The Cleveland Cavaliers have done it!
They set a new NBA record for futility with their 24 straight loss Saturday night by losing to Portland.
There are signs that the streak will end soon, as the wine and gold have had chances to win each of the last three games. Wednesday against the Pacers, the Cavs actually led late in the fourth quarter.
Friday night against Memphis, the Cavaliers outplayed the Grizzlies for three and a half quarters before losing on the road, and against Portland, they were down just two with under two minutes left in the contest.
With eight straight home games following a visit to Dallas on Monday night, Cleveland will add one to the win column for the first time since the middle of December very soon.
What does the future hold? There are some players on the roster right now who could be here when the Cavs return to being a good team, and several are very young in terms of age and experience.
Those players are undrafted free agents Manny Harris and Samardo Samuels, as well as former first round pick Christian Eyenga. Samuels is the oldest of the trio, having just turned 22 years old. The other pair are 21.
Before espousing the virtues of these three, a point of explanation. Don’t be frightened by the words “undrafted free agent”. The NBA draft has become a process of teams making choices on guys based on long range potential, usually with big guys, and particularly later in the draft. Every GM wants to find an all star player with choices 20-60, instead of finding solid NBA players.
Remember this. Former Ohio State big men, Kosta Koufos and B.J. Mullens were both taken in the first round of the draft. Koufos is on his second team (he was drafted by Utah and is now on Minnesota), has started one game this year, his third in the league, and is getting about eight minutes a night, scoring 2.5 points per game.
Mullens is currently in the D-League.
Meanwhile, guys like DeJuan Blair with San Antonio and Sam Young with Memphis were second round picks, and both are contributor on good teams. Blair averages 8 points and 7 boards a night with the NBA’s best team thus far in the season. Young is scoring 5.5 points with a Grizzlies team trying the make the playoffs.
The point is this, Koufos and Mullens were drafted in the first round because they have some athleticism and size. They just aren’t NBA players at this time. So, you can get contributors in the second round or in undrafted guys.
Eyenga, who actually was a first round pick, shows tremendous atheticism, and shows promise of being a guy who can play defense in the league. He did a good job on Danny Granger and Rudy Gay this week, making them work hard for their points.
Harris is scoring 7.4 points per night in about 20 minutes per game, and had 19 points and 8 rebounds against the Pacers. He’s a combo guard at 6’5″ and shows good range with his shot, although it is inconsistent. And he plays hard, which is something you cannot teach.
Samuels is scoring 5 points and grabbing 3 boards per night in 14 minutes. He’s a little undersized at 6’9″ to play up front regularly, but does have some nice post moves, so he could be a rotation guy on a good team.
Along with the injured Anderson Varajao and third year player J. J. Hickson, the Cavs have five players who could still be getting meaningful minutes in two or three years when the Cavaliers return to respectability.
As for moves with the current roster, don’t judge the lack of action until the trading deadline. If GM Chris Grant doesn’t make moves with large or expiring contracts, or with the trade exception at that time, then fans have a right to raise an eyebrow or two.
This has been a long season, one no one thought would be possible when the Cavs were 7-9 after 16 games. Just remember, it can’t get any worse.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 