Chris Parker/Cleveland Scene answers your questions

kip stabone said:

Mike Miller is ready and waiting to give you daps. Has anybody affiliated with RCF reached out to Parker for a Q and A? I remember when The Bullshit Whisperer did one a couple years ago and it was great. Even for all the hate The Bullshit Whisperer gets around here.

I agree that Fedor has a point but screw it. Cavs have a chance to win a title for Cleveland this year, how do you not cheer for it.

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The only point Fedor has is the one on top of his skull.

Damien O'Connel said:

Is he reading this thread, and am I seriously not gonna get any love for the Q&A suggestion he responded to?!!?

EDIT: and Chris, if you're reading this, no one likes Fedor. No one.

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Here I am.... What's the word fella

Chris,

Love your work. What's your take on the way many media members characterize Blatt as petty? And as someone who's in that room, what's your read on him?

Chris Parker said:

Here I am.... What's the word fella

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Blatt's relationship w/the media is a complex ish. Some of it is on the press which 1) don't respect him because he's new/doesn't have natl media contacts, predigree etc. 2) imo some don't like that this makes him somewhat inaccessible to them 3) he sometimes seems to find it difficult to suffer fools, which, obviously is an issue.

One writer who I won't call out because they haven't done anything to warrant it - but we'll say one of the fuddy-duddier writers who's a big fan of Mike Brown because "he's real ppl" -- said that "Blatt thinks he's the smartest guy in the room...... and he may be."

Personally, I think he's smart and dryly humorous. I don't think he's petty, I just think he's tired of hearing all these stupid feel based questions. Someone asked what he thought of Kyrie's performance and he said, "probably the same thing you do, but you're the writer so I'll let you use your creative faculties." SNAP! I think press are a little too thin skinned here to take that

The Human Q-Tip said:

You may be right. If Parker has any aspirations of rising up as a sports journalist (and he well may not) then yes, it may be inappropriate.

But for Fedor to call him out publicly is taking douchiness to an extreme level, and if you're going to do that, you better have a pretty solid rep of your own. Which Fedor doesn't.

So all things considered, I'm glad Parker's blasting him.

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Fedor admitted in a tweet that he was sitting right next to Parker yet he couldn't say anything to him

Chris Parker said:

Blatt's relationship w/the media is a complex ish. Some of it is on the press which 1) don't respect him because he's new/doesn't have natl media contacts, predigree etc. 2) imo some don't like that this makes him somewhat inaccessible to them 3) he sometimes seems to find it difficult to suffer fools, which, obviously is an issue.

One writer who I won't call out because they haven't done anything to warrant it - but we'll say one of the fuddy-duddier writers who's a big fan of Mike Brown because "he's real ppl" -- said that "Blatt thinks he's the smartest guy in the room...... and he may be."

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I honestly think that Blatt not suffering fools gladly is a huge part of this. You can obviously see which questions he rolls his eyes at and from which writers, and he doesn't hide his disdain for them. For certain beat writers that seem to think that Blatt should be kissing their rings, it's made them look stupid/ignorant to the public at large, and they are butthurt about it.

MY Q: what do you see as the toughest one on one player matchup problem the Cavs will have of the teams making the playoffs out of the East?

Do you feel Blatt can adjust through a 7 game series Chris?

MY Q: what do you see as the toughest one on one player matchup problem the Cavs will have of the teams making the playoffs out of the East?[/QUOTE]

(cont.)

so the question is sort of Rose? But who knows? I'd worry about Rose if I felt he could quickly gell with that team, but I don't see it. Thibs will get great games out of those guys but they can't win playing Dunleavy & Mirotic as 3s. I don't understand why they didn't go out and get Afflalo when they had the chance TBH

Absent a PG that can take full advantage of Ky's Defensive shortcomings (hello WC!), I'm concerned about Milsap and Horford. I suspect that figuring out how to match up with the Hawks is what those small lineups Blatt was running were about. It's pure speculation but I think he's been game-testing different sets since about mid-march seeing what combos he might use.

that said, the short bench now is SUPER strange, esp. as I asked him not 3 wks ago about using the short bench and noted on other teams in Europe he'd gone 10-deep. He said the bench would get longer, and then it never happened.

Anyway, I see Milsap and Horford's ability to switch on D to some extent and beat defenders off the dribble as well as being good & willing passers poses some real issues for our laterally-challenged frontcourt. They're better enough small that I worry you have to make them respond to our bigness as oppose to playing their game.

tristan+kyrie=$ said:

Do you feel Blatt can adjust through a 7 game series Chris?

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I feel very confident he can adjust. He's used many different systems in Europe. The difference is in europe there are 2-3 games a week TOPS, and there's more time between games to allow a Coach to use different D & O sets. he said the other day that he's not used a lot of different sets like he did last year in Maccabi because of the compressed schedule. That makes consistency more important than versatility. instead they have some defensive concepts that they are true too and they adapt around those. My question was D-related so I'm not entirely sure if the same logic goes for O. Obviously he has experimented with a wide set of rotations and has played a number of different ways, including for this little ywo-week showcase, isolation backdown LeBron circa-Miami. If you check the numbers per Synergy, he's not so effective in the post though we certainly haven't seen a lot of THIS kind of post-up this year.

But as I said, I think he's trying on some costumes in prep for the big dance number.

That said, I do wonder how he will match up with someone like Kerr or Popovich who is familiar to the refs and will maybe command more respect/calls from them in the Finals. that will be crucial because in the post season this team will create a lot more of its points at the line.

Chris Parker said:

That said, I do wonder how he will match up with someone like Kerr or Popovich who is familiar to the refs and will maybe command more respect/calls from them in the Finals. that will be crucial because in the post season this team will create a lot more of its points at the line.

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LeBron James.

Wait, is this the real Chris Parker or is it just PIP fucking around?

EDIT: nevermind...

enigmatic said:

I honestly think that Blatt not suffering fools gladly is a huge part of this. You can obviously see which questions he rolls his eyes at and from which writers, and he doesn't hide his disdain for them. For certain beat writers that seem to think that Blatt should be kissing their rings, it's made them look stupid/ignorant to the public at large, and they are butthurt about it.

MY Q: what do you see as the toughest one on one player matchup problem the Cavs will have of the teams making the playoffs out of the East?

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I think I accidentally erased the first half of my reply so I'll reprise it here afterwards. Sorry -

The main things I see the Cavs having trouble with are Transition D (long rebounds/unbalanced floors from driving) , big men who can face up and shoot and make plays off the bounce, quick point guards and bench combo guards/stretch 4s.

Of late I've been worrying about Kyrie getting over the pick & roll. Early in the season it was like he was moving in sand. He was one of the biggest reasons the team underperormed.

Then on the road trip he showed up against Golden State then regressed against Sacramento and Collison. There is that report that the Big 3 had a convo and that makes a certain sense because Kyrie's D approach changed and he played the best D I've ever seen him play. Now part of that is T-Mo. And as I think it was Kirk in WFNY was saying, he's never looked so good as when he could funnel guys to T-Mo so they had to finish over them. (Maybe because Defensively he seems capable of staying on a guys hip, but not disrupting his shot at the rack, but I'm just speculating)

Anyway I've wanted to corner Austin and ask him about it because he was quite vocal on the air about the difference in Kyrie's D. I thought it turned the season around , so that convo makes even more sense.

Anyway, lately as Blatt has played with these smaller lineups the penetration issues have resurfaced and Kyrie has started hitting picks again like Melissa McCarthy hits carbs. Just can't get over them.

So that worries me -- even tho' I think we'll be seeing more of T-Mo than we have because that was Blatt toying with new lineups -- and that should help Kyrie.

So if Lowry were playing like he was early in the season I might worry altho' Toronto's frontcourt is inconsistent as a SNL skit. I would've traded for Brandon Bass if I were them, added a midrange jumpshot/pick & pop threat but to our good fortune they sat on soft 16.

I''d be more worried about Wall if the Wiz were trulyl healthy. I think Nene would be a tough match too but those guys look pretty banged up, Wittman's not a good coach and I think Wall just lacks the skills and support to do that well against the Cavs.

I don't think Teague is really that good. If Kyrie has any shame he shouldn't score more than a handful on him. MCW? Puh-leeze. I'm not worried about 7 or 8 either tho if george comes back strong.... (Cont. above because I accidentally erased it like a newb)

Damien O'Connel said:

Wait, is this the real Chris Parker or is it just PIP fucking around?

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Could anyone imitate my wordy style and why would they go through the effort?