“I think [Irving]‘s ready. I think he can definitely play. But if I’m ready to give him the ball? When will I know? Probably Dec. 25. I’ll let you know on the 26th.” [Byron Scott via Mary Schmitt Boyer on the possibility of Kyrie Irving being the team's starting PG]
“I really don’t have this attitude where I need to start. I think my play will continue to dictate that as we continue to go through training camp. Hopefully, I’ll be a starter, but if not, I’ll bring energy off the bench. So we’ll see how it goes.” [Kyrie Irving]
Kyrie also has “mixed emotions” about the Baron Davis move, according to Bob Finnan.
Fear the Sword has a preview of tonight’s preseason tilt against the Pistons.
TD over at WFNY examines whether or not Dan Gilbert has an image problem.
On the Twitters
“Gilbert on when Cleveland wins a championship: ‘It will be one big-ass party, my friend.’” [Scott Sargent]
“Unrealistic expectations of Tristan Thompson by fans and media alike. Will take him years to learn how to play on the offensive side.” [realcavsfans]
Tristan Thompson is a monster and is going to take a dump on Chris Bosh.
No update on the Cavs’ first game (yes, preseason, but still) in months? ????
I hope Thompson gets some good time against Bosh. However Thompson offensively will probably get owned by a fair few PFs
Say what you will about Chris Grant (he gets a borderline gentleman’s B so far from me, 84%), but he has at least done passable work. Contrast Grant with Denny Ainge in Boston — while Ainge has been able to hang on to the Big Three, everything else has been been crumbling around the Boston foundations, and the future looks bleak for the Celtics. The Cavs restart with low expectations, but at least they are young. (Not that they had any choice, really, and will still have a worse record than Boston for a couple of years, but you get the idea.)
I didn’t see Anthony Parker in action against Detroit, but hope he has a good year, same thing with Jamison and Varejo. If you think about it, the starting lineup is only two guys off from the best-in-the-league two years back.
There is some dude on Cleveland.com Cavs boards who can’t let go of the fact that Ferry and Grant let Delonte and Shaq go, and I would rather see Delonte in wine and gold than in Dallas, but I’m not sure he (Delonte) would be a very good partner or mentor to Kyle Irving, hard to imagine. And I think it’s fine that Baron Davis is off doing his thing somewhere else, although I think his wallet is going to be bulging bigger than his discs courtesy Dan Gilbert if I’m not mistaken.
To be honest it is going to be great being a Cavs fan again and scrapping for every victory against Detroit, Toronto, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. And teams like Sacramento and New Orleans. These are the kind of teams the Cavs presently need to be “built” to beat, so for once we aren’t trying to beat Dwight Howard with preseason acquisitions when we aren’t actually going to meet the beast in the playoffs.
In the meantime, what is up with Casspri? (Are the Cavs the only team with two Israeli nationals [Parker is from Israel also, yes?])? When are the Cavs going to steal a hot shooting guard backup from the Chinese Basketball Association to fill Parker’s shoes? We used to be #2 And why are so many teams, including the Cavs, suddenly so dinged up when they haven’t played in months? That’s just bizarre.
Parker’s American, but he played in Israel and won several championships there.
does john krolik even write anything anymore? did you guys even watch the preseason game? why do i still visit this blog?
i think krolik left when LBJ did! hahaha! now this blog appears to be run by guys who take the weekend off! cool…
Thompson is going to be a beast? 8 pts 4 boards 5 fouls…in preseason. Dude might be good one day but looks like a project right now. Irving offers a little more hope.
Yeah as I’ve said before, I think the best thing for this season is to suck again but have fun doing it, because apparently next years draft class is pretty strong. Then if Kyrie has developed a little, the thompson project is coming along, and we are able to pick a high end SG or SF, thats not a half bad team.
Having streamed the preseason T-Wolves game, I’m mad we don’t have Derrick Williams… my god is he going to be good. The T-Wolves are actually my ‘team to root for when the Cavs aren’t playing” this season – huge fan of Love, simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by Rubio, Derrick Williams is a revelation, and JJ Barea is a favorite of mine for bringing down the Heat. Man its good to have basketball back.