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Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

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Just a few observations from the last 5 minutes of the game:

1. Given that the talent gap is a mile wide here, it's actually a bit surprising Cleveland was in Games 1 and 3, with chances to win each. Golden State has 4 all-stars, as opposed to Cleveland's 1.5, and a bench that is light years better than Cleveland's (there are multiple bench players on Golden State that I would take over ANY of Cleveland's bench players).
2. At the end of the game, it was obvious who was going to win--Golden State was getting layups and Cleveland was taking contested shots. It's only a matter of time before the dust settles in the layup taker's favor.
3. Related both to #1 and #2, JR (who is awful) is the Cavs' third best player. The guy plays terrible defense, and his 5-14 from the field was his best offensive performance of the Finals.
4. As the NBA, you know your product is broken when you have a team in Golden State that everyone knows will win the Finals before the end of the season. The only thing that could make Adam Silver's league more ridiculous is if LBJ signs with Golden State in the offseason. It's Silver's job to fix this ridiculous mess...and I have zero confidence in him doing so.
 
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buckeyesin07 said:
Just a few observations from the last 5 minutes of the game:

1. Given that the talent gap is a mile wide here, it's actually a bit surprising Cleveland was in Games 1 and 3, with chances to win each. Golden State has 4 all-stars, as opposed to Cleveland's 1.5, and a bench that is light years better than Cleveland's (there are multiple bench players on Golden State that I would take over ANY of Cleveland's bench players).
2. At the end of the game, it was obvious who was going to win--Golden State was getting layups and Cleveland was taking contested shots. It's only a matter of time before the dust settles in the layup taker's favor.
3. Related both to #1 and #2, JR (who is awful) is the Cavs' third best player. The guy plays terrible defense, and his 5-14 from the field was his best offensive performance of the Finals.
4. As the NBA, you know your product is broken when you have a team in Golden State that everyone knows will win the Finals before the end of the season. The only thing that could make Adam Silver's league more ridiculous is if LBJ signs with Golden State in the offseason. It's Silver's job to fix this ridiculous mess...and I have zero confidence in him doing so.
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And yet they got by Houston in 7 only after CP3 went down and missed the last 2 and Houston shot a statistically impossible % from 3.
And the Cavs could very easily be up 2-1 despite this being their worst team in LBJ's 2nd term. With the possible exception being in the first year when love and Delly went down.

While GS has had a great run they have caught a tremendous amount of breaks in terms of facing teams with injured stars and being able to add Durant because of a stupid application of the increased salary cap.
 
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1926Buckeyes said:
Glad Durant can play mediocre ball for 2 games while the 3 other all stars carry him, and then decide when to turn it on and act like this is his team and his title. Reality is you're an amazing scorer who choked over and over again on your own team and had to run to a 73 win squad to do anything in the playoffs. And if that sounds like sour grapes, it's because it is, but I don't give a damn, because fuck Durant. He took the full douche move that LeBron pulled in 2010, doubled it, and doesn't get a 1/10th of the shit he deserves for it.
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Crowdsource the funds to get this engraved on his tombstone?
 
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buckeyesin07 said:
Just a few observations from the last 5 minutes of the game:

1. Given that the talent gap is a mile wide here, it's actually a bit surprising Cleveland was in Games 1 and 3, with chances to win each. Golden State has 4 all-stars, as opposed to Cleveland's 1.5, and a bench that is light years better than Cleveland's (there are multiple bench players on Golden State that I would take over ANY of Cleveland's bench players).
2. At the end of the game, it was obvious who was going to win--Golden State was getting layups and Cleveland was taking contested shots. It's only a matter of time before the dust settles in the layup taker's favor.
3. Related both to #1 and #2, JR (who is awful) is the Cavs' third best player. The guy plays terrible defense, and his 5-14 from the field was his best offensive performance of the Finals.
4. As the NBA, you know your product is broken when you have a team in Golden State that everyone knows will win the Finals before the end of the season. The only thing that could make Adam Silver's league more ridiculous is if LBJ signs with Golden State in the offseason. It's Silver's job to fix this ridiculous mess...and I have zero confidence in him doing so.
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It is remarkable that the Cavs could've won two games in this series. LeBron's greatness is somehow undersold. I don't think it's fair to call Love half an all-star, though. He isn't Minnesota Kevin Love anymore, but he's capable of many of the same things (and a few others) when the team/coaching staff gives him the opportunity. He's one of the best rebounders and passers that I've ever seen. I think the number of top-five NBA players (GS's two to Cleveland's one) is even more telling than the number of all-stars. You aren't beating Golden State without two of the 10 best players in basketball.

I don't know if JR Smith is the third-best player on the team, but yikes if he is. That makes this run even more improbable.

As far as Silver, I like him a lot. I have considerably more faith in him than any of the other league commissioners. I wouldn't trust Goodell with my dry cleaning.
 
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David Griffin seems to think LeBron's going to Philly. As long as it isn't Golden State or Boston (which it won't be), I'll be rooting for him. When he left the first time, it felt unfair. He had unfinished business in Cleveland, and The Decision was a disaster. We were sore about him leaving home to go play with his friends in Miami and chase titles. He spent four of the best years of his career there. But he came back and left it all on the table four years in a row. He secured that elusive title for the city of Cleveland and his place as the GOAT in the minds of many. To me, the guy has earned the right to do what he wants without any repercussions. He's beyond reproach.

I don't know about you all, but if LeBron wants to stay in Cleveland to keep his family in Ohio, I'm good with it. If he wants to go to Philly or Houston to beat Golden State, I'm good with it. If he wants to go to LA to become a billionaire and a movie star, I'm good with it. I hope, if he does leave, he gets the standing ovation he deserves when he comes back to play in the Q.

I was angry about The Decision for years, but the guy has done too much for Cleveland (both on and off the court) for me to hold whatever decision he makes next against him. He grew up in the limelight and made a few public mistakes along the way (a remarkably small number, really), but the pros far outweigh the cons. I'm a LeBron fan now.

Sorry for the mushy, sentimental post, but there's a fair chance that he'll be playing his last game as a Cavalier tomorrow night. I let that go unappreciated in 2010, and I don't want to make the same mistake in 2018.
 
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He's gone... this is his interview.. he does not have confidence in this team nor the players...

"Listen, we're all NBA players. Everybody knows how to put the ball in the hoop. But who can think throughout the course of the game?

"This is so challenging for me to sit up here and say because people who really don't know the game don't really know what I'm talking about. They just think that you go out, and, Oh, LeBron, you're bigger and faster and stronger than everybody, you should drive every single time and you should dunk every single play and you should never get tired, never. Like it's a video game and you went on the options and you turned down fatigue all the way to zero and injuries all the way down to zero (laughing).

"So we come back here and we get the minds and we build a championship team. And then Golden State, because of Steph's injuries early on in his career and his contract situation, and then them drafting Draymond and drafting Klay and them being under the contracts they were in, allowed their franchise to go out to get K.D.

"So they win a championship. Then we play them and we come back from 3-1 and we beat them. But that was the best regular season -- probably the best team I had ever played against. They go 73-9, and then you add one of the best players that the NBA has ever seen.

"So now everyone is trying to figure that out. How do you put together a group of talent but also a group of minds to be able to compete with Golden State, to be able to compete for a championship? That's what GMs and presidents and certain players -- it's not every player. Every player does not want to -- sad to say, but every player doesn't want to compete for a championship and be in a position where every possession is pressure."

Based on this... it's HOUSTON
 
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NJ-Buckeye said:
I would be mortified... but the BEST situation is... BOSTON

but how do you deal with Kyrie
Kyrie makes them a damn good team
LBJ makes them a championship team
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No way he goes to Boston with Kyrie. I think Philly gives him the best young talent to take him through the rest of his career as long as they are willing to pay to keep them all. If I were the Cavs I'd try to pull a deal where they move him to the Rockets for Ryan Anderson and a Nets/Boston draft pick haul starting in 2020 in exchange for him picking up his option for next year. They could probably end up getting the whole banana boat crew in Houston for a year for a shot at a title. After that they could use his Bird rights to sign a max deal or he could move along to a place with good young players. Him moving along after a year would be the best option for the picks the Cavs would get out of the Rockets. Maybe one of the LA teams makes enough good moves to be a contender in a couple years, but that's a big ask in the West. Golden State probably has another 3-4 years before their window closes.

Biggest key during the rebuild will be to draft well. Look what GS built from the draft without any top picks. We need more of that and less Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett. I would argue the Cavs only made 2 good draft picks this century. That has to change.
 
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exhawg said:
Biggest key during the rebuild will be to draft well. Look what GS built from the draft without any top picks. We need more of that and less Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett. I would argue the Cavs only made 2 good draft picks this century. That has to change.
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Cavs' drafts from 2011-2013 could've been:

2011: Kyrie Irving (#1)
2011: Jonas Valanciunas (#4) (instead of Tristan Thompson)
2012: Damian Lillard (#4) (instead of Dion Waiters)
2013: Victor Oladipo (#1) (instead of Anthony Bennett)

And that's just selecting players who were generally considered worthy of top-5 draft status instead of cherry picking sleepers like Kawhi Leonard (#15 in 2011); Jimmy Butler (#30 in 2011); Giannis Antetokounmpo (#15 in 2013); and Rudy Gobert (#27 in 2013).

Then in 2014 sign LeBron, trade one of the young PG for an All Star caliber wing player, fill out the roster with some veteran role players, and it's the Cavs who are the NBA gold standard, not the Warriors.

What could have been....
 
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