Podcap: New York 114, Cleveland 95 (Or, the Lue-ban Missile Crisis)
2017-10-30https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/episode-148-lue-ban-missile-crisis
We’re at Defcon 3, folks, and I’d wager another loss puts us at Defcon 2. (Cuban Missile Crisis levels!) At Defcon 1, Dan Gilbert goes nuclear on Tyronn Lue. Seven games into this season, and Ty’s elevated coaching seat might just be the hottest in the NBA as the Cavs have lost three straight and four of the last five. Those losses have come against some of the worst teams in the league.
The Cavs are now 1-4 in what is the 2nd-easiest 6-game stretch for any team in the NBA this season, according to BPI pic.twitter.com/f72IxE5HHS
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 30, 2017
Justin May and Nate Smith hopped in the podcast booth to recap and then Tom Pestak parachuted into the war room with klaxons blaring to help us figure out what is wrong with the Cavaliers. We recapped Sunday’s game, and went over everything that’s going wrong (a lot), and the little that’s going right (Kyle Korver). We looked at lineups (why isn’t Crowder playing more?), slumping players (I’m looking at you, Mr. 4-28 from three, J.R. Smith), the age question (are the Cavs just too old?), and whether this represents a failure of the front office to bring in players who make sense next to LeBron (or anyone for that matter). Do the Cavs have the worst starting backcourt in the NBA? Do they just need an infusion of Isaiah Thomas? Are they just content to make a mockery of the regular season? And what the heck is wrong with Tristan Thompson (one point, one turnover, zero rebounds in 19 minutes). We also talk about who would replace Ty Lue if (some of us say “when”) the hotseat gets to Defcon 1. Larry Drew? Mark Jackson? Sobering thoughts…
We tackle all this and more on a night that saw Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis combine to drop 66 points on Cleveland, and the Knicks outrebounded the Cavs 51-41.
You can listen listen above, on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts or Google Play.
Looks like he put more effort into that costume than he did into the last game, lol.
LONZO BALL—WILL BE ‘RECRUITING ” LEBRON ALL SEASON—-ALMOST EVERY POST GAME COMMENT HAS THE NAME ” LEBRON ” IN IT ( AM SURE HE IS BEING ” MENTORED ” BY MAGIC ON WHAT TO SAY AFTER GAMES / INTERVIEWS )———————THIS IS A “SIGN ” OF WHERE WE ARE (CAVS ) JUST HOPING WE ARE COMPETIVE AND NOT BLOWN OFF THE CT. BY ANOTHER MEDIOCRE TEAM —-WOW HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED —-OH BY THE WAY LEBRON TOMORROW IS NOVEMBER 1ST !!!
KNOW IT IS EARLY ( CERTAIN PLAYER SAID —” WHAT MONTH IS IT—OCTOBER ? ” )—–STILL NBA HAS TO BE SMILING WITH YOUNG TEAMS LIKE THE 76ER’S / KNICKS / MAGIC / BUCKS STARTING TO SURFACE AND BE COMPETITIVE —-THE EAST ( AS OF RIGHT NOW ) IS WIDE OPEN
FLATLINER KYRIE / CELTS HAVE TO BE FEELING PRETTY GOOD RIGHT NOW —5 IN A ROW —–ON THAT TRADE STILL BELIEVE IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL— CROWDER WILL BE OK —-ANTE STILL YOUNG….WAIT AND SEE HOW I.T. DOES WHEN HE RETURNS—–AND KEEP THAT BROOKLYN PICK ( STILL BELIEVE THAT IS THE KEY TO THE TRADE )——-HOPE THE PARTY LAST NIGHT EXORCISED ALL THE CAVS DEMONS OUT ——LET’S GO PLAY BALL NOW !!
Danny’s looking like the winner so far…which is exactly why I would have told him to pound sand and traded with anyone else. If the Nets pick were guaranteed to be top three, yeah, you hold your nose and do it, but that is far, far from any guarantee.
Corby is gonna make the Cavs great again.
BTW, they had to make a trade. And, how exactly do you get a guarantee on a future draft pick?
You don’t, which is why you don’t trade with the fricking Celtics.
Maybe they should have trades with the Browns. They are great at giving up future stars.
+1, you shouldn’t trade with rivals.
This bad advice has been around forever. You make the best trade you can. End of story.
Not that bad if you think this way. Your trading making rivals stronger means you are closer to losing the playoff series with them.
They made a bad trade. Unless the Nets pick turns up aces, which is unlikely. They should have made the supposed ‘second best’ trade.
Pretty weird stuff: The Russians get Trump into office, the Cavs lose to the Nets and Knicks, and a big chunk of rock from out of the solar system zipped past the Earth last week. A sign of the end times?
Per Lloyd: Mike Longabardi runs the defense and has ever since Lue was promoted to head coach. Lue ran the defense under David Blatt, but he doesn’t have time to do everything during the regular season. Lue takes back control of everything in the playoffs. While the defensive numbers have suffered last season and the start of this year, Lue has complete faith and trust in Longabardi after the two worked together in Boston. He’s not going anywhere.
Also: This was my problem with the trade the Cavs made for Irving: four quarters don’t always equal a dollar. Jae Crowder is a nice piece, but he’s done nothing yet to show he’s anything more than a solid role player. Nobody knows what type of player Thomas will be when he returns from a pretty serious hip injury, and if the Nets keep winning… well, it won’t look like a good return. Ante Zizic just isn’t ready yet, but Thomas can save this trade if he returns playing the same way he did before he was injured. But that’s… Read more »
Don’t forget we had to make a trade, and no one offered any better. There is zero point in complaining about it. It was certainly a lot better than what the other teams under the gun to make a trade got.
I disagree. We weren’t under any gun. He was under contract for two more years.
And what would you be saying right now if Kyrie was holding out?
I don’t think he would leave money on the table. I don’t buy it. The team could always tell him we are going to trade you as soon as we get the deal we like.
That might have worked, and it might not have. The KI trade demand put the team in a hard spot, and it is rare to get a decent outcome in this situation .
Whatever you do is a gamble. Here are some considerations: Does KI have an agent that likes to play hardball? If LeBron is playing in chill mode, Kyrie might start playing in don’t care mode, or shoot everything mode, or fall of the edge of the Earth. Who knows?
True. The more I have heard Kyrie in interviews post trade, the more I think he would end up sabotaging the team if he played, a la Bledsoe tanking his first four games with the suns this year, though you could argue it is hard to blame Bledsoe based off his treatment last season.
True, but Kyrie might think he has been getting bad treatment all along. Who knows? He has been playing pretty well for the Celts.
He might have felt that way. However, averaging the MOST shots on a championship contender and winning a ring no less basically undercuts any justification he might have for boohooing from any rational win first perspective. Love had his name thrown around in and was offered up in trades multiple times, and considering Kyrie wanted out a year ago after he just won a championship, I think that pretty much tells you all anyone needs to know about him. He certainly never went through anything like getting benched for 20 games because your team wants to fake an injury to… Read more »
This was what Jason Lloyd posted.
Per Lloyd: I’ve seen some form of this question more than any other, both in mailbags and in my Twitter mentions. I’ll address this deeper soon enough, but Tyronn Lue is not the problem with this team. He’s the adult holding everything together right now. It baffles me how many people still believe David Blatt was a coaching genius and Lue is some moron off the street. It’s just not the case.
Totally agree with Arch on this one.
You mean Jason Lloyd.
Oops! I thought we agreed on something for a minute.
That means there is no simple solution then. Though I am not of the opinion that firing Lue or any coach in the middle of a season is a good idea or that it usually works for a contender. Obviously it did for us. However, I don’t think we would get that lucky again.
Blatt may be a coaching genius, but it didn’t work with the Cavs, that’s fine. It gets annoying when people like Lloyd keep saying stuff like this, though, mainly because Blatt and the beat reporters didn’t get along. I don’t really care if coach X and reporters are buddy buddy or not.
That was my first thought too.
Who else is responsible for the lineups changing every game because they were dumb the first game? Who is responsible for Wade starting, for J.R. losing his confidence, or for never playing Zizic and for not keeping RJ? I mean Lue could certainly have fought for the last one. What about Lue’s lack of fire on the court? How is he not responsible for that? How is Lue not responsible for playing LeBron 40+ minutes in games they’re losing anyway? This might be the worst sports opinion I’ve ever heard from Lloyd.
Looks like Mike P’s question was answered in the Athletic.
https://theathletic.com/142024/2017/10/30/cavs-mailbag-tyronn-lue-the-defense-trade-possibilities-and-potential-lineups/
Yep that was me. I was surprised by Lloyd’s answer, that’s for sure.
A couple of things:
-Surprised at the level of vitriol here. Hasn’t LeBron earned the benefit of the doubt? Let’s hold off on the panic button until Xmas.
-Poor effort by the players, poor minute allocation by Lue.
-Would you trade Isaiah Thomas for Bledsoe straight up?
It isn’t all on Lebron. He doesn’t get a free pass though. A guy plays poorly. A guy plays with little effort or focus, it is fair to point it out. Just facts. He hasn’t seem engaged. That is clear the last few games. For whatever reason, that is the case. The whole team seems mired in quicksand for most of the games they have played. They clearly are not good enough to beat teams with the effort they have shown, which is minimal. I don’t see vitriol as much as pointing out what the cavs have actually done or… Read more »
I agree with your thoughts on effort and who is to blame, but I think people are overreacting. The NBA season is a marathon. The roster may be considerably different by the time April rolls around. People saying we are fatally flawed are trying to stir up content. Will we beat the Warriors? Probably not, but if we have LeBron we have a damn good chance.
I certainly don’t know what is really going on, but we have to consider that LeBron is 33 and has played more minutes than just about anyone in history, and being worn out by the finals is a very real concern.
True. I have been a member of the minutes police for a long time. I would hope it wouldn’t be this early in the season. It is possible though. If that is the case, we have problems.
And as to IT for Bledsoe, maybe, I don’t know. One reason I might not is that at least IT can hit threes in the right system at a fairly high rate. Not sure Bledsoe can do that. Currently, since we haven’t seen all that much of a system change offensively, we really really need more regular guys to be three point threats. If we don’t have them, it is basically like trying square pegs into round holes. Either the system needs to change or we need guys to play that can spread the floor, e.g. hopefully IT when he… Read more »
IT was with phoenix suns and didn’t work out very well, don’t think Suns are as enarmored with him.
their lack of effort isn’t fun to watch…sport is supposed to be entertainment and this team should embody Cleveland as a city…lazy and soft is not how I would describe Cleveland.
Winning in the playoff is also fun.
Imagine you are 11 or so, the Cavs are your favorite team to watch. Its your birthday and your parents bought you tickets to a game, which they can barely afford (case for many people), and the Cavs show up and play like that against the Knicks. Maybe you don’t care because it is cool to see the Cavs in person, but as a parent I would be furious at how they don’t give a shit during the regular season, when tickets are actually affordable.
Hopefully the last few games were literally week long hangover games. I wouldn’t be surprised considering how much time they spent in NY and NO. I am counting on that really, because if not…yikes.
Based on LBJ’s casualness after the NY game seems to indicate he is already in full on chill mode and will be for the foreseeable future. I am sure he will get up to play teams he deems to actually be good, but if they keep getting blown out by mediocre or bad teams it might not matter.
I am surprised considering I was under the assumption he might try for another MVP this season. Guess not if he is in chill mode already.
At this chill level, they will miss the playoffs. But they are worse than ever at doing anything without LeBron doing it all.
I am not quite ready to go that far, but it hasn’t looked good. When IT comes back they will likely, hopefully, get a boost. It could be rough until then. Not sure what they do about the defense. But yeah, I am concerned considering how they have played and the casualness the team and coaches display at the beatdowns they have gotten. And yeah, their offense is problematic without another guy to carry them when LeBron is out or off. I was worried it would be difficult to replace that production without overhauling/instituting a system, and it appears they… Read more »
Me neither. But, right now the Cavs are 11th in the EC at 3 – 4, and the Dubs are 6th in the WC at 4 – 3.
My impression of Jackson based off what I have read on warriors blogs is that while he was an excellent defensive coach, his offense was generally pretty simple with a heavy amount of ISO. I think they led the league in isos in Jackson’s last year which didn’t maximize their best player’s strengths. Well maybe you argue that that fits LBJ and how this team has played. We have different personnel now and no longer have the best one on one player in the NBA. I think this team needs a different offense now because of that. I don’t think… Read more »
Bball breakdown of Kerr versus Jackson. I believe there is another one as well.
thanks John B! great comments
NOT TRYING TO “TRASH ” LEBRON ( BUT WILL COME ACROSS THAT WAY )—HE ALWAYS SAYS HE OWES IT TO THE FANS ( WHEN HE MIGHT BE QUESTIONABLE T O PLAY DUE TO AN INJURY ) TO PLAY—WHICH IS GOOD—BUT ALSO WE WOULD LIKE TO ALSO SEE CLOSE TO 100 % LEBRON PLAYING —NOT 50 %—EVEN IN OCTOBER !!
believe from half time yesterday.
—
“What month is this for me? October?” James said. “I’m not about to go crazy over it right now. It’s too long of a season. I’ve been a part of this way too many times.”
A sober response. Translation : I’ll give a crap when I give a crap.
For the last three years, the Cavs could hardly ever win a game that LeBron didn’t play in. Now they can’t win a game if he plays but doesn’t give a crap. At least he gives a crap against GreekFreek and KI, we we got a couple wins.
HELL IF WE GET ANY TYPE OF GOOD OFFERS FOR T.T. –WHY NOT TRADE HIM—-HELL WE CAN BRING UP ‘ANGRY SMURF “—AM SURE HE IS CAPABLE OF GETTING MORE THAN “1 REBOUND ” AND PLAYING GOOD DEFENSE !!
BTW, nice impromptu creation of the Lue-ban missile crisis headline by Tom. Will cavsdan flinch on Lue like Castro did on the arsenal?
haha thanks – every once in a while the neurons fire faster than my mouth
JMAY YOU HAVE ECHOED WHAT I HAVE SAID ALL ALONG ABOUT” LAGENBURGER BASKETS “—WTF TY –WE TAKE A CAST OFF FROM THE CESSPOOL SUNS —-THAT SHOULD SAY ALOT ABOUT WHO WE ARE —I AM REPEATING MYSELF ( I AM ALLOWED– DUE TO MY AGE TO DO THAT ) —-WHERE IS FRYE’S / CEDI’S PLAYING TIME ——WHERE IS / WHAT IS THE REAL STORY ABOUT NOT BRINGING ‘ENCHILADA ” BACK—-KORVER DESERVES TO START UNTIL SWISH CAN GET HIS GROOVE BACK —–HOPE THE HALLOWEEN PARTY PUTS SOME “MAGICAL ” SPELL INTO THE CAVS— OTHERWISE WE ARE LOOKING AT ANOTHER “NIGHTMARISH ” WEEK… Read more »
My eyes hurt today. Staring at that Lue-ban missle was like staring at the eclipse.
“Missile”
Also… if Lue does get the boot, let’s hope it’s Larry Drew or one of the others you mentioned and not Mike freaking Longabardi…
Longabardi should never have been hired. I remember we hired him to run our defense. It promptly plummeted to next to last in the league. Before we hired him, he was coaching for the Suns… In case anyone forgot, they played horrible defense… Another terrible decision.
He’s also a stand in for Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones.
Yeah. If he is in truly charge of defensive schemes, no thanks. Of course, if they don’t practice defense and the players continue to give the effort they are giving, it might not matter who is in charge of defense if there is no accountability. I mean it is one thing to write off back to backs as I was fully expecting to do this season. However, it an entirely different thing to not show up at all against the dregs in games with one or more days of rest.
Good podcap guys… although I think you were a little hard on DRose given that it was his first game back after the ankle injury…
That said, I didn’t watch a minute of this game… the Pelicans game more than filled my quotient of poor basketball I can watch in a weekend…
Rose was mostly an afterthought all game. He had a couple nice drives but he passed up shots that would have been wide open knock down threes last year. He opted to drive, quite literally, right into Kanter on more than one occasion. He finished a couple of those but it definitely shows the difference between being able to bomb away from three last season as opposed to this year.
Rose is just a bad fit with Lebron (in fairness, he was signed for the 2nd team)…he, Jeff Green, and Wade are all bad fits with Lebron. Exactly why I was underwhelmed by the Summer of Corby.
Yes one of those guys is fine on the roster, but you can’t have a bunch of non-shooters on the court at the same time. Corby you ate too many blocks of cheese during the Summer of Corby!
To illustrate what I mean, here’s one of those clips from last night: https://youtu.be/Xx5CzuRVWsw?t=3m42s
To illustrate what I mean, here’s one of those clips from last night: https://youtu.be/Xx5CzuRVWsw?t=3m42s
I posted a link that needs approved for a clip of what I mean, EG.
EG when was the last time you actually missed a game just because the car wreck was too ugly? Not work or family commitments. That says a lot!
It’s been a while…
Did you get up at 6 am to watch the Browns?
I did… but only because I had something else to do that morning as well…
How is this possible?
The Cavs need to take a long hard look in the mirror…
Need to trade him now at peak value…
Old Man Yells at the cloud:
LOL:
cLue gets us:
I’m not sure I understand what he’s saying.
I think he’s probably getting trolled on social media.
Any way we can get Covington from the Sixers? If we could find a way to get Bledsoe from the Suns and Covington from the Sixers, we could put out a starting five of Bledsoe, Covington, LeBron, Crowder, and Love. That team can defend and score. I think I just need to get 2k…
Stan Van Gangsta has been overlooked since the Dwight Drama. But man, he is a very good coach.
LeBron looked extremely average yesterday. He didn’t have the command of the floor as he usually does and other than barreling down the lane and not getting called on offensive fouls, as he should had a few times, and scoring, he wasn’t the best player on the league.
Is father time finally catching up to him?
Could be, but it looked to me like he just wasn’t expending any effort. Lot of lazy jumpers, and there was the play where Rose sort of lobbed the ball on a break, and instead of going up and slamming it, Lebron just caught it flat footed, and layed it up. I’m guessing he’s either cadillacing or nursing some injury.
I think that is part of the effect of father time. Less energy.
EITHER THAT OR GET A LARGE DRUM OF “DELLY COFFEE “
I’ve still got my Delly Coffee!
You’re a stronger man than I Tom, our 10 packs lasted about 2 months.
Going to what 7 straight finals adds up, and is why a team like the Magic, who haven’t been to the playoffs since Michael Jordan had hair, can out run an old squad.
The Cavs are out of shape. Someone should get Delly on this roster to whip them back into shape:
Call it what it is…they are FAT. First time they play Houston or GS they’re going to be rolling around on the floor gasping like seals.
WITH OUR ” NO ” DEFENSE WE ARE PUTTING TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON OUR OFFENSE —-TO THE POINT PLAYERS FEEL THEY HAVE TO SCORE ON EVERY POSSESSION —WHEN YOU PLAY WITH THAT KIND OF “PRESSURE “—-YOU TIGHTEN UP —–YOUR SHOT / PASSSING ETC—IT DOESN’T FLOW FLUIDLY/ FREELY —-BELIEVE WITH BETTER DEFENSE YOU WILL SEE AN IMPROVEMENT ON OFFENSE ——-AGIAN WE ARE NOT PLAYING ‘FAST ” WHICH I THOUGHT TY ALWAYS PREACHES —–WE ALLOW THE DEFENSE TO SET UP—THEN WE ISO THE BALL–WHILE THE OTHER 4 PLAYERS JUST STAND—-NO BALL “ENERGY “—NO BODIES MOVING / PICKING / CUTTING — VERY EASY… Read more »
WOULD DO THAT ALSO— ( NOT THE BROOKLYN PICK )—-AGAIN EITHER HE DOESN’T HAVE THE SKILL LEVEL OR JUST DOESN’T WORK AT IT —T.T. SINCE HE HAS COME INTO THE LEAGUE HAS ZERO OFFENSIVE GAME—-NO POST MOVE—NO SHORT JUMPER —CAN’T REALLY PUT THE BALL ON THE FLOOR AND GO TO THE HOLE —SO AGAIN WHEN HE IS PLAYING—OFFENSIVELY WE ARE 4 VS 5
His lone threat on the offensive end is rebounds. He had 0 rebounds last night. He should be embarrassed.
Crazy part is that he was a complimentary piece to Kyrie and Dion averaging almost 12pts/9rb back in the 12-13 season. How in the world do you regress to the position you’re in right now where you are unplayable? Bad coaching? Bad offensive scheme’s? Kardashian curse?
That is “Kardashian Kurse”. They specialize in K’s.
Kyrie better watch out!
TT, Shump, and our first for Bledsoe and Chandler?
I’d probably do that…TT is a zombie right now…
Id rather do a separate deal where a bottom line we get Bledsoe and Faried.
WILL THROW THIS OUT THERE ( PROBABLY GET THOUROUGHLY RIDICULED )—–FRATELLO COACH OF THE CAVS ??
I actually thought about that last night.
Me too, and then I thought, no way.
Not a bad idea, bu as long as Lebron is there as alpha dog, I don’t think it matters too much who the coach is. They’ll be running the offense Lebron wants to run, anyway.
Yep. At the end of the day the team goes as LBJ goes. He doesn’t want to do something, they won’t do it. He doesn’t try, most of them won’t.
PHIL (JACKSON ) TOOK SOME FLAK FOR DRAFTING —THE UNICORN ( ZINGER ) BUT THAT IS ONE POSITIVE MOVE HE MADE DURING HIS TENURE AT NEW YORK—–THE DUDE IS GOING TO BE A STUD —-TOO BAD WE COULDN”T SOMEHOW INTICED A TRADE FOR HIM LAST YEAR —HE IS UNTOUCHABLE NOW !!!
I’m down to get Lauri Markkanen from Chicago. Kid is a solid 20yo. 7 footer that can shoot and rebound. He is Baby Unicorn in the flesh.
MIKE AGREE —-TOO MANY HOLES TO FILL—THAT IS WHY I SAY — DON’T TRADE THE FUTURE AWAY !!——KUDOS TO KORVER HE IS PLAYING HIS BUTT OFF—DESERVES TO START——B.S . THAT FRYE AND CEDI ONLY GIVEN GARBAGE MINUTES —AGAIN !!!!
TY SHOULD DRESS UP / GO AS A “COACH ” NOBODY WOULD RECOGNIZE HIM —-HE DOESN’T EVEN NEED TO BY A COSTUME —-JUST GO AS HE IS
IN MY OPINION —WE ARE IN REBUILD MODE NOW!!!—DO NOT TRADE ANY MORE FUTURE ASSETS THINKING WE ARE A CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM—WE ARE NOT !!!!!——DON’T EVEN THINK WE MAKE IT TO CHAMPIONSHIP GAME —-NEED TO KEEP THAT BROOKLYN PICK / THAT MAY BE THE ONLY SALVAGEABLE PART OF THE KYRIE TRADE / OTHERWISE –YES AINGE TOOK CORBY TO THE WOODSHED —–MAYBE “FLATLINER ‘ KYRIE NEW MORE -( THE ENVIRONMENT / TY’S CLUELESS COACHING ) THAN WE DID REASON HE PRESSURED TO GET TRADED —-T.T.’S ONLY TRUE STRENGTH REBOUNDING / DEFENSE ARE NOW BEING TAKEN AWAY —-IN HIS ENTIRE PRO CARREER HE… Read more »
I believe Cols gave up on CtB until the Spring. He thought we were too critical.
Right…he’ll be back inside two weeks telling everyone want they need to think…right this moment, he’s probably shivering under a blanket in complete panic mode…
He is probably blasting people over at FTS, and getting in shape to return to the majors.
Have not listened yet, but Crowder has been bad for the most part so far. If he does not eventually play better, Danny took Corby to the woodshed.
Crowder isn’t shooting well, but he’s still playing the best defense on the team. No one else is close.
One big difference is that Boston had a system that he could do a good job in. The Cavs have no discernible system for anything.
I completely agree. Crowder needs a system. Most players not named LeBron James need a system. That’s what everyone has been trying to tell LeBron for the past four years. It seems like he’d rather do it his way.
I will catch flak for this, but this is one reason I don’t consider LeBron a top 5 player. Rather than augment a system a team has, he becomes the system. While he is on the floor, he makes shooters & rollers better. But not others. When he is off the floor, it all goes to pot as even all-star level players struggle to keep the team afloat.
Now, I don’t know if Bron demands to be the system or if Spo/Lue/Blatt just made it so.
And, high end all-timers actually try thru fall & winter.
I’ve thought about this a lot over the years. Lebron really does become the system and everything is designed to fall apart when he’s not there.
Good point. Celtics are tailor made for someone like Crowder to succeed.
Maybe the team will have a good meeting tonight during LeBron’s Halloween party and discuss the issues they are having. Wonder what Coach Lue’s costume will be…
A ghost.
Maybe the league just knows to focus on getting TT off the boards. I have no idea what his problem is other than now he is permanently tied to the Kardashian Curse… So there’s that.
Pacers will house us.
TT, JR, & Shump have contracts that are near untradable. $16, $12.5, and nearly $11.
Hopefully JR snaps out of it. TT & Shump I have less hope for. At least Korver has been great.
3 words. Jeff. Van. Gundy.
As discussed thoroughly on the pod, there are so many holes in the dike we may not have enough fingers to plug them. The most alarming stat to me pertains to JR. His defensive ranking is now 115.8, which ranks 372/412 among players in the league. As Tom speculated, is JR done? He has the hoodie look going, which may be appropriate for someone in the player witness protection program. Regretfully, I attended last night’s game and really watched TT a lot. Thompson has totally lost his aggressiveness and looks like he is playing in slow motion. Also, hard to… Read more »
I think we mentioned it in the Pod but I feel like we should really just play Crowder as our starting SG. I mean, he’s certainly not playing worse than JR. Ideally, you want JR in the starting lineup so as to not shake his confidence, but the damage is done (Thanks Lue). Besides, JR’s shot isn’t falling, but that shouldn’t stop him from doing everything else he needs to do on the court. We see it all the time out of Love when he isn’t scoring. I’m a huge JR fan, but we need to stop hanging onto these… Read more »
I am with you on putting Crowder back among the starters. I never thought JR was this fragile.
Sorry you had to be there in person to see that performance Mike. Crowder is absolutely a starter. No logical reasoning would have it otherwise with this roster. JR: as per the pod, like a lot of older players, he is diesel powered and take a while to warm up. I think looking at JR’s FG%, we are seeing the signs of JR’s decline, but having felt the effects of age as an athlete myself, I don’t think it’s a case of all-or-nothing. I think we will see him gain performance as the season progresses. That goes for several of… Read more »
Coach Lue on the last few games.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21221379/tyronn-lue-cleveland-cavaliers-rues-new-york-knicks-rout-unacceptable-skid
Also checked out DET-GSW, Pistons played extremely well, noticed how composed they were in the last few minutes, sticking to their gameplan, effort level & tenacious D. Felt a little jealous actually.
Thank you gents. Light-hearted takes, which made me feel a bit better about where the team is at. Was also twice partway through typing the answers “Mr Mister” & “Occam’s Razor” into the comments before reminding myself the ‘cast was not live.
haha! Sounds like we need you in our booth, Simmo!
I say bring back blatt as our coach
Getting a decent coach and getting Blatt are two different things.
Can we fire Lue yet?