1st Mike Brown Show

[Kypus]

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/
Under Audio and Video, Mike Brown show.
Quick summary, unedited.

hosted by Mike Snyder

Danny Ferry starts off. Practice 10AM-12. Ahead of where they were last year, reviewing and
reinforcing. Brown delegating practice to asst coaches. Mostly on-court, not much film yet.
Plays, defensive rotations. Looking ahead more to postseason right away.

Added some good players at end, some spice, Pollard and Wesley. They bring XOs, Shooting, leadership
intangibles. Lebron/Shannon Brown connection from HS.

San Antonio building process- draft important, happy with it, want to try to get a pick for next year.
(don't have now). Would like to throw Shannon out right away, but we're going after big things now.

Wesley/Pollard- called them the 1st day of FA.

Ferry went to FIBA championships. Coach K reinforces Lebron's skills. Lebron's "skill of the year"
may be post-moves. AV getting more respect for his play there? Needs to learn what he can get away
with- was in foul trouble a lot off the floor. Can't bottle him up, he plays harder than everyone else.
AV's foot? He's fine, legs are fine.

Sometimes have to take Z out if there's no one he can guard. Happy/surprised Shannon dropped that low
in draft. He's a true basketball player, competes. Larry is "great". Larry and AV never played
together at all before right before playoffs (good call, me)

Mike Brown in- delegating more, camp flows better. 2-a-days this week. Basics on both sides of the ball,
defense, post-defense, defensive spacing. Early offense, very basic. 1/2/3 positions interchangeable
since Hughes/Lebron are ballhandlers. Daniel Gibson may or may not make active roster- will have to
earn minutes. Too many guards, will have to sacrifice PT. Gibson's potential- is "solid" but has that
"rookie inconsistency" game to game.

Brown backs up Z's playoff performance, mentions the sprained ankle (stepping on Dalembert's ankle)
Hairdos- Scott and AV together? Pollard has "Fohawk". Holding Lebron and AV out of PM practices. Lebron's
minutes- 40 mins ideal.

 

[Wine and Gold]

Good stuff ....in the longterm planning,in terms of defense ...they have been working on a two year plan ...at the completion of this season, the process should be complete ... and was the main reason that they tried to maintain as much roster stability as possible. The pieces they brought in, in terms of immediate playing time, were pieces that will quickly and easily integrate into our defensive schemes.

I have full confidence in our coaches getting the most they can out of our team in terms of maximizing their defensive potential, individually and within the team concept. Have some reservations as to how high the ceiling is in terms of many of our high minute player's abilities to digest and understand their roles (Gooden), or their physical abilities (Z,DJ) ...but, in terms of coaching them up ...this group of coaches will get what they can from them.

The most interesting thing I'll be looking for early this season will be the offensive tweaks. How successful they are in integrating Larry Hughes, Z, and Drew Gooden into the offensive gameplan. It will be very interesting, because from my view, Lebron is a part of the problem that exists in making this a better fundamental team offensively. Especially the improvements needed in ball movement ...getting the ball into Z at the right time and in the proper way ....getting Hughes involved in a manner he's comfortable with, and getting the most out of Gooden's offensive abilities, that have been pretty much ignored, and shouldn't be,.,are keys to the degree of improvements we'll see .....

As far as this team came last year, they really have a long way to go to maximize their potential. That's what makes this season extremely exciting from my standpoint. How successful this coaching staff is ....how much they (the staff) develops as a group, and how that transcends to the team will determine how far we get in terms of maximizing our untapped potential...

 

[Rimage]

Larry and AV never played
together at all before right before playoffs

...then how the hell do you explain this!?!?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcksVghrMdU

 

[cavincali]

...then how the hell do you explain this!?!?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcksVghrMdU

freaking sick. loved that clip.

 

[Cleveland56]

For anyone who has Itunes. Subscribe to the Cleveland Cavaliers podcast. It has the radio shows, interviews with players, press conferences..Good stuff.

Would post all the info, but it's a lot. Z's interview was hilarious though. Funny guy....

 

[Kypus]

Larry and AV never played
together at all before right before playoffs

...then how the hell do you explain this!?!?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcksVghrMdU

Easy- it was right before playoffs, 4-17 at Boston. It can only be that game because Hughes/AV/Flip are all in. My point (and Mike Brown's) was that those 2 never got a chance to become acclimated to each other's play. It was just worded funny, like most of my posts

 

[Kypus]

....in the longterm planning,in terms of defense ...they have been working on a two year plan ...at the completion of this season, the process should be complete ... and was the main reason that they tried to maintain as much roster stability as possible. The pieces they brought in, in terms of immediate playing time, were pieces that will quickly and easily integrate into our defensive schemes.

I like the 2-yr defense plan, that means when it's done we should be able to "plug in" known defensive players 2-3-4 years down the line. Add a Bruce Bowen stopper-type guy here, or a Malik Rose chaos-type guy there and it shouldn't screw up everybody much. So our future defensive plan looks solid, while offense remains a question mark. IMO this window hinges on whether Larry can truly become "Lebron's Pippen" while Z is still serviceable.

 

[Jon]

The offense is fine as long as everyone stays healthy and can only improve with experience. Z didn't just have a turned ankle, he'd also dislocated his finger before the playoffs. As long as *someone* on the team can hit a wide open shot when passed out to by LeBron or Larry we'll be fine. Making those shots will prevent the defense from collapsing and make it a lot easier for Z and everyone else to score inside.

Oh yeah, and if Snow is on the court he needs to put the ball in the net when his man leaves him.

Defense is still key and the area the team can improve the most. We finished 15th in the league in offense, but Detroit and San Antonio finished 19th and 21st. The difference is the number of points they gave up on D.

If we can cut down the number of points we give up by 2PPG, I don't think we'll have a problem increasing the points we score by 2PPG, that'd get our point differential in the elite category.