took the Cavs to the brink of another title. But if your guys aren’t hitting their shots, showing discipline, and sticking to the game plan (if there was a game plan?) then what’s a guy to do? Though my biggest Lue complaint is his lack of doing…ANYTHING, really…during that crazy Warriors run in the second quarter of game 5. That one really hurt.
3. What is one aggressive move the Cavs could/should consider this offseason?
Mike: It’s time to move on from Iman Shumpert. As Ben has pointed out, Shumpert’s solid one-one-one defense doesn’t make up for his poor team defense, and his lack of self-awareness on offense kills the Cavs at times. Effective basketball players understand their strengths and weaknesses, and Shumpert struggles mightily in this area.
Cory: I watched the 2013 NBA draft over at “The Matt’s” apartment off of Fairfax, and the guy I wanted to fall to the Cavs at four was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. While he had obvious holes in his game, I loved how competitive he was. Most people on the blogosphere look at him today as a good defender with a cross-face chicken wing of a jumper. I look at him now and see a guy who could defend all five members of the Warriors Death Lineup, and he’d run himself into the ground trying to. I don’t care if he can’t shoot, he can cut to the rim and finish Kraken plays generated by Kyrie and LeBron drawing double teams, and set picks. That’s enough. LeBron, Kyrie and Love will give you 80+ most nights in the playoffs. I want him because he could play one side of the ball dominantly and that’s what they need. Are the Bobnets dumb enough to deal him for Shumpert and Cedi? The past decade says yes.
If Lebron can pull this finals and get the trophy we can put him at MJ level… just my opinion.
— Ricky Rubio (@rickyrubio9) June 12, 2017
Nate: Mike took my idea. And it’s a good one. Here it is on the trade machine. I could definitely see the Cavs packaging Frye and Shumpert to get Melo. However… I’d rather see the Cavs get Rubio somehow. He’s my dream backup point guard: the defensive chops to play the Dubs, the playmaking and intelligence to run with the King, and an improving jumper (he shot 44% from three in the month of April!), plus he annoys EvilGenius, so that would be fun. The Cavs could start Ricky with Kyrie or bring him off the bench to be the league’s best sixth man. He could play with anyone on this team and Kevin already Loves him.
Mallory: My cohorts above are thinking too small – the Cavs have a ton of leverage with PG13, if Lebron is willing to put himself out there – make him force a trade to your team, Lebron! I’ve never hidden my Kevin LOVE, but if you can swing him (or, more ideally, some combo of TT, Shump, Cedi, and/or JR) for PG13, you do it in a heartbeat. It would weaken the Cavs during the regular season, forcing them to grab a vet ring-chasing PF to start, akin to Zaza on the Warriors this year. But when rotations tighten, the Cavs would finally have an elite two way-playing, high quality defender, who wouldn’t have to exhaust himself on offense while still playing within the system. Similarly, we all tend to underrate Melo’s two was contribution because he’s been stuck in purgatory for years – when he cares, the guy is near-elite. Imagine moving Love over to center, and starting some combo of Kyrie, Korver, PG13/Melo/Lebron, and Love/TT (or, Kyrie, PG13, Lebron, PF X, and Love/TT) during the finals? If that doesn’t stop the Warriors, nothing will.
4. What is one conservative move the Cavs could/should make this offseason?
Mike: Whether or not something like the above trade happens, the Cavs need to be on the lookout for some athletic two-way players. Three-and-D types are preferable, but some good cutters would be nice too. While P.J. Tucker, Jonathon Simmons, Patrick Patterson, Joe Ingles, or Luc Richard Mbah a Moute are likely outside of the taxpayer’s mid-level exception or veteran’s minimum, guys like Thabo Sefolosha, Tony Allen, K.J. McDaniels, Langston Galloway, Shelvin Mack, or Dante Cunningham may fall into the Cavaliers’ price range as options dry up. Some of these players are more oriented towards one side of the ball than the other, but all are solid defenders who would improve the Cavaliers’ athleticism. All could match the production of Shumpert or even the aging Jefferson, who has given the Cavs more than they could have hoped for when he left Dallas to sign with them two years ago.
Eli: Re-sign David Griffin and make him President of Basketball Ops. Find some free agents that want to play with LeBron, Kyrie, and Love. Trade someone not named LeBron/Irving/Love/TT for a younger player that plays defense and can hit threes at a 35%+ clip. Fill the bench with younger players that are athletic and defensive minded. Bring over Cedi Osman and make sure his role is to play defense, score in transition, and hit open corner threes.
Cory: That newly bling-blinging David Griffin resists temptation and holds onto Cedi Osman. I often question if we overvalue Cavs assets because we’re irrational homers, but perhaps he really is their Toni Kukoc, and all they have to do is keep the majority of the band together and Cedi’s versatility on the wing is exactly what the doctor ordered. Plus he’s got great hair, and he’ll fill the void of great hair for all of the people who were irrational about Anderson Varejao’s value.
Nate: The Cavs need to find a way to add Villanova’s Josh Hart. The Cavs could squeak into the second round and draft a senior, or even somehow nab a late first rounder and grab him. Cleveland needs to be on the lookout for a ready now rookie: a Malcolm Brogdon or Draymond Green. Reid Forgrave of CBS Sports wrote a very interesting profile on Hart who looks like he could be a Danny Green, Matthew Dellavedova, or Braymond type: an unheralded upperclassman who can stick in the NBA.
Advanced stats gurus in college hoops love the guy. Last season Hart was ranked No. 1 in KenPom.com’s Player of the Year standings. It’s an efficiency-based metric that deigns to determine how valuable a player is to his team on a per-minute basis. During his junior season he was ranked fifth (it should be noted that Brogdon ranked second that same year). And guess who was tops in that rating system back in 2011-12, when Anthony Davis of Kentucky tore up college basketball but was only ranked fourth in KenPom.com’s player of the year rankings? Yep — it was Draymond Green.
Simply put, even if he doesn’t jump out of the gym athletically, the young man does absolutely everything you need to do to succeed at the NBA level. The best phrase to describe Hart as a basketball player isn’t “long and athletic,” or “freakishly high ceiling.” It’s “valuable to a winning team.”
Mallory: Echoing what has already been said, unless the Cavs can swing a Melo/PG13 trade, they ABSOLUTELY have to get younger and more athletic. While I understand the need for experienced players, the Cavs have done themselves a major disservice by not getting young guys playing time – look at what the Warriors did with McCaw, for example, and tell me that kid isn’t going to grow leaps and bounds simply because he got to play in the finals; If winning is going to be sustained, the Cavs absolutely need to invest in their future.
Furthermore, there’s a distinct lack of two-way players on this team. Obviously the NBA cap jump, coupled with the Cavs’ insane cap situation, has put this team in a tough spot to compete for some of the FAs out there, but they do offer the unique opportunity of playing for a ring. Finding a way to grab a guy like Tucker, etc. (mentioned above) or even a Justin Holiday/Ben McLemore type, who has played in an awful situation but showed some upside, would be worth while. Also, I’d take a look at Ilyasova, who has been solid when he’s in a decent situation.
Trading Shump and/or JR isn’t going to be easy, but if the Cavs can somehow package them to a sucker team willing to give up on a project, the Cavs could strike gold on two fronts.
Oh yeah, and give Griff his money! I know Gilbert likes to be shrewd, but Griffin has earned it!
5. What are your way too early 2017-18 season predictions?
Mike: I think the way the Finals ended will motivate the Cavaliers to improve their habits during the upcoming regular season and playoffs. I also expect an improved Kyrie Irving. This is the first time his best really wasn’t good enough. The Cavaliers were terrible during his first three seasons, and he missed the final five games of the 2015 Finals before helping lead the team to the title last season. Hopefully this will help make him a more committed defender and passer. I’m not talking so much about assist totals as I am about simply keeping the ball moving. The Cavaliers will get back to the final frame next year, and with a renewed hunger, will give the Warriors a far greater challenge than they had this season. Will that be enough? I’m not sure, but if there’s one thing I’m sure off, it’s that I wouldn’t want to bet against LeBron James.
Eli: The Cavs keep the Big Three intact, bring over Cedi Osman, and trade for Patrick Beverly (giving up Shumpert and pieces). The Cavs try a bit more in the regular season, win 55 games, roll through the Eastern Conference, play a competitive series in the Finals with the Warriors and still lose 4-2 with Lebron averaging a triple-double and KD outscoring him. LeBron asks D-Wade and Melo to team up in Cleveland for one year and revenge in 2018-2019. #TeamBananaBoat
Lololol @ the Warriors parade compared to the Cavs parade pic.twitter.com/sbgj7QRn6i
— Taylor Gjurkovitsch (@taylorgju) June 15, 2017
Cory: The Warriors clinch the best record in the league, but Steph Curry breaks down in the Western Conference Finals to a healthy Spurs team and that series going seven games. The Cavs sweep the first two rounds, but go six games against the Gordon Hayward led Celtics. In the Finals, LeBron and company even up their annual June showdown with the Warriors and defeat them in seven games. Naturally, it will be followed by a Father’s Day parade that will put the the Warriors gathering yesterday, which looked like the doors outside of a Pat Catan’s on Black Friday to shame.
Nate: LeBron works with Kyrie to push him to be an All-NBA player and a legit MVP candidate. This is the year Kyrie puts it all together. The Cavs get younger and LeBron hones them to a razor edge. Because of that, the Cavs make the Finals with the best record in the East. The Cavs beat the Chris Paul led Spurs for their second championship in three years.
Mallory: The Cavs use the leverage of a winning team to somehow get PG13 and/or Melo without losing one of their big 3, and end up signing a decent project player and a high level two way vet. They start the season VERY slow, with talk of a ruined team from the off-season. Lebron takes two weeks off and goes to LA, fueling rumors that he and PG13 are bolting at the end of the season. But he comes back CRAZY refreshed and the Cavs go on a 22 game win streak, including a drubbing of the defending champs. Kyrie finishes third in MVP voting, with pundits applauding his play on both sides of the ball and calling him the greatest rim-finisher ever. The Cavs go on an absolute TEAR in the playoffs, blowing opponents out of the water in every round, sweeping their way into the finals. The Warriors, meanwhile, finish with 70 wins and, even given the Cavs recent dominance, are the prohibitive favorites to win it all in five. The Cavs drop game one by 35, with alarmists saying this could be a sweep. The Cavs lose game 2 by five, further fueling the fire. But the Cavs go on to dominate games 3 and 4 at home, and continue that dominance on the road in game 5. Finally, in game 6, the Cavs blow the warriors out by 20, winning their second NBA championship (and first at home) with an absolute ton of Fans storming the court NCAA-style. Lebron wins finals MVP, with the parade down Euclid just as nuts as the first. Oh yeah, and the Indians beat the Dodgers in 6, too.
Even if the Cavs find a way to land PG or anyone else the Cavs management have to make sure that Coach Lue finds a way to make this team good defensively.
I’m torn on the Paul George trade. If we give up Love for George straight up, we are kind of screwing Love. He gets to go back to a bad team. He left Minnesota to win, not to rebuild.
Unless George signs an extension, I don’t think I want to make that trade. TT + anything else not named LeBron, Kyrie and Love, sure. But that’s a pipe dream.
He did get three straight trips to the finals and a max contract so it’s not all grey skies for Love. I think it’s worth the gamble. PG is unreal. But if the Cavs go back in to next season with just their core and no major additions, I’m good with that as well.
Yep.
Also, while I think it’s very much a real possibility he’s dealt to the Cavs, have to think Indy is trying to create a lot of smoke to try to get the lakers to trade their pick.
I agree with you that it would be kind of unfair to trade KLove if it does happens, but did the Warriors felt sorry for letting go of Barnes and half of their team to get KD?.
Again the NBA is a business and sometimes teams have to make tough decisions.
Even if TT is the one getting traded it would be hard team chemistry wise but again to stay competitive team management has to do this kind of trades.
This is slightly terrifying
http://deadspin.com/lebron-james-releases-finals-frustration-on-poor-childr-1796205855?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Typo gm
David Griffin is the best vm we have ever had.
Has anyone heard anything on contract negotiations with David Griffin the Cavs make my stomach turn every summer just give the man his due im tired we are the only team that does this crap last year we won a championship and we let are assistant coaches waving their dicks in the wind with no contracts i mean come on!!
I’m pretty sure the only way PG13 ends up with the Cavs is if the Cavs give them KLove.
Unless they accept TT, Shump and another decent player like Frye or KK.
PG13 is a top 10 talent in this league and I’m pretty sure the Pacers are well aware of that and they will not give him away that easy.
Even if we trade for him, he probably leaves for the Lakers in the off-sason. It’s not worth it for KLove in my opinion.
Probably, it’s just a rumor that probably won’t happen. But if it does happens and he still leaves to LA he has to be one of the dumbest persons alive.
HEY JMAY GET BACK TO YOUR “HONEYMOON ” OR YOU WILL BE IN DIVORCE COURT SOON – ( HA-HA ) —-HOPE YOU AND THE MRS JMAY ARE ENJOYING YOURSELVES —-AND HOPE YOU ARE CORRECT ABOUT LEBRON—RETIRE HERE IN CLEVELAND WITH ” YOUR BANANA BOAT CREW “—-
Hey NOMAD I’ve actually got the okay to be on CtB. I’ve got a Mexican strain of the resperatory flu so I’m currently bed ridden! Go figure!
PABST
TT. Plus Cedi. Plus 2021 first for PG. Cavs win title next year.
Then LeBron goes full banana boat the year after.
ALOT OF RUMORS SURROUNDING P.GEORGE —-BIG QUESTION DO WE GO FOR IT ALL NEXT YEAR AND SACRIFICE THE FUTURE —–PROBABLY HAVE TO TRADE LOVE FOR GEORGE ( AND MORE )– MY GUT FEELING IS LEBRON LEAVES AFTER NEXT YEAR ( ALONG WITH GEORGE TO L.A. ) LEAVING KYRIE AND WHEN IS HIS CONTRACT UP ( AND HE WOULD PROBABLY DEPART ) AND WITH NOT ALOT OF DRAFT PICKS —WE COULD BE LOOKING AT 1ST TIME POST LEBRON ERA AGAIN ( OUCH ! )—–MAYBE GO FOR 1 MORE TROPHY / ENJOY THE TIME / RIDE WE HAVE AND THEN GET READY… Read more »
Eh, I still think LeBron retires here. Maybe I’m nieve but that letter sure seemed like he wanted this to be a permanent thing. If he goes to the Lakers he’s only going to have to face the warriors only it will have to be earlier and without the finals experience.
Yeah. But it would be fun for him to go to the Clippers in a couple years with Wade and Melo and Paul and run full banana boat
If LeBron leaves again the media and the whole NBA fan base will destroy him. And he has repeated several times that he feels that he has nothing else to prove so I guess that means that he is not going ring chase at this point in his career….. I guess.
Woj saying trade talks between Cavs and Pacers. I’d like to think they don’t make that trade without an agreement from PG.
You probably have to consider it even without it.
Too bad we’ve got no picks left. Sure would love to do Korver, Shump, and RJ (let the man retire) for PG13. See? It works: http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ybofhq2w
I’m not sure if we need to do a big trade or anything, but I will say if we do something major at least it will make the regular season interesting next year. I’m not sold that I’m going to watch much BBALL next year if things don’t change; not interested in watching the Cavs half-ass their way through 82 games and get annihilated by Silver’s Cupcake Mistake.
I agree with you Jason and to be honest if the Cavs don’t push themselves to be great defensively we will get exactly the same result we got this year.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY LEBRON AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR BEING A GREAT ROLE MODEL —-2.5 MILLION DONATION !!
JUST GOT DONE “PLAYING ” WITH MY NEW FATHER”S DAYS PRESENTS —-INSTALLLING BOTH WASH MACHINE AND A.C. —–TIME TO GO HAVE SOME BEER / BURGERS / BRATS …….HAPPY FATHER”S DAY TO ALL OF YOU—-ENJOY !!!
Sounds like a perfect Fathers’s Day man
So…totally serious: can cleveland snag Ben Simmons for Cedi? cuz i’d take that in a heartbeat. Ben would be the perfect student under Lebron…and would be an incredibly useful 15 min a game rest for Lebron. Nate…you have some pull with Gilbert right?
Last year’s number one pick? Um, no.
Hope you were joking on this one, Simmo. If the Cavs trade Osman, I just hope it’s for a serviceable 10 minute rotation player that is the anti-Shump. And we may not get that since Osman is obviously unproven.
I have Simmo on the brain. “Scotch.”
Totally agree with this :
https://cavsnation.com/gilbert-arenas-goes-off-defending-lebron-james-instagram/
SHOULD THERE BE ANY CONCERN WITH THE STRONG RUMORS OF CELTS / 76ER’S TRADE —–CELTS PROBABLY AQUIRING THE PLAYER THEY REALLY WANT AT # 3 AND ALSO ADDING MORE HIGH DRAFT PICKS FOR POSSIBLE TRADE FOR BUTLER —-JUST WONDERING YOUR THOUGHTS
No. Nobody cares about Celtics trash as long as we have LeBron.
The Celtics get more draft picks… Whee!
Trade Love to N.O. for Cousins. Cousins is the perfect player James needs. He can dominate inside, play outside and can pass. He will change his attitude playing with King James and Kyrie
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=nyvdlrr
And we get Orlando 6th pick.
Which is either Monk or Issac. Gives us some long, versatile and athletic options. Fournier is a an underrated playmaker and would thrive with Lebron and Kyrie. Gordon could play 3,4 and 5 for us. And the pick keeps us young, Monk would be nice, imagine the open looks he would get.
Trading TT would mess our chemistry big time. I don’t think they would miss Love as much in the locker room.
Love is really good, but basically a role player against GSW anyway.
you didn’t pay attention to this season or this finals if you think the cavs wouldn’t miss Love. He was the best player outside Lebron. Love is who keeps the cavs from having to struggle against the east in the playoffs, and he is who keeps the cavs from having matchup problems against any west teams, because he is someone the opposition has to scheme for, and don’t pretend that’s easy.
Let’s get context here.. Kyrie and Kev played well BOTH ways in the Finals. But they’re still average-to-good at best on the defensive side of the floor.
I really hope they get to at least consistently serviceable on defense for the the regular season and play great defense come playoffs and a notch higher if we get to the finals.
1. Another deep playoffs and finals experience for the whole team. Added motivation for everyone especially the Big 3. 2. Lebron being 3-5 in the finals & the team another year older in mileage. Hopefully we can stay healthy get revitalized and stay injury and fatigue free every year from now on. 3. One isn’t enough I’ll name at least 4. Sign Griff long-term. Move Shump for a LEGIT 3 & D wingman. I’m gonna preach this until we get him…DANNY GREEN. Get a young backup point guard and a young rim protector. 4. Add picks, create trade exceptions, basically… Read more »
I guess job one is to get Griff signed up – hard to make all these fantasy trades with a GM who isn’t engaged
COLS IF YOU ARE LOOKNG FOR JUST A BODY TO FILL THE POST POSITION —I STILL BELIVE WE HAVE THAT IN “MY MAN MORELAND ” BETTER OFFENSIVELY —DECENT REBOUNDER —NEEDS WORK AT THE D AT THIS LEVEL —SO YEAH IF WE COULD GET MKG FOR STRAIGHT UP FOR T.T. I WOULD DO IT
I think a PG trade is a great first choice, but here’s an idea the old me would have never embraced: Love for Cousins. K-Love is my man and DMC has all the baggage I don’t need, but here’s the rationale. Jrue Holiday has been linked to Dallas in the rumor mill. If he leaves NO, they’ll have no real money to replace him, and they’ll likely be terrible. Cousins is in the last year of his deal, and it will take whatever the max is to keep him for NO; they’ll basically never have the money to further improve… Read more »
Part 2:
DMC makes Tristan expendable. I’d see if Charlotte were interested in TT for MKG straight up, and if we’re not quite there, I’d expand to something like TT, Shump, and Cedi for MKG and Marvin Williams, hoping that Charlotte would bite at the chance to dump Marvin’s contract. We then have a full arsenal of like-sized switchy dudes 2-4 to match up with Golden State.
I’d do TT for MKg right now. Then sign a live body to soak up some center minutes and run a lot with Love at center.
I haven’t watched much MKG, is he really as valuable as TT has been for most of the past three seasons? I mean he had a bad series this time around but he was wonderful for the first two and might have been more effective if his costars where hitting their outside shots…
Dmc is a trash loser.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ybjsmm8h
How about this trade?
Indiana also gets Phoenix’s fourth pick, and we are all happy? Except maybe Indiana, but they get to start a rebuild with quality young talent including this years fourth pick.
Phoenix goes to playoffs and scares some teams, and also saves Devin Booker from another losing season. Bledsoe, Booker, Love and some nice pieces ain’t bad.
And most importantly we win next year, with an incredibly versatile and defensive rotation.
JMAY YOU LIVE A DANGEROUS (—-BUT GLAD YOU ARE SO LOYAL TO ALL OF US ) LIFE —-WHAT HAPPENS / SAID ON CTB STAYS ON CTB—-CONGRATS AND ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR HONEYMOON —-BEEN MARRRIED ALMOST 40 YRS AND EVERDAY IS A HONEYMOON WITH THE MRS NOMAD !!!
What’s obvious to me now after that series is that the fluke year was the 2015 Finals. If we had Kyrie OR Love healthy for that Finals I now have no doubt we win. It took the Warriors signing the 2nd or 3rd best player in the NBA (depending on where you put Kawhi) to beat the Cavs. And even though the series was 5 games the Cavs definitely belonged after they figured things out.
Things I would do if I could just to matchup better with that fraudy team out west. I would definitely do the Love for PG13 trade just for that matchup. I would also try to find a way to get MKG just for that matchup. I’d also try to find away to make Shump just a tiny bit better. He’s not young, but he’s not old either and there could still be some growth there. I’d re-sign Korver. I’d see if Derrick Williams wanted to re-sign and actually learn how to play on a championship team, if not no big… Read more »
Commenting from my honeymoon! Don’t Tell my wife! I just can’t stay away from the Cavs for very long. Anyhow, I hope we can make a significant move but I also don’t want to give up on the big 3 which were an absolute monster on offense this year. Love showed he can defend and LeBron is LeBron. If Kyrie can play half decent defense, they can play with any other three players. I just don’t see anything happening without moving one of Kyrie or Love and it makes me sad. Sure would love to see us get PG13, but… Read more »
It’s super fun isn’t it? Making the playoffs and Finals all the time really rules the world.
It is fun. Indeed. Though I despise losing to the warriors.
Holy cow a Mallory sighting!!!!
Man…just the thought of Cavs-Warriors IV is crazy. Non Cavs-Warriors fans have to feel pretty hopeless about their chances.
Good insights here. I agree that Love and Kyrie played decent defense in the half court. They were both bad at getting back in transition though which is where the Cavs got killed.
They weren’t the only ones who were awful in transition. I actually realized after we published that I forgot to say how bad the entire team’s transition D was.
I’m pretty sure RJ was the only real difference maker in transition. Lebron was surely one of the worst.
Yeah, the two teams basically played each other to a draw across the series in the half court. The big difference was in transition according to coach Nick and cleaning the glass where the Cavs were the worst in the league in the regular season, better in the playoffs but still bad and then terrible in the finals.