2012 Cavs Summer League

[red.]

lolllllll. First game against the Bobcats, he looked fine. He showed different moves when he had the ball. His problem is strength. He is not strong enough just yet to just go up with force. Can he develop? Or should we just pass him off already?

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

He's just so rudimentary in the few times he does catch it down there. He doesn't even show flashes of anything anymore. It truly appears to me that he's regressed since the start of his rookie year, where we at least saw him attempt to attack the hoop with a fairly quick first step and pretty aggressive move directly toward the hoop, rather than his patented escape from pressure across the paint to the twisting one-handed jumper (not a true hook) bullshit. No footwork, no strength, and absolutely atrocious ball-control... it looks like the thing's covered in grease when it's in his hands.

He is currently awful at utilizing what athleticism he has, never really exploding upwards when there's a defender even ostensibly in his vicinity. Is that weakness, lack of suddenness in his jumping ability, a mental block, a combination of all, or none of the above? I don't know, but I do know that I'm caring less than I used to.

There are just so many things that he would have to improve on immensely to ever become anything more than serviceable. This is just summer league, but just look at guys like Markieff Morris, Kenneth Faried, hell, even Sammy Samuels, and how they move while playing -- it's so much more confident and there is more evidence of basketball-oriented coordination and ability, and none of them are even that good. Tristan's unveiling of his new jumper last night, where he took an awkward dribble, suddenly realized he wanted to shoot, went up off-balance, and got swatted, was particularly hard to watch. Tristan's defense has not looked especially impressive against scrubs, especially given that he has a year of defending in the NBA under his belt. He's not blocking shots or protecting the rim all that well. He can board, so I guess there's that, but is that all we want out of our starting PF?

There are players picked after him that I would have rather had on that draft night and that I would rather have right now, though there are only a scant few about whom I can say both of those things. But that's not really even the point. Currently, I'm just kind of disappointed that I can't imagine our #4 pick last year being any sort of special player in this league in any way, not thinking about the specific draft, but just generally as a "I wish we had gotten another stud in the top 5" kind of way. I'm rooting for him to prove me wrong, but I'm finding it harder and harder to have any sort of reasonable hopes that he will.

I wish I could argue against this, but I can't.

His problem is strength. He is not strong enough just yet to just go up with force. Can he develop? Or should we just pass him off already?

The problem I've got with this is that I thought we drafted him because of his physical attributes, knowing that he was deficient in the skills department. So now if he's not strong enough, I'm left wondering about the attraction in the first place.

I really hope it turns around, and I don't think it is etched in stone that he's going to be a disappointment. But at least at this point, I'm underwhelmed. I expected to see a physically dominant guy lacking skills, and instead, I'm seeing a guy who needs to work in his physicality, and also lacks skills.

 

[Pioneer10]

lolllllll. First game against the Bobcats, he looked fine. He showed different moves when he had the ball. His problem is strength. He is not strong enough just yet to just go up with force. Can he develop? Or should we just pass him off already?

What game were you watching? Biyombo was able to post him up and even when he missed he got up high quality looks against Thompson.

On the other end he played exactly like he did last night, indecisive on the block with limited to no ability to explode thru contact or backup a guy. He had one nice jumphook (he showed this though last year) and then another bucket which was just ugly: a running flipshot that somehow rolled in. Other then that he got lost in the trees.

Certainly not ready to write Tristan off but I was hoping to see an improved skillset after the offseason. Not expecting Kevin McHale but at least seem more comfortable with the ball in his hands. Put in other words, I think Tristan has potential based on his rebounding and defense to be a decent PF but at this point don't see any indication he's going to be much of an offensive threat beyond being spoonfed/getting offensive boards. We got two more summer league games though so hopefully he'll be able to show us more.

 

[narbar32]

Are we really going to subscribe to this kind of disappointment in TT after 1.2 summer league games?

I disagree with your assessment of his defense.

Well, I don't know whether "we" will, but I will, as much as I wish I didn't. And no, it's not after 1.2 summer league games; it's after 1 full season, an off-season (the lack thereof last year being an oft-used excuse for his lack of basketball fundamentals), and 1.whatever summer league games.

"Give him time" or "Don't rush to judgment" or "He's still very young" or "Young bigs take more time to develop" etc... are just disguises for expectations that he will, in fact, be good. Rarely are these sorts of statements not followed by some argument that "when he develops/learns [jump shot or post moves or ball-handling or how to better utilize his athleticism], he will be a good player." The ostensibly neutral statements of "give him time" actually translate more to "I expect him to be good and it's too early to say that he won't be, yet."

That's all well and good, but my entire disappointment is based on a lack of evidence that he will, in fact, be good. I HOPE he will be, but I haven't seen enough evidence to allow me to EXPECT (as in, it's more likely than not) that he will be. He's young and has plenty of time yet to improve. However, as I've said before around these parts, time to improve is not an automatic precursor to actual improvement. And it's precisely his youth that keeps me simply disappointed in him currently and wary of having any sort of expectations going forward rather than entirely certain that he'll never be good.

For raw young big men with length and superior athleticism, you would expect mistakes but you'd also expect to be wowed every once in a while... you'd expect flashes or glimpses of the ability and types of plays that could make the player special. I'm disappointed in the amount of flashes of ability I see from Tristan SO FAR. I stand by my statement that he appears to have regressed. At the beginning of his rookie campaign, I saw flashes of a relentless rim attacker whose first step was fast enough to get by other bigs, who was aggressive enough to use it consistently and with immediacy once in position, and whose reckless attacking might, at the very least, draw a lot of fouls.

As last season wore on, whether due to the film and scouting by opponents or due to Tristan's own reluctance or both, I saw that less and less. I saw more thinking and less explosion. I saw more gathering, fumbling, and pumping and less aggression. Even when he put up stats towards the end of the year, I felt like he was more "in the right places at the right times" than he was actively making it happen for himself; I was more impressed with the flashes at the beginning of the year than I was with the stats at the end.

Then, to my dismay, he's looked like the exact same player after this full off-season of work as he did towards the end of last year. I had hoped that he'd get back to going all-out at the rim rather than around it, as that could be the thing that makes him stand out on offense. He's not; he's still shying from contact and just trying to find a space to get away from those bothersome slappy-grabby hands of defenders. He's still micro-pumping repeatedly under the rim, faking out nobody but, rather, giving the defenders time to prepare to jump with him or rake at the ball. And he's still playing like he's afraid to jump too high. No piece of his offensive repertoire seems to have changed. And, again to my dismay, I haven't seen flashes or evidence of any facet of his offense that is LIKELY to develop into anything special in the NBA.

His defense isn't bad, by any stretch, but it's not wowing me either. Blocked shots aren't really an accurate measurement of good defense, but I'm seeing smaller guys finish at the rim around him, which is concerning nonetheless. And he's not shutting anybody down, exactly. Morris's fall away jumper last night was a great and freak make, but Tristan's foul on that shot was unquestionably dumb regardless.

And again, there's no certainty with players his age. He could put some things together and be a nice player, especially if he gets back to the relentless rim attacking he flashed in his first month of his pro career. Scouting be damned, if he forces it, he's physically quick and strong enough to at least draw some fouls. It's the only thing on offense of which I see much evidence supporting as a potential strength. At his age, I don't believe in ceilings. There's no telling exactly what he could become. Currently, however, I'm going by the evidence in setting my expectations of what he'll likely become; and, back to my original point, I'm having more and more trouble finding evidence supporting the EXPECTATION that he's going to be anything more than serviceable. Ergo, I'm disappointed.

 

[MRMsix6]

Well, I don't know whether "we" will, but I will, as much as I wish I didn't. And no, it's not after 1.2 summer league games; it's after 1 full season, an off-season (the lack thereof last year being an oft-used excuse for his lack of basketball fundamentals), and 1.whatever summer league games.

You aren't the only one, and I was referring to this part:

It truly appears to me that he's regressed since the start of his rookie year

It seems obvious to me that his brief summer league appearance triggered your whole post.

 

[catfish]

It was definately strange that he didnt play in the second half yesterday.

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

Not sure why minutes played is such a big deal. Tristan is there to mesh with our new guys. He's not there to prove himself against another team's scrubs and rooks. I presume Kyrie would have had the same treatment...a bit of run here and there, but nothing extreme.

So man conclusions drawn from glorified rec ball...

 

[ClevelandOwnz]

Wow... Clyde is so dumb... horrible. He just called DJ Kennedy a point guard. He also earlier said the transition d was good by clevlenad and it was the knicks ball out of bounds.. IT WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

 

[I LOVE YOU ABBY]

Wow... Clyde is so dumb... horrible. He just called DJ Kennedy a point guard. He also earlier said the transition d was good by clevlenad and it was the knicks ball out of bounds.. IT WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

I thought the transition D thing was a joke because we managed to screw up a three on one break with a sloppy pass. We defended ourselves, I thought that's what he meant, maybe not though. I'll agree Clyde's not a very interesting commentator.

 

[Milio25]

I think what has really impressed me this summer league is the shape that some of our guys are in. You can really tell that Harangody and Samardo have really been hitting the gym hard and are really committed to being able to run it up and down the floor. Above all else in Summer League, I think that is what you want to see out of young players more than anything, an outright commitment to being a better player than you ended the year before.

 

[kidduck]

Cavaliers intrigued with size, potential of undrafted Michael Eric

By Jason Lloyd
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published: July 20, 2012 - 11:45 PM

Ever since they began this roster overhaul two years ago, the Cavaliers have taken a chance on undrafted rookies such as Samardo Samuels, Manny Harris and Mychel Thompson with varying degrees of success.

The newest project, Michael Eric, has the potential to be better than all of them — at least according to Cavs coach Byron Scott.

Eric is a 6-foot-11, 240-pound undrafted rookie out of Temple who averaged 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds through four years of college. He averaged nine points and 8.8 rebounds in a senior season that was limited to 19 games because of a fractured right patella that cost him any chance of being drafted.

The Cavs invited Eric to play on their summer league team, and he has demonstrated enough ability to likely receive a training camp invitation in the fall. In fact, he has shown enough this week in Las Vegas that Scott compared him to Serge Ibaka, one of the league’s best defensive players.

“He has to look at himself as Ibaka, a guy that came in who was raw, but defensively was a great help defender and a great one-on-one defender, then your offensive game kind of comes,” Scott said. “That’s how Ibaka has developed and I think he [Eric] has the same type of potential.”

Ibaka led the league in blocks this season and was named first team All-Defensive Team for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“It’s a hell of a comparison, and it’s a good comparison because I think with his athleticism and the way he jumps and blocks shots, he can be on that level,” Scott said of Eric. “I don’t know if he can get to where Ibaka is because Ibaka is pretty damn good, but he can be somewhere near that level.”

Eric is a native to Nigeria and just moved to the United States prior to his sophomore year of high school. The son of a soccer coach, Eric never had much use for basketball as a child.

He grew up in Lagos, a port city of nearly 8 million. It is considered the second-fastest growing city in Africa and the seventh-fastest in the world. Nigerian education was more advanced than many of the American classes he took, particularly in the sciences. Math and computer skills, he said, are more advanced in the U.S.

“They really push the sciences because they think that’s the key to success,” Eric said. “That’s why you have a lot of Nigerian kids becoming doctors. They force you into learning a lot of science.”

Basketball is fairly popular in Nigeria, Eric said, but he continued to dismiss the sport until he grew five inches in a span of two years. He traveled to Delaware in 2004 to visit his brother, Stephen, who wouldn’t let him return to Nigeria. Stephen knew with his younger brother’s height — he was 6-foot-8 at the time — he could make a future for himself in basketball.

“The first time I picked up a basketball, I was clueless,” Eric said. “But I started exciting people with the little things here and there, running around, trying to mimic other basketball games we watched.”

Eric enjoyed watching how explosive Amare Stoudemire was at both ends of the floor during his early years in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns. He also admired Hakeem Olajuwon because of the obvious Nigerian connection.

Learning offense

He concedes his defensive game is much more advanced than his offensive skills, something Scott said is common among foreign big men. It was certainly true of Festus Ezeli, another Nigerian native who came to the U.S. a few years ago for better college opportunities.

Ezeli landed at Vanderbilt and learned enough about blocking shots and rebounding to become the final pick of the first round in last summer’s draft despite a raw offensive game.

“When you’re that big and that athletic, it’s much easier to teach the defensive part than the offensive,” Scott said. “It’s great because our American kids want to learn the offensive end way before they learn the defensive end. They have more pride on that end. He’s a guy who is very intriguing.”

Through four summer league games, Eric has averaged 3.5 points and 3.8 rebounds entering Friday’s finale against the New York Knicks. His three blocks are second on the team behind Tyler Zeller’s five.

The numbers aren’t dazzling, but the coaches have seen enough out of him to want more. With Semih Erden and Ryan Hollins both departing, the Cavs have a hole at center.

Zeller is the only true center on the roster, although Anderson Varejao plays big minutes there when healthy. A good training camp just might land Eric a spot on the Cavs’ bench to start the season.

“He’s played pretty well for us,” Scott said. “He’s come a long way in a very short period of time. He’s long, he’s strong, he’s a tough kid and I haven’t seen him back down from anybody. He has a ways to go, but he’s a kid that definitely can make it.”

Summer league ends

The Cavs beat New York Knicks on Friday 98-64 to conclude their summer league season at 3-2. Tristan Thompson had 13 points, and Samardo Samuels had 13 rebounds in the victory.

Leuer claimed

The Cavs claimed power forward Jon Leuer on waivers from the Houston Rockets, a league source confirmed.

Leuer is a 6-foot-10 power forward who averaged 4.7 points and 2.6 rebounds last season as a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks. He was traded to the Rockets as part of the package that sent Samuel Dalembert to the Bucks, but was released Wednesday after the Rockets officially obtained Jeremy Lin.

Leuer, 23, was a second-round pick of the Bucks in 2011.

Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at Cleveland Cavaliers - Ohio. Follow him on Twitter Jason Lloyd (JasonLloydABJ) on Twitter. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at Akron Beacon Journal and Ohio.com Sports | Facebook.

 

[Douglar]

Las Vegas Summer League Bullets: Day 8 - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN

Decked out in a baby blue argyle polo and a beret (!), J.R. Smith gave the Knicks and his brother Chris a helping hand on the way to his courtside seat. As Cleveland Cavaliers guard Gary Temple spotted up in the corner, Smith walked by and gave a quick tug to the back of Temple’s shorts, pulling them down for a moment before Temple quickly yanked them back up. Never change, Summer League.

Isn't that one of the globetrotter's moves?

 

[Flash330]

Only J.R. Smith could get away with something like that and make it seem like a harmless prank. If it were anyone else it would have gotten blown the fuck up into a travesty and ESPN would have been calling for the end of summer league to "protect the players"

 

[Cavatt]

I think what has really impressed me this summer league is the shape that some of our guys are in. You can really tell that Harangody and Samardo have really been hitting the gym hard and are really committed to being able to run it up and down the floor. Above all else in Summer League, I think that is what you want to see out of young players more than anything, an outright commitment to being a better player than you ended the year before.

I was impressed with this too. They really ran on the Knicks, and it was amazing. Hope they keep it up

 

[SOA]

You can really tell that . . .Samardo have really been hitting the gym hard and are really committed to being able to run it up and down the floor.

when I watched the Summer league games it was evident Samuels took the time off to get in game shape

Given his conditioning was in question starting lst season, its apparent he worked so that won't be a criticism last year

what I wasn't aware of that Samardo and TT were high school teammates

it also explains why Samardo felt TT got minutes due to his draft position which caused a rift with him and B Scott

Teammates in high school, Samardo Samuels and Tristan Thompson have been reunited with the Cavs - Cavs - Ohio