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I need to see it from Merrill in the playoffs before I change my mind. He doesn’t have an nba body. I don’t see him getting any real good looks in the playoffs. He does have a quick release. I just have a hard time seeing that carryover into the playoffs. Would love to be wrong on that one.

Agree on Niang. Similar to Merrill he tries hard on defense but his lack of athleticism hurts and he usually ends up getting scored on. The issue is he has nothing to fall back on on offense. I cringe when the team is down points and he takes a three that has no chance to go in. It’s usually a guaranteed swing of points.

Disagree on Strus. I like guys that act like and play like they want to win. Him and Mitchell are the most competitive guys on the team and both play like they actually want to win. Strus would be perfect for this team if Garland and Mobley were living up to their draft position. They are both the exact same players they were the year before Mitchell got here. That, combined with JB, is why the Cavs don’t look like a real threat.

The Cavs lose to all the contenders, even when those contenders are missing their best players. It’s hard to imagine this team doing anything in the playoffs.

In other news, that kid from Akron...

JB Bickerstaff is exposing himself as an incomplete, ill-prepared coach and is squarely back on the hotseat.

i Really want to like strus, but he doesn't do enough with his minutes.. Hes a try hard guy and he's def competitive. But I don't know.. he's the same guy he's always been.. 30+ minutes and 12 points a game, Merrill plays 15 minutes and scores 10... Merrill can get looks if we had guys that could create.. Merrill is the guy we needed when we had lebron where lebron could suck in the defense and needed someone to hit an open 3, Merrill would be lights out on that team.. But yeah, he needs to show he can do it in playoffs, same goes with any of these guys, Mitchell was the biggest reason we lost last year in playoffs, dude just disappeared after having a monster regular season. Coaching and rotations matter alot more in playoffs and JB was exposed, I think he should have been let go in the offseason. We wasted a year of everyone's lives by keeping him. I don't know, just depressing watching this team try to be competitive, meanwhile boston is scorching people.. We arent even on the same planet as them.. The most disappointing thing is they are almost completely home grown and have shown they won't settle for anything less than excellence at the HC position.

Good news - sometimes players just need a little confidence to turn the corner. Hopefully this is that moment for Wade.

Bad news - Garland is a massive liability, especially late in games.

Bad news 2 - JB gets a stay of execution. They need to rip that bandaid off and get on with it.

they really do, I don't think the win tonight (while always nice to stick it to boston) doesn't really change things for the cavs.. I've been saying that about garland forever.. He would be a great bench guy but he's got this false rep of being an elite player. I hope you're right about wade, but I think it will be like a strus/allen/mobley game.. yeah they have the ability to occasionally go for a good night, but its never consistent. Thats what I think plagues the cavs most besides JB. But I think realistically this is our window this year or face a multi-year rebuild.. Mitchell is def. leaving and I would put it greater than 90% he's going to NYK. Altman gave up the farm for him and couldn't get it done.. I don't blame mitchell at all, he's done everything you could want him to do. He's elite, he's a good teammate, he doesn't talk about the business side to the media. He's got some durability issues but make no mistake, he's the best guard we've had ever. He's a guy you can build around, we just haven't done it. Only thing we can try is a sign and trade for another team and get some capital back for the draft this summer.

I think you are right about Mitchell. When we landed him in trade, I don't think Cleveland would have been his choice, but to his credit he came, didn't complain and has done his thing.

If we can't come to some sort of extension with Mitchell soon, I would look to trade him as well. Get a pick or two, or a player and a pick.

As for Wade, I agree with Rish, but turning the corner doesn't mean he plays like last night the rest of his career. Wade hasn't played consistent minutes. Like in baseball, if you don't get consistent plate appearances you probably aren't going to hit to your potential. Give him more consistent minutes and see what he can become.

I'm going to the Cavs game tonight. Trae Young is out with finger surgery. I expect the Cavs to win, but the the Hawks are hard to beat in their house.

Courtside? Loved the pics you shared. Have fun!

Naw. Courtside I wish. I had seats in a different club. Sucks we lost. We could barely compete. I don't get it.

No Mitchell. No Strus. No Mobley.
Banged up Okoro and LeVert.

I know this, but they had no Trae Young. Hawks are not a good team.


I expected better, I guess.

Hard to watch. SMH. Watching us blow big leads, coach lets us get 20+ behind, throwing up (and missing a bunch of three's), and we seem to let everyone and anyone score regularly, much of that is not injuries. I have yet to understand the mix on the floor I am seeing. Coaching?

Coaching is a big issue, probably the biggest.. we don't have an identity on either end. But Altman has assembled a bunch of square pegs for round holes. Outside of Mitchell, and sometimes garland on a night he's actually being productive, we have noone that can create offense. So the result is we live and die by the 3 ball. That just isn't sustainable and it shows up when we can win against boston and the lose the very next night to a dreg like Atlanta. This team is going nowhere as constructed.

Good win tonight, though choked at the end of regulation.. I can't stand watching niang.. dude is not NBA caliber. Allen playing well again lends itself to he and mobley not being able to co-exist. Their games are too similar, Mobley is going to have to stretch his game out and be a Bosh like player for it to work. Hope they can string together some consistency.. Mitchell being out still is why he's not going to ever be considered MVP, he just doesn't play enough.. Beating boston and Minn in last 3 games is a pretty big deal, especially as banged up we are.. maybe turning a corner

They had the Suns until they didn't - just not enough talent to close out games against the good teams without Mitchell

In fairness, they were without Mitchell, Strus, Mobley, and Wade. (not counting Thompson and Jerome, as well)

Curious, as someone who looks at scores and standings but doesn’t really watch much NBA until the post season, do the Cavs look legit? Or are they a similar paper tiger as last year? I get the sense we’re dealing with a lot more nagging injuries but maybe we’re just resting guys to keeps some freshness once the post season starts? Hopefully? And it seems like as soon as Mitchell’s out, the team is basically average, or slightly above average. Is that a fair depiction? Is there a heart/ fire/ toughness problem with this team?

I guess the ultimate question is, do you think this team could actually do it this year?

they have a lot of work to do. They make it through the first round.

Paper tiger. I think that’s clear.

It’s also hard to imagine them going all the way with the Celtics looking like they are.

Cavs have turned into a dumpster fire

I went to the Hawks game tonight. They came from waaaaaaaaaaay behind to beat the Celtics. Good game.

30 point come-from-behind to the best team in the league. Those are a lot of fun!! ✋

Yeah, just proof you cant count anybody out. It was a thrilling ending. Down to the wire!

j/c...

The start of many development upgrades over there.

Dan better hope so or he'll be typing up another Comic Sans letter.

Side note, this regular season needs to end quick before I end up owing Rish a dinner!

Of course he’s signing an extension, but that doesn’t mean he won’t get traded.

If he does end up staying, and I hope he does, you have to 1) fire JB and 2) move Garland, imo. I would also consider moving Mobley, but I would hold off on that to see if the new coach can get something out of him.

This team has first round exit written all over it.

yeah unless this staff gets replaced, including Altman, I don't see why Mitchell would stay. I agree on Garland.. Too many first round busts on this team. But just the overall makeup of the team isn't one of championship caliber. It needs rebuilt or a fresh voice on the sideline. I don't trust altman to do either TBH

The Cavs might be in the play in.

j/c:

This is shaping up to be Bickerstaff's last season with the Cavs.

He and his dad are going to get kicked to the curb.

Prediction: Bickerstaff canned. Garland traded. Mitchell signs extension. Koby Altman gets smashed at the Shoreby Club but hires a driver this time.

Tired of watching late losses like this. Pattern seems to be build a lead, waste a lead, surrender a lead, and commit many turnovers/ missed shots/ bad choices to hang onto the loss. Despite the tailspin, the same people are left out there, and help to dig the hole deeper to abandon the win. Puzzling who we have out there/keep out there and who we do not see. No timely timeouts to limit the other team's momentum and focus your group.
This year's trade should be fascinating indeed. We need some eager people who will play harder; take a look at third and fourth quarter lineups when we are blowing larger leads, predictably. Liu coached a better game IMO. JB may well be signing out.

I’d fire JB now, let Luke Walton finish this season.

JB should have been gone last year. Altman and JB aren’t going to get it done. Just about everyone knew there should have been a trade at deadline . Too inconsistent. I’m not sure I want Mitchell anymore. Dude is hurt more than garland. While most teams are getting some rest and going deeper in bench to get ready for playoffs, JB going to run his 5 into the ground trying to avoid the play in

j/c...

Fun tidbit from The Athletic: The Cavs were 1 of 12 teams to sellout every regular season home game...

The NBA saw record numbers in attendance for regular-season games this season. The records include all-time highs in total and average attendance, in the percentage of capacity teams sold seats for and for sellouts.

It is the second straight year the NBA set new records in those categories. It drew roughly 304,000 more fans into its arenas this season than last (22,538,518 in all) and averaged 18,324 per game. There were 873 sellouts across the league, the NBA said, which was 82 more than last season.

Seventy-one percent of games sold out and 12 teams sold out each of their true home games (Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz).

Lifetime ban


NBA bans Jontay Porter after gambling probe shows he shared information, bet on games

BY TIM REYNOLDS
Updated 6:11 PM EDT, April 17, 2024

Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA on Wednesday after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and wagered on games, even betting on the Raptors to lose.

Porter is the second person to be banned by Commissioner Adam Silver for violating league rules. The other was now-former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014, shortly after Silver took office.

In making the announcement, Silver called Porter’s actions “blatant.”

“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” Silver said.

The investigation started once the league learned from “licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets” about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter’s performance in a game on March 20 against Sacramento. The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million.

Porter took himself out of that game after less than three minutes, claiming illness, none of his stats meeting the totals set in the parlay. The $80,000 bet was frozen and not paid out, the league said, and the NBA started an investigation not long afterward.

“You don’t want this for the kid, you don’t want this for our team and we don’t want this for our league, that’s for sure,” Raptors President Masai Ujiri said Wednesday in Toronto, speaking shortly before the NBA announced Porter’s ban. “My first reaction is obviously surprise, because none of us, I don’t think anybody, saw this coming.”

Later, after the NBA revealed the ban, the Raptors said they are “fully supportive of the league’s decision to ban Jontay Porter from the NBA and are grateful for the swift resolution to this investigation. We will continue to cooperate with all ongoing inquiries.”

The league has partnerships and other relationships with more than two dozen gaming companies, many of whom advertise during NBA games in a variety of ways. Silver himself has been a longtime proponent of legal sports wagering, but the league has very strict rules for players and employees regarding betting.

And what Porter was found to have done was in violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which states: “Any Player who, directly or indirectly, wagers money or anything of value on any game or event in the Association or in the NBA G League shall, on being charged with such wagering, be given an opportunity to answer such charges after due notice, and the decision of the Commissioner shall be final, binding, and conclusive and unappealable.”

Silver cautioned last week that this move was possible, saying what Porter was accused of represented “cardinal sin” in the NBA. Porter has not commented since the investigation began, and never played for the Raptors again — he was listed as out for all of Toronto’s games for the remainder of the season citing personal reasons.

The league also determined that Porter — the brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. — placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using someone else’s betting account. The bets ranged from $15 to $22,000; the total wagered was $54,094 and generated a payout of $76,059, or net winnings of $21,965.

Those wagers did not involve any game in which Porter played, the NBA said. But three of the wagers were multi-game parlays, including a bet where Porter — who was not playing in the games involved — wagered on the Raptors to lose. All three of those bets lost.

“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players,” Silver said. “Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”

Porter was on what is called a two-way contract, meaning he could play for both the Raptors and their affiliate in the G League. His salary for this year was around $410,000; had the Raptors signed him to a standard NBA contract next season, as seemed possible, his salary would have exceeded $2 million.

The 24-year-old Porter averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 games, including five starts. He also played in 11 games for Memphis in the 2020-21 season.

ESPN first reported the investigation, which it said surrounded Porter’s performance in games on Jan. 26 and March 20. In both games, Porter played briefly before leaving citing injury or illness. Porter played 4 minutes, 24 seconds against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first of those games, then 2:43 against Sacramento in the second game.

In both of those games, Porter did not come close to hitting the prop-wager lines for points, rebounds and 3-pointers that bettors could play at some sportsbooks. For example, one set of prop wagers for Porter for the Clippers game was set at 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists; he finished with no points, three rebounds and one assist. For the Kings game, they were around 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds; Porter finished that game with no points and two rebounds.

The league said its probe “remains open and may result in further findings,” and that those findings are being shared with federal prosecutors.


https://apnews.com/article/nba-jontay-porter-banned-265ad5cb703d9483347037762ee90a8f