Recap: Bulls 107, Cavs 13.5%
2012-04-27The season is over. Welcome to the funhouse…
As good fortune would have it, the Bulls decided a definitive clinching of the playoffs No. 1 seed mattered to them enough to keep Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson in the last game of the season for extended stretches. That, and John Lucas takes this stuff seriously.
The Cavs entered the day in a very strange spot — a win would have stuck them in a three-way tie with New Jersey and (ultimately) Sacramento for fourth-worst record in the league, while a loss would have given (and ultimately gave) the Cavs the opportunity to share the third-worst record in the league with New Orleans.
It really, really behooved the Cavs to lose.
(It’s a crazy system, I know, but this is how it works.)
I wasn’t sure that the Bulls would bring it today sans Rose and Deng, but they did. Without Kyrie (still recovering from his incoming unibrow), the Cavs have no one to create offense against legitimate NBA defenses…and the Bulls would certainly qualify as that. The Cavs shot 32% from the field. Which was probably by design.
The Kings beat the Lakers (while the Hornets were one quarter away from beating the Rockets!) which increases the Cavs odds to 13.5% in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes. There’ll be much more to come in the next couple of weeks analyzing both this season and the future of the team, but let me kick off the discussion with the following…
I’m thrilled.
I know a lot of you were suffering a wee bit of frustration build-up as half the team was either shipped off or sat down in the latter part of the season…but indulging my occasionally optimistic perspective, I think we kind of got the best of both worlds this year.
Instead of facing the dreaded 5-year record amalgamation scenario for the draft lottery (floated by many during the lockout), the Cavs managed instead to find themselves with another shot at another centerpiece-type player. And they managed to do that in a season that gave us a peak at one of the more exciting point guard prospects in recent memory + a hyper-athletic forward for whom sentiment is still split but slowly improving.
As sucky seasons go, this one was kind of awesome. In fact, until the last month (during which there was no Kyrie)…I think I had as much fun watching rookie Kyrie as I did watching rookie LeBron.
And if we get lucky one more time this year… just one more time… well, than the Kyrie Irving era may have a real chance to exceed any that Cleveland has seen before.
Again, the Cavs have a 13.5% chance of picking first overall and can pick no later than seventh.
Pray for Anthony Davis.
Hope for MKG.
Make peace with Drummond if you have to.
…
I’ve never felt this good coming off a 32-point loss.
Sincerely,
The prodigal contributor,
Ryan M. Braun
Getting Gordan at 3 would absolutely be a bad thing. Lemme ask you this, would you trade the #3 pick for Gordon? Of of course not! So why draft a guy like him at 3? And no, I don’t get frustrated watching TT cuz I know basketball and I know talent when I see it. And I also know that bigs develop far more slowly than the small guys do. And I know one talented big is worth 3 smalls. So I draft best player not position. We need guys with high ceilings cuz we can afford to be patient!… Read more »
Are you being facetious? As if getting somebody of Eric Gordon’s caliber at 3 would somehow be a bad thing? That would be The Greatest Thing to Ever Happen Ever. Have you actually seen Eric Gordon play? He is a STUD.
PJ3 is a bum. Why do we need more raw big guys with potential? Do you not get enough frustration watching TT play? We desperately need perimeter scoring, unless you want to watch Anthony Parker keep playing 30 minutes a night.
Please, can someone explain how a 6’3″ (hence undersized) SG who, for a supposed knock-down shooter, does not have great shooting numbers and furthermore, has average athleticism is a top 3 pick? Do you guys watch the NBA? Is Eric Gordon the best we can hope for from the #3 pick??? Give me upside guys like PJ3 and/or big guys. You can find 6’3″ SG’s anytime…
Top 6:
1. Davis
2. Beal
3. Kidd Gilchrist
X. Robinson (TRADE)
X. Drummond (TRADE)
X. Sullinger (TRADE)
Sweet! that works out well for John eh? I would rather have Robinson than Drummond though, replace the two and move him down 2 spots and I would agree with John’s picks. I don’t understand the low ranking on Jeremy Lamb… oh well, I’m no expert.
it’s aight, cause the cavs won the flip! 6th at worst.
I like this game.
1) Davis
2) MKG
3) Drummond
4) Lamb
5) Beal
6) Barnes
7) “Oh fuck”
Mine:
1- Bert
2a) MKG
2b) Beal
4) Robinson (valuable trade asset. We don’t need him but could trade him for Barnes/Lamb + pick/player)
5) Barnes
6) Drummond (if he’s able to develop some offense, he’s a top 5 center. But the risk is too high to put him over our need for wings)
7) Lamb (notch below the other guys, but he’s good and fills a need)
Not Jones or Sullinger- they’re both PFs and wouldn’t fit well with TT. Plus, I don’t think they’re significantly better than anyone in my top 7.
PS – here is my top 7
1 – Davis. No question.
2 – MKG
3 – Beal
4 – Barnes
5 – Drummond
6 – Jeremy Lamb
7 – Perry Jones
You’ll notice I left out Robinson. I think he’s a nice player but I honestly do not want another PF.
@Matt No, although I could see why you thought that. As much as MKG was efficient on offense this year, it was a mostly “raw” brand of offense that included a lot of hustle plays, not unlike TT and Andy type ball. With Jamison leaving and an inept group of d-leaguers eager to take his place, we need someone, with one of the four picks this year, to bring some offensive punch. Let’s be honest, nobody predicted Kyrie would be this good. He is an incredible scorer and ridiculously mature considering he played 11 college games. That is great, but… Read more »
Perry Jones and Sullinger in the Top 7? If anybody drafts Sullinger that high, they deserve to be fired. And i think Perry Jones is going to end up being pretty darn terrible in the NBA. On top of that, he does not fit in with the Cavs’ needs in any way, shape, or form.
Spots, I haven’t completed a list and will do that closer to draft day. In the meantime, I’ll be continuing to post draft profiles once or twice a week. My list is pretty close to yours, except I’d think about Thomas Robinson at #4. So… 1. Davis 2a & b – MKG & Beal 4 Robinson I’d really like the Cavs to pick in the top 4. If they’re 5th or lower, I’ll need to put a little more thought into Perry Jones, Drummond, Barnes, Sullinger…trading down and picking up Jeremy Lamb or Terrence Jones plus another pick. I really… Read more »
So now that we know that we can, at worst, land at seventh…. can we get people [most notably the bloggers] to put together a top seven list of guys they want us to draft, in order of where they’d draft them???
Here’s mine:
1 – Davis
2 – MKG
3 – Beal
4 – Perry Jones
5 – Sullinger
6 – Drummond
7 – Barnes
Hey the comment section is working right again. Hooray for that!
Jorge,
I’ve written optimistic posts. Anyways, thanks for coming back, despite the blog’s pessimistic take on the periodic 35 point home loss.
The first optimistic cavs the blog post. This mustn’t have been easy to write..
oh sorry, you said drummond, not davis. Yes, I also want no part of Drummond. Dude has bust tattooed on his face.
Ryan, you must be trolling right? MKG scored 12 pts on 8 shots a game, not exactly poor offense, considering he should have and did share the ball with his talented teamates. And anthony Davis scored a rediculous 14 points on 8 shots, and is pretty much dwight howard, so no, you don’t pass on either of those for a scoring wing, as one of them IS a scoring wing who also is good at defense and rebounding, and the other is far and away the best player in the draft who plays a position of need. Neither of them… Read more »
Anyone else notice that the Hornets were crushing last night, then put up a pathetic 6 points in the fourth quarter to lose the game? At least the kings won. And the browns got Richardson. There are things to be happy about.
I’m pretty sure that pick order for any teams with tied records are decided by coin flip, this includes teams not in the lottery. Cavs have a 50/50 chance of getting pick 24.
since the Lakers and Grizz both finished at 41-25, will the #24 and #25 pick be decided by a coin flip as well?
Also, our long regional nightmare is over.
Argh. Drummond. Anyway, let’s not forget what this draft can do for us. We don’t have to take a guy with this pick. We can trade it for players. Heck, we could probably move back and pick up Valenciunas and whomever Toronto’s drafting this year depending on how it shakes out. There’s a lot we can do.
Is anyone else scared that the cavs may now draft high enough to forget their main need is offensive polish from the wings? Drummond and MKG represent a lot of things that this team needs. Offense is not one of them. I think it is vital to the development of our current two rookies that we address this first. It will allow Kyrie to be more of a pure point, and Thompson to be a defensive animal and work on his offense at a reasonable pace
Anthony Davis is but a dream. An Irving and Davis combination could produce a dynasty with the right moves during free agency. Same with MKG but less so likely.