Cavs Making Moves, Hopefully More To Come.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made a couple of roster moves in the past couple of days, converting Dean Wade’s two way contract to a multi-year deal and adding free agent Jordan Bell on a two year deal.

Both players have some size, Wade is 6’9″ and Bell 6’8″, so that’s a good thing, and they didn’t have to give anything else to sign him, and that’s another good thing.

It was also announced Ante Zizic will play in Europe next season, and that’s a loss of a big body.

Really, none of these moves are significant.

It’s hard to get excited by Wade, who is really a stretch four, but at 24 next season, maybe he’s a player who gets better and finds his niche in the NBA later in his career, but it’s tough to see him having a significant role for the wine and gold in the 2020-21 season.

Bell has been with three teams in four years, and was regarded as a hot commodity when Golden State purchased his draft rights from the Bulls. He did play 14 minutes a night in his rookie year, which is his high water mark.

Our thought is he is a victim of the idea that everything the Warriors touched turned to gold a couple of years ago, so if they wanted him, he must really be good. He played in 29 games this past season, averaging 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in nine minutes.

Can he develop his game and become a solid player? Of course, but for now, we can’t think too much of this move.

As for Zizic, while we would have liked him to get more of an opportunity we understand the move. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.4 boards a game when he got regular playing time in ’18-’19, getting 18 minutes per game (59 games).

However, here’s our thought on most NBA players. They can all score if given touches, but what determines playing time is how you play defense, and if you can’t guard someone, then you sit.

Again, he’s just 23, and he wouldn’t be the first big man to go overseas, gain some experience, and come back to the NBA a better player. Perhaps he can learn to make up for a seeming lack of lateral quickness with anticipation and positioning.

There have been multiple rumors of the Cavs looking for young, athletic wings in free agency, and two names that have been reported are Derrick Jones Jr., currently with Miami and Josh Jackson, with Memphis.

Jones is just 23 years old, and is averaging 8.9 points and 4.2 caroms for the Heat, the best marks of his career. And he comes from a good culture, playing for Erik Spoelstra in Miami.

Jackson, also 23, is the former 4th overall pick in the draft in 2018, but was traded to Memphis at the draft last summer, and played most of this year in the G-League. He did score 10.4 points in 18 games with the Grizzlies.

While we definitely see a need for wings, here’s hoping the organization doesn’t ignore big folks either. Losing Zizic and perhaps Tristan Thompson will leave a hole in this area too.

We were encouraged to hear of interest in Harry Giles, a 6’11” player out of Duke that has battled injuries since leaving high school. In 96 NBA games with Sacramento, 17 of them starts, Giles has scored seven points with four rebounds per game.

In the 10 games after the All Star Game, he upped those figures to 10.8 and 6.2. Hopefully, the rumors are true about Cleveland’s interest in Giles, he could wind up being a very good option here if the Kings do not pick up his option.

So, while the most recent moves don’t really get us excited, the young, athletic wings make us intrigued. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until the playoffs are over for real moves to be made.

All Kinds Of Ways To Win In The NBA, You Don’t Have To Play Small

Doing things differently is what separates the good from the great, particularly when it comes to sports.

The NBA is no different, many teams copy the system that works, instead of looking at their roster, their talent, and doing what is best with the players at hand.

In 2013-14, the Golden State Warriors finished 51-31 under Mark Jackson, an improvement from the prior season (47-35), and a huge improvement from Jackson’s first year as coach, when they had a 23-43 mark in a shortened season.

That Warriors team was 4th in the league in three point shooting percentage (38%) and was sixth in pace.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were the stars of the team, and Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green were already in place.

Jackson was let go, and Steve Kerr took over, and quickened the pace of play, as Golden State ranked first in that category. They also led the league in three point shooting, and won the NBA title.

The pace slowed a bit the next season, and even more when Kevin Durant joined the team, and even though the Warriors had plenty of big men on the roster, the “small ball” movement was in full swing, and many teams followed.

Including the Cleveland Cavaliers.

When the Cavs won the title in 2016, they won the last three games by slowing the pace, playing their speed. After winning, it seemed to us they felt like playing at the Warriors’ pace, which we felt was the wrong move, because that was Golden State’s game, and they were better at it than Cleveland.

There is no rule that says every team in the NBA has to play like Golden State, and here’s hoping GM Koby Altman understands this.

Perhaps the wine and gold’s two best players are big men, Kevin Love and Andre Drummond. If you adapt to your talent, and we think J.B. Bickerstaff is a smart coach, it would seem playing smaller, like many NBA teams are, would not be the way to go.

You can’t win that way, you say?

The Milwaukee Bucks have the sport’s best record at 53-12, and they usual starting lineup featured a 7 foot center, forwards that were 6’11” and 6’7″, and guards that were 6’1″ and 6’4″.

The Lakers have the best record in the west, and their lineup consists of a 7 foot center, a pair of forwards measuring 6’10” and 6’9″, and a backcourt of 6’3″ and 6’6″.

Toronto has a smallish set of guards (6’1″ and 6′), but their starting frontcourt measures 6’11”, 6’9″, and 6’7″.

The Clippers? 7 foot center, forwards and 6’7″ and 6’8″, and guards at 6’1″ and 6’4″.

Our point is there are a number of ways to win in today’s NBA despite the talking heads telling everyone teams have to play like Golden State and Houston to do so, and the Cavaliers should be paying attention to that.

This year, the team tried to win with a very small squad, statistically the smallest in the league, and it didn’t work for a variety of reasons, inexperience being one of them.

However, it didn’t help that rookie Darius Garland and his 40.1% shooting was taking the third most shots on the team, because the coaching staff gave him the green light. He was taking one less shot per game than Love, and that can’t happen.

It’s about maximizing the talent you have and adapting a style in which they can thrive.

That’s what Kerr did, and that’s what Bickerstaff is charged with in the upcoming season.

It’s the definition of coaching.

Looking At Cavs’ Free Agents

Now that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season is officially over, the speculation and planning for the 2020-21 season can officially begin.

The first order of business is decided which, if any of the pending free agents will return to wear the wine and gold (or whatever jerseys they will be wearing on a given night) when the league starts up again in December.

First there is the Andre Drummond situation. Drummond has a player option worth over $28 million for the ’20-’21 campaign, and it is widely thought the big man will exercise that option and remain a Cavalier.

No matter how the game is played today, with the emphasis on smaller players and shooting, there is a place for a 6’10” player who averages 17.7 points and 15.2 rebounds per night.

And he will be 27 years old.

He has a career 54.2% shooting percentage from the floor, and has improved his free throw percentage which was once dismal (38.6% in 2016-17) to 57.5% this past season.

He’s not a big shot blocker, but he gets a lot of steals, which is weird, but nevertheless, he’s creating turnovers.

Will he ever get another $28 million per year multi-year deal again? That’s up for debate, but the Cavaliers don’t have to worry about that for next season.

Tristan Thompson is another big man who will be a free agent this fall, but he is unrestricted, and we doubt he will be back in Cleveland when next season begins.

It is hard to believe Thompson will be 30 years old when next season ends, having spent nine years in Cleveland, and was a key member of the 2016 NBA Champions.

He had a very good season too, averaging a career high 12.0 points per game, grabbing 10.1 rebounds, and is a very good post defender.

Our guess though, is having experienced the winning seasons here, Thompson would like to be part of that once again, and his skill set should make him a much coveted piece for teams with title aspirations.

He’s also received his big pay day, so he will look for the best situation for him to advance deep in the playoffs, and perhaps get back to The Finals.

If Thompson wanted to stay and the dollars made sense, he’d be someone we’d be interested in keeping, but we just feel he thinks it’s time to move on.

Which brings us to Matthew Dellavedova. Delly will be 30 when next season starts, and his shooting declined last season to the dreadful level. However, it would be interesting to bring him back as an end of the bench guy because of his experience and feel for the game.

Don’t forget the Aussie was tied for second on the Cavs in assists in ’19-’20 despite playing an average of only 14 minutes per night. When he got extra time due to injuries at the end of the season, he averaged seven helpers per game over an eight game span.

If he’s willing to be the “old head” on a very young team, and the price is right, why not bring him back. Plus, he’s a crowd favorite and a link to the great teams over the last decade.

Yet a third big man, Ante Zizic picked the wrong time to have injury issues, and his numbers regressed from a year ago. It has been reported he would like to return to Europe to continue his career.

Quite frankly, we like his offensive game, but doubt if he has the lateral quickness to be an effective defender in today’s NBA.

Matt Mooney and Dean Wade are also free agents, and if the Cavs want them to compete for a roster spot in training camp, whenever that starts, we are sure they will be welcome. Wade is a stretch four, so he may be able to help if he can show he can defend a bit.

Apparently, we will know what happens with these players around Halloween. As we have said before though, the wine and gold still need to get bigger, and if Thompson and Zizic leaves, that just means the need is even greater.

Retired Numbers Should Be For The Elite.

With Tristan Thompson perhaps (probably) playing his last game as a Cleveland Cavalier because the NBA season for the wine and gold is over, the subject of retired numbers came up regarding the franchise, and we wanted to weigh in with our thoughts.

First, let’s clarify a few rules. Much like Hall of Fame debates, you cannot use the fact that someone’s number has been retired and shouldn’t have as an argument to retire a number.

For example, Nate Thurmond’ s number was retired by Cleveland even though the big man played a shade of a season (114 games total) with the Cavs. That shouldn’t justify anyone else who played that short of time with the team having their number hanging from the rafters.

Second, a player should play the majority of his career with the team who is retiring his number. So, people who want the Indians to retire C.C. Sabathia’s number would be on the wrong side of this argument.

The lefty pitched here for eight seasons, but spent 11 seasons in pinstripes.

In our opinion, retiring a players’ number should be reserved for the elitist of players, the crème de la crème if you will.

So, Thompson will likely fit the longevity factor, but although he was a key piece of the squads that went to four straight NBA Finals, he’s never been an elite player. Heck, he’s never made an All Star team.

One of the reason’s the Cavs have so many uniform numbers retired was to draw people to games when they had bad records.

Austin Carr? He deserves the honor. He’s 6th all time in games played and still ranks 4th in points scored, and he was the franchise’s first marquee player. He’s called Mr. Cavalier, and with good reason.

Mark Price was the first Cleveland player to make first team All-NBA, and made four all star appearances, his teammate, Brad Daugherty, made five all star appearances.

We will agree to them, and of course, LeBron James’ #23 will be honored when his playing days end.

Larry Nance? Played more games with the Suns than with the Cavs (and we loved Nance as a player). And it pains us to say it, because his jersey retirement started bridging the gap between the team and James, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas’s number shouldn’t be retired either.

As for the future, the second clause would keep Kyrie Irving’s number in play, because he likely will play more games for another team than the Cavs.

The Indians got caught in the same attendance driven trap as well, so they started retiring too many numbers.

Obviously, Bob Feller’s #19 should get the honor. He’s the greatest player in the history of the franchise. And we would also agree with Lou Boudreau’s #5, Bob Lemon’s #21, and Jim Thome’s #25 never being worn again.

And Larry Doby’s historical significance, even though he’s ignored nationally, merit’s his #14 being taken out of circulation. The fact he was also a great player makes him even more worthy.

But Earl Averill? Most people outside of Cleveland don’t know who he is, even though he’s in Cooperstown. Mel Harder pitched here a long time, and was very good, but…

Frank Robinson deserves the statue commemorating him as the major league’s first African-American manager, but his number should not be retired in Cleveland. In Baltimore? Absolutely, but not here.

The Browns have retired five jerseys, although the number retirement is less prevalent in the NFL. Iconic players Otto Graham (#14), Lou Groza (#76), and the great Jim Brown (#32) will never have their numbers worn again, and we can understand retiring #45, commemorating the tragic story of Ernie Davis, who passed from leukemia before ever playing with the Browns.

The other retired number is another tragic story, that of Don Fleming (#46), who was a starting safety for Cleveland from 1960-62, and was electrocuted working construction during the off-season in June, 1963.

Our guess is the Browns will be retiring another number soon, when Joe Thomas is elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his #73 will not be worn again.

To us, the jersey retirement should be a very special thing, reserved for the greats of the great for each franchise.

Adding players who aren’t worthy cheapens the honor for those special players.

Even With Drummond, Cavs Need To Find More Big Men

When the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Andre Drummond at the trade deadline, we were thrilled because it was the first time in a long time the Cavs addressed the lack of height on their roster.

Since Timofey Mozgov left as a free agent, Cleveland either didn’t have legitimate big men (read traditional center) on the roster or didn’t use those people.

When the wine and gold went to The Finals in 2018, the last season LeBron James played in Cleveland, the Cavs had three players taller than 6’9″: Channing Frye, Kendrick Perkins, and Ante Zizic.

That trio played a combined 774 minutes. COMBINED.

The Golden State Warriors, known for their long range shooting and small ball lineups, had four players 6’10” or taller: Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, and Damian Jones.

Pachulia alone played more minutes than the Cavaliers trio.

Let’s look at the two best teams in the NBA this season, the Lakers and Bucks.

Los Angeles has three big men getting over 15 minutes per night: Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, and McGee.

Milwaukee uses three tall people more than 14 minutes per contest: Brook and Robin Lopez, and of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The point is, size is still important even in today’s professional basketball where positions are fluid and the scoring has drifted to the perimeter.

So, getting Drummond was an important step in remedying this situation, but the Cavs could have a problem in this regard this off-season.

Drummond can be a free agent at the end of this season, albeit with a player option, with the situation the world is in right now, he seems unlikely to decline because he figures to not see as much money on the open market.

However, the other two big men wearing the wine and gold, Zizic and Tristan Thompson (who is 6’9″ but is most definitely a C/PF and provides interior defense) are also eligible to test the market, meaning GM Koby Altman could again have a roster devoid of size.

No doubt there will be some veteran free agents from other teams out there for the Cavs, but hopefully they will sign at least two of them, because Cleveland is already small in the backcourt, and at the start of the season, they were the smallest team in the NBA.

Should Altman take a big man in the draft? It wouldn’t hurt, but the team has needs in other area (not guard) and since big men take longer to develop, it would be doubtful a rookie such as James Wiseman (7’1″, 235 lbs) could make much of an impact in his first year, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.

In our opinion, Thompson staying in Cleveland is a long shot and we’ve seen rumors that Zizic is returning overseas, and we have doubts that he can play interior defense in the NBA due to lack of quickness.

That means beside the draft and solving the impending roster problems at guard, Altman needs to find some big people as well. Ideally, we would like to see three players over 6’10” added to the roster, but at the very least, two would do.

Height is still a requirement in the NBA. Good teams seem to have players who can provide defense around the rim. The Cavaliers can’t lose sight of that before the 2020-21 season begins.

Cavs Plans This Summer Should Include The Sorting Of The Guards.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a problem at the guard position, and we aren’t criticizing the 2018 first round draft pick Collin Sexton, who has been a whipping post for many both locally and nationally.

Sexton’s play over the last month or so, have given us optimism for the 6’1″ second year guard who, by the way, still hasn’t reached his 22nd birthday.

In the 11 games played after the All Star Game, Sexton is averaging 25.5 points and 4.2 assists a night, on 53% shooting from the floor, including 43.1% from three point range.

Even better, the Cavaliers have gone 4-6 in that period. Of course, the wine and gold also changed their head coach, replacing John Beilein with J.B. Bickerstaff.

No, the problem is there seems to be too many guards on the current roster, and with the Cavs perhaps having one of the top picks in the NBA Draft, whenever it occurs, several of the highest ranked players also play guard.

In the past two seasons, GM Koby Altman has adopted the draft the best player available mentality, so what happens if that is all that’s left when Cleveland’s turn comes up in the selection process.

It would seem to trigger some sort of move or at least a change in philosophy.

One reason for the overload at the position is Altman’s gamble at the end of last year’s first round, trading for Kevin Porter Jr.

Porter has improved as the season as gone on, and has earned more playing time as a result. He started the season playing about 18 minutes, and in each month has earned more court time, going from 21 minutes in November, to 23 in January, and then to a little less than 27 in February/March.

The Cavaliers need some size in the backcourt after using top ten picks on two guards under 6’2″ the past two drafts, and Porter at 6’4″ gives them just that. Beilein used him at small forward, where he was undersized, to get him on the floor, but in reality, he’s a #2 guard, where he can be paired with Sexton or Darius Garland, last year’s first pick.

Can Bickerstaff juggle playing time for three young guards, because they all need playing time to develop, and what happens if when the Cavs turn comes up in the draft, the best players remaining are Anthony Edwards of Georgia, LaMelo Ball, and Cole Anthony of North Carolina.

The “best player available” theory has to go out the window.

If the NBA does not resume the regular season and goes right to the playoffs (which we believe will be the plan), Cleveland misses 17 games to see if or how the three young guards can coexist together, especially with the changes Sexton has made in his game.

So, what does Altman do? Does he move either Sexton or Garland prior to the draft in an effort to get either a young player with some size or another first round pick?

Or does he trade down in the draft and pick either a small forward to compete with Cedi Osman or another big man because Tristan Thompson is a free agent at the end of the year, Andre Drummond can be a free agent next summer, and you never know when Kevin Love could be traded.

The point is the Cavs have plenty of holes, but maybe the backcourt isn’t one of them. It will be interesting to see what Altman and his crew does this summer.

Cavs’ Team That Lost By “The Shot” Were No Doubt Good Enough To Win Title

With “The Last Dance” documentary currently airing on ESPN, those Cleveland Cavaliers teams of the late 1980’s have come under scrutiny. After all, it was the 1988-89 version of the team that fell victim to “The Shot”, Michael Jordan’s first playoff success (as a team).

When examining those teams, you have to remember there were really two iterations of that group. The first team featured the three rookies from the class of 1986-87: Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, Mark Price, and John “Hot Rod” Williams, who was drafted the year before, but sat out due to a legal issue.

That quartet’s rookie season led to a 31-51 record as Harper, Williams, and Daugherty ranked one-two-three in minutes played, and were also the top three scorers. Price was a reserve to John Bagley, playing only 18 minutes.

It was only a two game improvement on the previous season.

The next year saw the Cavs improve to 42-40 and a first round playoff loss to the Bulls in five games (best of five). By the way, Jordan averaged 45.2 points per game in that series.

Larry Nance came to the team that year in a deal for Kevin Johnson, who was drafted in the first round over the summer. Price emerged as a player, making Johnson superfluous.

Think about this. The Cavs guards starting that season were Price, Harper, Johnson, Dell Curry, and Craig Ehlo. Pretty good, eh?

The following season, the Cavaliers were rolling right from the start. They won 24 of their first 29 games, and on February 28th, Cleveland whipped the defending Eastern Conference champion Pistons, 115-99, to raise their record to 42-12, five games ahead of Detroit in the Central Division.

That was also the game that Rick Mahorn elbowed Price in the head at midcourt, a terrible cheap shot. Price missed just two games, but the Cavs went just 15-13 the rest of the season.

Price also missed the first game of the playoffs vs. the Bulls with a hamstring injury, a game the Cavs lost 95-88.

Until Price was elbowed, which was out of frustration from the Cavs beat the Pistons for the third time in as many chances that season, Cleveland, not Detroit and certainly not the Bulls looked like the team coming out of the Eastern Conference.

In fact, as Jordan said during “The Last Dance”, the Cavaliers swept Chicago six games to none in the season series between the two teams.

The Price/Harper backcourt was a joy to watch, they played off each other beautifully, and the front court of Daugherty, Nance, and Williams was long and the latter two were capable of guarding small forwards.

Even though Hot Rod didn’t start, he was in there in the fourth quarter along with Nance.

That’s the group which was capable of winning a title, and we feel they would have had not something else gotten in the way the following season.

That little thing would be the worst trade in NBA history (in our opinion) when Cleveland dealt Harper AND two first round picks to the Clippers for the rights to Danny Ferry and Reggie Williams.

Trading one of your best players is one thing, but including two draft picks which could have been used as assets to improve the team was another. And that Ferry became at best a role player in the NBA was the death knoll.

Ironically, Harper blew out his knee after going to the Clippers.

The Cavs did get to the Eastern Conference finals in 1991-92 with the same group, sans Harper. It was Terrell Brandon’s rookie season. But Nance was 32 years old, and Williams was 29. They lost in six games to the Bulls.

The following season, the Cavaliers went 54-28 and lost in the Eastern semis to, you guessed it, Chicago in a four game sweep. Lenny Wilkens resigned after that season, and by the way, is still not happy about the Harper trade.

Mike Fratello took over and guided an injury plagued team (Daugherty played just 50 games, Nance 33 and neither played in the post-season) to the playoffs where they were swept again by Chicago.

By the next season, Daugherty and Nance were gone, and Price played only 48 games.

If the Harper trade would have never been made, would that group have been able to win an NBA title? We say yes. They were that could, and never really got a second chance.

Bickerstaff Showing Winning Is Important And Expected

Cavs’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff used the “p” word the other day regarding his basketball team. He said the expectation for the Cavaliers next season would be to make a run at the playoffs.

First of all, that a refreshing point of view. Coaches and players should want and expect to make the post-season. We doubt players start any season, even the wine and gold this season and think “gee, let’s lose 65 games”.

Second, this has to make all the tankers nervous. There are people out there who believe teams should be trying to do one of two things: Either be in a position to win a title or trying to maximize your chances of getting the first overall pick in the draft.

They don’t understand teams need to experience winning, coming out with victories occasionally breeds more wins. It’s a learned skill, that’s why you see veteran teams who have lost a great player continue to win for awhile. The players have learned how to come out ahead.

We hate to tell people, sometimes it’s not all about talent. It’s knowing where to be on the court, knowing how to set up a teammate, knowing what’s the right play.

We all know the Cavaliers are a very young basketball team. Their top three in minutes played in 2019-20 are all 25 years old and younger–Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, and Darius Garland.

Add Kevin Porter Jr. to the mix and that would make four of the top seven, and three of those guys are under 21.

And they will add another player from this year’s draft, as they will have one of the top six picks, and that guy will also be under 21 years old.

But they still need a goal of success, and that’s where Bickerstaff’s playoff comment comes in. Talented young players sometimes need to be reminded that winning is the main goal in the NBA.

Those four young players will have some veterans still on the roster to teach them the correct way to play. We have no idea about what this summer will bring (for the league, right now too) for Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, who will be a free agent, but even if they are gone, other solid veterans will likely be brought in.

For example, after Bickerstaff took over, look at the difference in the offense when Matthew Dellavedova got a ton more minutes at the point. Delly is third on the Cavs in assists, behind Sexton and Garland, both of whom play twice the minutes of the Australian.

Look at the influence he had on Sexton when we started moving the basketball offensively. Sexton saw the success, and his assist totals, criticized by many (including us) started to rise.

That’s learning. Now we aren’t naïve to think all players are open to learning and understanding that winning is important. There are plenty in today’s game who think making the “pretty” play is the right thing to do, and winning is secondary.

Those guys usually become guys who put up numbers on bad teams.

The great players are part of winning teams, championship teams.

That’s what J.B. Bickerstaff wants to develop in Cleveland with the Cavs. And telling his young group of players that winning is important and expected is a good step.

You can’t start too early.

Season Continues Or No, Altman Has Key Decisions This Summer

With the season suspended due to COVID-19, the league that shutdown first, the NBA, is wondering what they should do when play can begin again.

While they would probably want to play some regular season games, at least to get players and teams in somewhat of a routine before the playoffs start, we believe the league should go right into the post-season.

In the Eastern Conference, there is a 5-1/2 game gap between 8th seed Orlando and the team with the ninth best record, the Washington Wizards.

In the West, the separation is 3-1/2 game between Memphis, who currently holds the final playoff spot and Portland.

With most teams having only 17-18 games remaining, it is doubtful any team currently qualifying for the post-season would drop off. Yes, we understand it is mathematically possible, not in reality, not likely.

If that is the way the NBA goes forward, then the Cavaliers have the second worst record in the NBA, and by rules, would have a 14% chance at the first pick (the highest odds along with Golden State and Minnesota), and could not fall lower than the 6th overall pick.

According to NBADraft.Net, the top six players right now are as follows–

Anthony Edwards, Georgia 6’5″ Guard
LaMelo Ball, 6’8″ Point Guard
James Wiseman, Memphis (sort of) 7’1″ Center
Obi Toppin, Dayton 6’9″ Forward
Cole Anthony, North Carolina 6’2″ Guard
Jaden McDaniels, Washington 6’10” Forward

Who should Cavs’ GM Koby Altman select?

That really depends on what decisions the team makes regarding the talent currently on the roster. Can Collin Sexton and Darius Garland play together? Making that decision is probably the key to everything else.

Our opinion is they can’t, and not because of any flaw in either player’s game. It’s because it is tough to be effective defensively, even in today’s NBA playing two guards under 6’3″.

And yes, we understand Portland has had some success, but to us, that’s the outlier not the norm.

And don’t forget the most impressive rookie for Cleveland this season, Kevin Porter Jr. and Dylan Windler, who hasn’t played all year.

What we mean is this…if you get the first overall pick, the Cavs really can’t take Edwards, Ball, or Anthony without moving either Garland or Sexton. We are not saying they don’t know that, but obviously you would get a decent piece for either player if they are dealt.

Obviously, the best fits for the wine and gold would be the big men, Wiseman, Toppin, and McDaniels. The one who figures to help most immediately would be Toppin, who played two years as a Flyer, and is 22 years old.

He would seem to be able to step in at small forward, moving Cedi Osman either to a true swingman, coming off the bench to play both guard and forward, or to the starting #2 guard spot.

Toppin doesn’t have a comparable player on the site, but Wiseman, just 19, is more of a true center (compare to Hassan Whiteside/DeAndre Jordan). If you select him, then Andre Drummond is likely gone after next season.

McDaniels, while talented, looks to be a project, weighing just 185 pounds. He will need to add weight and muscle to be more than a bench player in his rookie season. And you never know how big men with slight builds develop as NBA players.

Do they become Chris Bosh or Marquise Chriss?

This is a rather large off-season for Altman because of the decisions he has to make with his young backcourt. He has three first round picks from the last two draft who are ideally guards, and only two can play.

And it is difficult to ask young guys to come off the bench in 6th man roles. Sexton, Garland, Porter…which two are wearing wine and gold next season?

Living Without Sports Isn’t Easy

There is no question the world is in a crisis mode right now as the number of people being tested positive for the Coronavirus rises every day.

What makes it more difficult is dealing with this situation without sports.

There is no question most of us use sports as a distraction, a way to escape from the problems of everyday life. And we could use something to take our minds off the real world problems now more than ever.

We understand the reason that professional and college sports has shutdown. Everything needs to be done and should be done to slow and stop the spread of this virus.

There is no question sports is a big part of many of our lives, both men and women. And what’s weird is even though our team aggravate us to no end (most of the time), it’s relaxing.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t tough missing it.

At first, we thought the NFL was using their usual “money before everything else” mentality in going on with their legal tampering and free agent period this week, but it certainly served as a distraction from dealing with a rapidly spreading illness.

With the other professional sports, we are reduced to viewing old games on their networks. That’ll be cool for awhile. We were watching the famous “Pine Tar Game” on MLB Network yesterday. It brought back memories, seeing former Indian Bud Black on the mound for Kansas City, and Hall of Famers George Brett, Dave Winfield, and Rich Gossage playing.

NBA TV is doing the same thing, there aren’t too many Cavaliers highlights from their 50 year history, but we figure eventually they will have their Cavs’ Day, where they will show some big victories, including Game 7 of the 1975-76 Eastern Conference semi-finals vs. Washington and culminate in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, when the wine and gold won their only title.

When baseball and basketball have had work stoppages over the past 40 some years, there were other forms of the sports. For the former, minor leaguers received more focus, and fans of the Indians could keep an eye on prospects to get their fix.

As for roundball, there was always the college game, and at this time of year, the NCAA Tournament. That’s not the case right now.

There are only so many movies, shows on Netflix, and crossword puzzles a person can do to fill the free time of our lives.

Let’s hope when things are back to normal that we appreciate our sports teams more, especially the Indians and Cavaliers, who get ignored in favor of the Browns by many of the media outlets in town.

The Tribe will likely be the first team to get back in action, and we would bet whenever Opening Day occurs, it will now be sold out, because we will get to see sports again.

We know not everyone is a sports fan, but if you are, it’s going to be a rough few weeks. Let’s hope that’s all it is.