Live Thread: Cavs @ Magic

The Cavs travel to Orlando to take on the 16-36 Magic. In what has become an all too common theme this season, the Wine & Gold are trying to bounce back from a huge loss. The Rockets lifted off to a 32 victory point on a nationally broadcast game against them Saturday night. There’s really not a whole lot to say about the team at this point.

The Magic aren’t good. The Cavs should, from a roster comparison stand point, easily beat Orlando. The Magic are young,can’t hold leads, and lack a true superstar. And, their best players are sitting this game out. Nikola Vucevic is out with a hand injury and Aaron Gordan is also out with a hamstring injury. Terrence Ross and Jonathan Isaac will miss the game too.

The Cavs will most likely be without Dwyane Wade who is dealing with an illness. Kevin Love is out too.

I usually do some keys to the game, but with how the Cavs have been playing it would boil down to me saying the Cavs actually need to show some effort in a bunch of different ways. Here’s some things I’ve been thinking about the team though:

1. I’m thankful Kevin Love got injured. No, hear me out. Obviously, it’s never good for a player to get injured. In this case though, his injury has saved the Cavs front office from being able to trade him or put his name in trade talks. Love has been supremely professional and involved this season. He might be the lone bright spot, outside of LeBron Jame when he’s engaged, of the starters. When Love comes back, at least he won’t have the idea in his head that the team doesn’t want him.

2.Tyronn Lue shook things up by moving Jae Crowder to the bench and moving Tristan Thompson into the starting lineup a few games ago. Now Love is out and Crowder is back to starting. Lue needs to shake things up again. Essentially, the bench and LeBron should start. So that would be: D. Wade, Kyle Korver, Jeff Green, Cedi Osman or Channing Frye, and LeBron starting. Of those six guys, LeBron is the only one who has blatantly shown no effort through long stretches this season. Of those six guys, LeBron is the only one with a negative net rating of .8. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt though and let him hang out with the real A-squad of the Cavs.

3.Now that it has been announced that Tyronn Lue’s job isn’t at risk, the only way forward for the Cavs is to make a trade in the coming days before the deadline passes.

Cleveland Cavaliers official on Ty Lue: "We are not firing our head coach." ESPN story: https://t.co/wntuLZWZmh

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2018

4. It’s painfully obvious through 51 games that Lue cannot fix this team through coaching. Usually after making a statement saying the Cavs must make a trade, I would actually suggest some players they should go after, but this time I’m not. I don’t care who they get or send away and neither should they. Sure, there are better players, mainly the bench guys, they shouldn’t get rid of, but the Cavs are trading to change their attitude. And, let’s be honest: it’s essentially a roll of the dice. Their attitude might not be fixable.

5. If you’re reading this, you’re a true Cavs fan. I’m sorry. I really am. After witnessing what they pulled Saturday, I don’t want to watch anything they do right now.

5. Lastly, take this fact in that Jason Lloyd of the Athletic pointed out in his Saturday coverage of the Rockets’ domination. Outside of the Cavs 18-1 streak during November and December the team is 12-19. That’s about the same win percentage as the Brooklyn Nets.

The Cavs will probably drop this game pretty bad. They have shown they play down to competition all season, and that has given them issues. LeBron isn’t playing well enough to bail them out if they do that tonight. Magic, 121-111.