Cavs’ Parts May Not Fit

Since the holiday season is upon on, it seems appropriate to refer to the roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers as the island of misfit toys.

This isn’t to denigrate the talent of some of the players, and really, it is not to rip on GM Chris Grant for his selections in the draft.

Grant’s job is to draft the most talented player available when it is his turn to pick. So, if he thought Anthony Bennett was the best player last summer (and it is way too early to judge otherwise) then you have to take him.

The problem with the roster is it is too heavy in some areas and it needs help in others. Our thought was that Grant could deal from strength to shore up the weaknesses, and he may do that in time, but he can’t wait much longer.

Let’s look at the power forward position. Currently, the wine and gold have four players that are primarily “fours”: Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, Earl Clark, and Bennett.

Mike Brown tries to alleviate the problem by playing Varejao at center and Clark at small forward, but they give up a lot (Varejao—size, Clark-quickness) at those spots.

Most NBA teams use two power forwards on the roster, so right now, there is an overload there.

At the small forward, the Cavs have Alonzo Gee, a defensive specialist, and they can play swingman C. J. Miles there as well, although in limited minutes.

Gee doesn’t shoot well enough to be considered a problem for the player assigned to guard him, and Miles doesn’t have the size to be able to guard the elite small forwards of the league, although he is the one Cleveland player who has knocked down open shots thus far.

In the backcourt, the Cavaliers have the centerpiece of the current roster, point guard Kyrie Irving. Irving can score and set up teammates, and if he has a weakness, it’s that he loves his dribble.

It would be one thing if he were moving with the dribble, but more often than not, he’s at the top of the key bouncing the ball and going nowhere.

That could be because of the simplistic offense the coaching staff runs.

The other players who get time in the backcourt (along with Miles) are Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack, both combo guards rather than true off guards. This means both are more effective with the ball in their hands.

However, the coaching staff probably wants the ball in Irving’s hands.

You could have plays where the ball starts in Waiters or Jack’s hands and they set up Irving, but you would have to have something set up for that, and right now that doesn’t look to be the case.

So, the three-headed backcourt doesn’t seem to fit well together right now.

So, the pressure is on Grant to convert his superfluous parts into ones that can help this basketball team win and win now, because although there is talent on the roster, it doesn’t fit together.

There are too many players who have similar games, which is fine if they play at different times, but when you have to play Waiters and Jack at the same time or have Thompson and Varejao on the floor at the same time, it’s a problem.

If this team is going to start winning, this roster may have to be fixed. Grant has to make some moves to get this team to start putting games in the win column.

Cavs Victim of Unrealistic Expectations?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a victim of excessive expectations.

They won 24 games last season, and yet, some people were projecting them to win between 45-50 games this season, an incredible leap considering the wine and gold didn’t add a “franchise” type player over the summer.

They did add Mike Brown as coach, a man with a winning legacy in his time in the NBA, but a guy who has had one of the game’s best players on his roster every single year he has been a head coach in the NBA.

Sort of a Phil Jackson-lite, so to speak.

We always wondered how Jackson would do if he didn’t have Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant on his team. Now, Brown may show us what would happen in his place.

Brown has a sterling reputation as a defensive coach, and one look at last season’s Cavaliers would show you the wine and gold needed to change their mindset about playing on that end of the floor.

Offensively, Brown needs help. His best offensive team in his previous stint in Cleveland was when John Kuester was on the staff handling it.

This year’s team looks like Brown’s early teams with LeBron James when the attack was little more than give the ball to James and hope something good happens. Except that Kyrie Irving isn’t the player that James is.

This isn’t to dismiss the play of the team thus far, nor do we insinuate that the Cavs will be a failure this season.

It’s only nine games in, and actually the Cavaliers are on a 41 win pace because they’ve lost all their games at home and lost all the road contests.

Brown’s team is also one with several new players (Andrew Bynum and Jarrett Jack) getting key minutes, another (Anderson Varejao) returning from injury, and still others (Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller) in just their second year in the league.

They are still getting to know each other and also getting better as players.

However, that doesn’t mean that the offensive scheme doesn’t mean to be changed.

When the Cavs have the ball, the offense is mostly run and pick-and-roll, and if that doesn’t work, then they look for someone to take the opponent off the dribble and go to the basket where he can score or pass to a wide open teammate.

That’s as simplistic of a scheme as you can get.

There is little motion away from the ball, nor are any screens set away from the ball to free someone up for an open look.

That may not seem like a big deal, but in close games against good defensive teams, you have to be able to execute offensively. There has to be a plan, and right now we don’t see one.

And we also don’t agree or believe the coach’s statement that they worked only on defense in training camp. High school and college coaches put in offenses and defenses in a four-week time period.

We don’t believe there was no opportunity to at least put in a workable motion offense to this point in the season.

It’s much too early to get discouraged about this basketball team; they’ve played only nine games. But people need to realize they may have been overly optimistic about this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

This isn’t a top tier playoff team in the Eastern Conference, and getting to that point was an unrealistic goal.

On the Cavs Offense Troubles

The NBA season is a week old and after the Cleveland Cavaliers won their opener, apparently there were a few fans that felt the days of 60 win seasons returned with Mike Brown.

That is based on the reaction of some people after the wine and gold lost consecutive road games to Charlotte and Indiana.

The truth is this team has to get used to playing together. There are several new, key pieces getting a lot of playing time.

Think about it. In Brown’s top nine players are only five players (Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Alonzo Gee, C. J. Miles, and Dion Waiters), who were with the Cavs last season.

And since those five aren’t usually on the court at the same time, there is an adjustment period needed.

The holdovers have to get used to playing with Earl Clark, Andrew Bynum, and Jarret Jack and have to be re-acquainted with Anderson Varejao.

They have to learn where these players want the ball to be effective, and in Bynum’s case working off a legitimate low post threat.

That could explain the offensive struggles that hurt the Cavs during the two road losses. Of course, it also could be the schemes that Brown has put together which at times seems like an early pick and roll, and if that doesn’t work, it’s up to Irving to come up with something.

That’s how Brown’s offense worked when LeBron James was here. Last night, Austin Carr mentioned the Cavaliers struggled late in the game because there were too many 1-4 sets with Irving trying to break down the defense.

Brown has stated he has stressed defense in training camp and has done very little with the offense, and we will give him the benefit of the doubt on this right now. Still, his history has shown his offense has struggled especially against good defenses and in crunch time.

The other problem for the Cavaliers right now is they aren’t shooting the basketball very well. Whether that is part of the offensive design or not remains to be seen, but several Cleveland players are having problems in this area.

Both starting guards are really having problems.

Irving is the league’s defending three point shooting champion and right now, he is shooting just 37% from the floor, compared to 46% in his first two years in the league. He has also hit just 2 or 11 attempts from behind the arc.

You have to expect that this is just temporary based on his track record.

His backcourt mate, Dion Waiters had some issues with shot selection as a rookie, but he still made 41% of his shots. Through four games this season, he is making just one out of every three shots.

Newcomer Earl Clark is another player way off his career norm. Clark hit 44% of his field goal attempts a year ago, and is making only 32% from the floor after four games.

Thank goodness for C. J. Miles, who is off to a sizzling start, hitting 52% of his shots and making 8 of 21 from three-point range.

Irving, Waiters, and Clark will start to make more shots, but Brown’s history shows people have reason for concern about the ability to score points late in games.

There has to be a better plan than get the ball to Kyrie and hope for the best.

Optimism for Cavs Should Be Guarded

Tonight, the 2013-14 edition of the Cleveland Cavaliers will debut tonight at Quicken Loans Arena when the wine and gold take on the Milwaukee Bucks.

There is a lot of optimism regarding the team this season, with many national experts picking the Cavs to make the playoffs for the first time since LeBron James went to Miami.

Is this optimism warranted?

You can make arguments both ways.

The first concern would be the injury factor. Three key members of the squad have had problems staying on the court over the last three years: Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, and newcomer Andrew Bynum.

If all three can play 60 or more games, Mike Brown’s team will be in great shape. But that’s a huge “if”.

Bynum and Varejao, along with Tristan Thompson, who we feel will be much improved, and Tyler Zeller will provide a formidable frontcourt combination.

However, the first two players mentioned can’t be counted on to stay healthy.

We said over the off-season that the Cavaliers needed to proceed as if Bynum would not play one minute this season. They needed to continue to build as if he wasn’t going to play.

Perhaps reducing Varejao’s minutes will help him stay on the court. Even if Bynum can’t play, Thompson and Zeller can handle the post, and first round draft pick Anthony Bennett and free agent signee Earl Clark can split time at the four spot as well.

However, if both big men are out, does the wine and gold have enough at the key rebounding positions?

In the backcourt, Irving has shown he can be one of the most dynamic players in the NBA, but he has missed significant time in each of his first two seasons with injuries. Perhaps this will be overcome as the former first overall pick gets stronger with age.

If he misses a lot of time this year, he could get the “injury prone” rap that no one wants.

Last year, when Shaun Livingston came in from Washington on Christmas Day, he brought veteran leadership for the guards. He has moved on, and in his place, GM Chris Grant signed Jarrett Jack as a free agent.

Jack will bring that same leadership and he has a proven history of putting the ball in the basket, scoring 13.0 points per game last season and 15.6 per contest the year before that.

The veteran is a true combo guard, playing the point when Irving is on the bench and playing off guard when Irving is on the floor.

Along with Dion Waiters, the Cavaliers will have a solid three guard rotation most nights. That is if Irving can stay healthy.

One thing can be said with certainty for this year’s squad. They will be better defensively; Brown will make sure of that.

Because of that, no longer will the Cavs lose huge leads down the stretch. The coaching staff will make sure that everybody makes an effort when the opponents have the basketball. That alone will lead to more victories.

If Irving, Varejao, and Bynum can stay on the court for most of the season, the Cavaliers will definitely be much improved.

However, none of those three can be counted on for durability until they prove otherwise.

Until this is proven, the Cavs will have to be viewed through jaundiced eyes.

Signing Bynum Well Worth the Risk

Less than a week ago, we posted a blog criticizing the Cleveland Cavaliers relative inactivity since the NBA signing period started on July 1st.

Not that Earl Clark won’t help, but that’s not exactly the big splash fans of the wine and gold were looking for.

However, GM Chris Grant has caught our attention, and we are pleasantly surprised.

First, he inked free agent G Jarrett Jack, who we liked when he came in the league as a rookie out of Georgia Tech. He’s a solid combo guard, averaging 11.0 points and 4 assists per game for his career.

Jack should combine with Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters to form a solid backcourt. There are 96 minutes per game available at guard, and these three players should be able to divide them up without a significant drop off in production.

He’s a lifetime 45% shooter from the field, and 36% from beyond the three-point line. He also makes free throws, connecting on 85% since he entered the league.

His last two seasons, he’s averaged 15.6 points and 12.9 points per game.

It is not difficult to see him getting significant minutes for Mike Brown next season.

He was a star in the playoffs for Golden State this year, scoring 17.2 a game, but we caution not to get to carried away with post-season numbers. His regular season stats speak for themselves.

Then, Grant took a gamble and signed C Andrew Bynum to a two-year contract with only a reported $6 million guaranteed. An excellent low risk, high reward move.

If Bynum can play, he’s a quality NBA center, who will be just 26 years old next season, and has averaged 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in his career.

In his one season playing for Mike Brown, the big man scored 18.7 points and grabbed 11.8 boards per night. That was two years ago.

Unfortunately, that was the last time Bynum played, as he missed all of last season after being traded to Philadelphia with knee problems.

So, the Cavaliers should proceed by thinking anything Bynum gives them will be a bonus.

That means they still have to sort out the logjam at the power forward and center spots, and they still need a small forward.

There were several reports that Grant isn’t done yet, but you have to figure any future moves will come from trades, as the Cavs have only the mid-level exception left (approximately $2.6 million).

You would have to think if a deal is to be made, it will involve one of the big men that the wine and gold are stockpiling. And if you can parlay one of those guys (Varejao?) for a legitimate small forward, you would have to think long and hard about it.

That doesn’t mean it was a bad signing. If Grant doesn’t take a chance on the former Laker, then he signs a few more minor free agents which probably don’t make a huge impact on the Cavaliers.

This way, he gets Bynum, who if healthy is a top five center in the NBA and will be with the team for two years. And if he isn’t the parties can part ways at the end of the season, and Grant is free to pursue someone else.

That’s a win-win scenario if there ever was one.

Grant was patient and seems to have done a solid job. Here’s hoping he’s still working to improve the 2013-14 edition of the Cavaliers. The guess here is he is.

Brown Has to Develop Players

When the Cleveland Cavaliers rehired Mike Brown as head coach for the 2013-14 season, they knew they were getting a strong defensive presence, something the team needed the past couple of years.

The Cavs allowed the sixth most points in the league last season, and they allowed the highest shooting percentage against in the NBA as opponents shot 47.6% vs. the wine and gold in 2012-13.

However, in this tenure with Cleveland, Brown will also be charged with developing a bunch of young players, something he didn’t have to do in his first term as Cavaliers’ head coach.

Yes, we know he made LeBron James into a solid, if not great defender, but James is a different story. He was touted as being one of the league’s best from the minute he was drafted into the NBA.

In Brown’s first year as Cavs head coach, the only young player who received a lot of playing time was Anderson Varejao, then in his second season with the team, and he only appeared in 48 games that season.

Brown’s second season with Cleveland included a roster with Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson as rookies. Gibson ranked 10th on the team in minutes, while Brown, the Cavs’ first round pick played just 202 minutes for a team than went to The Finals.

Granted, the Cavaliers were in a different mode then. They were trying to win titles, and there wasn’t time available for rookies, and it wasn’t a priority for the head coach to develop players.

The only rookie to get significant playing time in Brown’s final three years as Cleveland’s coach was J.J. Hickson, who has developed into a journeyman at best.

In the coach’s one full season leading the Lakers, again, he was guiding a team built to win and win now. There wasn’t time to bring a rookie in and give that player significant minutes.

Now, the Cavalier squad that Brown is guiding is totally different. It is a roster full of young talented players that need to be finished off and learn how to win. Brown can help with the latter by emphasizing defense, but it is unclear if he can make the young core of talent better players.

This is only because there is no track record of the coach doing just that.

What Brown has proven in his coaching career is that he stresses defense and he can win when he has the best player on the floor, which he had most of his tenure as the bench boss because he had James and Kobe Bryant.

Can he make Kyrie Irving the NBA’s best point guard? Who knows?

Can he develop Dion Waiters into a championship quality #2 guard who can average 18-20 points per night?

Can he transform Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller into big men who can play big minutes for a playoff team?

Can he show Anthony Bennett the ropes and make him a contributing player as a rookie?

The answer to all of these questions is that we just don’t know. But Brown will need to do at least three of those things if the Cavs are going to return to the NBA’s elite teams. It’s just another reason he was a curious pick to be the new coach of the wine and gold.

It should have been something that was taken into consideration. If the coach can’t make the young core better, then it won’t be long until Brown is looking for another gig.

Cavs Collecting Talent, Still Need Leadership

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised quite a few people with the first pick in the NBA draft.

After weeks of speculation about Nerlens Noel and Alex Len being GM Chris Grant’s top choice, the Cavs went with F Anthony Bennett from UNLV at number one.

The question mark on Bennett is whether or not he is a tweener, too small to play power forward and not quick enough to guard small forwards. He does have an NBA body, measuring at 6’7″ and 240 pounds. He’s big enough to not get pushed around by older NBA veterans.

On the other hand, looking at him from the offensive end, he could be a match up nightmare for opposing forwards because with his size, he can overpower many small forwards in the league, and if other teams put a power forward on him, he will be too quick for them.

However, he needs work on defense, which he will get from coach Mike Brown. He reportedly also needs help with his aggressiveness on the boards, which again, the coaching staff will work on.

One question that will need to be addressed with Brown is how well he works with young players. He didn’t seem to have a lot of patience with guys like Shannon Brown, but he will need to tolerate rookie mistakes from Bennett, and the team’s second first round pick in Sergey Karasev.

Karasev is 6’7″ and can shoot the basketball, given a score of 10 out of 10 in shooting on NBADraft.net. He is reportedly a good passer and has a good feel for the game, but he needs to get stronger. It was reported that Grant had coveted him for a while, and the rumor was the Cavs were going to trade up to #13 to get him, but he fell to them at #19.

The problem with the Cavaliers right now is still the absence of a veteran to give guidance to all the young players. That is a definite need, someone who can teach Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Dion Waiters how to win in the NBA.

Also, Bennett was a good player in college, but we don’t feel he was a dominant one. Last year, Anthony Davis was clearly the best player in the college game. You can’t say that about Bennett, and if you can’t dominate at the college level, what makes anyone think he can be a great pro.

That’s why we advocated dealing the first pick if at all possible.

Right now, Cleveland has one potentially great player in Irving, and a bunch of other young players who might develop into solid NBA players, or they might not.

And they seem to be collecting guards with Irving, Waiters, Karasev, and second round pick Carrick Felix. They still don’t have a big man who can put the ball in the basket on a consistent basis.

Perhaps Tyler Zeller will be that player in his second year, but no one can be sure of that.

We realize they still could make a trade or do a sign and trade before the season started. But right now, it is tough to project this team as the playoff team owner Dan Gilbert said he wanted.

Hate to put a damper this soon on draft night, but if there no more moves for the Cavs, it looks like another long winter for the wine and gold.

Here’s Hoping It’s An Improved Brown for Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers were horrible on defense this season, allowing a league high 47.6% shooting percentage by their opponents. That followed the 4th worst figure in the NBA the previous year, allowing foes to shoot at a 46.7% clip.

The easiest way for the wine and gold to improve in 2013-14 is to get tougher on defense, and have them rank closer to the league average in points per game allowed (98.1) than the worst mark in the NBA (Sacramento at 105.1). Cleveland allowed an average of 101.2 tallies per night.

So, GM Chris Grant and owner Dan Gilbert hired a great defensive mind as Byron Scott’s successor in former Cavs’ coach Mike Brown.

We say the franchise needed to move in a different direction.

It would have been great to get a coach who understands the entire game of basketball, and the organization didn’t need to worry about how former players feel about the hire. They needed to get someone who understood both defense and offense.

And someone who can get the most out of the team’s best player, Kyrie Irving.

Brown certainly is a great defensive mind, but in watching his team play with the ball during his tenure here, it was surprising that he made it to the NBA level of coaching without having a clue as to what to do on offense.

And that isn’t criticizing the give the ball to LeBron James and everyone else get out-of-the-way theory that Brown seemed to espouse. Heck, Scott used the same theory at the end of games with Kyrie Irving, and probably had more success because Irving converted some shots.

The wine and gold offense was very stagnant under Brown’s guidance, and that means a lot of standing around and very little motion within the offense. While most of the NBA depends greatly on the pick-and-roll, you still need some movement by the players to force opponents to be honest on the defensive end.

In Brown’s years in Cleveland, the Cavs ranked 15th, 19th, 24th, 13th, and 9th in points scored per game. The dramatic jump came when Brown hired John Kuester to handle the offense. In his lone full year in Los Angeles, the Lakers finished 15th in scoring, despite having Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum on the roster.

The offensive weakness really showed in the playoffs, when teams would double and triple team James, daring the Cavs to have someone else to step up. Brown never developed an attack that would have helped the other players succeed on offense.

And don’t buy the “no help for LeBron” crap, either? The Cavs’ best chance, with the team that lost to Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals, had Mo Williams, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, and proven veteran scorers in Joe Smith and Wally Szczerbiak.

If you were drafting one team out of the Cavs and Magic, James and Dwight Howard would have been the top picks. When would the next Orlando player have been picked?

Brown will demand Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters play defense, and that’s a good thing. However, can and will he utilize two players who can be good offensive players and in Irving’s case, one who can be an elite point guard in the NBA.

It appears that Gilbert and Grant overreacted to the wine and gold’s lack of defense to hire a coach who will take care of that, but little else. They had a chance to get someone who could impact both sides of the court, but they missed the mark like a Dwight Howard free throw.

Does Scott’s Style Work for Cavs?

It was a frustrating week for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

First, they play great for two and a half quarters against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, building a 27-point lead, but then blew all of it in a three-point loss that extending the Miami winning streak to 25 games.

Then on Friday night, the Cavs went to Houston and got completely blown out of the building, something that has happened far too many times this season.

That brought out the critics talking about the performance of Byron Scott as coach.

Scott provides a steady hand to a young group of players, but sometimes it appears his players are not listening to the message he is sending. Far too often, the wine and gold appear like they have no idea what to do to attack or stop the opponents.

It reminds of the scene in “Bull Durham”, when Crash Davis tells a befuddled manager how to handle his team. “They’re kids, scare ‘em”.

Sometimes it seems like Scott should take that same tact, and threaten these guys who don’t seem to put out a great effort every night, particularly against the lower tier teams in the NBA.

He did it in a recent game against the Washington Wizards; benching the starters four minutes into a game they were trailing 10-0 at that point.

However, you can’t do that every night. It gets old, and the players don’t feel it’s genuine when you use that all the time.

One of Scott’s few veteran players, Shaun Livingston, has been vocal about his teammates seeming lack of urgency when it comes to doing things needed to win basketball games.

What can GM Chris Grant do?

There are NBA coaches who do display a great deal of fire and intensity on a nightly basis, but those guys don’t have a long shelf life with a team. The coach who best fits that mold is Scott Skiles, who usually provides an initial spark when he takes over a team, but wears out his welcome after a year.

Byron Scott is not that kind of guy, and if you look at the coaches who have been on the job for a significant amount of time, you will find the kind of leaders who treat players like men, and pick their spots as to when they show the players who the boss is.

You would assume that Scott wants to take the persona that will keep him employed for a long time.

Unfortunately, the emotionless coach doesn’t play well with the fans, particularly if the team is losing.

You would hope that today’s players have respect for Scott because he played in the league, and was a good player for a long time on some great teams. Still, it would be better if they played like they respected him.

Perhaps, the coach is taking his time and working with Grant to get the kind of players he wants going forward. And when those players are in place, a consistent effort will be seen every night.

And behind the scenes, hopefully, Scott is stressing to Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, and Tyler Zeller the way to play basketball on the professional level.

It is maddening for the fans when the Cavs perform so schizophrenic; it’s probably more frustrating for the head coach.

However, this is probably the last year Scott will get the benefit of the doubt from the fans, and perhaps more importantly, his owner.

Should Cavs Shut Down Kyrie?

For a city that hasn’t won a professional sports title in almost 60 years, Cleveland sports fans are a relatively patient group. When their teams are mediocre and floundering, they understand that rebuilding is needed and usually they can accept it.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good example.

After the shock of losing LeBron James to the Miami Heat, Cavs’ fans realized that it would take more than one year to get back to the playoffs. After watching a team which suffered through a 26 game losing streak the following season, supporters of the wine and gold rejoiced when Cleveland won the draft lottery and picked Kyrie Irving.

Irving was better than expected, winning rookie of the year honors, and the Cavaliers win total jumped from 18 wins in 2010-11 to 21 the next year in a lockout shortened season. They have matched that total so far this season in 61 contests, mostly by winning 12 of their last 21 contests.

Finally, Cavs’ basketball is worth watching again.

Irving is now an all-star, and many experts feel he will be one of the NBA’s ten best players in a year or two.

Then yesterday comes the news that the front office may shut Irving down for the rest of the season because he has a sore knee.

Maybe the former Dukie’s knee may be damaged worse than the public has been led to believe, but watching his performance in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s win over Utah, it looks like he’s pretty healthy.

If his knee is bad, he should be held out of games until it is ready to go, but if he can play on it without risking further damage, he should be out on the court and helping this team learn how to win again.

A possible decision to hold the reigning Rookie of the Year out of games smacks of tanking, a tactic other NBA teams, including the Cavs have used in the past.

It’s just not a good decision for the 2012-13 Cavaliers.

First of all, since the Memphis trade which brought Marreese Speights and Wayne Ellington to Cleveland, the wine and gold are playing well. They are learning how to win and they shouldn’t be looking to take a step backwards now. Especially because of the next point.

There is no consensus #1 pick in this year’s NBA draft. College basketball expert Jay Bilas, who also works on the draft coverage (talking about wingspan) recently said that Michigan’s Trey Burke is probably the player of the year in college this year, but the first selection in the draft will depend on that particular team’s need.

The point is that GM Chris Grant is going to have one pick in the top ten and another (assuming the Lakers can make the playoffs) in the mid teens, and there isn’t a franchise maker available this season. The Cavs will get good players, but not a slam dunk all-star.

So, it comes down to what is more important to the future of the franchise, winning games now and developing a winning mentality, or moving up a couple of spots in a weaker draft.

With Irving in tow, and Dion Waiters showing improvement every month, the Cavs need to learn how to win, to get used to the feeling. If you don’t think that’s important, then you haven’t been watching this basketball team since Speights and Ellington arrived.

They came from a winning atmosphere in Memphis and it has rubbed off on their new teammates.

No one is asking Kyrie Irving to play if he is injured, he is too valuable to the franchise for that. But holding him out of games to improve draft position isn’t what the Cleveland Cavaliers need right now if they want to start winning as soon as next season.