DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum As the Cavs World Turns, Part Deux

Hey.........another great basketball post by the self-professed King of Hoops.

The Game:

--The Lakers do have some talent, but they play no defense. As an a fantasy bb player, I love seeing them play because they give up a ton of numbers every night.

--Speaking of defense, or lack thereof, Kyrie's is embarrassing. He never tries to stay in front of his guy. His laziness compromises every other player on the floor.

--Offensively, it seems he is becoming the guy.

--Having TT and Andy on the floor was good for the Cavs. They gave the Lakers fits on the boards.

--LBJ played w/a purpose last night.

--Classy move by the fans as they showed their appreciation for Kobe.

--The Cavs better be careful. They are getting away from the effective ball movement and playing more one-on-one again. They can get away w/it against weaker teams but it won't win them a championship.

--The Cavs defense is also becoming more and more of a concern.

Defense is 90% hustle and want to.

Kyrie doesn't want to.

His physique is also still softer than a marshmallow.

The main thing holding the Lakers back at this point is the coach. He is hindering the development of his young players. He literally won't speak to DeAngelo Russell because, "He’s not old enough for me to have a meeting with him to discuss ‘What does he think'"?

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-ln-lakers-d-angelo-russell-20160206-story.html

I would agree with this, Never liked scott, i thought he was arrogant and obtuse to criticism. The lakers have some really nice pieces and a crapload of cap next year..They can really turn it around quickly, but I don't think they can with scott as the coach, they need a patient teacher and that's not scott.

Scott will not be back next year. That's for sure. But he is stunting the growth of his players this year.

He's basically there to make Magic Johnson happy.

Honestly, the Lakers could probably use a coach like Blatt ... but I doubt they go to a Cavs cast-off three times in a row.

thats funny, he's the first person I thought of, that would be the perfect team for Blatt, especially without Kobe being there.

I think Scott is trying the tough love thing. I am not against that. It's a tough sell w/our current coddled generation.

I remember a story of when Scott was a rookie. They drafted him to be the heir apparent for Norm Nixon. First day at camp, the Laker players blocked just about every shot Scott took. Nixon was very well-liked by the players. Riley was also very tough on Scott and encouraged the vets to be hard on him.

I would imagine that Scott believes that tough love helped mold him into a better player and that he is using some of the same techniques on his younger guys who thought they were NBA superstars before they ever played a game. Hello DeAngelo and Julius.

It's one thing to try tough love, it's a whole different thing to not communicate what you want with your players and then hold them accountable when they don't do what you want.

Byron Scott is a horrible, horrible coach who the league has passed by.

You can say they are "coddled wannabe superstars" because they arent responding well to Scott's "tough love" routine..

But if they arent responding well to what you are doing, maybe you should alter what you are doing?

Unless Scott enjoys getting fired.

I echo the other's sentiments. Tough Love only works if your players respond to it. If it doesn't and you keep pushing it, then you're only going to damage them, not improve them.

I heard a phrase once that works well for coaching: "You have to know when to go to the whip and know when to go for the sugar cubes"

Please do not put a phrase that I did not say and put it into quotes when you are replying to me. Thanks.

I get that, Excel........but man, the NBA is pretty bad right now. The two guys I mentioned from the Lakers are prime examples of that. They have a lot of talent, but the effort and dedication to the game are lacking.

I have been watching a ton of games since I started investing in fantasy bb. Some of the things that I used to rip the Cavs about, such as sloppy turnovers, not stopping the ball, not running back on defense, not blocking out, not busting the cutter, pounding nails, etc is commonplace.

Teams like the Lakers, Houston, Phoenix, Denver, Sacramento, Milwaukee, Washington, etc play no defense at all and I make money off of them every night.

You can change coaches, but if the players are not dedicated to improving and think they are entitled to playing time and admiration w/out earning it...........you just won't win w/that group and I don't care who the coach is.

The Lakers have much deeper problems than Scott.

Houston is trying to move Dwight, so that probably lowers his value. I'd like to swap Love + fillers for him. Dwights the perfect big to play next to Lebron. Doesn't need the ball. Plays elite defense still. Rebounds and scores via put backs.

I don't know how I'd feel about that. Dwight has been a problem child since he lost in the Finals with the Magic. I wouldn't trust him.

Although, I don't know if I trust Kevin's shoulder more than Dwight's attitude.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zot9zf4

Why would we need all of the fillers?

Trade Love and the trade exemption that was created from trading Mike Miller (around $3 million, IIRC) straight up for Howard.

Try and use Love to move Varejao's contract.

I don't think the Cavs should trade Love, just an idea for a trade between the Cavs and Rockets.

I'd do that.

Does Houston have any desire to trade Howard? If they want to just make room, then this would be an idea:

Howard makes $22.36 million.

The trade exemption is $10.5 million
Andy makes $9.6 million
Mozgov at $4.95 million.

The Cavaliers total would be $24.55 million, but with the exemption as part of it, it wouldn't matter. Maybe the Rockets throw in filler to balance the number of players.

Just a different thought. (and I don't know how willing the Rockets would be to trade Howard)

If I remember the trade exemption rules, that exemption, once traded, would be good for another year.(?) Andy's deal, with non-guaranteed money, could combine with that exemption to give the Rockets the ability to make another huge move. (If they have one in mind)

The Rockets are looking to move Howard, but they want something back. Varejao and Mozgov does nothing for them,

They supposedly went to Toronto, but the Raptors had no interest.

There's no way I'd do any trade that's essentially Love for the Dwightmare. That's a nonstarter for me.


I was clicking around a bit and found this. Spurs and Warriors this year are #1 and #2 in margin of victory.. in NBA history. http://www.basketball-reference.com/play...mp;order_by=mov

For this season it breaks down to 1. Spurs, 2. Warriors, 3. Thunder, 4. Cavs, 5. Raptors. There was some talk about Thunder vs Cavs and this really has nothing to do with that. I just thought it was interesting. The Warriors and Spurs are historically great teams. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/team/_/stat/team-comparison-per-game/sort/avgPointsDifference

Howard is not an elite defender. Bottom third of the league statistically.

He is also a pouter. That would be a dumb move for the Cavs.

You can't tack the trade exception on to other contracts to make up the difference. They contract you take on has to be of equal or lesser value.

So say we trade Andy (~$10 mil) and the trade exception (~$10 mil) ... we could take on two players at $10 million each (or less) that totals up to $20 million. We cannot take on one $20 million dollar player.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I really (as I have said a number of times, but never have) need to learn the NBA salary cap rules.

Oh, could we do this ..... trade the exemption as part of a 3 team trade, picking up a $10 million contract to trade, along with a player we already have, for a larger contract?

Yes, as far as I know, we could do that. You just have to find a team willing to trade a $10 mil contract for cap space. And it has to be a player the other team would be willing to take on as well. So, salary-dump team cancers might not work.

I would love to see Howard get traded to Boston. That team is pretty fun to watch, but lack an interior defender. Something like this, http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=jxn9u22, would be fun (with a pick going from Boston to Houston as well).

Well, I never said that it would be easy. Griffin did manage to trade Dion Waiters for value ..... so maybe he can work magic again?

Hmm .... here is a report from CBS.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bask...d-trade-targets

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still looking to tweak their roster. Despite a 38-14 record and an excellent chance at making the NBA Finals for a second year in a row, the Cavs have been linked to all manner of small trade rumors in the past week.

•First, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported on Cleveland radio that the team has expressed interest in both Tyreke Evans and Omer Asik. Evans is off the table as he's going to be out several weeks following knee surgery. Asik is a name that makes you cock your head sideways, since he's in the first year of a five-year deal that pays him an annual salary of over $9 million over the next two seasons before escalating from there. The Cavaliers are pretty clearly trying to dump Timofey Mozgov, whose confidence has eroded to the point of dust this season, but Asik is a phenomenally slow center who was exploited significantly in the Pelicans' first-round series vs. the Warriors last season. Do the Cavs really want to add a player they won't be able to give minutes to if they reach the Finals?

•Windhorst also reported that the Cavs have expressed interest in Hawks shooter Kyle Korver. Mike Miller departed this offseason and adding a veteran pure shooter that they can play at small forward instead of James Jones would be a boon for the Cavs. LeBron James prefers to play with multiple shooters and one big, so Korver would fit. He's also a total professional, something the Cavs have been lacking in terms of locker room culture. Korver has fallen off in terms of 3-point percentage this season, prompting concerns about his age, but has returned to form for the most part over the past month.

•Meanwhile, Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes has a slew of other names the Cavs could be targeting, which includes Sacramento's Ben McLemore and a buyout interest in Joe Johnson, among other names.

The Cavaliers, among with a handful of other Eastern Conference teams, have strong interest in trading for Sacramento Kings guard Ben McLemore, league sources told cleveland.com.
Houston's Trevor Ariza, Atlanta's Kyle Korver and Washington's Jared Dudley are all on the Cavaliers' radar, but landing one of those three is highly unlikely.>If Joe Johnson secures a buyout in Brooklyn, league sources are adamant Cleveland would "snatch him up" for the veteran minimum.
Source: Ben McLemore receiving trade interest from Cleveland Cavaliers, handful of other Eastern Conference teams, sources say | cleveland.com.

Ariza is a name that needs to be focused on here. Johnson's pretty evident, and if the Nets go that route, he will indeed give the Cavs another wing scorer who can play either position. However, he has fallen off to a large degree as he has gotten older, though he can still contribute.

Ariza is very interesting. Ariza has been a disaster in Houston this season along with, you know, every other Rockets player. Even his typically superb defense has been a mess. But how much of that is the chemistry and overall team malaise and how much is Ariza is debatable. What is not debatable is that Ariza is a tall, long defender with great range who can play small-ball four and stretch the floor, something that James would likely welcome in a heartbeat.

McLemore is a talented young wing who has languished on the Kings' bench in George Karl's Inexplicable Doghouse of Lore, joining pretty much every young wing who has ever played for Karl. However, his youth and lack of experience as a shooter are concerning. Still, he's shooting 37 percent from deep this season and has improved each season. That's a "buy low" steal for the Cavs if they can pull something off.

Windhorst reported the Cavs tried to engage the Kings in a deal involving Mozgov but were rebuffed. This is funny, if only because the Kings already have Kosta Koufos, who along with Mozgov made up the center rotation in Denver during Karl's last season there.

The Cavs seem pretty insistent on wanting to make a tweak. None of these deals mention Kevin Love and it's assumed he's off the market. However, we likely have not seen the final Cavs roster as it will be come playoff time.

Ok, this isn't Cavs related, but ESPN radio was running through the top of the new ESPN list of top 100 NBA players of all time...

The were talking how much the number of rings played into it and how "clutch" a person was in the biggest games... They gave this stat, Bill Russell played in 10 game 7s in his career.. he was 10-0.. and averaged 19 points and 32 rebounds per game..

Why would any team want Asik?

Also, if any team wanted Asik, why haven't the Pelicans traded him yet?

Only 32?

Man, that had to play on opponents .... wondering how to win a game 7, knowing that you were going to lose down low, and lose badly.

I dunno. I just found it and posted it.

I think that the most likely outcome is that Joe Johnson is bought out, and joins the Cavaliers.

And I'm pretty sure they said 7 of those 10 games where he had 32 rebounds were against Wilt Chamberlain..

That's even more shocking.

When did I EVER profess myself to be the King of Hoops?? Or are you just making shot up so you can bicker with me like you do with just about everyone else, in every thread you are involved in.

I am not going to apologize for spending a couple seasons with a division 1 college basketball team because that makes you feel insecure and threatened, little man. Now go puff your chest out to someone else. Or go whine that everyone is picking on you ,like you usually do.

Ben Mclemore is a guy I'd like. He hasn't had a chance to develop because of a nuclear fallout situation known as the Sacramento Kings.

Hmmm.

You keep telling us about your coaching background, but you never talk basketball. You just come on here and attack others.

So this game tonight against Chicago should be interesting. Lunes second match against the Bulls, so he won't have the "I just got here" excuse.

I'm wondering if this team is able to keep ball movement even if we are down a few scores.

Lue has got to bang that into the players that we can't go into iso ball every time we face a bit of adversity.