The Time Has Come

[Karma]

Coach Brown has a major dilemma on his hands at present. He is obviously a guy who prefers to play his veterans from the start, and only give his young unproven player tidbits of time. This is all well and good if the veterans are playing their role and helping this team get through its injury problems and form slump. However Coach, the vets are costing us games.

I'm not too sure if many will side with me on this, or agree in principal, but change it up slightly, or just flat out disagree.

Coach Brown, sit Ira Newble on position 12 on the bench. I have been an Ira sympathiser for too long. I've been waiting for the "Atlanta Ira" since he arrived, and I think we can finally say "never gonna happen". Its sad as he does work hard, but at the end of the day he just isn't an NBA calibur player anymore.

Damon Jones to me stays on the bench. This is not bagging him, but we do need some spark from the bench, particulary with Donyell still in his slumber. Damon splits time between point guard and the two guard. Mike Wilks takes a spot on the end of the bench with Ira as our 11th man. This kid is a goer, but again isn't cut out for regular minutes.

Bring Luke Jackson into the rotation. There should be around 12-15 minutes for Luke supporting both starting swingmen. Let the kid play more if he is feeling at the 2 guard, if not, just the minutes LeBron sits. In those minutes James is down, it gives Luke a more on ball role in which he was successful in in college.

Now the big one. Start Sasha Pavlovic. Shock horror says LePip! I know. But hey we need a change in this two guard spot. We have Snow and LeBron playing an on ball roll in the backcourt. We need a player who can just shoot, and or drive inside. Sasha to me is the guy who can do this with reasonable efficiency. To me he is the best fit for this role. The kid will have growing pains in this role like foul trouble, but he has Damon Jones and Luke Jackson behind him. Play him 20-25 minutes, and we will get alot more production at the guard spot then our current dire position.

I think the time has come to get these young swingmen out there. Pavlovic and Jackson have a skillset that Jones and Newble do not, and will never have. Lets get it out there.

 

[Recluse]

I saw this on another site and thought it made sense: why not just play Jackson and Pavlovic 24 minutes each, give Jones 15-20 minutes at backup pg (0 minutes at sg), and give Newble the 6-8 minutes at backup sf?

 

[The George]

sasha played very well tonight and deserves a look in the starting line up on friday night....damo is slowly getting out of his slump and donyell is still pretty bad at most times

 

[Karma]

It is very obvious that Newble and Jones cannot start at shooting guard. Our other options..... Sasha and Luke. Sasha will have some confidense out of the Denver game, and to me his style of play suits playing with two ball handlers in Snow and James. Jackson can come in when Snow and or James are out and assist in the ball handling / playmaking duties. To me this is our next step.

 

[highplainsdrifter]

Newble looked bad tonite. Brickin shots. It was funny the ESPN announcers talked about how Newble was brought in for defense down the stretch, and then gets SCHOOLED by Melo baseline for a monster dunk. Perhaps this is just rust from the injury.

Djones did bad as a starter, as did Newble. Sasha played a great game, even tho he made mistakes down the stretch. Young inexperienced players will do that. However Brown had confidence in Sasha to finish the game. Looking at our other options, hopefully Brown will have the confidence to start him as well. At least see how it works. I dont know if Brown is creative enough to try it.

 

[dcass]

I've always been a Sasha fan (and he's younger than Luke, don't forget).

Maybe because he's a mute, coach Brown (and Silas and Malone) forget that he's even there.

p.s. With his hair longer he is starting to look like Frodo Baggins

For the Shire, Sasha! For the Shire!

 

[Wine and Gold]

My thoughts, I want Damon Jones gone ....yesterday ...the day before yesterday ....no time is soon enough. I hate his game, or lack thereof, as a coach....he is the last type player I want on my roster. He's as one dimensional as it gets, and even when his one dimension is on, his other attributes are so lacking in even competitive desire, that he hurts the team. So, Damon Jones should be gone.

I disagree on Ira Newble. He isn't a starting caliber player, but, is an effective role player in the NBA. He's not close to 100% at the moment. His conditioning isn't up to par, he's about 12 lbs heavier than last year due to his long stint on the DL (I'm told this by Austin Carr) ....and his quickness has taken a hit ....but, I like his play, although offensively limited ....he could have a role on this team down the road. But, for now ...needs to get his weight back down and get in playing shape.

The Sasha/Luke dilemma lingers, and will linger until we remove one from the mix in a trade, and that will be coming soon. I've always felt that Sasha has the higher ceiling on his game, and love his potential at being something far more than what he looks to be now. He needs someone in the league to show unbridled confidence in him, and throw him into a game mix day in and day out ....and that will likely only happen with a young team that is playing the game with a eye on the future, and not a win now mentality. For the most part, that same situation is what would be most beneficial to Luke as well. They both need long and consistent gametime action and they will start to lose the degree of inconsistencies we see day in and day out from them. They can't be depended on to be the answer to our situation because they aren't being developed in the right environment. We're a 'win now' team, that doesn't have the required patience to deal with the learning curve that they are travelling on ...and that's too bad, because they both will be pretty decent NBA players down the road....in my opinion.

We don't have the answer to our backcourt problems on our team right now ...outside of Hughes every player is very limited,.,.they all have huge empty vacuums of talent in certain aspects of their games.

But, as I said when Hughes went down .....he's a "glue" player ....and his value to this team has been recognized in his absence. Washington wishes they had him back I'm sure .....he does the things that make a team better ...that make a team a winner ...he can't return soon enough.

 

[Cleveland56]

Ira Newble shoots 15% from the field, averages 1 point a game, can't rebound, and can't defend.

You really want to put that kind of production at the end of the bench?

 

[Wine and Gold]

Give Ira a break ....he shouldn't be getting minutes until he gets in shape. He's 12 lbs over his playing weight, is out of condition and has lost alot of his quickness. He doesn't have his legs yet .....but, will be an effective piece when he does get back in condition and gets enough time on the court to knock off his rust. He's the best answer we've got on this team to fill his role as a backup to Hughes and Lebron once Hughes returns. But, you gotta realize that he's not close to 100% yet ...either with his physical conditioning, or in getting the rust off his game. But,,,,he's a quality reserve that you can win with ....have patience and give him the time necassary to get his game back to where it was last year. He's an excellent defender, runs the court exceptionally well, can slash and drive to the hoop, and plays with a high degree of toughness and energy .....but, again ....he's rusty and still quite out of shape. When Hughes comes back, Newble should also have his game back to where it needs to be ....PATIENCE .....he had a long long stint on the DL where he could do little shooting or running to stay in the shape needed to copete in the high energy fashion that he does. You'll have to exhibit the same with AV as well ...but when they do get it back and Hughes returns, we will be one of the strongest teams in the east in the second half of the season...

 

[Cleveland56]

He's an excellent defender, runs the court exceptionally well, can slash and drive to the hoop, and plays with a high degree of toughness and energy

?

 

[PIP]

He's an excellent defender, runs the court exceptionally well, can slash and drive to the hoop, and plays with a high degree of toughness and energy

?

Except, none of that applies to Ira Newble.

Sounds like Bruce Bowen though....

 

[NarlCavs]

I agree with the original post and had pretty much the same thought last night during the game.

With what the Cavs have been doing recently it is time to give regular consistent minutes to Sasha and Luke and put Newble and Wilks at the end of the bench. Both should get at least 15 minutes a game. Jones is needed but should be brought off the bench to hopefully provide some scoring and perimeter shooting.

Newble has been terrible since he came back. If he's still not healthy than don't put him out there. He can't hit a shot and his defense has been poor most of the time. I always thought Ira's D was overrated. He's not bad but not anywhere close to the defensive stopper he is made out to be. Newble also isn't going to get any better. He has no potential and might actually be fading now as a player.

Wilks should only see minutes when the Cavs need someone to matchup for some minutes against a quicker PG. He's nice to have as a #3 PG but shouldn't be anything more. Wilks also has to be one of the worst PG's I have ever seen as far as running an offense and creating for teammates.

Both Sasha and Luke have shown glimpses of solid talent and good skills. They shouldn't be expected to immediately be perfect considering the sporadic minutes they've been given and the poor job of developing them that has been done by the Cavs organization. With regular consistent minutes we should see improvement and more consistent play. You have to expect some mistakes like Sasha made late in the game last night when these 2 haven't gotten the necessary minutes on the court to work through some of the youthful mistakes.
Both Sasha and Luke do have the potential and the ability to become solid contributers for the Cavs. They might not become stars but their talent makes them far more capable of bringing a better game and providing more than either Newble or Wilks can provide.

The veterans aren't getting it done. Now is the time to finally get some young guys a chance and give them regular minutes so we can get a better idea of exactly what we might have.

 

[Cleveland56]

Yes, there's Ira Newble, but the thought of Newble and Eric Snow starting in the same backcourt is a flashback to a year ago. Bad idea then, bad idea now. Heading into Wednesday night, Newble had made only one of his last 20 jumpers!

from terry pluto, who also wrote:

I doubt Brown will do it, but I'd start Pavlovic or Jackson (pick one) for a few games and bring Jones off the bench. Let's see what happens.

 

[Pioneer10]

I would take either Luke or Sasha as a starter. I still can't believe how much it takes Luke to earn minutes: 4 good games, one bad and then DNP-CD.

Sasha also has talent and I like that he takes it to the basket

Both need to play.