Cleveland Sports Forum

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This is Brian Windhorst on ESPN 850.

Remember that Windhorst did not think LeBron would leave Cleveland.

Should fans be optimistic? My son tells me Grantland is a great site for NBA analysis. This is from Grantland. I don't understand basketball well enough to know what it all means but some of you will.

We are sometimes slow to come to grips with a sad reality, and to realize how little time is left in the NBA season. There still appear to be vague hopes the Timberwolves can make a playoff run, based mostly on their very strong point differential — a positive scoring margin that indicates they should be 33-20, on pace for 51 wins.

But the Wolves in real life are 25-28, five games behind Dallas in the loss column for the final Western Conference playoff spot. If it’s going to take between 45 and 47 wins to make the playoffs, Minnesota has to finish the season at something like 21-8. Looking at that record — 21-8 — is like leaping into an icy pool of water at Mountain Creek/Action Park. It wakes you up. The point differential is nice, but the Wolves are likely toast as a playoff team, barring a collapse near the bottom of the conference playoff race.

In the Poop Conference, there could be all sorts of potential jockeying among teams enveloped in internal drama: Charlotte lusting after a playoff spot, and the trio of disappointments in New York, Cleveland, and Detroit chasing trades that might revive their seasons. But look at the standings. Those four teams may well be fighting for a single playoff spot. Charlotte, the current no. 8 seed, is three games behind Brooklyn, the no. 7 team, in the loss column. Detroit is four games back of Brooklyn, and the Knicks and Cavs are a whopping six games behind no. 7. Six games! With about 30 games to go! And we’re talking about bad teams here!

There’s a larger chance for slippage in the Eastern Conference, and Atlanta especially is an injury-riddled mess right now. But it would be a stretch for any of those four teams to think about no. 7 or no. 6. And you really shouldn’t be giving up future assets, or hanging on to veterans with trade value, if the upside of doing so is something like a 25 percent chance of running into LeBron or Roy Hibbert in the first round.

That’s what makes Cleveland so interesting today. It’s 5-0 since firing Chris Grant, the team’s ex-GM, resuscitating postseason hopes that looked dead two weeks ago. Should that change its calculus as we approach the trade deadline? Should the Cavs keep their useful veterans, including Luol Deng, Anderson Varejao, and Jarrett Jack, instead of dealing them for salary relief or maybe even a future asset? What about Dion Waiters?

Small sample sizes are a dangerous thing, even in the hands of folks who should know better. It’s nice the Cavs are on a five-game winning streak, and they appear to have made some positive and substantive changes in that stretch. But the streak includes just one win over a team above .500, and that team, Memphis, was missing its two-way copilot in Mike Conley. The Cavs needed overtime to beat that Grizz team in Cleveland, and they barely staved off the Wizards in Washington in their previous win — the first of the streak. (That was a nice win, though. Several Cleveland players were battling an illness that spread through the team.)

Beyond that, we’re talking about wins over the dregs — a Sacramento team that is miserable on the road, the bumbling Pistons (points for a road back-to-back win, though), and a Philly team that has transitioned from not trying on an organizational level to actually not trying on the court. (Seriously: Spencer Hawes on Tuesday night against the Cavs was actively avoiding any responsibility to defend shots at the rim. Like, he was jumping out of the way. It was a masterpiece of not giving a fuck.)

The Cavs badly want to make the playoffs. It has been a demoralizing four years since LeBron left, filled with on-court failure, shaky draft picks, and occasional infighting. They told everyone at the lottery last season, after winning it for the second time in four years, that none of those other lottery sad sacks would see the bow-tied Cleveland crew for a long, long time. Playoff games rake in revenue, lift spirits, and give young players valuable experience.

Cleveland has to be very careful overreacting to a cute five-game streak. It is tied for the toughest remaining schedule of any Eastern Conference team, Varejao is banged up, and it doesn’t hold the tiebreaker yet over any of its competitors for the no. 8 spot. It was refreshing to read Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com tweeting late Tuesday that the Cavaliers would be willing to deal Deng, especially if they receive any hint that Deng will not re-sign with them in the offseason. Several playoff contenders with extra picks could use Deng’s two-way production at small forward on an expiring deal, with Charlotte and Phoenix being the most obvious fits. Cleveland has to take the long view.

In the short term, some things have changed. The Cavs have been very good on both sides of the ball over these five games, but they’ve especially soared on offense. The Cavs have scored 107.6 points per 100 possessions during the streak, a mark that would rank at the edge of the top five overall, per NBA.com. That’s heady stuff for what has been a stagnant, bottom-five offense most of the season. They’ve been stingy on D, too, thanks to a philosophical shift that has probably been difficult for Mike Brown given his usual preferences on that end.

The Cavs haven’t made any major structural changes on offense, which is both encouraging and reason for pause. They’re just playing better, and especially sharing the ball more readily. Cleveland has tilted its offense even more heavily toward the pick-and-roll during this stretch, often running two or three on a single possession. It has mostly ditched post-ups, having finished just 2.6 percent of possessions that way, a figure that would be the lowest in the league over the full season by a mile — and a large decline from what the team had been doing before, per Synergy Sports.

Only Dallas has finished a larger share of possessions with a pick-and-roll ball handler shooting or turning the ball over, per Synergy. So not much has changed in that regard of late. Cleveland has redistributed a few more shots to its screen-setters rolling to the hoop or popping out for jumpers, but it’s really just running pick-and-rolls on either side of the floor until something breaks.

Moving Kyrie Irving off the ball has helped a bit, and shifting Jack into the starting lineup has facilitated that change. Irving can rocket around screens as Jack handles the ball up top, sprinting into a catch, and either jacking an open 3-pointer or shifting right into a fast-moving pick-and-roll on the sideline. Jack and Tyler Zeller might run a pick-and-roll on the right side, with Zeller popping out for a jumper as a release valve. If Jack can’t get anywhere, he’ll kick to Zeller up top. And if the jumper isn’t there, Zeller can take one dribble over to the left side and shift into a dribble handoff with Irving — basically a second pick-and-roll. The Cavs can mimic all of this stuff with Waiters and Deng in either of the Jack/Irving roles.

Everyone is clearly sharing the ball more happily, for whatever reason. The Cavs have assisted on 63 percent of their baskets during this stretch, up from about 55 percent for the season. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s equivalent to the gap between a bottom-five assist rate and a top-five figure, per NBA.com.

Irving and Waiters are looking more for each other, both in transition and in the half court. Both are skilled playmakers with score-first tendencies, but they can direct those tendencies toward passing if they focus on it. For example: Both players like to cross over toward the middle of the foul line on pick-and-rolls, often cutting in front of the screener to do so, as Waiters does here in the latter stages of a pick-and-roll with Varejao:


WAITERS

This is a classic score-first play for guards. They get to a nice shooting spot, and they often force a switch in doing so, leaving them free to take a larger defender off the bounce. Waiters takes a ton of midrange jumpers out of this action, many of them cringe-worthy chucks early in the shot clock.

But of late, both he and Irving have realized they can suck in the defense with this kind of dribble attack and kick the ball out to open shooters. On this very play, Waiters dished to Irving up top for an open 3-pointer. The Cavs are shooting 46 percent on non-corner 3s during this stretch, per NBA.com, a sizzling mark.

There are happy little things going on, too. Tristan Thompson has eight assists in five games after averaging about 0.8 per game before, and he has made some smart passes out to shooters on the pick-and-roll. He’s also diving to the rim more often, through cleaner spacing, for layups and his patented awkward right floaters. Zeller looks more and more like a real NBA player, mixing in nifty dives to the rim with a midrange jumper that comes and goes.

Then there’s Anthony Bennett. He’s an unsteady panic catching the ball on the move in the paint, and he’s far too willing to launch midrange jumpers. But he’s made some of those jumpers, and even more encouragingly, he’s finally flashed a 3-point shot on the pick-and-pop. The Cavs have also used him as a spot-up decoy around Thompson pick-and-rolls, sucking a big-man defender away from the hoop and engineering the kind of space the Cavaliers just haven’t had much this season.

Deng hasn’t been the salve the Cavs had hoped, and he has bricked his way to single-digit scoring totals in three of these five wins. But he’s a useful gap-filler who opens up more possibilities. He can set picks for point guards, often early in possessions, causing switches and confusion. Deng can pop for jumpers out of that action, post up smaller point guards in the event of a switch, and generally keep the offense moving.

It’s all working: The Cavs have a healthier shot selection, with more open jumpers and more shots at the basket, per NBA.com.

On defense, the Cavs have started playing a more conservative style, dropping their big men back into the paint against pick-and-rolls:


CAVSDROP

That is a painful admission of failure for Brown, who was brought back to clean up Cleveland’s awful defense under Byron Scott. But the Cavs rank just 20th in points allowed per possession, and they were flirting with bottom-five status for a while. Brown has always been a “hard show” coach, meaning he prefers that his big men hedge out hard on the pick-and-roll:


HEDGE

Thompson is quick enough to do that at power forward, and Varejao executed the scheme nicely for years at both big man positions. Brown has made adjustments for Andrew Bynum in Cleveland and Los Angeles, allowing Bynum to hang back, but the Cavs came into this season showing hard with basically everyone else.

That has changed of late. The shift began with only the team’s centers, but in the last couple of games, Brown has extended the conservatism to his power forwards as well.

Whether any of this really matters is up for debate. The Cavaliers have to look only at the Knicks, right next to them in the standings, for a reminder that overreacting to little four- and five-game blips is folly. New York looked to have found itself during a five-game winning streak against strong competition in January, and then again in a four-gamer later in the month against four very bad teams.

Guess what? The Knicks are still terrible. That recent four-game stretch, which loosely coincided with Pablo Prigioni’s introduction into the starting lineup and the re-rise of small ball, was mostly the product of playing bad teams at home. It was proof of nothing.

So let’s settle down a bit on the Cavs. They’ve made some nice changes, but they’re ultimately playing the same way on offense — tons of pick-and-roll, mostly so-so spacing, and predictable play calling. Time of possession and dribbles-per-game numbers for Irving and Waiters have hardly budged, and the team is throwing almost exactly the same number of passes per game as it did before this streak, according to SportVU tracking data provided to Grantland. Thompson is still a slow, over-cautious passer out of the pick-and-roll, and the Cavs aren’t going to hit 46 percent of their above-the-break triples much longer. The competition is about to get much stiffer.

There is meaningful stuff going on here — good stuff! But the Cavs should not overreact to it as the trade deadline looms.

Jordan Hill - F/C - Lakers

The Cavaliers have "strongly emerged" as a candidate to acquire Jordan Hill before Thursday's deadline, ESPN.com reports.

It's still a little strange the Nets would be willing to sign Hill because it would put their payroll and luxury tax this season at a laughable $211 million, which is more than the gross domestic product of some small countries.
The Cavaliers acquiring Hill would likely mean they'll take a stab at going for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and would hurt the playing time of Tyler Zeller and possibly a suddenly-improving Anthony Bennett.

Civ, that article was written by Zach Lowe of Grantland. Zach started as a Celtics blogger sort of like Lastoria and the Indians and then went to SI. Bill Simmons who runs Grantland hired Lowe from SI.

He knows his basketball and it is a good article but most Cavs fans do not think Lowe or Simmons are fair to the Cavs. Simmons is good friends with Mike Lombardi (Browns recently fired GM and the guy that suggested to Belichick to cut Bernie Kosar) which does not sit well with most Cleveland sports fans.

Cavs 101, Magic 93; Jason Lloyd's final thoughts on the NBA's trade deadline day
By Jason Lloyd Published: February 20, 2014

CLEVELAND: Seventeen thoughts for 17 points from Luol Deng in what could’ve been his final game with the Cavs in a 101-93 win over the Magic, their sixth straight victory…

1. Connect the dots with me: Herb Rudoy is Luol Deng’s agent. Rudoy was Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ agent. Chris Grant hired Ilgauskas to be his special assistant and teach him the ways of an NBA front office. Grant had a nice working relationship with Rudoy. Grant was fired two weeks ago.

2. As the Cavaliers continue to listen to trade offers for Deng with Thursday’s trade deadline approaching, it’s important to understand Deng is upset Grant was fired shortly after he was brought here. Deng conceded to me after Wednesday’s game he was close to Grant and wished for more time with him. Grant was fired after Deng played 14 games with the team, and there is a belief in certain circles that the price to retain Deng in Cleveland went up after Grant’s firing. Deng did little to dispute that following Wednesday’s victory.

3. “I spoke highly of the organization here and how great everything is and how the players are taken care of to perform at their best, but there’s a lot of questions here that aren’t answered,” Deng said when asked if he’s determined to hit free agency. “We just got rid of our GM, the guy who traded for me, so I really don’t know what’s going on. If it’s clear exactly what’s going on, it’ll make everything easier.”

4. All of that is part of the reason the Cavs are listening to offers for him, plus there is a concern how well he fits into this system. If the Cavs can obtain a first-round pick for him, plus find a replacement at the 3, Deng could be moved today. He wasn’t traded for 9 ½ years, but now he could be dealt twice within two months because he’s in the last year of his deal.

5. “I really believe if it wasn’t my contract year, I wouldn’t have been here,” Deng said. “Chicago felt, for whatever reason, they couldn’t keep me and made a move. Now I’m here and because it’s my contract year it’s going to come up again.”

6. And in case you were wondering whether or not Deng wants to be here, he addressed the elephant in the room and perhaps became the first pro athlete to admit, “Nobody is going to come out and say I want to be traded. That’s not me anyway. The situation I’m in, I always work out whatever I go through. I’ve never been the guy to come out and say, ‘I don’t want to be here.’” Not exactly a ringing endorsement to remain in Cleveland, however.

7. Jarrett Jack came here willingly, signing a three-year deal with a team option for a fourth year. Yet he, too, could be moved today. The Cavs have been actively shopping him for weeks.

8. He hasn’t been what the Cavs expected on the court and he hasn’t been the locker room influence many expected, either. Jack admitted tonight he hasn’t had the type of year he was expecting and knew full well people were expecting a year similar to last season at Golden State, when he averaged 12.9 points, 5.6 assists and shot 45 percent.

9. Jack’s 8.4-point average this season is his lowest since his rookie year and he’s shooting below 40 percent for just the second time in his career. But Jack said the role he has been asked to play is far different than last year with the Warriors, when he had the ball in his hands more often because Steph Curry was comfortable in an off-ball role. Kyrie Irving plays with the ball in his hands much more, although Jack’s assists totals have increased since he was moved into the starting lineup.

10. “The way I’ve played in past situations is different here,” Jack said, conceding people were expecting numbers similar to what he produced last season. “Here Kyrie is more of an on-ball kind of guy. Steph is more of a guy who can float at times because he shoots so well. He pretty much likes that. With me, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way. Sometimes they’re a lot, sometimes they aren’t. That’s the way the ball bounces at times. You stick with it through the ups and downs, good and bad and keep rolling. Right now, six wins in a row, there’s no need to focus on anything individually.”

11. So why are the Cavs so anxious to unload Jack? Part of it is his lack of production, part of it is his contract and I have to believe part of it is how much Mike Brown loves Matthew Dellavedova. It’s hard for Brown to find him minutes right now, but he has proven capable of handling the backup point guard duties.

12. The Cavs need to clear as much payroll as they can for this summer. That starts with Jack. They have discussed sending Jack to the Sacramento Kings for weeks and the two names mentioned most frequently, as I wrote on Tuesday, were Jason Thompson and Marcus Thornton.

13. But Thornton was traded to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday and ESPN is reporting the Cavs are trying to find another home for Thompson, whose guaranteed money is about the same as Jack’s over the next two seasons. The Kings have tried unsuccessfully for months to unload Thompson, so I’m not sure how much luck the Cavs will have. Teams just don’t want to take on much guaranteed money right now.

14. Having said all that, the Cavs remain confident they’ll get something done before the deadline. One executive warned that while the Cavs are buyers, they could make a deal that doesn’t seem to fit with the “buying” mentality, but it could lead to a better fit elsewhere. As we get closer to the 3 p.m. trade deadline, that type of definition fits for both Jack and Deng.

15. By the way, there was a game tonight and the Cavs won again. It was encouraging to see them fight back after playing poorly in the third quarter and giving away most of a 21-point lead, only to hold on and win. This is the type of game they’d have lost a couple months ago, but now that they’ve won a few they have the belief they can win these types of games. The Magic, however, are 0-for-2014 on the road and likely have the sense something will go wrong and cost them the game. And they were right.

16. I understand why they’re trying to unload Jack, but I’m not sure moving Deng is the right decision unless they’re absolutely positive he’s going to walk at the end of the season and I don’t think they can be sure of that. I don’t see how they can be. Sure, maybe he’s upset right now. But Deng wants money this summer. Lots of money. And the Cavs have the money to spend.

17. We’ll see what happens. Happy Deadline Day. Talk to you Friday from Toronto.

Cavs Receive Offer Of First-Rounder For Waiters
February 19 at 10:08am CST By Chuck Myron

At least one team has offered the Cavaliers a first-round pick for Dion Waiters, but a deal is nonetheless unlikely, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. It’s unclear whether it’s a likely lottery pick or one destined to fall in the 20s, or what sort of protections would be attached, but it’s still perhaps the strongest indication to date that the Cavs are unwilling to part with the second-year shooting guard.

A December report indicated Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was high on Waiters and wanted to keep him amid rumors that stemmed from a team meeting around that time. Some executives around the league have continued to believe Waiters would be available before the deadline, but it appears that if he is, the 2012 fourth overall pick will come with quite a high price tag.

Kyrie Irving recently referred to Waiters as a friend, helping dispel the notion that the Cavs guards were at odds. Waiters’ production has plateaued in his second year in the league, but he is shooting the deep ball better, making 36.3% of his three-point attempts compared this season compared to 31% last year.

A December report indicated Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was high on Waiters and wanted to keep him

By far, Gilbert's favorite player not named Lebron.

Cavs get Hawes for (2) second rounders. I think that is pretty good value and means we probably move a big at some point....

Definitely a nice, inexpensive pickup.


Spencer Hawes - F/C - Cavaliers

Philadelphia center Spencer Hawes has been traded to the Cavaliers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The Sixers will get two second-round picks (and maybe a player) in return for the center, who is averaging 13.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on the season.

With Anderson Varejao's current back injury the Cavs have been starting Tyler Zeller at center, and Hawes should be an upgrade.

Jarrett Jack - G - Cavaliers

The Plain Dealer is reporting on Twitter that Jarrett Jack isn't likely to be traded by the Cavaliers on Thursday.
The tweet was short, sweet and offered no details. He had 10 points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals, two blocks and a 3-pointer last night.

Although I was dead set againts the Waiters draft pick, I think it is a major error if they trade him for a mid to late #1. He can be a dynamic scorer and is fully capable of running this team. If Kyrie won't sign I would trade him for a top 3 pick and then let Waiters run the show

There is no and I mean no chance that Kyrie will not re-sign with the Cavs.

Earl Clark is part of the Hawes trade.

Report: Cavs acquire Hawes; Zeller being shopped
By Jason Lloyd Published: February 20, 2014
Hawes, Spencer and Zeller
The Cavs reportedly acquired Spencer Hawes, left, from the Sixers on Thursday. Now Tyler Zeller could be on the move. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
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The Cavaliers have acquired center Spencer Hawes from the Philadelphia 76ers, according to national reports.

The 7-foot-1 Hawes is in the final year of a deal paying him $6.5 million. He is averaging 13 points and 8.5 rebounds this season, his seventh in the league. The Cavs have held talks with the Sixers for weeks regarding Hawes, a league source said prior to the trade going through.

Additionally, a league source told the Beacon Journal the Cavs have been shopping second-year center Tyler Zeller the last few days. Hawes’ arrival could signal Zeller’s exit.

The Cavs will send the Sixers a pair of 2014 second-round picks, according to Yahoo Sports. But the Cavs will have to send salary back to the Sixers to make the money work under league rules. The Cavs have three second-round picks in this draft: their own, plus picks from Memphis and Orlando.

Yahoo Sports was the first to report the trade and CBS Sports confirmed it.

OK, so maybe nothing will happen this afternoon but things are sizing up nicely for a couple more moves.

The Cavs just acquired one of the players that Houston wanted Spencer Hawes. The Rockets also are interested in Andy and Zeller. So the Cavs now have 3 targets the Rockets want.

The Warriors are also trying to acquire any front court players they can which would include Andy or Zeller. Might be as simple as Barnes or others.

Plus the PD has reported that Jack will probably not be moved today. So expect Jack to get moved.

At the same time you got teams trying to acquire Deng.

Not sure what what will happen but there are a lot of offers on the table. Who blinks first ?