Wilting In The Heat

first of all, my heart truly goes out to Z. as a parent. i can only think that having something like that happen to me and my wife would be beyond devasating. i question his coming back so soon. i really do. he played without passion yesterday and any of us can understand why. but the rest of the team has a job to do, despite the difficult time Z is going through and i think it might be best of he takes the rest of the year off. i hope i am not coming off to insensitive here, as that is not my intent at all. it is my opinion that Z's heart, understandably, might not be into basketball right now and one must be really into it now as the push towards the playoffs has begun in earnest.

i also think that it seems more likely now that my hunch that Z might retire after this season might come true. he just hasn't looked like a guy who is having fun out there on the court. whatever he decides, i wish him and his family well.

ok, so on to yesterday's game...it was horrible to watch. just like the chicago game. we defended quite well and still lost. hughes continues to play as of he has little or no desire to run the offense. gooden, as i feared, has responed to all the trade rumors by playing awfully. the only people i see on the court who have the talent and drive are LBJ, andy and gibson. donyell has played fairly well too but the rest of the "rotation" is just pitiful. who woulda thought that the cavs would need sasha quite so badly as they do now?

some memes need to die right here and now. the first, and most obvious, one is that "defense wins games." here's how many points the cavs have given up in the first 3 games post all-star break: 85, 84 and 86. futhermore, the cavs held toronto to 42% shooting, chicago to 43% and miami to 43%. fantastic D, no? any team would be thrilled to hold it's opponents to that kind of low FG%. yet, the cavs never shot even 40% in any of those games. so, it seems the better a job the cavs do on defense, the worse they do on offense.

the next meme that needs to die is the "jump shots are bad" theory best articulated by cavs beat reporter brian windhorst of the ABJ. in his latest blog post he says that the cavs were engaged in "3-point chucking basketball." yet, the cavs shot almost 50% from the 3-point like so in actuality, that was the best part of the cavs offensive attack yesterday! even the abc commenter jon barry said a few times yesterday that LBJ made the right play in kicking out the ball to wide-open 3-point shooters! windhorst's dislike of jumpshots and his unwillingness to recognize their place in the game is bordering on the pathalogical at this point. though i will concede that watching hughes chuck up horrible jumper after horrible jumper can make even the most jump-shot loving purist depise that shot!

the last meme that must die is that we don't have a "true" point guard. as i stated before, the recent past shows that the championship-caliber teams rarely have had "true" point guards. look at the best team this year, the mavericks. jason terry is a classic combo guard, as is billups of the pistons. so that is a red herring at best. secondly, one play yesterday showed me that gibson is more than capable of being the PG the cavs need and that was when he blew past the whole heat squad (seemingly) and got to the hoop and then got shaq to commit to him and then dished a beautiful no-look to andy who had a easy dunk/lay-up but got fouled before he could complete the play. it was a thing of beauty and showed me that given the "go-ahead," gibson could lead this team from the PG spot and make plays. but instead you have a coach who plays things sooooooooo close to the vest that he has gibson come up and hand the ball off as soon as possible. it's so silly. you've got a greyhound and you have him be a showdog...ok, bad analogy but still...

one last thing, in both the chicago and miami games, if the game is close in the 4th quater, as they were, and they're games you have to have, then why not, instead of running the same offensive sets that have not been working, have LBJ have the ball out top and run screen and rolls and let him make plays, as we have seen a lot in the last two years? it's not how you want to run the offense all the time, i know but in games like this, it was needed.

Chicago Bull**** Or How Wrong Can One Man Be?

well, that game set back pro basketball what? about 20 years? no, wait, 20 years ago pro basketball players could shoot the damned ball! ack! this is a game that should've been a cavs win, despite not having 3 regular players tonight. obviously the biggest missing piece was sasha. his multi-faceted offensive game was much needed tonight.

so, after i spent my last post extolling the vitures of andy's recent play and how he should be the starter, he comes out today and gets schooled by wallace (who hasn't played that well in 18 months. seriously). of course, he looked very tired tonight and maybe the back-to-back games took a toll on him. it sure seemed like it. he just was out of position all night and did not have his usual energy. true, he did have at least two complete bullshite calls go against him but still. he needed to play better.

the bulls had over 24 turnovers, shot 43% and scored 84 points. and won! why because the cavs shot 38% from the field and 50% from the line and LBJ, i'm sorry to say, was the main culprit from the line. 3 of 8...whew...this after he shot over 80% from the line in his last 2 games. dang...

larry hughes gets the brick layer award for shooting from the field tonight as he shot -- get this -- nine for twenty-six!!! good lord...

this has been a recurring problem and but it was remedied somewhat by sasha coming into his own the last 10 games. but we need to find a offensive coach next year or make some serious personal moves this off-season.

but i will not let this game get me down too much. i still am so enthused about gibson. he did some good things tonight, though he let wallace get him a couple of times but he's gonna learn. he just has so much talent, one can't help but be excited about watching him develop. as i've said before it tough on him and tough on the cavs to try and compete for the conference title while trying to develop a young talent like gibson. not easy...

but when ya give up only 84 points per game in two games you have to come out of that 2-0. you have to...

A Whole Lotta Nothing

well, nothing happened vis-a-vis bibby and the cavs, which is not too much of a surprise, as it was somewhat of a longshot from all i had read and heard in the last few days. the best news to me was that we didn't get the terrible marcus banks from phoenix. he sucks and would be of no help to the cavs this year.

the upside to this is that bibby knows the cavs wanted him and if he decides to opt out of his deal at the end of the year, which he seems likely to do, he can come to the cavs and according to brian windhorst, gilbert will not have a problem going into the luxury tax realm to get a player like bibby.

anyway, moving on to last night's game, it was a damn good win. the cavs shot pretty badly but muscled out a win with from timely buckets by LBJ and good defense. and of course, andy was astounding last night. i wonder what Z is thinking these days, cuz he's lost his damn job. or at least he should've lost his job. andy gives better numbers than Z (and yeah, he's has better offensive numbers than ilgauskas! andy in his 4 starts this year is avg. 16 and 12 per, while Z has given us about 12 and 8 per) and is a far superior individual defender than Z. sure, ilgauskas is a better shot blocker but he is such a liability defending the pick 'n roll, for example, that his shot blocking ain't making it up. the only problem that i forsee with putting ilgauskas on the bench is that i don't think he will become more effective off the bench, as snow has. i think Z is just not the type of player who can come off the bench "warm" enough to contribute.

when the season starts next year, andy will be 24 and Z will be 32. we have to move him or maybe he will retire. i'm not sure if he retires just how that would effect the cavs salary cap structure but i guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. but i'm telling ya, i've got a feelin' he might hang 'em up. just a hunch...

so, a good win last night and a smackdown of the bulls at the Q tonight would go a long way towards shutting up all the national pundits, who have pretty much handed the east to the pistons. we'll see...

All-Star Break

well, my record with calling out snow publicly, mostly in the comment section of windhorst's blog but also a couple days ago here on the blog after the utah loss, is spotless still! in case you are wondering what i mean, it seems everytime i point out how dismal his play is, he responds with a stellar game. the last time he did so that i can recall was the clipper game in l.a. where he had a great game. and make no mistake he had a GREAT game against the lakers thursday (oh and no, i don't really think my public "calling out" of snow has any real effect on anything but it has turned into a fun thing for me to keep track of. and yes, i understand it may seem lame to you! it most likely is lame. nonetheless...).

anyway, LBJ and snow had fantastic games thursday and LBJ was as agressive as he's been in sometime. i know he's pacing himself but he obviously recognized that going into the all-star break with a win was very important. he attacked the basket with abandon and his two bone-rattling screens that allowed snow to get the hoop late in the 4th were fantastic basketball plays. i thought LBJ did a good job again about not forcing his offense in the 4th in trying to get caught up in a mano e mano with kobe. speaking of kobe, i thought sasha, snow and LBJ all did a pretty good job on him defensively.

obviously, i can't go further without mentioning free throws. LBJ and snow really stepped up and hit big FT's in the 4th. yes, LBJ missed that one but after getting the loose ball on the miss, he stepped right up and hit 2 to ice the game.

andy played damn well. again. for the two games he started he avg. 12 points on 50% shooting with 14 boards per. he even shot 6 of 9 at the charity stripe! i have no doubt that if he started 82 games he would lead the league in rebounding.

starting andy would be the best option for this team, IMNSHO but i worry whether Z, unlike snow, would be worth a damn off the bench. i don't think he would. i would hope that the cavs look to move him during the summer while he still has some value. we might be able to get some young talent in return. i could see a western conference team like the lakers or jazz or even san antonio could be interested. now, i'm not going to even bother to look at what pieces those teams might have that would be desirable to the cavs now. i'll wait til the off-season. but the larger point is that andy will more than hold his own as a center. in fact, it would most likely an improvement over ilgauskas. esp. as andy's offense gets better in the next year or so...

*over at brian windhorsts blog he says of snow's performance against l.a., "Eric Snow gets a gold star with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists. He won't do this every night but it shows what it means when LeBron doesn't have to spend so much time at point guard. Again, having one would make such a major difference on this team." well, i think the cavs do have one and his name is gibson. well, let me amend that slightly; i think we have one named gibson. but i think the kid is really coming around as he had 5 assists in a little over 11 minutes against utah before getting hurt! now, if you extrapolate that out to his usual 20 minutes or so, that double-digit assists, folks. as many of you know, windhorst made a fairly big deal about gibson not having any assists in his first few starts. well, maybe gibson reads his blog. i dunno but he sure looked like a "true" point guard before getting hurt. gibson's play reminds me of andy when he first started to get some run during the silas regime. many people cautioned about getting "too excited" about the rook. well, i thought he had game and that has proven to be the case, at least so far. i get the same feeling from gibson. plus, i think gibson is very smart. he seems to learn and improve almost nightly. he is goling to be a carlos boozer like-2nd rd. steal for this team.

* i'm sure most of you have heard the scottie pippen comeback stories by now. the "nice" thing, if you wanna call it that, is that pippen said on friday that "'I think I can really help teams like Miami and Cleveland...'' i am intrigued, esp, since he can run the point or at least could run the point and obviously, the cavs could use that. he aslo made many nice comments about LBJ last year when working the nba for espn/abc, so...i dunno if he can still do it but i'd be willing to use a veteran's exception to find out!

* looking around the league i am struck how LBJ's two "rivals" 'melo and wade both have their teams right around .500. yet the national media has treated them both, esp. wade, as great heores who have done so well this year. meanwhile the "what's wrong with LBJ" meme continues unabated! despite him leading his team to a superior record. without superior talent around him, i might say! how is wade so lauded for leading the heat to a .500 record? can someone explain this to me?? yeah, i know, i know...what if LBJ had to play without his 2nd leading scorer for a good chunk of the year like wade has had to do without shaq? oh, wait! LBJ did do that last year and lead his damn team to 50 wins! man, i hope LBJ sees how winning a ring makes you the king of the world, no matter what you do, or don't do, as the case may be! ridiculous...

Snow In Utah And Other Disasters

last night's one-point loss to utah hurts. badly.

i suppose the first thing that we should mention in the no-call on sasha at the end of the game. brian windhorst says on his blog that he "didn't even look at a replay to see if Sasha Pavlovic was fouled on the last play. It doesn't matter and I don't care." well, i looked at the replay countless times and i do care that it was clearly a foul and shame on the two veteran refs for not calling it. look, i know what the unwritten' "rules" are in the nba. as i've said before, i've been watching it for 25-odd years. and i understand that refs like to swallow their whistles at the end of games. and yes, the refs had been "lettin' 'em play" for most of the game BUT i think you've got to call an obvious foul at 11:59 left in the first qtr. or 1 second left in the game. because if ya don't, then teams like utah know that they can get away with bumping and all that other junk they do.

of course, if LBJ made his FTs we woulda won...if we got ANY POINTS AT ALL from snow, we woulda won! when gibson went out in early in the game, he had 5 assists. at the end of the game he lead the team in assists. so, in other words no one, esp. snow was moving the ball very well. in fact, snow reminded me why i was so happy when he went to the bench. he made no shots, had stupid turnovers and generally played like crap. his defense was not anything to write home about either.

andy played well in Z absence but i expected that. though he kept switching with snow on those pick and rolls. i'm not sure why brown was ok with that, yet he seemed to be...hughes was great. the best i've seen him play since being in a cavs uniform. too bad it was wasted.

LBJ struggled with his jump shot but made some damn good plays down the stretch. gooden was en fuego in the 3rd, of course...damn what a waste as well...

brown made some questionable coaching moves, mainly his keeping jones on the bench all game. i think damon can be useful; certainly more so then wesley, who somehow got 6 minutes of action. also, he left LBJ on the bench too long in the 4th.

but okur and williams made shots in the 4th. btw, it'll sound like sour grapes but williams carries the ball ALL THE TIME. the refs have done a good job calling that this year but for whatever reason turned a blind eye to williams' many infractions last night.

sasha had his worst game in sometime as well but made a big 3 and shoulda went to the line at the end...i was concerned he might get psyched-out playin' against sloan and the jazz and it appears he did. but it's a growing process with him and we've gotta expect some clunkers still from him...


the good news, fwiw, is that both the pistons and bulls lost so the cavs lost no ground but oh, what might've been...


tonight we get the lakers with revenge on on their minds. and no gibson or Z either. sheesh...


* bud shaw thinks LBJ is tired and i think most would agree, but it's unlikely that he'll get much rest during all-star weekend

* gordan giricek lies to the press after the game about the last play of the game: "There was nothing,” he said. “No foul because he did not know where he was going. He saw me, like, at the last moment. He tried to slide by me and he hit into my shoulder. But I was standing there about two seconds, in my spot.”
sorry, gordo, you MOVED into sasha AND threw your shoulder at him to intiate the contact. but there was no call, so "who cares," right?

*truehoop, a damn fine nba blog, is now part of the espn "family." we wish good luck to henry...

Reading Between The Lines

after yesterday's loss to the cavs, lakers coach phil jackson said "According to Kobe, nobody else wanted to step up in that sequence," refering to the 4th quarter when kobe took 8 of the lakers 19 shots. now, that might seem like a reasonable statistic considering kobe is the best player on the l.a. squad, right? but if ever there was an instance where the black and white of statistics does not even begin to tell the whole story, it's that stat! if you watched the game, you saw that kobe just started shooting and froze out the rest of his teammates. LBJ, on the other hand, didn't get caught up in making it the LBJ/kobe show and instead lead the team in the 4th quarter to victory.

yes, i am in the bag for LBJ and the cavs. no doubt. i am fan but i'm also a basketball nut and i've closely followed nba basketball for over 25 years and yesterday proved to me that in very simple terms, LBJ is a winner and kobe bryant isn't. period. kobe thinks he's MJ. he wants to be MJ and, as anyone can see, he is doomed to failure on that course. even with MJ's old coach. the lakers and kobe choked in the playoffs last year, while LBJ lead the cavs farther than anyone could've predicted. and no one did predict, for that matter! and yesterday i saw the same theme played out on the court. a guy who is a ballhog, albeit a super-talented ballhog, killed his team in the 4th while a guy who shares the basketball and loves to get others involved, lead his team to over 30 points in the final and most important quarter of the game! while others-let's say the less informed basketball fan-will always be more impressed by people like kobe or wade who seemingly coast (esp. wade) for 3 quarters before "taking over" in the 4th quarter, i remain more impressed by LBJ who, when he doesn't have it happening offensively, will look to lead his team in other ways. for my money, his dishes to sasha and andy yesterday were mundane yet brilliant at the same time.

LBJ has always said that he will do whatever it takes to win and he showed that yesterday. that is REAL leadership; not the guy who takes the last shot or most shots in the 4th quarter. it's the guy who does the things that leads his team to wins that count. i know this seems so simply obvious that it barely requires mention. but, unfortunately, it clearly does in today's media climate. look at this quote from an article on who will contend in the east by "famed" nba writer dave d'allasandro: "James isn't nearly as dominant as he was a year ago, and he is a reluctant leader -- though the rout of Miami was a powerful statement." "reluctant leader?" you know what that is code for, don't ya? it means he doesn't take a ton of shots! that is the modern definition of a "leader" in the nba!! this is something that is a truly negative aspect of MJ's legacy.

LBJ reallly is more like magic that jordan or bird, or whomever. and like magic, he needs to improve his jumpshot. when he does that, well, he will then become a player like no other...

***random thoughts***

*sasha is truly playing great basketball and he really does seem to be like a "lebron jr."

* speaking of sasha, he was part of what i think is the most effective line-up for the cavs and that is LBJ, sasha, hughes, andy and either marshall or gooden. it it the most dynamic and versatile line-up , both on offense and defense. kudos to brown for going with that look recently.

* bud shaw of the plain dealer parrots what seems to be the default line for cavs media types and says in today's column that "The Cavaliers still need a point guard..." will this never end?

gibson has been part of the tonic that has lead the cavs on this winning streak!! our defensive numbers have IMPROVED since he was inserted in the starting line-up! he is shooting over 60% from the field! over 50% from 3-pointland!

*brian windhorst notes in article today that snow now "likes" coming off the bench. well, i think we all do! that's why so many of us called for it SOONER! face it, the "snow is the past we have and must start!" crowd were wrong and i wish that we'd get some public comments admitting this fact...but i would guess we're not likely to see that anytime soon!

snow has been a COMPLETELY different player coming off the bench and even hit two jumpers in the game!! when was the last time he hit two jumpers in a game?? november? but anyway, kudos to him for taking the benching the right way and helping the team be better. now, if only we could Z to consider the same...

*the cavs, after yesterday's win, have the best record of ANY eastern conference team against the western conference. i really wish we'd beaten the pistons that last time we played them, as it would've sealed the deal that we are/were the best team in the east. the fact that we're the best against the superior western conference should be enough but even i will admit that beating detroit is a bugaboo to the cavs at this point...

Here We Go Again

well, today's ABJ had cavs column's by both pluto and windhorst and both said things that they've said before and that i think are wrong. or at least misguided, at best.

let's start with the good reverend pluto's column. for some reason he devotes a great deal of his coulmn giving time to what can only be described as complete idiot "fans" who are bitchin' and moanin' about how LBJ is not as good as anthony and wade, blah, blah, blah...pluto even says this at one point, " Wade is a superior player at this stage of his career partly because he's three years older. He's a super talent and a mature guy, and he plays with superior talent around him. During the next 10 years, we will be talking about Wade vs. James much as we did Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson. The fact that Wade is winning more and receiving better reviews should drive James to keep improving."

ok, where to start...first of all, in what way is wade a "superior player" to LBJ? is it because he has a ring and LBJ doesn't? if that's your only criteria for judging a player, fine but by that thinking i guess robert horry, who has like 7 rings or something, is a great player.

here's the FACTS: LBJ compares more than favorably to wade in almost every statistical category. except FT%, of course. wade shoots almost 82% there. they both avg. about 20 shots a game and wade shoots about 1% point higher than LBJ but both are right near 49% in FG%. LBJ averages about 2 more rebounds a game than wade; wade averages about 2 assists more than james. james is a much better 3-point shbooter at 34%, while wade shoots 24%. wade averages more turnovers a game as well.

and since we're talking about winning being the true measure of a player, the cavs have 5 more wins this year than the heat. and please don't come to me with the injury excuse. the cavs had a lot of injuries last year and james lead them to 50 wins.

this leads me to something i touched on briefly last time, which is the lack of criticism of wade for the fact that his team is stinking it up this year. he is the undisputed best player on his team, yet the injury excuse is used by national media people and he escapes any criticism. it's kinda baffling to me. could you imagine kobe or LBJ, for example, if they won a championship and the next year were below .500 at the all-star break? the mind boggles at all the column inches that would be devoted to them. yet, again, nary a mention of wade.

wade CANNOT be considered the best player in the league as long as shaq is on his team. period. the heat won the championship because shaq is a physical specimen (with hardly any actual basketball skills, btw) that no other team can match up well with. that combined with the most insane refereeing since the days of the "bad boys" championship run, allowed miami to steal that series. like kobe, i will judge wade after shaq retires. this is the only true way to compare people like kobe, wade and LBJ.

now we move on to my favorite line of bullshit from pluto and, i'm sorry to say, windhorst as well. both take time in their columns to bemoan our perceived lack of a point guard. pluto says "That said, the Cavs probably won't become an elite team until they find a point guard who really does control the offense. Rookie Daniel Gibson is more of a Steve Kerr/John Paxson-type guard." here we go again, indeed...where to begin? ok, first of all, how did it work out for paxson and kerr, hmm? how many rings do they have between them? like 8? gee, i think we'd take it if gibson ended up having a career like those fellas. how many rings did super-elite point guard john stockton have? what? none? but...well, ok how about 2-time MVP steve nash? also zero? how can this be??

well, for starters if we look at history, we find that since 1990, there has been one team who won the championship with an elite-type point guard; the pistons a couple of years ago. the rockets of the mid-90's and the spurs won with with pretty good point guards but their teams were defined by their interior play for sure.

meanwhile, the bulls and the lakers won mutiple titles with non-tradtional point guards. yes, i know they ran the triangle but ya know, they also had LBJ-type players in MJ and kobe. it seems to me that phil jackson has recognized that one needen't have an traditional point guard to win it all, while people like pluto and his ilk still think it's the 80's and that isiah and magic are the answer to winning in the nba.

against the heat the other day we saw how the cavs SHOULD play most of the time. LBJ, hughes and sasha on the floor at the same time. and don't gimme that shit about guarding "quick" 2-guards. i have no doubt LBJ and sahsa are capable of guarding them because i've SEEN them do it. and besides, i'd rather focus on the problems those players pose to the oppostion, rather than focus on what the oppostion might due to us. it's called creating mismatches and putting the pressure on the other team.

it wouldn't be a pluto column, of course, without another plea to get Z more touches. pluto really is priceless, isn't he? or should i say shameless? one day after Z shot 1-7 and got lifted for POLLARD because he wasn't guarding shaq either, pluto bemoans Z lack of minutes: "I'd like to see Ilgauskas play more. He's averaging nearly 12 points and 8.1 rebounds in only 27 minutes. He's slow, but his 7-foot-3 frame does help clog up the middle. You don't see many opposing centers throwing in 30 points on the Cavs." hahaha! yes, he seriously think's "clog(ging) up the middle" on a team full of greyhounds is a GOOD thing! jeebus, where do i start? isn't it clear to pluto that Z isn't getting more minutes because andy is almost ALWAYS more effective that him?? i swear, what will it take for pluto to wake up?

for some reason windhorst's column isn't online yet, so i can't give you his gibson quotes but i will address 'em when i can link 'em for ya. needless to say, he's down on the rook, per usual...

Rubik's Cube or Bad Analogy Time...

well, obviously last night was just about as good a game as the cavs had had all year, really. LBJ was at his multi-talented best and at least for one game, should shut up the doubters who do not think he should be the primary ballhandler (to that point, wade is the primary ballhandler for the heat yet i rarely read in the national press any criticism of him for that. certainly not anywhere near the same amount as LBJ gets. of course, wade cannot lead his team to an above .500 record either and seemingly suffers nary a bit for it in the eyes of the nba media. curious, no?) for the team.

in fact, last night was manna from heaven for those of us who have dreamed of a team with 3 guys like LBJ, sasha and hughes all playing interchangeable roles and displaying their many skills all at the same time. it was truly wonderful to see. last night showed the potential of the versatility of this roster.

so, to my "rubik's cube" analogy. the point is that i believe that gibson and sasha have allowed the cavs to "figure out" the puzzle that has been their rotation for all of this year and even goin' back to last year. the effect is really quite amazing. the fact that gibson can shoot and help push the tempo has changed everything, really. and does anyone, even the most staunchest of snow defenders, not agree that he is playing his best basketball of the season OFF THE BENCH? he gives that second unit a bit of stablilty and then sasha gives you "LBJ lite" off the bench as well! it so that now instead of hoping that we maintain a lead when the startes go out, we are actually extending that lead.

as for those defensive-minded fans amongst us, well you must be giddy as you watched hughes, sasha and LBJ ALL guard wade at some point during last night's game and all do a pretty damn good job. esp. sasha and LBJ.

last night could be the turning point we've been waiting for. the effect of sasha and gibson has been like that of a trade. it really has. and the best part to me is that LBJ is 22, gibson is 20, sahsa is 23, andy is 24, drew is what? 25? shannon brown is 22...even hughes is still in his 20's! this team can really be special esp. as the pistons and heat will implode next year. the cavs can be the dominant eastern conference team in the next year and half if last night is anything to go by. for once, it seems like the cavs have figured out what the future of basketball is and it is having versatile, multi-talented players on the floor at the same time doing multiple things.

oh, i am also for benching Z for andy. after seeing how the benching of snow has lit a fire under him, i think Z is the next candidate for this "treatment." his play last night was just short of embarrassing. he did absolutely nothing on offense and his D was almost as bad. his only saving grace is that he did rebound the ball reasonably well. my friend remarked again how Z seems to play with no passion at all. i concur and even wonder if benching him would have any effect on him! but i shouldn't complain too much after that game last night. so, bring on kobe and phil...

LBJ's "lack" of improvement

henry over at truehoop hi-lighted this espn insider post by david thorpe about LBJ's "lack" of improvement this year over last. now, the article does do a nice job on giving some perspective on the season LBJ is having this year. thorpe points out how truly great LBJ's season was last historically ( let me just say that it should be evident to all that LBJ should've won the MVP last year over nash. nash is clearly the MVP this year but probably won't get it due to the writers not wanting to give him 3 in a row. but it is the writers who didn't give it to LBJ last year because, i think, they thought that LBJ would win it plenty of times in the future. which is pure garbage. he deserved it and shoulda got it) and how he's still having a great year this year and then spends the rest of the article "scouting" LBJ's game.

the interesting thing to me as a cavs fan is this little tidbit:

First, James appears unwilling to take (and sometimes unable to make) the midrange shots that are available to him.
Second, he's forcing the drive. He often seems locked in on getting to the rim, going up against three or four defenders in traffic. He is rushing his right hand drives and going right into the web that his opponents have spun for him, with no angle to the basket and several tall players to contest his shots.
In watching him closely, I'm amazed at the number of off-balance runners he has tossed up to the rim, mostly hoping for foul calls, which rarely come from this type of shot.
Of course, when he is able to get by the defense and get his shoulders to the rim, he is an incredibly explosive finisher, and he is known for his ability to score on "and ones." But scoring consistently against three or more defenders is too much to ask, even for James.

now this analysis, from an outside observer, flies right in the face of the complaints of fans and cleveland media types, most esp., it must be said, mr. "i hate the jump shot" windhorst. we hear time and again both in our newspapers and in blog posts and comments how LBJ mustn't "settle" for jumpshots and that he must "always" look to drive to the hole. well, here's an "expert" saying that is not the secret to success for LBJ!

LBJ faces that same conundrum MJ did early in his career. he has to learn how to consistently make a jump shot. simple and oh, so true, despite the naysayers. jumpshots will win you games. what is jordan's most remembered clutch moment? a dunk? nope, a jump shot to beat utah for his 6th championship...

the other problem for LBJ, not mentioned in this article, is that james' teamates have not learned yet, save for maybe varejo, how to dive to the hoop when LBJ commands the triple team in the lane that he so often does. then his great vision could lead to easy lay-ups off the dish, IMHO...

Welcome

ok, so i've had the idea about doin' a blog for a while now and so, here it is! this is an obvious outgrowth of my commenting on both brian windhorst's blog and truehoop. a lot of people there said they enjoyed my comments (and others didn't!), so that, coupled with a dearth of good cavs blogs, IMHO, has lead me to this. i hope this will turn into a lively area for intelligent debate about the cavs. i also hope that we don't get a lot of people who either say "the cavs can do no wrong" or it's more insidious brother (particular to cleveland sports fans) "the cavs suck no matter what!"

i look forward to having a lot of comments to my posts and i will actively engage in the comments section as well.

so, let's talk cavs basketball, eh?