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August 11, 2010
As most of you know by now, the NBA has officially released the schedules for the 2010-11 season. In past years, the schedule revelation has always been an exciting event. We would get to check which games were all going to be nationally televised, circle certain marquee matchups, note when the big grudge matches with Boston, Orlando, and Los Angeles were going to be.
Not this year. This year, it was actually a little somber. The Cavaliers have 1 game on TNT (LeBron’s return “home”), 1 game on ESPN (a Sunday night matchup with New Orleans…a ratings blockbuster for sure), and 1 game on NBATV (a Sunday night game in Phoenix…I’ll leave it up to you if you want to count NBATV as “nationally televised”).
As for the marquee matchups? There are none. Well, ok, everyone’s going to pay attention when LeBron plays the Cavaliers, but pretty much all else is lost. Do the Wizards fans care about Cleveland anymore? I doubt it. Those bitter and fierce rivalry games with Boston are a thing of the past. Dwight Howard no longer has LeBron to make fun of anymore. The Lakers games are going to be some of the ugliest games of the year. Oh, and remember all those epic and exciting LeBron James vs Dwyane Wade head to head matchups that were so riveting all these years? Those are all done.
It’s a bitter feeling to stare in the face exactly what was all taken away from us, but that’s the reality of this situation. We have to accept it and move on. So ok, maybe the opponents who the Cavaliers are playing isn’t important anymore. That doesn’t mean this team can’t be fun to watch even in losing more than we’re used to. Now it’s all about growth and development and seeing how different pieces can fit together without LeBron James around.
So without further ado, lets break down the schedule:
- October 2010
- Total Games: 3
- Home: 2
- Away: 1
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.467
- November 2010
- Total Games: 14
- Home: 7
- Away: 7
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.438
- December 2010
- Total Games: 15
- Home: 6
- Away: 9
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.472
- January 2011
- Total Games: 16
- Home: 5
- Away: 11
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.565
- February 2011
- Total Games: 11
- Home: 9
- Away: 2
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.459
- March 2011
- Total Games: 15
- Home: 9
- Away: 6
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.475
- April 2011
- Total Games: 8
- Home: 3
- Away: 5
- Opponents’ 2009-10 Win Pct: 0.425
So there you have it. Throughout October and November, the Cavaliers will have some winnable games in which they can work on finding their footing and figuring out their rotations and developing on court chemistry. There aren’t any extended road trips or home stands in that time, but instead it tends to alternate a lot: 2 at home, 3 away, 3 home, 3 away, etc.
December and January, however, are going to be the gauntlet for the Cavaliers. Not only is this the stretch where they play the toughest opponents, but in those 2 months they will play 20 games on the road compared to just 11 at home. They play Miami 3 times in those two months. In December they have a 3 game road trip and a 4 game road trip, while in January they have a 3 game trip to go with a 5 game road trip. It could be a very long and cold winter indeed for Cavs fans.
Things level out in the Cavs’ favor down the stretch, though. February is especially kind. From February 9 to March 2, the Cavaliers will play 8 consecutive games at home. Indeed, after playing in Dallas on February 5, the next road game won’t be until March 4 in New York to take on the Knicks. With the exception of the All-Star Break (which, lets be honest, the Cavaliers probably won’t have to be concerned with), the Cavaliers will get basically an entire month at home without ever having to get on a plane or stay in a hotel. February is going to be the Cavaliers’ chance to make a push for the playoffs.
March sees the Cavaliers still mostly at home while playing some slightly tougher opponents, including their final game against the Heat, and then April ends with a handful of potentially very winnable games that could come in handy should the Cavaliers have themselves in position to push for a spot in the postseason for a 6th straight season.
The level of importance and urgency may not be the same, but as bittersweet of a reminder as the schedule may be, it also represents a new beginning for Cavalier basketball and for the fans of the franchise, there’s always hope to be found. Best of all, the releasing of the schedule means NBA basketball is only a couple months away, and for me, it can’t come soon enough.
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(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
18 Comments
That extremely tough December and January could be critical – could be the difference between us being buyers or sellers at the deadline
Getting off to a good start in October and November could give this team the confidence to get through those tough winter months and and then hopefully pick it up near the end of the season when the schedule should lighten up to secure a playoff spot. I’m not going to be rooting for the Cavs to tank in the hopes of getting a lottery pick.
Can we please play for the 8 seed and then somehow knock-off Miami in the playoffs. That would be better than any championship.
Would be nice to fast forward through this season. Outside of JJ Hickson, what is there to really develop? We don’t have any real young talent, just a bunch of old, washed up vets. This season is going to be very ugly with little to watch for as a majority of the team won’t be around if/when the Cavs actually become relevant again..
My wife is a big fan of this schedule and the televising of Cavs games.
It will be much easier, and extremely less expensive, for me to get tickets now when the Cavs come out to play the Clippers. Silver lining!
@ Denny – Ditto. So true.
The Cavs,Indians, and Browns will not be gracing Southern California airwaves in the near future. At least I can watch the Buckeyes regularly.
Christian Eyenga, Ramon Sessions, Daniel Gibson, Leon Powe.
@Jackson
Well, the only old players we really have are Jamison, Parker and Moon and Parker and Moon expire at the end of this season.
The Cavs are actually a pretty young team now, though Hickson and maybe Sessions are the only real “prospects” if you’re looking at it in terms of assets.
Mo and Andy are hitting their prime years right now and the book is nearly written on Gibson being a very good 3-point shooter with a suspect handle; he basically has this year to prove he can create his own shot. Who knows what we have in Eyenga and Kaun… Kaun is still in Russia for this season, I believe, and Eyenga might be playing in the D-League this year.
So, to your point, no we don’t have a ton of prospects but we’re also not a team loaded with old guys. Age was only ever a real problem in the front court and Shaq and Z are both gone now.
They could throw out a few “young guy rotations,” Sessions and Boobie at G, Eyenga at SF, then JJ and Hollins PF and C. Even have an extra for Powe off the bench!
@EZ: Eyenga will definitely start at D-League, but I believe he will see time in Cleveland before the end of the season.
On the bright side, as Brian Windhorst pointed out in his article today, the Cavs being pushed of TNT on Thursday nights sets up several Friday/Saturday back-to-backs, which makes for nice weekend viewing.
Plus no national TV games means more 7 p.m. tip offs, which help those of us who have to get up early for work.
See, things are looking up already.
@Jackson There are a grand total of 3 players over 30 on the Cavs: Jamison, Parker, and Moon. So you can’t really call this team “old”.
@Andrew Add Danny Green to your list.
I think Cleveland needs to stop their crying for Lebron and have some hope in this new team. If they don’t feel the city has their back what confidence are they going to play with. Anyways, good for Lebron, he’ll get a championship*. Cleveland looks good and I feel like they will be a surprise contender this year. When Lebron was out for his “elbow” injury, Cleveland still competed and did fairly well.
There are a couple of interesting young players, but the Cavs got the wrong coach for them. Don’t think for a second that Bryon Scott will risk his overall winning percentage by playing the young guys the minutes they should get.
You’re going to see way too much of a Mo-AP-Moon-Jamison-Varejao lineup. Which will ultimately doom the Cavaliers to just missing the Playoffs but still being stuck with a #12 pick and the chance to draft guys in the Luke Jackson-DeSagana Diop-Trajan Langdon category.
bleah. can we fast forward to the draft?
I take back old, but in terms of upside we have no one outside of Hickson and possible Eyenga to be excited about. At least other bottom feeders have young talent to watch develop this year. The rest of the roster has no upside at all…
[…] other words, the Cavaliers’ bigs had best be ready for a brutal test early. When I initially broke down the Cavaliers’ schedule, I noted that the Cavaliers had some winnable games the first month in terms of strength of […]