Bad Old Defensive Habits Haunting The Cavs.

The backs are firmly to the wall for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They can’t lose a game for the rest of the playoffs, and will have to beat Golden State four straight times to win the NBA title.

What happened last night was simple. Too much Kevin Durant. On a night where the second leading scorer for the Warriors was two time Stephen Curry with 11 points, Durant was magnificent.

He made 15 of 23 shots, and not many of them were layups or dunks. He added 13 rebounds and seven assists, as he kept Golden State from getting blown out early, and then once the game was close, he supplied the dagger with a three pointer from about 35 feet out.

To us, the biggest problem last night was the basic tenets on defense that the Cavs have failed to establish all year long.

How many times did a mix up on the pick and roll result in a wide open dunk by a Golden State player? This is the Cavaliers’ 103rd game of the season, and by the looks of it, they still don’t have a set way of defending this most basic of basketball plays.

You can blame it on the roster turnover, but if the team had a defensive model, the new players would have adjusted to it by now.

We have railed against the switching scheme defensively all season long too. Our basic problem is it is lazy and more so, it allows the offense to dictate who is guarding whom.

Our question is this, who does Tyronn Lue want guarding Durant? Our preference would be Jeff Green and/or Larry Nance Jr. when they are in the game. However, the Cavs seem to be happy to use pretty much anyone else.

Most possessions end up with Durant being guarding by players like JR Smith, George Hill, and Kyle Korver. Why?

Look, you aren’t going to stop Durant, he’s a gifted offensive player, who because of his length can get his shot off wherever and whenever he wants. But you can make him more uncomfortable, and putting players five to six inches smaller on him doesn’t exactly do that.

When Cleveland made the deadline trades, the players they received in return were longer and more athletic. Unfortunately, the coaching staff either didn’t develop the newcomers well enough to contribute against a team that needs length and athleticism to defend them.

Rodney Hood is 6’8″, Nance is 6’9″, even Jordan Clarkson, who although he has been terrible offensively, has been decent on defense, is 6’5″. Are these guys just not good players, or were they minimized by the staff?

Someone said last night that the Cavs don’t appear to be obsessed with Golden State. The Rockets are. Maybe it’s because the wine and gold won in 2016.

It still looks like the Cavaliers are surprised by the new wrinkles the Warriors throw at them. Steve Kerr adjusts and uses JaVale McGee, and the Cavs have no answer, or at least it takes them five minutes to adjust.

Offensively, the Cavs still seem to go away from Kevin Love, their second best scorer. Love had a great first half last night, and then took three shots in the second half. That’s a crime.

And it wasn’t like Love was shrinking or playing tentatively. One of his second half hoops was a play where he took the ball right to Durant and got a layup.

Can the Cavs win on Friday and send the series back to the west coast? Perhaps, it’s not like the wine and gold have been blown out each game. It is similar to the 2007 Finals vs. San Antonio, when Cleveland lost by 9, 11, 3, and 1 points.

Unfortunately, the defensive issues won’t be going away.

What Can Cavs Do To Pull This Off?

For the fourth consecutive year, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will meet to decide what team will be the NBA Champions.

Most in the national media don’t give the Cavs much of a chance, and really that feeling is based on Cleveland’s defense for much of the regular season (they ranked 29th), and that the Warriors are the defending champs and the darling of those who cover the sport.

However, right now, there are only two teams who have a chance for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and one of those teams is the Cavaliers. Talking about the Rockets or Celtics or 76ers is fruitless. They aren’t playing.

So, what can the coaching staff do to try and knock off the heavily favored Warriors?

The first thing we would do, and we said this a year ago, is slow down the pace. We understand that coach Tyronn Lue likes to play up tempo, and we would still take advantage of fast break opportunities that are there, but the reality is that’s Golden State’s game and they are better at it than Cleveland.

One of the reasons Lue favored playing faster was that was how to get the most out of Kyrie Irving’s offense. But he’s not with the wine and gold anymore, so the pace isn’t necessary, and the defense should be better as well.

Slow the game down, try to limit possessions for the Warriors, and see what happens. The Cavs have the best player on the court, let him control things.

Another thing Cleveland has done over the past year is get longer. While they don’t have a lot of height on the roster (which we have bemoaned all season), they did add Jeff Green (6’9″), and Larry Nance Jr. (6’8″), both of whom theoretically should be able to play Kevin Durant, who was the difference last season.

A year ago, Lue had to use Tristan Thompson (not quick enough), Richard Jefferson (not tall enough), and James (too important offensively) against Durant, and he had a field day.

We are sure Green was recruited to come to the north coast for exactly this situation. Now we will see if it was the right move. And don’t think for a minute that trading for Nance wasn’t made with a potential rematch with the Warriors in mind.

The other thing the Cavs need to do is match the physicality of Golden State. Yes, the Warriors don’t have a lot of height, height that plays anyway.

But we have said for years that they are coached to basically commit a foul every time down the floor, knowing the referees will not call each and every one of the infractions.

Instead of complaining, match the contact. Lue’s team is probably better suited for this after the tough series vs. Indiana and Boston, teams that banged the Cavaliers around a lot.

The last thing is to use your depth. The Warriors only have seven players averaging more than 12 minutes per game in the post-season. The Cavs have 10, nine if you discount Rodney Hood.

Use that to your advantage. Try to wear Golden State down in each game, and even more so throughout the series. Keep throwing fresh bodies at Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Durant.

This is not to suggest if the Cavaliers do this, it will work, and Cleveland will emerge as champions. However, this is one blueprint for possible success.

We will see how Lue plays it starting tonight.

Cavs and Lue On The Brink?

For the second time this playoff season, the Cleveland Cavaliers face a win or go home scenario, trailing the Boston Celtics three games to two in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Besides all of the stuff surrounding LeBron James’ free agency at the end of the season, another person should be considered as if they are spending their last days in the organization.

We are speaking about coach Tyronn Lue.

It is no secret that Lue has had health issues this past season, heck, he missed nine games late in the year because of them. We would not be surprised if regardless of the result of tonight’s game or this series, or The Finals, if Cleveland can win the next two games, that Lue does not return as coach of the Cavaliers next season.

We may simply decide he’s either had enough of being a head coach in the NBA or that he needs to take a year or two off before trying again.

The head coach said yesterday that he doesn’t worry about what doesn’t work after a loss. If he’s not lying to the media, then he might be the first coach who doesn’t.

All coaches think about what didn’t work after a loss, and what they could do differently to achieve a winning result. It’s the nature of the job.

However, for tonight’s game, Lue cannot be display the patience he has used toward his veteran players who haven’t been producing in this series. There is simply no tomorrow if you lose tonight.

In game five, JR Smith and Jeff Green played 51 combined minutes and basically gave the team nothing on the offensive end. Yes, Boston only scored 96 points, which is second lowest of the series, but the Cavaliers only scored 83, tying what they tallied in Game 1.

Both players have been outscored by Tristan Thompson, hardly an offensive force, in the series, and Smith ranks behind Jordan Clarkson, who has mostly been dreadful throughout these playoffs.

Smith ranks 4th in minutes in the conference finals, while Green is 6th. Both have played more minutes than Kyle Korver, who we can all agree has been one of the Cavs’ five best players in the series, and Larry Nance Jr., who has played well vs. the Celtics too.

FYI, Smith has the worst shooting percentage (23.1%) for any Cavaliers in the series. And that includes the guys who have only played in garbage time.

Green can help, but Lue has leaned on him far too heavily throughout the playoffs. And the expectation that he will be a good three point shooter is ridiculous. By the way, he’s 2 for 9 from distance in this series.

If either player doesn’t have it early tonight, Lue has to make a difficult decision to try something else. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t, but Smith and Green have had their chances. It might be time to see what Cedi Osman can do, or put Jose Calderon out there for a bit.

We are also tired of hearing how it is Kevin Love’s fault for the Cavs being down in this series.

Has Love played great? No, but he still leads Cleveland in rebounds at 11.0 per game, and is the second leading scorer at 15.0. His shooting has been off, but there have been reports that he reinjured his thumb in the series.

He’s not the reason Cleveland is on the brink of elimination.

With a win or go home game, this is not the time for the coach to be exercising patience. He has to look at players with a +, 0, – attitude. Guys who are being a minus should be taken out.

The Cavs and the coaching staff have to figure out a way to get this series back to Boston for a game seven.

All Game 1 Loss Means Is Game 2 Is Must Win

Going into the Cavaliers’ first round series against the Indiana Pacers, our main thought was the unknown. We had no idea if the Cavs would come out and play great, or if the moment would be too much for those players without a significant amount of playoff minutes.

It turns out the latter was more the truth than anything else.

Does this mean we think the Cavaliers are doomed to be eliminated in the first round this season? No. However, it does mean that they better win Wednesday night, because you can’t lose the first two and then go on the road.

First, the Cavs have to come out with a more aggressive mind set. They were far too passive in the first quarter, and that stage was set by Tyronn Lue, and the team’s two best players, LeBron James and Kevin Love.

Love took just eight shots for the game, the same total as Rodney Hood, and just one more than Jeff Green, George Hill, and Larry Nance Jr.

And James didn’t attempt his first shot until the first quarter was almost over.

The coaching staff has to establish both of these guys right from the get go. They are the primary scorers for the Cavaliers.

Prior to game one, we figured the Pacers would leave Green open and if he made open threes, it was something they would live with to slow down James driving to the basket.

Green wound up 0 for 7 from the floor, three of those misses from behind the arc, and the wine and gold didn’t seem to have a Plan B. Of course, no one was shooting well from distance as Cleveland made just 8 of 34 attempts.

Which is another rub, quite frankly.

The Cavs like to shoot threes. They attempted the 5th highest total in the NBA this season. They are usually pretty proficient as well, ranking 6th in the league in three point percentage.

However, when the long distance shots aren’t falling, they don’t do anything to adjust, they just keep letting them fly. In a game like Sunday’s, why not attack the basket more often?

No team in the NBA is more reliant on their offense for their defense than the Cavaliers. And when they are missing threes, that leads to long rebounds, and in turn, that leads to fast break opportunities.

As we have seen over the last two seasons, the Cavs strength is NOT defending in transition.

A problem for Lue is reflected in this question: Who is the Cavs’ third best player?

The fact there is no definite answer to this question makes it difficult in determining substitution patterns. Is it Jeff Green, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr, George Hill?

When the trade were made in February, we are sure GM Koby Altman thought it would be Rodney Hood, but he has been hurt a lot, and has had a problem playing with a LeBron James led team when he has been available.

Who can Lue count on behind James and Love? It makes it a problem in deciding the starters as well, because so many of the players very been inconsistent this season.

So, Lue usually makes his decision based on offense, which is why Green got the nod, presumably because he’s a better three point shooter than Nance or Tristan Thompson, and they want the floor spread for James.

As the old saying goes, defense is a constant. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing for Cleveland. It also explains games like Sundays, though.

It’s not time for panic, but it is okay to be concerned. The game one loss means Wednesday is as close to a must win game as an elimination contest.

That’s something we aren’t used to over the last four seasons.

Can Cavs Finally Have Continuity in Playoffs?

We believe if you look up the term “a season in flux”, the picture that will accompany the definition will be that of the 2017-18 Cleveland Cavaliers.

It started in training camp when LeBron James was nursing a sprained ankle and missed virtually the entire exhibition season.

That cost the team valuable on-court chemistry time with all the new faces brought in during the off-season.

When the season opened, Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, and to a lesser extent, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic never shared the court with The King.

After a slow start (5-7), Rose and Tristan Thompson got hurt, so Calderon went into the starting lineup, and the wine and gold had their best stretch of the season, winning 18 of 19 games, with the second unit led by Dwyane Wade and Kyle Korver making a huge impact.

Thompson came back first and then Isaiah Thomas returned to the floor, and things got out of whack, with the Cavs struggling in January (6-8) and particularly on defensive end of the floor.

Kevin Love then broke his hand, and Tyronn Lue started giving Osman more playing time, so there was another period of adjustment.

Really, the only constants in terms of good quality play to this point in the season were James and Green. The rest of the team either missed time with injuries or were up and down in terms of quality of play.

Next came the big move at the trade deadline when GM Koby Altman traded off half the roster, bringing in some youth with Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., and Rodney Hood, as well as veteran point guard George Hill.

To this point, Hood and Hill still don’t look comfortable playing with James, and while the former has missed time recently with a back problem, Hill played his 16th game with LeBron last night.

When the Cavaliers went on a west coast trip, the players starting dropping one by one, as they finished the trip without Thompson, Nance, Osman, Hood, Korver, as well as Love.

That meant John Holland and London Perrantes, whose names James may or may not know (we are kidding, we think) were getting time.

Now, Love returns to the lineup, but the squad is missing their head coach, as Lue is taking time away from the team to take care of a medical issue that has plagued him over the past few months.

Thompson and Nance are said to be close to returning, possibly this week, and Osman and Hood should be back in another week, causing more combinations of players that probably haven’t spent much time on the floor together.

All this with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

Is it possible that the Cavaliers will finally get some continuity just as the playoffs are set to begin? It very well may be.

And the experience the younger players have gained with all of the injuries in the second half of the season will give Lue many options to go to depending on what the opposition is doing?

Getting Lue healthy is a key too. There is no question in our mind that when we aren’t feeling well, you aren’t thinking clearly.

This is not a guarantee of another appearance in The Finals. There are a lot of teams in the East that can cause a problem, and no question, Toronto is an excellent basketball team with plenty of playoff experience.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the injured guys came back next week, and the Cavs had three weeks of being able to play with the same players? We are sure everyone in the organization has that thought.

Yesterday’s Cavs Loss Makes Us Feel Good.

There are so many ways to look at yesterday’s Christmas Day match up of what is currently the NBA’s hottest rivalry, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.

Yes, the defending champs won at home, 99-92, but this was a tie game with two minutes remaining, and the Warriors got an offensive rebound and Klay Thompson converted a three pointer to put Golden State up for good.

We understand that Stephen Curry did not play for Steve Kerr’s group, but Isaiah Thomas has yet to suit up for Tyronn Lue, and both should be ready for the rematch at Quicken Loans Arena next month.

The Cavs hung in this game despite shooting just 31.8% for the game, and made just 3 of 24 shots in the second quarter.

Yes, the Warriors are good defensively, but they aren’t making a habit of making teams shoot this poorly on a night to night basis. There was a little bad luck for the wine and gold shooting that poorly.

Still, despite this inability to put the ball in the cylinder, the wine and gold were in the game to the end.

From a Cleveland standpoint, it was also the first time several Cavs played in a battle between these two teams, and many of those newbies didn’t do well yesterday, something we expect to change going forward.

The Cavs’ bench, normally one of the league’s best, made just 6 of 26 shots, and Dwyane Wade, a veteran of this kind of intensity, made four of those shots. Jeff Green, who has been solid all season, had a poor game.

However, Jae Crowder responded with a 15 point, six rebound afternoon, and responded well to the physicality during the game.

And of course, no Cavs-Warriors game would be complete without the officiating coming into question. Kevin Durant’s non-called fouls against James down the stretch reminded us of the game five no call in last year’s Finals, when he hit James in the head on a drive, which would have been his third foul (in the second quarter), but it was ignored by the officials.

One decision Lue and his staff have to ponder is the role of Tristan Thompson going forward. Cleveland is 18-3 when Thompson plays less than six minutes in a game this season, and 6-7 when he is on the court longer.

With the emergence of Kevin Love playing center, and the effectiveness of the second unit when Channing Frye is out there, it is tough to see where Thompson fits.

By the way, didn’t Love put to rest the notion he can’t play against Golden State with yesterday’s 31 point, 18 rebound performance?

Back to Thompson, he doesn’t seem to fit with the Cavs anymore. His main strength on defense was being able to switch on pick and rolls, but the team is doing better with that as a whole.

Offensively, with spacing being a huge deal in James and Wade being able to penetrate, Thompson doesn’t have to be guarded, because even after six years in the league, he still cannot knockdown a shot from outside of five feet.

Thompson played just 11 minutes yesterday, getting two points and six boards. Frye did not play. We wonder what he could have brought to the table on a day the Cavs were having problems making shots.

All that aside, yesterday’s game showed the Cavs probably are better suited to handle the Warriors next summer than they were a year ago, which is what management wanted.

Still, by the time next June rolls around, and if the two teams meet for a fourth straight year with the title on the line, it could be a different situation.

Cavs’ fans should continue to enjoy the chase, and long forward to Thomas’ debut, which will probably be this week.

Wade’s Presence On Cavs Can’t Be Emphasized Enough

There is no question that Dwyane Wade is one of the all time greats of the NBA, and will be inducted in Springfield soon after he retires.

He’s a 12 time All Star, a three time champion, and you can make the argument he is the third best shooting guard in history behind Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Right now, he is showing he still can be an important player for a title contender as one of the best sixth men in the NBA with the Cavaliers.

Wade has embraced the role, which is something legends sometimes can’t accept. For example, can anyone imagine Bryant doing for any team what Wade is doing for the Cavs?

His minutes have dropped to about 24 per game, and his scoring average is now a little better (11.9) than half of his career mark of 23.0

Right now, his shooting percentage is his highest since 2014-15, and his three point shot is better than its ever been, at 35.7% to date, compared to 28.8% for his career.

His assists are right on par with last season in Chicago, even though he’s playing six minutes less per game, and the defensive metrics show him as one of the three best defenders for the wine and gold.

While the numbers are solid, the best way to appreciate what Wade is doing for Tyronn Lue’s team is using your eyes.

Wade consistently makes the right pass, the right defensive rotation, gets key block shots, etc. As we write this, it would seem to make total sense, because as we said earlier, he’s an all time great, but remember, fans in northeast Ohio are watching him on a night in, night out basis for the first time.

We first saw Wade in person when he led Marquette to the Final Four in New Orleans, and our first impression was he had an old school game, with a tremendous ability to hit the mid range jumper, a skill that was diminishing in the game.

Remember, through the first 12 games of this season, the Cavaliers looked like an old basketball team. Younger teams ran up and down the floor, getting easy transition baskets.

Since then, the Cavs have reeled off 13 straight victories, and the second unit, led by Wade and Kyle Korver, both 36 years old, have been a huge key.

Cleveland’s two leading scorers are LeBron James (28.0) and Kevin Love (19.2). Among players who have played in more than half the Cavs’ games, the next three leaders in scoring are Wade (11.9), Korver (10.3) and Jeff Green (10.2).

When James is sitting out, many times the bench has extended the lead, which is a huge difference from past years.

Heck, in last year’s NBA Finals, the Cavaliers were pretty much even with Golden State when James was on the floor, but when James was out, the Warriors owned a huge advantage.

Because of the production from the bench, the starting lineup could use Isaiah Thomas’ scoring when he returns in the next week or so. Cleveland has struggled in games early because JR Smith and Jae Crowder have been inconsistent with their shots.

Our hope with Wade is that Lue doesn’t react to his play and start increasing his minutes. Keep the long range goal in mind. Leave Wade at around 24 minutes per night, and if you need to increase that slightly in the playoffs, then fine.

He can be quite a weapon if healthy when the playoffs come around.

Wily Vets Off Bench Contributing Big Time For Cavs

Remember when you were just out of high school and you and your friends went up to the local YMCA or playground to play some basketball?

And your team could run, jump, and make behind the back passes beating other teams in your age group, right?

Then you met up with some guys in their 30’s, and they did all the right things, like making the extra pass, getting the ball to the hot hand, being in the right spot defensively, and getting position under the boards. They kicked your butt.

That team has morphed into the Cleveland Cavaliers, who quietly have won eight straight games, their record now 13-7, one of the league’s best.

They are 7-3 on the road, a win total away from home that is only behind Houston and Boston in the NBA.

It has been the bench that has keyed this stretch of good basketball. We understand that +/- isn’t the be all statistic in professional basketball, but on a nightly basis, the wine and gold’s leader in this category are frequently Kyle Korver (36 years old), Dwyane Wade (who will turn 36 in January), or Channing Frye (34).

The other key member of the bench is a young pup by these standards, but Jeff Green (31) was perhaps the most overlooked player Cleveland had coming into training camp, but he has been a major contributor.

The most interesting player is Wade, a superstar in the league for most of his career, a three time champion with Miami.

A lot of players in his place among NBA history have a hard time taking a lesser role as they get older, but perhaps because of his friendship with LeBron James, he has been a tremendous force since the Cavs turned their season around.

He has been malleable, contributing something different each night, depending on who is matched with. If a smaller guard is defending him, he posts him up. If it’s a bigger player, he takes him to the hoop.

All the while he is getting the rest of the players involved. He’s averaging 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game in 23 minutes per night.

Korver has shot the Cavaliers to two wins this season with epic fourth quarter performances, scoring 19 points in the last stanza. He’s shooting 43.6% from three point range, and he always gives an effort on the defensive end.

Frye wasn’t supposed to get a lot of playing time, but when Tristan Thompson went down, he got an opportunity, and made the most of it, scoring a little over seven points per contest in the last seven games, and has had a positive +/- in six of those contests.

Green was coming off a season with a bad Orlando team, in which he scored 9.2 points per game and shot 39.4% from the floor.

This season, he is scoring 10.0 points a night, shooting 49%.

He’s also been effective guarding smaller players on the perimeter, most notably doing a good job against Houston’s James Harden and Charlotte’s Kemba Walker.

When Isaiah Thomas returns, this veteran group could include Jose Calderon (36) to the mix.

Wade plays the most minutes out of the quartet at 23, with Korver and Green getting around 20, which should keep them fresh throughout the long season.

These four are a big reason the Cavs can play even with opponents while James is on the bench. And because they can do that, it should lead to James getting more rest during games as the season goes on.

The “old guys” are getting the job done.

Cavs Making Moves Anyway

The Cleveland Cavaliers might not have an official general manager, but the acting one made a move yesterday, and it looks like a solid one.

Koby Altman signed free agent forward Jeff Green, last with the Orlando Magic to a one year contract to a one year deal.

Green will be 31 years old this season, making him considerably younger than most of the players the wine and gold has signed or been linked with so far this summer.

The well traveled Georgetown product is 6’9″ and can play both inside and outside, especially in today’s NBA, where teams seem to be using smaller lineups.

The downside is he is coming off his worst season as a pro with Orlando, averaging just 9.2 points per game on 39.4% shooting, well off his career numbers of 13.5 points and 43.5% accuracy from the floor.

Hopefully, this is a case of a veteran playing better on a good team, because the year before, a season he spent with both the Clippers and Grizzlies, he scored 11.7 points per game on 43% shooting.

It has been reported that LeBron James spoke to Green prior to his agreement with the Cavaliers, and also it has been written that James is speaking to free agent Jamal Crawford as well.

This flies in the face of earlier news that The King is not actively recruiting players to join the franchise in Cleveland.

Perhaps this is a sign that James isn’t headed to the Lakers after this season.

As for Crawford, we are a little ambivalent about that because of his age, he will be 38 during the 2017-18 season, and he is a defensive liability which Green isn’t. The latter has had success guarding on the perimeter.

On the other hand, the man can still shoot, hitting 36% of his three point attempts last season, and at age 37, he played in all 82 games.

Still, we believe Cleveland needs to get longer, younger, and more athletic off the bench, and inking Crawford to a deal doesn’t accomplish any of that.

Nor did agreeing to a deal with Jose Calderon, and bringing in one of James’ old mates in Miami, Udonis Haslem, doesn’t do it either.

One of the players we suggested last week, Tyreke Evans, went to Memphis for less than the full mid level exemption.

We can definitely see Altman or whoever is running the Cavs try to move Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, and even Richard Jefferson for younger players and/or non-guaranteed contracted players, who Cleveland could release and thus create some space under the salary cap.

With the huge deals given out to players already this off-season, there will be good players, who will be available on veteran minimum contracts.

At the very least, the Cavs have to still be considered the favorite to get to The Finals again next year. Yes, Boston signed the best free agent in Gordon Hayward, but let’s match up the “Big Three’s”…

Kyrie Irving > Isaiah Thomas
LeBron James > Hayward
Kevin Love > Al Horford

We maintain the biggest threat to Cleveland in the East will be Washington and Milwaukee.

However, we are sticking with our theme of younger, longer, and more athletic for the wine and gold this summer. Still, if you can get Carmelo Anthony without moving a valued rotation piece, we are on board.

And we will ask this question to those criticizing owner Dan Gilbert for not paying David Griffin or Chauncey Billups…would you rather have him spend cash on players or front office people?

Thought so.