From Distance: Cavs: the Vlog
2018-06-15four point play….
1. After giving writing the ole college try, I resorted to the one man booth. It went, er, well, it went. Hey YouTube, why won’t you let me select a better thumbnail than that when I’m editing on my phone? And why won’t you let me edit out that part where I literally say, “this isn’t good”. Man. My first crack at a video “From Distance” could be my last.
2. Feel free to start after about minute three. I had to get warmed up. This stuff is hard. I definitely said 2016 a time that I meant 2015. And about 100 other things.
3. As usual, it’s a heavy dose of Lue dissatisfaction.
4. Man, It’s amazing how much less I care about this draft than normal. Context is everything. Go Cavs, technology, and Nate for not immediately firing me from this site after this. See what I did right there. Now he can’t fire me, right? Right!?!?
Ben, first time posting to say this: Don’t ever leave Cavs the Blog. You are the Cleveland Zach Lowe.
Also, thank you to all Cavs the Blog writers for making this the best sports forum out there. I don’t know why you sacrifice so much time and all I have to offer for your hard work is my sincere gratitude.
Wow. Thanks HH. Appreciate the message!
CP3, LeBron and Kawhi should be fun to watch.
Not sure why it came out Anonymous, but this is me.
Kawhi is his own helicopter parent, but he also rents out Dredrick Irving for special occasions.
I hope the Lakers get him and he’s just as weird and as injury prone as he’s always been.
He’s really only been injury prone this past year, right?
No. Has had something weird each season over he last several years.
Kawhi is a weird dude. If I’m the Lakers, it’s kuzma and Ingram. Not touching lonzo. It’s gonna be a gong show. Anyway. Not believing it till its done.
The Leonard situation is so strange, but I would understand wanting to (potentially) team up with Bron and PG. If I’m the Spurs I ask for multiple picks, Kuzma, Ball, and more for the second best player in the league, or I’d trade him to the Magic, just to piss him off.
Pretty interesting situation for LeBron – no guarantee that Spurs move Kawhi before free agency starts. Also, who knows if Kawhi’s helicopter uncle even wants him to play with LeBron (a la Kyrie’s Dad, who was a big proponent of Kyrie getting out of LeBron’s shadow). Speaking of dads, Lakers would almost assuredly have to get rid of Lonzo. I can’t see any way LeBron wants to deal with Lavar. So if the Spurs don’t deal Kawhi to the Lakers, who do the Lakers trade Lonzo to and what do they get in return? CP3 could have a tough decision… Read more »
Kawhi wanting out should surprise no one. His helicopter uncle is following Kyrie’s father’s model. The rumors have been their all season.
There
I’m not buying league pass again to watch this team if Lue stays as HC. I don’t want to watch another regular season like the one we just watched. With all the bad effort on defense and all of the bad rotations.
Who thinks that? But losing Kyrie resulted in one less win against Durant, the guy who choked hard, and then joined the team he choked against the very next season. Durant makes the warriors unbeatable. I put little stock in houston’s success. Warriors weren’t focused for half that series. Lue is by no means the worst coach in the league, but he is not good. He falls somewhere in the middle and is soundly mediocre. Not abjectly terrible but not a guy that can elevate a team above its talent and in some cases a guy who actually may hamper… Read more »
This Kawhi story really sickens me. If the spurs trade him to the Lakers, they had better strip them of every young asset/ draft pick for the foreseeable future. If it happens, it could still screw the Lakers if they give up enough. Prime Kawhi is worth it, but impossible to say how his injuries will affect him going forward.
That Kawhi situation is weird. For a player to sit almost an entire season to me is kind of a red flag. His injury has to be worst than what they are letting people know about it.
Hey “Anonymous” (aka: Probably Cols)… keep posting the same takes over and over again and we’ll keep spamming them… Or, you know, grow the F up…
Amen.
Lakers have to move Deng to get all 3. Why would anyone take that contract? Why on earth would Spurs ever take it?
Love, Cedi and Brooklyn pick for Kawhi! Ha
It’s too bad Kyrie couldn’t have waited a year to demand a trade. A Kyrie for Kawhi swap sounds good right now.
Leonard wants to be traded to the Lakers. Not the Cavs. There would not be a Kyrie for Kawhi swap. It’s looking more and more likely that Duncan was the heart of that Spurs team, not Popovich. He’s had trouble with star players the last two seasons.
Who cares? The Spurs were better, much better, than they should have been without Kawhi. Stop slobbering all over individuals. The marketing the league sarted around MJ ruined the league by turning from focusing on the team game to individual players. Basketball is a team game. Lebron can’t beat the warriors by himself. No individual can. Team game. Forget stars.
If we would have done exit interviews, CP3 + a player/pick or three would have been a shoe-in.
Totally on Gilbert.
If LeBron leaves, count me in for cheering for him regardless of the jersey he plays in, so long as it isn’t a Warriors jersey. I want him to face cupcake boy with a real roster and get back to owning him like he always has.
👍👍👍👍
Nope!
Well, I guess this story won’t age well…
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22110844/how-cleveland-cavaliers-san-antonio-spurs-handled-trade-demands-worlds-apart
+1
Well, we’ll see if the Spurs actually go through with anything or not. But if they trade Kawhi for nothing more than Lonzo, his dad, Kyle Kuzma, and the pleasure of eating Luol Deng’s contract, then Koby Altman should get a reprieve.
Great stuff Ben, even on an off week. I can hear the vocal training when you speak.
Yep given that low speaking voice no high C notes for Ben
Haha. My high C isn’t great, but I gotta pretty rocking Bflat :)
That From Afar intro on singers saving themselves to hit the high C notes when it counts was one of your best. BTW, I was in LA in February and got to see Patti Lupone just after she sang at the Grammy ‘s. LuPone appeared at the Wallis with Seth Rudetsky. LuPone still hit those high C notes on A New Argentina…..amazing for almost 70 years old.
Great stuff as always. Spare room acoustics bring out the big baritone voice, too.
Love the Becky Hammond idea. That would be fun, and LBJ seems to treat women with respect.
Cavs have really missed Delly’s toughness, and willingness to rise to the physical challenge instead of getting caught up in the refs.
And so begins the deluge of LeBron/Kawhi/PG13 rumors…
Technically… they have the cap room and assets to pull it off, provided they have enough pieces that the Spurs like in return…
That’s what worries me…
Koby Altman will have pulled off the greatest trade of all time….for two other teams…. if James lands in Laker Land. Altman will have strengthened the Cavs strongest East rival by shipping Irving there, and taking the injured diminutive one, and freed up enough cap space for the Lakers to reload big time. Take another victory lap Koby like at the all star game
Lazy analysis. If the Lakers want to clear cap space they could clear cap space anytime they wanted too.
Yeah, if anyone blames our front office for clearing cap space for the Lakers to sign LeBron, I think you need a reality check. LeBron is going to go where LeBron wants to go, and the Lakers can clear whatever cap space they want whenever they want. It isn’t difficult when you have the assets.
It is easier to clear cap space on a trade that another team wants to make i.e the Cavs versus clearing the space when you have to. And what about that number one pick we gave up too. An awful all around trade
Yep. Though LA may have had other takers. Still, it was a risk he had to take. Bron ain’t going to the Lakers.
The obvious question: More likely James goes to LA if the Lakers can make a reasonable trade for Leonard?
As much as I believe he should stay, an opportunity to team up with one (or two if they can also sign PG13) of the best two-way players in the League might be hard to pass up. Really couldn’t blame the guy at that point… much as Laker fans annoy me…
He and Kyrie & Chris Webber are on the all-time it is all about me club. At least CWebb & Kyrie never quit in season (though Kyrie threatened it).
That is one crazy A Frame you’re living in, Ben… Awesome vlog tho!
This was so good, Ben! I really appreciate that you switched formats to get your point across and I would def check out more vlogs in the future.
If Morey really wants Lebron, and Lebron really wants to play with CP3, the solution is to trade Lebron for Capella or Harden. Put Lebron in Harden’s place, Houston might have won championship last year with that supporting cast. Ofcourse, Rockets may are not ready to trade Harden and more likely trade Capella. Harden will be MVP but put healthy Kawhi or Lebron in place of Harden, Rockets will be better. Just a thought.
btw, I don’t think Cavs should trade for Capella.
Agreed. If LeBron walks, we need full tank fest for a few years. It’s the NBA, and that’s the only plausible strategy for the Cavs to be title contender again.. ever.
Good video From Afar !! Couldn’t agree more on a new coach, but it sure doesn’t look like it will happen. As you pointed out, Lue has been totally incapable of developing players or using them to be most their effective. If James leaves and the Cavs do go into tank mode, Lue can’t possibly be the coach to develop a young team. Sadly, I don’t share your optimism on LeBron saying….about 25% IMO.
Ty Lue created the #5 offense in the NBA even though they had no PG for most of the season, lost Love for a good portion, and had to trade half their team at the deadline. He also somehow got this team focused enough to get to the Finals despite all the turmoil and drama of the season. He somehow managed to develop Cedi into a useful player and Zizic into a useful player while all this was going on. Think about this, he got a #5 offense out of LeBron, a bad JR Smith, ancient Jose Calderon, Jeff Green,… Read more »
“Somehow managed to develop Cedi into a useful player”…. yeah, ok guy. Have you watched any footage of Cedi playing in the Euroleague?
Further: at what point do think think Lue found Zizic “useful”.
Simmo I wonder if anonymous is Ty Lue’s agent…….you know, a Bryan Colangelo kind of support by his wife? The comments made on Zizic and Cedi are just simply not accurate. The minimal ceiling team for any team is reaching the NBA Finals with James, and Lue was no coaching savant making that happen.
Coach Lue and the entire staff had an entire year to figure out how to become competitive against the Warriors, how to reduce LeBron’s workload and manage his minutes, find ways to remain competitive with LeBron on the bench, unleash “Minnesota Love”, develop a defensive system, etc etc. While the Cavs may have lost to the Warriors regardless, there’s a difference between getting swept and actually being competitive in the series. Taking it to 6 or 7 should have been the ceiling for this year’s team. Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around for the players too (JR,… Read more »
Dude. Cols. We banned you.
Love the Lue truthers.
They got the the finals, despite Lue…you are delusional.
Lue…is that you? You won’t be missed.
Meh, they underachieved somewhat against the warriors. Could have won a game. Badly underachieved against the Celtics. Should not have gone seven. You’re analysis conveniently forgets the lack of focus in the regular season and in half the postseason games they played. It is bunk.
Cavs need to draft Porter Jr or Trae Young.
Yikes
Co@s bot star fiend. Trae Young is splashy. Therefore Co&s bot simplistic mind likes him.
fantastic post Ben! My only quibble is that you missed the Kevin Love injuries in the regular season and the postseason the hand fracture the thumb ligament and the concussion when discussing Thai lose management of rotations. I will also argue that Andre Iguodala was his good in the two games that he played that he as he was in 2015. because he was awesome in these two games. the Warriors role-players totally destroyed the Cavs bench.
Much as Ty Lue destroyed Kyle korver’s confidence
Totally, Nate. Not mentioning Love’s injury was Lue level bad.
Iggy was great this year, but he was a two way monster in 2015
No big deal. Pretty awesome off the cuff, Ben. Iggy’s strip on love in the post was one of the great defensive plays I’ve ever seen. He had a huge dunk in game 3 (why didn’t TT foul!?) and three enormous treys in game 4.
Wow!! Spot on every point!! Need s new coach more than anything! Can’t keep going down same rabbit hole and getting punched in the head AGAIN by Kerr mallet. It’s just too easy for him .
Doggedly & dogmatically cracking me up with yr half-frenching, Ben. We need to make Dan Gilbert watch this succinct description of what the franchise needs.