Missing the Old Days?

[cdt]

Remember when we were always dead last in 3 point shooting? And we never hit anything back there?

Well with our team currently jacking up 20+ 3's a night and hitting about 3 of them we will continue to lose.

It'd be one thing if she shot 20+ 3's and hit them at a good clip. But we don't and we seem to think we are a good 3 point shooting team as we take a ton of them..

Marshall and Jones camp out back there and LeBron usually forces 3 or more fading away back there..

Anyone else wish it was back the old days of not being able to shoot and not shooting it?

 

[Kypus]

Nah...at least should be able to control it. It's up to Mike Brown force us to go inside instead of forcing threes now. An easy fix is to have Damon on the floor less, which will be easier when Larry comes back.

But no way, I would never want to go back to having no outside shot. Having shooters around Z has let him go 1 on 1 instead of the old days of 1 on 3 and getting stuffed inside.

 

[Karma]

It definately is a discipline thing. Coach Brown must be tough on them for shooting tough 3's, but encourage the "shooters" to continue firing within the offense. We need that potential threat to allow James and Ilgauskas to remain efficient.

 

[KI4MVP]

the threat of the 3 is why LeBron had a clear path to the hoop last night to hit that lay up that gave us the lead.

 

[natedagg]

gee, i really miss the old days when the cavs couldn't win, so that WHEN WE DID, nobody talked about how bad our ROOKIE coach rotated the players, how BAD LeBron's 21-year old defense is, or anything else that is quickly taken for granted in just a few seasons.

 

[Mac]

A team is only as good as it's biggest flaw.

I see nothing wrong with discussing what needs fixed, we know what the good is. It's nice to have all that good stuff, but without improving what doesn't work, we will never get to the next level.

 

[KI4MVP]

some people never talk about what is going right and are in denial about just what level we are already on. People want to make changes to get to the heat's level when we are already there. How about we get our current roster together for at least 1 game before we make changes to screw it up.

 

[natedagg]

A team is only as good as it's biggest flaw.

I see nothing wrong with discussing what needs fixed, we know what the good is. It's nice to have all that good stuff, but without improving what doesn't work, we will never get to the next level.

I see nothing wrong with discussing what needs to be fixed either. There is a difference b/w calling Brown's rotations idiotic or simply recognizing that we have a rookie coach, for example. Let's not have the board be like the cleveland media, ya know? Yes, "without improving we will never get to the next level," but don't you have to know where you came from to know where you're going? And also, if you don't enjoy the ride of the cavs' season, regardless of whether or not they make it to "the next level," I think you are missing the point. And no, Mac, this is not addressed to you personally.

 

[Mac]

some people never talk about what is going right and are in denial about just what level we are already on. People want to make changes to get to the heat's level when we are already there. How about we get our current roster together for at least 1 game before we make changes to screw it up.

We aren't on their level...we just got slaughtered by them a week ago, but you seem to think we are??

Trading Drew definently wouldnt screw anything up, he is a cog. He wouldn't start on a lot of teams and we are going to franchise this guy? No thank you..

We talk about what is going right all the time, but some people, like yourself, take it wayyyyyyyyy too far and make the team out to be a lot better than what it is.

I dont know about you, but I am never content until we when a championship. I will put it in the words of my basketball coach, "I'm here to fix what's wrong, I want wins, when we win we won, good job, but move on. If we lose, Im here to fix that. Im not here to tell you what your good at, I'm here to fix what's wrong with you."

Yeah, Lebron is an amazing highlight. We know that. We know we have a pretty good record.

But can we be better?

Yes..very much so. We can be soooo much better. How? Acquire a real PG that can push and create, that has youth. Get healthy. Cut some dead weight from the roster (Newble, Damon Jones..), get some experience (Sasha, Anderson and Lebron in the playoffs.) Not go crazy with the salary cap, like Karma said, you can't over pay for average players, like Damon Jones.

We have a nice building block with Lebron, Larry and Z. Snow is a good role player, Sasha is as well. Anderson is close to starting in a year, we have solid peices of depth in Donyell and A Henderson for bigs. Damon can be usefull if he can find his shot.

We can be much better, but we are kidding ourselves if we are on the Heat's level...and we are a long ways from Detroits level. We can play with those teams from time to time, but we have to build a roster that can win A 7 GAME SERIES IN THE PLAYOFFS. The Heat and the Pistons are built like that, RIGHT NOW.

We, the Cavs, are not. Lebron has never played a meaningful game in his life, Z was in the playoffs almost ten years ago, and outside of Donyell and Eric, we dont have anybody on our roster with significant starting and playing time in the playoffs.

Dont ignore those facts. Dont be content, the good is there, yes. But we can always be better and until we win a championship, I will not neglect the things we need to fix.

 

[KI4MVP]

And we pretty much blew them off the court a few weeks ago. One game does not define a team. Especially not when it's the 4th game in 5 nights.

The computer rankings have us right there with the heat

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/nba0506.htm

and we do better against the top teams than they do. The standings have us right there with the heat

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings?season=2006&group=league&seasontype=2

and we are better against hte east than they are.

You think I overrate the cavs, I think you overrate the heat.

 

[ootbttnlagitnbasf]

we'll tromp them in the playoffs.

we're among the best at beating top teams.

this is not a easy test for us.

we are the best at winning in cleveland. no one has won more than us here.

 

[Mac]

LJ, you simply don't get it. So instead of discussing it further with you, you can believe what you wish.

But to pretty much everybody else, it is painfully obvious that we aren't on the level with the Pistons and Heat. Maybe a trade can be swung to change that, but for now..the focus should be just making the playoffs.

We haven't proved we can do that in a terribly weak East and until we do that, it is ignorant to say we are on the same level of the team that was there last year, that added more talent.

 

[Karma]

Mac, those last two posts by you are spot on. You are painted as the negative guy, and many times you do exaggerate some bad points. However, I'm 100% with you here. We are not on Miami's level. We have to show consistency to be that. LJ4MVP ignores the fact we are hugely erratic. Elite teams are not like this. Props Mac for your patience.

 

[KI4MVP]

The Heat are not on the level of the Pistons.

Lose 3 of 4
win 5 of 6
lose 2 straight
win 3 staight
lose 4 straight
win 4 straight
lose 2 of 3
win 4 of 5
drop 2
win 4
drop 2
win 6 of 7
split 2

is that not erratic? That has been the heat's season to date. My contention in this debate is simple, people are overrating the heat. They have in no way shown they are better than us this year. They aren't beating better teams, we are. Their record is just barely better than ours. They have dallas and Detroit coming up. 3 days rest before each game. Can you honestly say that you expect them to do better than we would in that situation? Keep in mind we've already shown what we can do vs the Pistons with 3 days rest.

If we aren't elite then Miami isn't elite.

 

[Mac]

Nobody said that Miami is on the same level as Detroit...but Miami is def in the for sure playoff, upper echlion teams.

Shaq is the main cog in that team and when he is out, that changes the entire game plan. Larry doesnt have the same effect on the Cavs.

And on a side note, the Cavs arent guaranteed to make the playoffs. They could stumble for the third year in a row...that is the consistantcy that we need to get, to avoid those stumbles.

Again, respect is EARNED.

Be honest, what have the Cavs earned? We havent proved anything yet.

The regular season to teams liek Detroit, Miami, San Antonion and Dallas mean nothing. Those teams are built to win 7 game series's in the playoffs.The regular season is just a formality to those teams. Because they have earned that right through their teams success's of this year and years past and the players on those teams.