czvo
Banned
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- Feb 8, 2010
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So it's just completely too much excuse making to acknowledge that right as they were beginning to click, Andy went down for the year, followed shortly by LeBron beginning a stretch of 10+ missed games? Teams that have played together for a few years may be able to handle that but a team in the first third of their season that was almost all new to each other and playing for a first time coach.
Yes, there have absolutely been bad stretches and blundering decisions but how an those be removed 100% from the context and reality of the injuries and newness? And how can you not look at the roster as it will be when LeBron and Shumpert both return and not think that all the tools are there, some of the adversity has been absorbed and learned from, and the depth is shored up.
I have no issue looking back in frustration with some of these stretches but do not understand the fear and doubt about moving forward.
What would make any of the three of them worthless in 2017?
And how are any of them considered "past their prime" when they are all under 30?
Mozgov would be 30
Shumpert 26
JR 31
All three are under contract for next year and we will have bird rights on all three. We can also match any offer Shumpert receives as an RFA this year.
I'd also argue that cumulatively and in a vacuum, the three of them are just as good as Deng and Hawes. Then factor in fit, the talent on the team around them and what they are being asked to do and I think its a far better set of trades than last year. What midseason trade from two years ago were you referring to? Livingston, Speights, and Walton? You can't really think thats a better set of players and circumstances(all three of them were immediately FA's at the end of that year) than the three guys we just got.
On top of that, when talking about the on the floor this season impact, which most of your post was concerned with, we just traded one player Waiters for three players.
The bold is the only part I would disagree with. This team was starting to regress before Andy went down. It started in New Orleans when they put up zero defensive resistance, in a game that Davis only played 8 minutes. Then they struggled to put away Charlotte, even after taking a 21-0 lead. After that it was the Atlanta debacle. They struggled to put away Brooklyn, they took advantage of a Z-Bo-less Grizz, and then played like crap for three quarters against Minnesota. They'd won four of five, but there were very real issues festering just below the surface that were going to come to a head sooner or later. It just so happened that losing Andy was the straw that broke the camel's back (losing James just after that obviously didn't help matters).
I didn't expect the Cavs to win a title even before the season, but I thought I would see a team that competed night in and night out. But you know what I see? I see teams that play the Cavs knowing they can get whatever they want. Teams that love nothing more than punking LeBron, Love and Kyrie. Other teams are sick of hearing about James and the Cavs, especially Kyrie and Love because they've never won anything. They come in and go all out, and the Cavs just let it happen. Who's going to step up for this team and, as Coach Pop once said, bring some nasty?