2020-2021 Cavs Season General Discussion

daddywags said:

Love was "at the practice" or practicing?

Click to expand...

Lol isn't it great.

Keys is gonna be all alone on Love island by the time he finally recovers.

A couple of quotes (I bolded af few parts):

“Obviously, we still have a long way to go,” Jarrett Allen said. “ Once we played Brooklyn, the level of competition just went straight up. We were playing the above .500 teams; we were playing against superstars. We were playing against people that have a lot of experience in the NBA. And that’s been one hell of a challenge for us all to overcome. But I think that after seeing all this, we know where we need to be and what we need to do.”

In Cleveland, coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he’d never seen anything like it. Until it happened to him twice this season.

At two separate points, the Cavs were so wiped out by injury that they had zero players available among a position group. They are in that spot right now, missing power forwards Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr., who underwent hand surgery last week.

With no good options available, Bickerstaff rolled the dice in two recent games, starting Andre Drummond and Jarrett Allen together. They are both big, lumbering centers who should not be in the same starting lineup, ever, and the result was as expected: The Cavs were outscored by 17 points in the 43 minutes they spent together as starters, with Drummond’s attitude deteriorating to the point where Cleveland is going to hold him out and trade him.

“The difficult part of it is the changes that you have to make and the lack of consistency,” Bickerstaff said. “When you lose things that drastically, you have to make changes, and you put people in positions that they’re not used to being in. And then how does that impact the other guys around them?” — Joe Vardon, Kelsey Russo and Darnell Mayberry

So there it is. A rough patch in the schedule combined with no power forwards. Earlier in the season we had Garland, Sexton, Delly, Exum, and Porter all out at the same time. Dotson was the only guard available to play so they signed Yogi Ferrell. Yogi was our only true point guard for a few games.

As of now the Cavs are third in the NBA in games lost to injury and that doesn't even count Drummond, who is a DNP-CD and Porter, who was supposed to be a key player but never got onto the court for a minute.

At this point there's nothing to do but keep force feeding the young guys until we can put a rotation of Allen, McGee, Love, Nance, Windler, Okoro, Garland, Dotson and Sexton out there for hopefully 25 games and see what we have.

kidduck said:

Cavatt-

Your comment about Sexton getting bottled up in the lane after picking up his dribble, then looking
to pass is right on the money. It is good to be driven , but it is also good to have an alternate
plan if the road((ie lane) is blocked.

Spacing the floor with some real 3 point shooters would help everyone immensely.

At least on the offensive end.

Click to expand...

I thought we really miss Love out there. I hope Windler can bring confidence - remember the play Sexton tried to give the ball to Windler? Like to see more of those off the ball screen curls.

"Spin: It's good news that Love continues to progress in his recovery from a strained right calf, but the fact that he remains without a timetable makes it tough to gauge when we can expect him back. It seems like he'll be back soon, but the organization probably isn't in a massive rush to get Love back, considering his injury history and the rebuilding nature of their season. When Love eventually returns, there will likely be fewer minutes available for Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade."

You've lost 82 games in a row and counting, your team couldn't score 115 points with 2 hours alone in an empty gym and your back up 4's are people named "Lamar Stevens" and "Dean Wade." HOW ARE YOU NOT IN A RUSH TO GET LOVE BACK????
Honestly, the second injury to Nance was the most painful. Larry and Allen on the floor was going to be real interesting. This season is just totally snake bitten.

weepinwillow said:

"Spin: It's good news that Love continues to progress in his recovery from a strained right calf, but the fact that he remains without a timetable makes it tough to gauge when we can expect him back. It seems like he'll be back soon, but the organization probably isn't in a massive rush to get Love back, considering his injury history and the rebuilding nature of their season. When Love eventually returns, there will likely be fewer minutes available for Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade."

You've lost 82 games in a row and counting, your team couldn't score 115 points with 2 hours alone in an empty gym and your back up 4's are people named "Lamar Stevens" and "Dean Wade." HOW ARE YOU NOT IN A RUSH TO GET LOVE BACK????
Honestly, the second injury to Nance was the most painful. Larry and Allen on the floor was going to be real interesting. This season is just totally snake bitten.

Click to expand...

It's time to start Wade until Love is back, and just see if a guy who can rebound will help. He can shoot supposedly too. The starting lineup needs spacing sooo bad.

Cavatt said:

It's time to start Wade until Love is back, and just see if a guy who can rebound will help. He can shoot supposedly too. The starting lineup needs spacing sooo bad.

Click to expand...

If not start (which doesn't really matter to me) he should be getting regular minutes and not just in garbage time. It's an excellent chance to see what he's got. Maybe a few practices were needed to fit him better with the regular rotation guys.

daddywags said:

If not start (which doesn't really matter to me) he should be getting regular minutes and not just in garbage time. It's an excellent chance to see what he's got. Maybe a few practices were needed to fit him better with the regular rotation guys.

Click to expand...

They signed him to a contract and he can't shoot worse than any of our other guys. He makes a lot of mistakes right now, but how is that different than anyone else? At least he rebounds

Cavatt said:

They signed him to a contract and he can't shoot worse than any of our other guys. He makes a lot of mistakes right now, but how is that different than anyone else? At least he rebounds

Click to expand...

I agree he should see the court more than garbage time, hes not on a 2way. but it has become fairly obvious the rotations and failure to even attempt enough long shots to stay in games by the ones playing indicates he would not be given a green light anyway.
They must be tanking right? why would you run an offense that doesn't take 3s in the modern nba? crazy

Ozone said:

I agree he should see the court more than garbage time, hes not on a 2way. but it has become fairly obvious the rotations and failure to even attempt enough long shots to stay in games by the ones playing indicates he would not be given a green light anyway.
They must be tanking right? why would you run an offense that doesn't take 3s in the modern nba? crazy

Click to expand...

I think the lack of 3's compounds itself. The fewer guys shoot, the more they pack the paint, and the more guys get beat up taking it to the rack. Then if you do take a 3, they can recover quickly because nobody else is going to shoot it.

Wade can play the 3 and shoot the 3. This organization is clueless. The only way they get better is to get several lottery picks and outtalent somebody. They aren’t going to outcoach anybody.

weepinwillow said:

"Spin: It's good news that Love continues to progress in his recovery from a strained right calf, but the fact that he remains without a timetable makes it tough to gauge when we can expect him back. It seems like he'll be back soon, but the organization probably isn't in a massive rush to get Love back, considering his injury history and the rebuilding nature of their season. When Love eventually returns, there will likely be fewer minutes available for Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade."

You've lost 82 games in a row and counting, your team couldn't score 115 points with 2 hours alone in an empty gym and your back up 4's are people named "Lamar Stevens" and "Dean Wade." HOW ARE YOU NOT IN A RUSH TO GET LOVE BACK????
Honestly, the second injury to Nance was the most painful. Larry and Allen on the floor was going to be real interesting. This season is just totally snake bitten.

Click to expand...

Fewer minutes for Lamar Stevens and Dean Wade. That will be a devastating blow to anyone who is starting those two in fantasy basketball.

Just the last 15 games, but it sorts of illustrates our slide and puts it in perspective.

I think they have to make a decision on Garland or Sexton and go all-in, while going all-out on the other guy.
I can be convinced on either, but not both. I do feel like Collin is probably more of a Jordan Clarkson who might not shit the bed in the playoffs, best role being off the bench and just go after buckets, and Garland is more of a starting PG who feels the flow of the game getting others involved (though he needs a ton of growth to still happen), etc..
Together they are like showing up at the company headshots with your front teeth missing.
This team made so much more sense with Porter JR being your eventual 2. Now you are back looking for another young piece at the 2/3 spot, who will likely take a season, and I'm not totally sold that whoever you go with at the 1 from Sexland will be the solution.
Injuries to Love and Nance didn't help, but this issue with the backcourt was inevitable.

Kevin Love is going to miss over half the season with a calf strain.

I mean.............

Rich said:

Kevin Love is going to miss over half the season with a calf strain.

I mean.............

Click to expand...

When they gave him that deal it just boggled the mind. Was it for being a loyal soldier? We were rebuilding, and Kevin is a highly injury prone guy. Made no sense. He was already rich, no need to make him richer.