DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavaliers Off-Season Continues

JR had himself a nice little game there. Cavs basketball not far away!!!

you can tell the starters look so much more comfortable playing together..the second team is a dumpster fire, but we knew that going in that was going to take some time. I think we have some decent players on that second group.

didn't like the way Blatt coached this game...atleast pretend to coach these guys in preseason...ugh, other than horrible coaching and subs down the stretch we lead the whole game. Joe harris and delly I don't think are locks to make this team with the emergence of cunningham/cook, cook had a rough last couple minutes in the 4th, but man harris plain blows, so does delly. Cunningham would the perfect combo guard in this offense, he can also defend well. After watching this game, now I remember what it was about Daye I didn't like, he's a one trick pony that plays Zero defense..and he's streaky...I'd take minnerath over him..minnerath has some surprising range and isn't afraid to mix it up down low. Our bigs are all really active, Kaun just dominated okafor and noel, it was kind of funny. I can predict lots and lots of losses down the road for philly, if we had our full team, they would have lost by 70 i think

Our "starters" (said ironically, since Irving, Love, Lebron, JR, and Moz all sat out) were all effective, even with limited scoring. Jefferson +11, Kahn +16, Mo +11, Jones +9, and Delly +9.

Andy was the only backup with a positive +/-, with +1.

Our backups beat their starters, which is pretty sad for them. I feel bad for Cunningham, ...... he scored 31, and was just even during his time on the floor. He definitely played well though.

Was very happy when we picked up Cunningham. I like him more than Joe Harris.

You gotta figure it's an entirely different unit from last year. Mo Williams, Jefferson, Kaun and Andy weren't contributors last year. They have to figure eachother out as a unit. That's gonna take time. Very happy that the starters are ready to roll.

You've got to think too, that's second group isn't really supposed to be playing major minutes all as one group. We're going to have some combination of Lebron/Irving/Love out there 90% of the time.

Little early in the season to be drinking your usual Delly haterade already. He shot 60% from the floor and had a 5-1 Asst/TO ratio. Was also +9 on the night. Again, you can't look at Delly as if he were Steve Nash. He's there for the defense and scrappiness. He's best when he's playing off of Lebron or Irving, can hit spot up 3-pointers and expend energy on defense so they don't have to. When he's asked to run the entire offense, it's not pretty, but that's not really supposed to be his role.

Now Harris has struggled a bit so far. Although, I still don't see the Cavs releasing him, so they can sign another guy on a minimum deal and pay tax on both of them.

I have thought that the cavaliers would go with a 14 man roster, to save tax on a player who might not play ..... but i gotta say that this Cunningham kid is really growing on me. He looked like a men among boys tonight.

It is really too early to say too much, but in his 1st 2 games this preseason, Cunningham is: 10-13 from the floor, 18-21 from the FT line, 3-5 from 3 point range, has 41 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists.

That's not bad. He has pretty much dominated at the D League level, from what they said during tonight's broadcast. He appears to just glide, but then also has an extra gear to blow by people.

I am starting to think/hope that we wind up keeping him. I think that he might be able to help this team. He does a lot of nice things, and does a lot of them the right way.

Cunningham has benefited from being coached up by 3 great offensive coaches in Dallas, Atlanta and LA (Clippers). So he's received excellent coaching and he's always been athletic and a defensive player. He just probably needs his own niche.

Delly sucks, I am 95% sure I could beat him one on one..lol, he's jag. Cunningham is a much better option. Just something when watching Delly makes me want to smash something. Like I said when he plays with good players around him his effectiveness is better, but as the 3rd PG he'll be playing with second unit and asked to facilitate and he just cant do that. I look at nothing from last night since philly will set records in futility. I'm willing to give him time to get better, but i think he's already at his ceiling. Luckily we have mo so he's an end of the bench guy and I'm fine with him, but if it came down to picking between him or cunningham, i'd take cunningham easy. There is nothing delly can do that JC can't.

i think harris will rot in Dleague

If Cunningham can lock-down Atlanta and Chicago guards to the point of technical foul frustration and keep the Splash Brothers in check for three straight games, I will be thrilled to keep him.

Looks like we signed another Christmas to the roster as well:
http://www.fearthesword.com/2015/10/8/9485393/report-cavaliers-sign-guard-dionte-christmas

I didn't know anything about Cunningham, but after watching him play - I too already like him over Harris.

I like him over Harris as well. The only problem is that Harris is on a guaranteed contract and we're well over the tax line. If we waive Harris and sign Cunningham to a minimum deal, we'd still have to pay tax on both and it would turn into $4.5 million worth of salary for one bench guy. I like Quinn Cook as well, but chances are we're only going to be able to keep one of them. We're also kind of thin at PF/C because of Tristan.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Thompson doesn't sign, then he doesn't count against the roster, right? So we could keep one of the PF/C candidates until Thompson comes to his senses.

Delly is an incredible defender, who can defend 3 positions well, and who can lock down quite frequently. I doubt that you would even be able to score against Delly 1 on 1. No offense, but I think that you vastly overrate yourself, while horribly underrating Delly.

In the Finals, he was playing more minutes than he had ever done in the NBA. He wore down, and his legs were gone by the last game or 2. He's human. Shame on him for that.

Edit to add: Delly was also .... the 2nd best 3 point shooter on the team last year. He shot 40.7% from 3 point range. He is an excellent stand still shooter, which fits this team, when that is the role he can play.

Yeah, you're right. We would have to sign the new guys to a non-guaranteed contract so we aren't paying for it if TT comes back, but that does leave us with 2 available roster spots.

The only problem is that all the guys that we'd consider keeping are guards, not big men.

The Care Bear with a rare highlight last night:

We do have that 30 year old Center, Johnson IIRC, who has NBA experience.

GO CAVS!

I stopped reading after you said he was an incredible defender...he's pesky, technically he's not great, and he's not athletic...and I think you know nothing about me...I shot 44% in college beyond the arc, I have school records in high school and had a scholarship to play bball at Miami. I chose to join the military instead as thats what my family does..So stop acting like you know anything about me..Delly to me has been and always will be just a guy. Nothing about him is incredible, and the best 3pt shooter...gmab. I'm not even discussing him anymore, I've made my feelings known, nothing anyone said will sway me. Only thing that will sway me is he suddenly learns how to dribble and finish at the rim

Johnson sucks, like horribly, he's a camp body while Andy/TM come back from injury, if Johnson has to play we'd be screwed...I'd take minnerath over johnson

I think we are OK at PF/C, Love will be ready for opener. So you have Love, Kaun, Andy, Mosgov. I think we're fine there...I think with the way Andy is playing you're going to see TT cave pretty quickly.

Has anyone seen a player with the hops DJ Stephens has...that dude just hangs there, a couple times against the 76ers I was like holy schneikies, can't we stash him on the dleague squad and call him up around feb so he can win a dunk contest for the cavs since lebron doesn't have anyone to hold his purse