LeShaq
All-Star
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2009
- Messages
- 4,072
- Reaction score
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- 113
Hey Windy --- 5.1.15
http://stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=70&c=18273&f=4331073
01. Kevin Love saw Cleveland Clinic's shoulder specialist, Dr. Schickendantz. Supposed to be one of the best shoulder experts in the country. Did not sound like Love would have surgery after this appointment. Then Love went to see Dr. David Altchek, who is one of the up and coming sports orthopedic doctor guys. He's in New York. He's replacing the aging Dr. James Andrews for many athletes' surgeries now.
02. Kevin Love's agent is Jeff Schwartz. All of Schwartz' guys tend to go to Dr Altchek for surgeries.
03. Altchek was the second opinion for Love, and obviously Altchek felt Love needed surgery.
04. I wonder if the Cavs wished Love would have delayed the surgery for a bit, with like a 1% chance he could have come back in this playoff run.
05. The injury to Love was not a basketball play. The arm was pulled out of its socket. There's no real defense for it.
06. The Bulls looked awesome last night, in Game 6 against the Bucks.
07. The Bulls are going to be a formidable opponent.
08. I think the Bulls are the second most talented team in the East, behind the Cavs.
09. At this moment the Bulls are fully healthy.
10. There are many people who believe the Bulls now have the edge on the Cavs.
11. I believe the Cavs still have the edge over the Bulls.
12. I would probably pick the Cavs in 6-7 games.
13. Biggest issue is no JR Smith in the first two games. Bulls could steal homecourt advantage in first two games.
14. It's probably expected that the series is 1-1 going back to Game 3 in Chicago.
15. Cavs have had 1 week to prepare, though. That should help them.
16. Bulls series is a golden opportunity for David Blatt.
17. Blatt may be able to put in more of his offense with the injuries to the Cavs. This could surprise the Bulls.
18. I think the Cavs have the most talent in this series. Others disagree with me.
19. The Bulls say they are healthy, but I think they are banged up.
20. The Bucks stopped guarding Noah in that series, at times.
21. Bucks focused on slowing down Gasol and played off Noah. And it worked a lot.
22. Cavs may be able to take advantage of Noah's offensive struggles, and his bad knee.
23. Mirotic is banged up with a knee injury as well, right now.
24. What you will hear between now and Monday is "big men, big men, big men. How will the Cavs defend the big men?" This is what you will hear discussed.
25. I'm not sure that the Cavs-Bulls series will be determined by the big men. Bulls perimeter players are key.
26. I voted for Butler as Most Improved Player.
27. Rose had a good series against the Bucks. He was up and down. He was better when there was 2 days of rest. That won't be the case against the Cavs (there won't be any games that have 2 days off before the game).
28. Dunleavy was good against the Bucks.
29. You can't allow Butler to shoot 50%.
30. Cavs must stay out of foul trouble, especially with JR Smith out. Because of shaky depth with JR Smith out.
31. I don't like the idea of Marion guarding Butler. I'd rather have Marion guard Noah.
32. LeBron will be required to defend inside, so he won't be available to guard perimeter players as much.
33. Bulls are not as good defensively as in previous years. This is because Pau Gasol is not a good defensive player now.
34. Teams attack Gasol in pick and roll match ups.
35. Cavs will attack Gasol in pick and roll, particularly when Tristan is in the game.
36. Noah not the same on defense after the knee surgery.
37. Losing Love a big blow because he would have forced gimpy Noah to run around a lot on defense.
38. You want Jones or Marion in starting lineup at power forward to force Noah to run around.
39. The Bulls are much better offensively than they used to be, even though they are worse on defense now.
40. The games in the series are likely to be in the 100's. The Bulls can compete at that level, with their new offense.
41. Every other day I hear someone in the league tell me that Kevin Love is walking away from the Cavs this summer. Hear it all the time. But then I see Kevin saying, on the record, he will be in Cleveland.
42. Love tweeted out the picture of him with the Indians hat on yesterday, in the hospital.
43. I don't know Love well enough to know if he could say, repeatedly, that he's staying and then just leave after saying all that. Maybe he is like that, I don't know.
44. "Dozens" of sources have told me that Love is leaving the Cavs this summer.
45. I have to take Kevin Love at his word. He has not hedged at all. Aldridge of Portland has hedged. Love has not hedged.
46. I really don't know what's going to happen with Kevin Love.
47. [FIRST SHOW BREAK]
48. I hope that Perkins does not play a lot of minutes against the Bulls. It would hurt the offense a lot.
49. I think you should try to start Marion or Jones, to pull the Bulls bigs out of the paint on defense.
50. I think you use Perkins if you get into foul trouble. He can't be on the court with another guy (Mozgov, Tristan) who can't shoot. Kills the offensive spacing.
51. You often see a short term "bounce" in performance by the role players when a star player goes down, as Love did. But over time then it settles out as lack of talent shows up.
52. Will Cavs come out sluggish with the layoff and having to adapt to loss of Love?
53. Bulls are eager to take on the Cavs now. They should come in with a lot of energy.
54. Pressure is on Bulls, it seems. Like they have to get one of the first two games with JR Smith out.
55. Will the NBA come down on Dunleavy for his cheap shots in the Bucks game last night (two of them)?
56. I highly doubt there will be any suspension of Dunleavy. Maybe a foul upgrade on Dunleavy and a fine.
57. Game 1 is not decisive. But the Cavs should try to take advantage of the home crowd. And getting off to a good series start without Love could have some lasting value for the Cavs.
58. Put pressure on the Bulls. Use LeBron and Kyrie to put pressure on the Bulls defense.
59. I expect the Cavs to want to "fight back" against the Bulls in Game 1. Like they did against the Celtics when Love was injured.
60. The Cavs will want to make a statement.
61. If Cavs win Game 1, it could deflate the Bulls.
62. I think the series will go 6 or 7 games. The Bulls will get some wins. They are a good team.
.
63. LeBron has won a road game in 19 consecutive series. Incredible stat.
64. I think LeBron has won 5 or 6 road games in Chicago in his career.
65. LeBron has eliminated the Bulls in Chicago before.
66. Cavs will face some adversity. It's not supposed to be easy.
67. The biggest difference for LeBron now as compared to when he was in Cleveland before is that, 1) he has Kyrie Irving and 2) the team is suited to his style of play now.
68. Princeton offense was scrapped so that LeBron can play his style. He likes to drive and then pass inside-out (to shooters). That's why he liked playing with Boobie Gibson, Mike Miller.
69. LeBron loves to play with the floor spread and he has options to kick out to. Then he can make the decisions, find the weakness in the defense, and make plays.
70. Lebron can see two passes ahead.
71. If teams stop LeBron's spread-out offense, he's good enough to go down to the post and play inside out like that. Rather than outside-in.
72. From what I hear, the injury to Love has driven LeBron to a new level of focus. New level of being locked in.
73. LeBron has taken things up a notch since Love's injury, to make sure the team does not let down or get down after the Love injury.
74. I think you will be seeing the MVP LeBron coming out to play now.
75. [SECOND SHOW BREAK]
76. Derrick Rose does not like Kyrie. We think that it's because Kyrie started over him for Team USA, and Rose thinks he needs to prove something now against Kyrie.
77. In the preseason game at Ohio State, Rose went after Kyrie much more than you would expect for a preseason game.
78. There is a personal thing between Rose and Kyrie now.
79. Rose feels he can get to Kyrie.
80. Kyrie must prepare for Rose to go right at him.
81. Rose's game is the same. He wants to attack the rim.
82. Rose still plays with great speed, despite the injuries. Speed and power.
83. Kyrie must prepare for attacking Rose. And Kyrie must stay out of foul trouble.
84. Rose will try to get into Kyrie's body.
85. Kyrie will score. So his preparation must be for defense.
86. Rose is not as good on defense as he used to be. Brooks is terrible on defense.
87. I expect Kyrie to have a big offensive series. But he must be ready on defense.
88. I thought Kyrie did great in the first round against Boston.
89. The Cavs are good enough defensively to win at the highest level, even if their defense could be better.
90. The Cavs play too much one on one offensively. This is my concern with them, the concern I've had for months. "My turn, your turn" (on isos with Kyrie and LeBron).
91. Sometimes the Cavs move the ball, but at the end of the game or the end of a shot clock they tend to revert back to "My turn, your turn." This concerns me.
92. It's a failure of the Cavs team to not develop a "go to offense" down the stretch. And maybe it won't hurt them, maybe the "My turn, your turn" offense will win out. But to me, that is THE weakness of the Cavs at this time (on offense and as a team).
93. I don't want to see Kyrie going one on one with Rose in this series. But that's probably what will happen because it's happened all year.
94. For Mozgov, stay out of foul trouble. The Bulls will work to get Gasol isolation situations on offense, when Chicago has the ball.
95. I expect the Cavs will do high screens to involve Gasol (exploit Gasol's defense), and when Gasol steps up to defend then Kyrie or LeBron will throw a lob to Mozgov for a dunk. Look for this play often in the series.
96. Once the Bulls adjust and have their other big man (Noah, Gibson, Mirotic) go and stay with Mozgov when Pau is forced to guard Cavs' high pick and rolls, Cavs can then pass ball to the corners and get a wide open 3-point shot. But to do so, Cavs need a power forward who can shoot the perimeter shot (meaning not Tristan and not Perkins, and of course not the injured Kevin Love).
97. This Cavs offense means Mozgov/Tristan must be on the floor as center, and the other big man must be able to shoot a perimeter shot.
98. The way to beat Gasol on defense is to make him move, not try to challenge his length.
99. [THIRD SHOW BREAK]
100. SALARY CAP 101. Kevin Love's contract situation. His contract is an opt-in, not an opt-out. I think he will not opt-in, so he can make more money. There's like $2.5 million at stake he can make if he does not opt in. There will be 5-8 teams with maximum cap space, and he would get several offers (Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Cavs) I think. So I think he will become a free agent, just not sure what he will do then.
101. (talking about different contract options for Love and the increasing salary cap).
102. Kevin Love holds all the cards in free agency. He will get whatever he wants, given the current market and the (large) amount of salary cap space that several teams have available now.
103. You cannot renegotiate NBA contracts down, as you can in the NFL. But you can add years to it in the NBA.
104. (talking about Browns' NFL draft).
[END OF SHOW]
http://stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=70&c=18273&f=4331073
01. Kevin Love saw Cleveland Clinic's shoulder specialist, Dr. Schickendantz. Supposed to be one of the best shoulder experts in the country. Did not sound like Love would have surgery after this appointment. Then Love went to see Dr. David Altchek, who is one of the up and coming sports orthopedic doctor guys. He's in New York. He's replacing the aging Dr. James Andrews for many athletes' surgeries now.
02. Kevin Love's agent is Jeff Schwartz. All of Schwartz' guys tend to go to Dr Altchek for surgeries.
03. Altchek was the second opinion for Love, and obviously Altchek felt Love needed surgery.
04. I wonder if the Cavs wished Love would have delayed the surgery for a bit, with like a 1% chance he could have come back in this playoff run.
05. The injury to Love was not a basketball play. The arm was pulled out of its socket. There's no real defense for it.
06. The Bulls looked awesome last night, in Game 6 against the Bucks.
07. The Bulls are going to be a formidable opponent.
08. I think the Bulls are the second most talented team in the East, behind the Cavs.
09. At this moment the Bulls are fully healthy.
10. There are many people who believe the Bulls now have the edge on the Cavs.
11. I believe the Cavs still have the edge over the Bulls.
12. I would probably pick the Cavs in 6-7 games.
13. Biggest issue is no JR Smith in the first two games. Bulls could steal homecourt advantage in first two games.
14. It's probably expected that the series is 1-1 going back to Game 3 in Chicago.
15. Cavs have had 1 week to prepare, though. That should help them.
16. Bulls series is a golden opportunity for David Blatt.
17. Blatt may be able to put in more of his offense with the injuries to the Cavs. This could surprise the Bulls.
18. I think the Cavs have the most talent in this series. Others disagree with me.
19. The Bulls say they are healthy, but I think they are banged up.
20. The Bucks stopped guarding Noah in that series, at times.
21. Bucks focused on slowing down Gasol and played off Noah. And it worked a lot.
22. Cavs may be able to take advantage of Noah's offensive struggles, and his bad knee.
23. Mirotic is banged up with a knee injury as well, right now.
24. What you will hear between now and Monday is "big men, big men, big men. How will the Cavs defend the big men?" This is what you will hear discussed.
25. I'm not sure that the Cavs-Bulls series will be determined by the big men. Bulls perimeter players are key.
26. I voted for Butler as Most Improved Player.
27. Rose had a good series against the Bucks. He was up and down. He was better when there was 2 days of rest. That won't be the case against the Cavs (there won't be any games that have 2 days off before the game).
28. Dunleavy was good against the Bucks.
29. You can't allow Butler to shoot 50%.
30. Cavs must stay out of foul trouble, especially with JR Smith out. Because of shaky depth with JR Smith out.
31. I don't like the idea of Marion guarding Butler. I'd rather have Marion guard Noah.
32. LeBron will be required to defend inside, so he won't be available to guard perimeter players as much.
33. Bulls are not as good defensively as in previous years. This is because Pau Gasol is not a good defensive player now.
34. Teams attack Gasol in pick and roll match ups.
35. Cavs will attack Gasol in pick and roll, particularly when Tristan is in the game.
36. Noah not the same on defense after the knee surgery.
37. Losing Love a big blow because he would have forced gimpy Noah to run around a lot on defense.
38. You want Jones or Marion in starting lineup at power forward to force Noah to run around.
39. The Bulls are much better offensively than they used to be, even though they are worse on defense now.
40. The games in the series are likely to be in the 100's. The Bulls can compete at that level, with their new offense.
41. Every other day I hear someone in the league tell me that Kevin Love is walking away from the Cavs this summer. Hear it all the time. But then I see Kevin saying, on the record, he will be in Cleveland.
42. Love tweeted out the picture of him with the Indians hat on yesterday, in the hospital.
43. I don't know Love well enough to know if he could say, repeatedly, that he's staying and then just leave after saying all that. Maybe he is like that, I don't know.
44. "Dozens" of sources have told me that Love is leaving the Cavs this summer.
45. I have to take Kevin Love at his word. He has not hedged at all. Aldridge of Portland has hedged. Love has not hedged.
46. I really don't know what's going to happen with Kevin Love.
47. [FIRST SHOW BREAK]
48. I hope that Perkins does not play a lot of minutes against the Bulls. It would hurt the offense a lot.
49. I think you should try to start Marion or Jones, to pull the Bulls bigs out of the paint on defense.
50. I think you use Perkins if you get into foul trouble. He can't be on the court with another guy (Mozgov, Tristan) who can't shoot. Kills the offensive spacing.
51. You often see a short term "bounce" in performance by the role players when a star player goes down, as Love did. But over time then it settles out as lack of talent shows up.
52. Will Cavs come out sluggish with the layoff and having to adapt to loss of Love?
53. Bulls are eager to take on the Cavs now. They should come in with a lot of energy.
54. Pressure is on Bulls, it seems. Like they have to get one of the first two games with JR Smith out.
55. Will the NBA come down on Dunleavy for his cheap shots in the Bucks game last night (two of them)?
56. I highly doubt there will be any suspension of Dunleavy. Maybe a foul upgrade on Dunleavy and a fine.
57. Game 1 is not decisive. But the Cavs should try to take advantage of the home crowd. And getting off to a good series start without Love could have some lasting value for the Cavs.
58. Put pressure on the Bulls. Use LeBron and Kyrie to put pressure on the Bulls defense.
59. I expect the Cavs to want to "fight back" against the Bulls in Game 1. Like they did against the Celtics when Love was injured.
60. The Cavs will want to make a statement.
61. If Cavs win Game 1, it could deflate the Bulls.
62. I think the series will go 6 or 7 games. The Bulls will get some wins. They are a good team.
.
63. LeBron has won a road game in 19 consecutive series. Incredible stat.
64. I think LeBron has won 5 or 6 road games in Chicago in his career.
65. LeBron has eliminated the Bulls in Chicago before.
66. Cavs will face some adversity. It's not supposed to be easy.
67. The biggest difference for LeBron now as compared to when he was in Cleveland before is that, 1) he has Kyrie Irving and 2) the team is suited to his style of play now.
68. Princeton offense was scrapped so that LeBron can play his style. He likes to drive and then pass inside-out (to shooters). That's why he liked playing with Boobie Gibson, Mike Miller.
69. LeBron loves to play with the floor spread and he has options to kick out to. Then he can make the decisions, find the weakness in the defense, and make plays.
70. Lebron can see two passes ahead.
71. If teams stop LeBron's spread-out offense, he's good enough to go down to the post and play inside out like that. Rather than outside-in.
72. From what I hear, the injury to Love has driven LeBron to a new level of focus. New level of being locked in.
73. LeBron has taken things up a notch since Love's injury, to make sure the team does not let down or get down after the Love injury.
74. I think you will be seeing the MVP LeBron coming out to play now.
75. [SECOND SHOW BREAK]
76. Derrick Rose does not like Kyrie. We think that it's because Kyrie started over him for Team USA, and Rose thinks he needs to prove something now against Kyrie.
77. In the preseason game at Ohio State, Rose went after Kyrie much more than you would expect for a preseason game.
78. There is a personal thing between Rose and Kyrie now.
79. Rose feels he can get to Kyrie.
80. Kyrie must prepare for Rose to go right at him.
81. Rose's game is the same. He wants to attack the rim.
82. Rose still plays with great speed, despite the injuries. Speed and power.
83. Kyrie must prepare for attacking Rose. And Kyrie must stay out of foul trouble.
84. Rose will try to get into Kyrie's body.
85. Kyrie will score. So his preparation must be for defense.
86. Rose is not as good on defense as he used to be. Brooks is terrible on defense.
87. I expect Kyrie to have a big offensive series. But he must be ready on defense.
88. I thought Kyrie did great in the first round against Boston.
89. The Cavs are good enough defensively to win at the highest level, even if their defense could be better.
90. The Cavs play too much one on one offensively. This is my concern with them, the concern I've had for months. "My turn, your turn" (on isos with Kyrie and LeBron).
91. Sometimes the Cavs move the ball, but at the end of the game or the end of a shot clock they tend to revert back to "My turn, your turn." This concerns me.
92. It's a failure of the Cavs team to not develop a "go to offense" down the stretch. And maybe it won't hurt them, maybe the "My turn, your turn" offense will win out. But to me, that is THE weakness of the Cavs at this time (on offense and as a team).
93. I don't want to see Kyrie going one on one with Rose in this series. But that's probably what will happen because it's happened all year.
94. For Mozgov, stay out of foul trouble. The Bulls will work to get Gasol isolation situations on offense, when Chicago has the ball.
95. I expect the Cavs will do high screens to involve Gasol (exploit Gasol's defense), and when Gasol steps up to defend then Kyrie or LeBron will throw a lob to Mozgov for a dunk. Look for this play often in the series.
96. Once the Bulls adjust and have their other big man (Noah, Gibson, Mirotic) go and stay with Mozgov when Pau is forced to guard Cavs' high pick and rolls, Cavs can then pass ball to the corners and get a wide open 3-point shot. But to do so, Cavs need a power forward who can shoot the perimeter shot (meaning not Tristan and not Perkins, and of course not the injured Kevin Love).
97. This Cavs offense means Mozgov/Tristan must be on the floor as center, and the other big man must be able to shoot a perimeter shot.
98. The way to beat Gasol on defense is to make him move, not try to challenge his length.
99. [THIRD SHOW BREAK]
100. SALARY CAP 101. Kevin Love's contract situation. His contract is an opt-in, not an opt-out. I think he will not opt-in, so he can make more money. There's like $2.5 million at stake he can make if he does not opt in. There will be 5-8 teams with maximum cap space, and he would get several offers (Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Cavs) I think. So I think he will become a free agent, just not sure what he will do then.
101. (talking about different contract options for Love and the increasing salary cap).
102. Kevin Love holds all the cards in free agency. He will get whatever he wants, given the current market and the (large) amount of salary cap space that several teams have available now.
103. You cannot renegotiate NBA contracts down, as you can in the NFL. But you can add years to it in the NBA.
104. (talking about Browns' NFL draft).
[END OF SHOW]
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