Will Ira Waltz Back In?

[Karma]

Coach Brown has made it quite clear this past week or two that he lacks confindense in Pavlovic and Jackson. Sasha defensively is missing plays, whilst Luke freezes with the ball. Tonight I do not understand why he gave one 5 minutes and the other 4. Hardly the stuff to build confidense. Sasha was open a couple of times, but for some reason the ball failed to get to him.

The way I see it is Ira Newble, who is just 1 to 2 weeks away will come straight into the rotation ahead of this pair. He isn't a great shooter, but will take the open look. He might not be overly athletic, but he doesn't miss his man defensively. He is a ready made role player. This is what Luke and Sasha are not!

 

[LyXo]

I'm not really confounded why Sasha got pulled, never to see the court again. He picked up two fouls, quick. He wasn't very active on offense, mostly catching and passing. Although he made a couple good passes, it wasn't evident that he made hard ones. Then, he turned it over trying to cross-over his defender, and that's when Mike had enough. Pretty much, he made it clear to coach that he couldn't handle live minutes. At least this game.

Luke doesn't make that many mistakes on defense. He definitely fouls less. And he hustles, a lot, and he's shown more in live minutes. On offense, he does anything but freeze. He simply passes up shots that he knows will be heartily contested. Getting blocked would be hideous to his confidence, and to the coach's confidence. He has been paying better attention to the shot clock, though. Other than that, he's very active. Calling for the ball, dribbling, moving around trying to make something happen. I notice that his passing and ball placement is superior to Sasha's.

Will Newble just waltz in? Dunno man, he will freeze on offense a lot more than Luke will. Perhaps the lightened pressure of being in the second unit might help, but I don't really forsee his offense improving at all. It's actually always quite stagnant when he's in there. If Luke doesn't make mistakes on defense, then I don't see Newble having the edge, very much so.

So, do you guys think offensive frustration with Luke caused Sasha to step in first? Or did Mike Brown want to give Sasha another shot before completely throwing in the towel?

 

[TyGuy]

Yes Newble most likely will. people like to give ole newbs crap but he will be very nice off the bench. Yes he was awfull as a starting 2 guard for one being a natural small forward. He is a very solid hard nosed defender. He is a man that plays within the system and knows his role very well.

 

[Dungong]

Sasha and Luke haven't shown much so far. Newble should be in when he comes back.

 

[KI4MVP]

Ira will likely get the minutes Luke and shasha have been getting - hopefully Luke will pull ahead of Ira before the season is over, though, as Ira is a known quantity, while Luke seems to have a lot more upside to him. Luke seems to have more upside than Sasha, too.

 

[Pioneer10]

I'm not really confounded why Sasha got pulled, never to see the court again. He picked up two fouls, quick. He wasn't very active on offense, mostly catching and passing. Although he made a couple good passes, it wasn't evident that he made hard ones. Then, he turned it over trying to cross-over his defender, and that's when Mike had enough. Pretty much, he made it clear to coach that he couldn't handle live minutes. At least this game.

Luke doesn't make that many mistakes on defense. He definitely fouls less. And he hustles, a lot, and he's shown more in live minutes. On offense, he does anything but freeze. He simply passes up shots that he knows will be heartily contested. Getting blocked would be hideous to his confidence, and to the coach's confidence. He has been paying better attention to the shot clock, though. Other than that, he's very active. Calling for the ball, dribbling, moving around trying to make something happen. I notice that his passing and ball placement is superior to Sasha's.

Will Newble just waltz in? Dunno man, he will freeze on offense a lot more than Luke will. Perhaps the lightened pressure of being in the second unit might help, but I don't really forsee his offense improving at all. It's actually always quite stagnant when he's in there. If Luke doesn't make mistakes on defense, then I don't see Newble having the edge, very much so.

So, do you guys think offensive frustration with Luke caused Sasha to step in first? Or did Mike Brown want to give Sasha another shot before completely throwing in the towel?

I'm thinking he wanted to give Sasha another chance. Again we don't see practice so it is hard for me to comment.

I'm in the same camp as you who think that Luke has done nothing to indicate he should have his minutes taken away. He's a hustels, makes good decision, and plays good positional defense. His offense is still a work in progress but I think that will come around.

I personally don't think Newble brings much of anything to the table so I'm hoping Luke keeps his minutes

 

[LyXo]

Yes Newble most likely will. people like to give ole newbs crap but he will be very nice off the bench. Yes he was awfull as a starting 2 guard for one being a natural small forward. He is a very solid hard nosed defender. He is a man that plays within the system and knows his role very well.

You're saying as if he was a good starting "natural" small forward too. Did he really do that well in LeBron's first year here, when LBJ was shuffled from PG to SG?

I really hope Mike Brown doesn't eek him into the lineup, because he has a slight edge over Luke in defensive skills. His offense continues to be horrendous. Sure, he doesn't turn it over. But he doesn't dribble, pass, shoot, or move, for that matter, either. He should only be used for spot minutes when the defensive rotations are doing terrible and some order need restored. His man-man defense isn't as good as advertised. Other than that, he should buddy up with Zendon Hamilton: wear some skirts and borrow some pom-poms.

Another thing I noticed about last night's game in terms of the Sasha/Luke feud.

Sasha got to play the 5 minutes, then got pulled. Later on, when it was time for that same rotation, Luke was put in, in his place.
When Luke got pulled, no matter what for, he always got his second chance. Always got his 8-12 minutes.
Leads me to believe this seemed like a last chance opportunity for Sasha, and he blew it.

 

[ootbttnlagitnbasf]

brown is probably getting tired of the poor defense and has to make an example out of someone. he can't do it to a really high payed player so it makes sense to use sasha.

not an unusal move for a new coach who has not fully established his authority. brown will probably be gone sometime during the season after next. with our talent, if we are not atop the central someone will have to be the scapegoat. if ferry is smart he is already making plans for who that next coach will be. that is how the nba works.

 

[LyXo]

not an unusal move for a new coach who has not fully established his authority. brown will probably be gone sometime during the season after next. with our talent, if we are not atop the central someone will have to be the scapegoat. if ferry is smart he is already making plans for who that next coach will be. that is how the nba works.

You're kidding, right?

 

[CleveRocks]

not an unusal move for a new coach who has not fully established his authority. brown will probably be gone sometime during the season after next. with our talent, if we are not atop the central someone will have to be the scapegoat. if ferry is smart he is already making plans for who that next coach will be. that is how the nba works

Its not about brown, its about Sasha and Luke. I think Sasha got the nod in this game because it was very physical and because I think he is the more physical player of the two (Luke Sasha). It did not work well for Brown so Sasha sat down.

I think that Ira will get minutes when we are face up to very physical teams. He is a tough player and can dish out as much as he is given. His offense has been spotty in the past, but last season was a good bit better than the previous.

For example last night, If Lebron is having trouble with Magette and we put Hughes on him, Larry is physically out matched. Ira may have trouble with the faster swing men, but he can bang with the physical guys, so it may make sense to use him in a situation where we are getting out muscled inside. In my opinion these matchups are currently Pavlovic's time, so I expect that what little we see of Sasha will diminish. I do not think that Ira and Luke are at all the same kinds of players. Luke makes offense even if he is not putting the ball in the basket. He is a hustler on defense, taking risks, and challenging the ball. I see Ira and an offensive opportunist, and a defense by position and physical strength kind of guy.

 

[Karma]

Again people you guys are saying who is the better player, blah, blah, blah. We are after somebody to play a role. Newble is a good player moving off the ball. He sets hard picks, he cuts to the hoop and so forth. He isn't a great shooter or finisher, but how has Luke proven to be better there? Luke had played some solid games early in our run but the last 2 weeks have been nothing above mediocre. Sasha was given an entire 5 minutes to explode, in which he found space a couple of occasions but the ball never got to him. He was in a sense over aggressive on defense.

Anyways a healthy Ira would do the job alot more efficiently then this pairing right now. I have yet to see why Luke or Sasha should get minutes over each other let alone Ira.

 

[B Mac]

Newble was one of the most underrated guys on our team last year. The reason he got so much critisizm was because he started. Hes not a starter and everyone in the league knows it. However, his offense isnt as bad as some might biasedly think, especially since he was always lined up on the other teams best defensive player. Newble was our best defensive player last year and still may be this year, it boggles my mind how people can say Luke is ahead of him on defense. As Coach Brown has shown with having Snow start over Jones, he doesnt always care that much about offense and I highly doubt he would keep our closest thing to a defensive starter on the bench.
The fact is Luke isnt getting it done on the offensive side of the ball, and while he has cut down on his turnovers, he still hasnt proved that he can score, or even shoot. Last night's game for example I saw him pass up two wide open looks, and I know they were wide open because I was there and saw with my own eyes, as well as hearing every other fan there yell shooooooot. IMO Newble>>>>>>>Luke>Sasha

 

[ChicagoCavFan]

Newble will garner roughly 12 minutes a night when he fully heals, more for physical match-ups. I think we'll be surprised about how Ira performs with the team when he returns. He is the perfect team player guy - a guy that doesn't need the ball in his hands on offense, and knows his role. His is adept enough on offense to make some things happen - I remember falling out of my seat when he 2-handed that alley-oop last year - a very athletic play. He has caught fire at times, but his shot sometimes makes me cringe. He won't need it as much as last year because of the weapons we have.

I still think one of Luke/Sasha will still see 5 to 10 minutes a night - one will be kept in the rotation. Hard to tell as of now. It did seem like Pavs had an audition last night. I am a fan of Luke's potential, but I still want to see more from Sasha.

 

[Dungong]

Newble, if he has the open shot, can hit the thing. No, hes not going to create or anything like that very much, but you need to guard him. On the defensive end, depending on this guy's injury, he should be ahead of Luke. Yeah, ahead, this is why he'll get minutes. Brown rotates his defenders, so if we're up against say Vince Carter or Iverson, Brown will stick Hughes on him for a while, then Snow. Ira would fit in well here, as he can be used in this defensive rotation. Is he a great man up defender? prolly not, but he will stick his man, challenge shots, etc.

What we've seen in game time so far:

Sasha: hasn't really shot anything in minutes that matter. Hes going to need more than 5 minutes in a game to show something though. Defensively, he seems to be a blocking foul waiting to happen if hes out there against someone who can penetrate.

Luke: Offensively hasn't shown that he can do much of anything outside of hit an open trey. He is a hustle guy though, so he could be effective on the break. I haven't really seen enough of his play to judge how fast he is or anything. Defensively, Luke brings huge effort. Hes one of those guys who spends quality time on the floor or diving into the stands.

 

[aaronr]

I usually don't have much crowing to do here because you sharpies usually are one step ahead of me, but I can't help saying that Ira will be ushered in on velvet carpet now that Jackson and Pavlovic have substantiated my long-time argument that neither is prepared to be on the second unit of a team like the Cavs. I'm sorry because I don't think Ira is all that good, but he's better than either one of those guys we spent first-round draft picks on.