DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs Discussion Continued

Understood. I just wish someone in the media would go to that and get the explanation(s). I also thought players can appeal these things, yet not a peep. I would have thought J.R. would appeal and maybe even get a face to face with the commish. 99.99% it probably wouldn't matter, but with what is at stake, I would try all options even if they are miniscule.

The We Can't Ever Have Anything Nice

Well, we have nice things, they just don't win titles.

Next time we play the Celtics, Olynyk is getting close lined by Perkins or Moz.

You know if he had gotten hurt through the normal course of game action ... a total accident ... or a freak thing, that would be one thing. But to have someone do it on purpose is so deflating.

You know I enjoy listening to those in huddle sound bites during games. I think you can tell who are good coaches and who aren't when you listen to those. For example, it was obvious Mark Jackson was a fraud when you listened to his huddles. He's more of a preacher or a motivational speaker. It's obvious Blatt is inexperienced and unsure of himself. It's obvious Pop is a master. And I really enjoyed listening to Brad Stevens. He is going to be a great coach. That he would endorse his guys playing that way is really unfortunate and disappointing.

What the hell man. LeBron is going to have to be Superman.

It's still possible, but damn, so deflating.

As I mentioned earlier ... Olynyk's suspension will probably increase to four games when he ducks out of the three games against the Cavs next year.

He's ganna pull a Boozer and get "sick" before every trip to Cleveland..

If you listen to the media, they "just got tangled up".

Seriously?

I think it's a situation where he was trying to be overly aggressive, maybe dirty, but never intended to pull his shoulder out. Not that it makes a difference, but I don't think he planned that injury just prior or during the contact. He probably figured he'd swing Kevin around, he fall on the floor, and it'd be a typical "hard playoff foul". Dirty but no intent to cause damage, if that makes any sense.

I don't think it really matters, like I said above (intent or the punishment). It's over and we're screwed (though not done).

Kevin was a medium-to-big piece, depending on his back and his shot, but he can be replaced with guys on the current roster. I'm hoping Smith's suspension is dropped to 1 if he can fight it.

I have no doubt that there was no intention to dislocate Love's shoulder.
I have no doubt that there was intent to be "extra physical".
I have no doubt that this was not two guys getting "tangled up".

Puts this in a whole new context:

A few thoughts:

--I think we can overcome losing Smith for a couple of games. I agree w/YTown that Shumpert can fill the void.

--I was really big on us acquiring Love before the season. He gives us The Big Three and I think that is huge.

--I love how Love can stretch the defense. I was hoping for a lot more motion in our offense, but it is what it is.

--I believe that LBJ and Kyrie will get theirs, but I always thought the key to winning the championship centered around on how well Love was able to step up in clutch moments during big games. He would tip the balance in our favor or fail miserably. One of the two. That's a difference maker for a team. He is/was the difference maker.

--I don't agree that he can be replaced. By whom? Jones? Miller? Nah, those guys are older and wildly inconsistent. Jones sucked eggs on Sunday. No, losing Love is huge.

--Can we overcome it? Perhaps, but the odds just got a lot, lot longer.

I probably need to clarify this. I am not talking just about our next series, I am talking about winning the championship.

I doubt Love returns. It is what it is. Take it in stride.



Then, keep a scrub on the team next year to take out as many Celtics are he can.



I have a hockey mentality since I played D in hockey. Mostly on the goon squad. If this is the way BB is headed, cool.

My guess is that he misses those games because of a yeast infection.

Haven't chimed in on this yet, but that was a dirty move. I agree that he didn't walk onto the court thinking of injuring Love. But you can see by that picture, when he grabs Love's forearm with his left hand, he made the decision to injure Love then and there. Punk move, pure bush league.

It was dirty. No doubt.

And I wanna give Blatt some credit. He sent Perkins in there to lay out Crowder. Crowder was elbowing LBJ all game. Pushing him in the back. Getting shots in. Perkins was inserted to get that guy off of LBJ and any other Cav he was abusing.

Things eventually got of hand, but I applaud the original move.

Very disheartening. I just don't see a way to take 4 off the Bulls and then (probably) the hawks then (probably) the Spurs without a stretch. I thought we were a real crap shoot with Love. We were going to need a lot of favorable bounces to go all the way. Without him... I don't see it. God I hope I'm wrong.

I don't think making the Finals is out of the question without Love.

But beating the Spurs or Warriors or even the Rockets might be a tough order.

The odds were always in the favor of the Western Conference. This just seals the deal.

I don't see anyone beating the Warriors.

We need guys like that to protect the Big 3. I was happy Perkins and JR popped Crowder for the crap he was doing against Lebron.

Does Kevin Love ever play another game for the Cavs? What are the odds?

I know that LeBron wasn't going back to Cleveland if Love wasn't a part of the deal, but trading Wiggins for Love looks like a disaster if Love leaves.

Where's he gonna go though? Lakers are our only competition.

That's some pretty legit competition.

10 years ago when Kobe was prime. Now all they have is a busted down Kobe and probably not even a first round pick to team him with.

Love will get paid no matter where he ends up. If he wants to win Cleveland and LeBron give him the best shot period.

The Lakers will likely have their first round pick. They also have Los Angeles.

I think it is 50/50 at this point.

I also wouldn't sign more than a two year deal, with a player option in the second year, if I was a max free agent this off-season.

I don't see any reason for Love to leave. Why would he? He definitely found his role on this team in the playoffs, and that should carry over from there. He is a very talented player, and along with Lebron and Kyrie, he doesn't have to do it all. They can still look at ways to work with his role on the team to give him additional opportunities.

He was miserable being a stats superstar winning 20 (figurative) games in Minnesota. His best opportunity for a championship is still in Cleveland. Why would he want to go elsewhere?

Players on the same team do not have to love one another to play well together. It is obvious that Lebron sacrificed to help Love get going in the playoffs. Love also stepped up big, especially in the game where Kyrie struggled. I do think that both Love and Lebron are close to Kyrie, who could be the "glue" between the big 3.

I would be absolutely stunned to see Love go elsewhere next year. especially when he has to have that "unfinished business" feeling here.


I don't know if we are a contender without Love. His rebounding, especially, has been a huge key. With Wiggins on this team, one of 3 things would have had to happened. Either he plays SG, he plays SF behind Lebron, or be plays SF and Lebron plays more PF. Love slid seamlessly into the PF role. He allowed Thompson to find his role as a backup, and be extraordinarily productive there. Without Love, Thompson is probably our PF, and our frontcourt depth, that was thin early on this year, would have been shredded to pieces. When Andy went down, we slid Thompson into that role, until we were able to obtain Mozgov. I shudder to think about how we would have handled that if we hadn't had Love. We probably would have had to turn to Bennett at PF and Thompson at C. That is a scary thought, even with Lebron, Irving, and Wiggins.

I also worry about the fit fit alongside Irving and Lebron. When you add in the fact that Thompson would be starting at either the 5, and probably Bennett at the 4, and we would be completely clogged up in the middle. I also wonder if Lebron, Irving, and Wiggins could share the ball effectively. I didn't see a ton of T'Wolves games this year. Does Wiggins generally play with the ball in his hands, or off the ball?

I think that Smith and Shumpert are incredible fits for this team. They know their roles, and can be patient, and ready when open. They help space the floor, as Love does. In time, I don't know if Wiggins would do that. Love wound up taking 392 3 pointers this year, and shot 36.7%. Wiggins shot 126 3 pointers and shot 31%. We would have had a lesser fit with Wiggins. (and I hate saying that, because I love Wiggins, and wanted him to stay here)

Anyway, I think that having having Love and Smith/Shumpert is a better fit for the Cavaliers than having Wiggins and Bennett. I am interested in seeing how Wiggins develops, and if the Timberwolves put any talent around him. (they dumped a lot of what little talent that had this year) I do think that Wiggins will be a real superstar in the NBA, but I think that Love, and the ensuing moves the Cavaliers made, that they might not have made if they had Wiggins, have helped this team a great deal.

Crazier things have happened. There are many legit NBA people who think the Lakers have a real shot.

I just don't get why the NBA people keep screaming the lakers and the knicks need to be relevant for the NBA to be interesting...

Isn't the cap about go up by a lot with them sucking? Maybe it is time for them to let it go and start embracing smaller markets.

The last two NBA Champions have come from markets smaller than Cleveland.

Also, the league promotes players like Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook incessantly. The Pelicans have the smallest market in the league and the Thunder are 28th.

Nobody would be more delighted than me if the Lakers were bad for a long period of time, but their history is littered with quick turnarounds because they are the marquee NBA franchise.

This was a bad trade no matter what.

They weren't getting LeBron without making that trade, so there's that.

You don't trade a queen for a bishop.

If LeBron says "Jump." You say, "How high?"

Adding Wiggins to the deal was jumping 2 feet higher than needed.

The deal wasn't getting done without Wiggins.

I'd think it would otherwise. It might have taken a bit longer, but it would have been done. No way Golden State would ever give up Klay and no one else was in the running.