The worst team in the league

[cavsfanclanman]

Do you think Byron already lost the team? I mean, are the players buying what he's selling? Doesn't really look like it.

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

I'll have to go back and look, but it is very surprising to me that Byron believes this team has the most talent of the teams he has taken over....

 

[brownindian]

Is there anyway, we can have the cheerleaders play for us, while the players dress up as cheerleaders and " cheer us " ?

That will be far more exciting to watch. Im glad we are going draft bound but come one - we play like we are zombies or something.

 

[Sw33tL0u]

Too many people - from fans to media to players to coaches to owners - thought that this team was just full of "winners" and guys who "were used to winning" and that fact alone would put this team in the Playoffs.

Uhhh....it doesn't work like that.

This roster is loaded with role players. Guys who looked pretty decent playing with a 2-time MVP...but without him look terrible.

My worry is Dan Gilbert is going to use the Trade Exception and add an overpaid semi-star to this roster of role players and lock this team into Mediocrityville for a decade.

 

[wizman23]

So how long does Byron Scott continue to get a free pass???? Something tells me Mike Brown would have this exact team at or above .500 right now.

 

[MYoung23]

So how long does Byron Scott continue to get a free pass???? Something tells me Mike Brown would have this exact team at or above .500 right now.

I doubt that. You can't coach quit.

 

[KI4MVP]

Teams that would get contracted before the Cavaliers would:

Toronto
Milwaukee
Detroit
Minnesota
Memphis

There's probably a handful more as well.

The Cavaliers aren't going to be contracted.

Minnesota - trying to follow the same path OKC did
Memphis - trying to follow the same path OKC did

So we avoid contraction by just having good timing at being the worst team in the league with what is likely to be record plunging season ticket sales if things don't improve.

 

[KI4MVP]

I doubt that. You can't coach quit.

you can bench the ones not playing defense until you go through the roster and find ones who will. If you can't find 5, start cutting players to bring in someone who will. Mike Brown wasn't afraid to bench players who weren't giving effort on defense.

We scored 54 points in the first half only to be down 12
Before that we had a 46 point first half only to be down 5
Before that we had a 54 point first half only to be down 19
before that we had a 40 point first half only to be down 18
before that we had a 45 point first half only to be down 11

Then what do we do the second halves of those games, we still don't play defense, but we also stop running the offense and players start going one on one while everyone stands and watches, except the fans, who leave or turn off the TV. I'm not sure our players have ever watched Princeton play.

 

[gregdawg]

I'll have to go back and look, but it is very surprising to me that Byron believes this team has the most talent of the teams he has taken over....

i really hope Byron was lying when he said this team was talented. maybe when he said that he just wasn't that familiar with the players yet and overrated them in his mind...and now that he's really seeing how bad they are the reality is sinking in for him.

he can't possibly think they're a talented team at this point. if Byron or anyone else in the Cavs organization thinks guys like Moon, Parker and Andy have talent...then there is no hope for the franchise because the organization's talent evaluation is completely out of whack.

 

[Jon]

What Byron is doing right now is just a bad fit. We don't have the personnel to run the Princeton, and he appears to be "old school" when it comes to defense - talking about effort/desire/hustle/guarding your man rather than talking the things Mike would have talked about like rotations/physicality/trust/helping.

Either he has to adapt (unlikely), or it's just going to be a long process for the team to adapt to what he wants/needs.

Buckle up ... it took 2 years for the guys to start doing what Mike wanted.

But losing streaks tend to end. I just can't see this team going all Nets on us.

 

[Kouki]

Too many people - from fans to media to players to coaches to owners - thought that this team was just full of "winners" and guys who "were used to winning" and that fact alone would put this team in the Playoffs.

Uhhh....it doesn't work like that.

This roster is loaded with role players. Guys who looked pretty decent playing with a 2-time MVP...but without him look terrible.

My worry is Dan Gilbert is going to use the Trade Exception and add an overpaid semi-star to this roster of role players and lock this team into Mediocrityville for a decade.

idk about that. for the first half of the season thus far, we were winning games because we were winners.

of course, now, not so much.

 

[CzBoobie]

I'll have to go back and look, but it is very surprising to me that Byron believes this team has the most talent of the teams he has taken over....

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NJN/2001.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NOH/2005.html

I think he was right, not by much though...but he was gifted Kidd and Paul in his second seasons, maybe we'll be lucky in the draft after all.

 

[Rich]

Minnesota - trying to follow the same path OKC did
Memphis - trying to follow the same path OKC did

So we avoid contraction by just having good timing at being the worst team in the league with what is likely to be record plunging season ticket sales if things don't improve.

No, we avoid contraction by simply having a larger fanbase than the teams listed above.

You people worried about contraction and the Cavs being one of those teams haven't really provided a single shred of evidence that should make anyone worry.

And hold up. How is Memphis trying to follow the same path? Just because they've been bad and draftedp layers doesn't mean they are following the same path. They traded for Gasol. They traded for Randolph. They signed Rudy Gay to a monster deal. OKC got its two best players from the draft (I'd argue the two best players on Memphis are Gasol and Randolph) and didn't lock themselves into a long-term bad contract like Memphis did with Gay.

 

[NarlCavs]

There should be zero concern about contraction. Seems fewer and fewer nowadays look and think long term and only look at the right now.

Seattle lost their team because they had terrible ownership who sold the team to a group of lying carpetbaggers from Oklahoma who lied about keeping the team in Seattle. The inability to get a new arena project going is also a reason. Cavs don't have an ownership problem and have a relatively new arena that also had recent renovations. It also has the now necessary luxury suites that the Seattle arena lacked.

The questions about whether the Cavs need to rebuild should be over now. There are no longer any if's about it. The key is getting Gilbert and Scott on board with it. There's a point where even they have to be getting to that realization. The worst thing now is that if you're going to lose you want to at least see good effort every night and have some players on the roster that give you hope for the future. Cavs lack those things now. They have some decent complimentary pieces but no one they can build with or around.

 

[AvonCavsFan]

It's not perfect, but I've yet to find a better stat to get a rough idea where players rank. PER does reasonably well except under-represents defense, thus a player like Andy would be a bit higher than PER would put him.

The biggest flaw in PER is that a player with a high USG rate generally has a high PER...players with higher PER's than USG rates are generally very efficient. And like you said Defense is not well represented here.

As for our team...I truly believe Byron Scott is tanking. He has job security and I believe he wants a high pick in the draft next year. There is no other logical explanation for not playing our best players 35 to 40 minutes a night. I don't think anyone is averaging much over 30 min. a night. If we really wanted to try and win our starting lineup would be Mo, Gibson, Parker, JJ and Andy..and the only guys off the bench that would play are Jamison, Sessions and MAYBE Graham. Our defense sucks with the guys we play, we may as well go small with three three point shooters on the floor at all times.