While We’re Waiting… Scott’s Honeymoon Over, Comparing McCoy and a Michigan Man
January 12, 2011King: Browns Could Have New Head Coach By Thursday
January 12, 2011
In Judaism, at Passover time, there is an old folk song called “Dayenu,” meaning “enough” in Hebrew.
The song goes on and on about all the miracles God performed for the Jewish people, continuously singing praise and stating that “it would have been enough” for each of the individual actions, but the list continued forward.
That’s what it was like in reverse Tuesday night for Cleveland Cavalier fans, with as negative feelings as you can get in just 10 months. Yes, it would have simply been enough murdering to a fan base to have the playoff meltdown against the Celtics. Certainly let alone The Decision or The Letter or the then ridiculous preseason predictions. But then the rough return and losses in 20 of 21 contests already? Hopefully, one would think that would have been enough as well.
But not in Cleveland. No, that’s clearly never enough in Cleveland.
I’m the youngest member of the WFNY staff as has been noted before, and so my misery is not as personally painful, but last night was an absolute disaster for Cleveland sports. With the 112-57 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers (the NBA’s worst in 13 years and third largest margin of victory in LA’s storied history), the Cavaliers fell flat on the faces yet again.
And certainly yet again, it would have been enough from there. But oh of course, that is only where the story began last night. From LeBron’s viral tweet heard ’round the world to Mo’s insightful wisdom, there was plenty of commentary to share on the Cavs’ misery.
But when you saw the quotes pouring out of the locker room, it was beyond even the usual for Northeast Ohio sports fans. Antawn Jamison, a player much criticized even upon his entrance to the city, shared this about the performance:
“It can’t get any worse than this,” Jamison said. “I don’t know how much of this I can take but this by far is rock bottom.
“The frustrating part about it is I know what we got in us. I don’t know, but something has to change.”
Before going too much into those comments on where we stand at the moment, let’s rewind a little bit to some commentary during this period of suffering to depict what could be next to ensure that this is actually the bottom and not just the beginning of the end. Two things in particular stand out as guidance for the road to come.
First and foremost, a recent piece by Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don’t Lie. One of the best basketball writers in the country, he is the one that got in so much trouble back in early July for predicting just 12 wins for an only slightly deteriorated Cavs roster at the time. He’s written a few times on the team this week, but this is one segment that sticks out the most:
“What was the point of almost or actually making the playoffs with this roster, this payroll, these non-stars? It was just delaying the inevitable, an inevitability that has hit hard by the second week of the new year, even with the high-priced talent still on board. It’s the worst of both worlds, and Cleveland deserves so much more.
It’s unfortunate that this team’s ownership group doesn’t feel the same way. It’s unfortunate that Dan Gilbert still thinks he can sell the Cavaliers on … well, what is he trying to sell them on? What a big doofus LeBron is? Still? Is that still the rallying cry? Because it was a pretty lame one in July, and even lamer five months later. He’s gone, Dan Gilbert, and you cashed in on your martyrdom mere minutes after he split. Needlessly dragging Cavalier fans behind you the entire time.”
At the time of reading this quick article on Anderson Varejao’s injury just Monday morning, it was difficult to comprehend. It still seemed like the team was heading somewhere in some direction with this depressing season, and I wasn’t ready to at least create that much of a psychotic rationalization of Gilbert’s actions to attempt to compete this season.
But in the end, Dwyer seemed to be getting somewhere with any sort of over-arching goal for this franchise at the moment. Were the Cavs still realistically hoping to be a playoff caliber team last week and if not, what is going on right now?
In the meanwhile, there was one other commentary I wanted to point toward. It was one that I took a great deal of criticism for in the comment section back on July 10th here at WFNY, but it is an article that I still stand by today. Check out some of these clips for yourself:
“So, what should the Cavaliers do with the remainder of their team now that LeBron James is gone? Blow it up. Get rid of guys left and right. Please don’t acquire more bad contracts by players that are not on the right side of their prime years in the league.
Acquiring Antawn Jamison, Shaquille O’Neal and others over the past two years were mistakes. These are players that could be decent role players on a good team, but now that the Cavs are merely mediocre, they represent nothing for the future. … In order to get better, the Cavs should try to get rid of these contracts and succeed in the future through the draft.
Stock up on young players for the first time in years. Outside of Hickson and Williams, the Cavaliers have no decent prospects that any team in the NBA would even really want in a trade that badly. … The quicker the rebuild occurs and the quicker the Cavs attract young players with decent upside, the quicker this team will again contend for an NBA title.”
So now seems to be the perfect moment of truth for Gilbert in relation to those quotes from Jamison and this realization stemming from the Lakers’ loss. “It would have been enough” to just have the events from this summer, but the embarrassments have continued.
How can we really try to be proud of a team that loses by 55 points with no immediate direction? Is it your fault, Gilbert, for putting the team in this particular situation of misery? Is it finally time to relieve the suffering of the veterans like Jamison and the Cleveland fans everywhere by doing something proactive?
It certainly seems that way even despite the injuries and excuses for Tuesday’s blowout.
But the song Dayenu never really was supposed to end. And in Cleveland sports, misery just seems to be a never-ending trend so far through my lifetime. That means the ball is in your court Gilbert; let’s see if you can stop the cycle.
—
(Photo above via AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
39 Comments
My iPod sends me the scores after the breaks… I got the halftime score and it was 57-25, I believe, and I read it and said “no way”
Maybe Gilbert should just cut the players pay them their money to just go away and lock up the Q.
I’m still a Cavaliers fan.
Why not make another movie similar to Major League, but have it be about basketball? I mean, if you are going to suck, lets make a franchise out of it!
Yeah, and have a poster with a naked #6 behind all the wins the teams needs to make the playoffs! The promise of seeing #6 in that locker room again would have some of these players jumping out of the gym.
/DK me too
The score speaks for itself it’s time “fans” start holding Dan “look at me stick my foot n’ ego in my mouth” Gilbert and hold him accountable. It’s also time for Mo “shrinking violet” Williams to take the heat. People sounded off when they felt he was being slighted for not being named an All-Star starter well ladies and gentleman what about now? The guy is showing his true colors and players like him are team killers. I could go on but I’m tired if trying to wake you fans up. If last nights debacle doesn’t wake fans up then you deserve what you get and that’s another professional sports team plagued with an extended losing history.
I too am still a Cavs fan.
Albeit pretty upset at the lack of anything resembling a team, but a fan nonetheless.
Jamison obviously hasn’t been in Cleveland long enough if he thinks this is as bad as it could get. I’m sure we’ll find a way to prove him wrong.
This Cavs team is awful and embarrassment but it’s important to note that this current incarnation of the Cavs do not consist remotely of the team that won 66 and 60 games for the Heat.
Yes, LeBron is the biggest piece of the puzzle that won those games but it all should be noted that the team that was pillaged by the Lakers last night was missing Z, Shaq, West, Varejao, Gibson and Parker of the 2010 Cavaliers. Instead, we replaced them with Hollins, Eyenga, Gee, Harris, and Samardo Samuels. That’s the Grand Canyon of drop offs.
Would a single one of those players crack the rotation of last year’s squad?
I’m sorry to say, but it’s hard to feel sorry for Cleveland after the way the fans/Dan Gilbert threw Mike Brown under the bus to try and appease LeBron, who never seemed like he planned on staying in Cleveland.
In listening to JT the Brick last night, he implied that if LeBron would have gone to Dan Gilbert and said I’m leaving after this year, the Cavs could have gotten something for LeBron. I disagreed because Dan Gilbert is so myopic that he would not have thought LeBron was serious.
LeBron apparently put on his twitter something to the effect of “Karma is a B&^%! and people shouldn’t wish ill on others.” The thing is LeBron will get his ‘karma’ eventually.
It was good to see Mike Brown on Coast to Coast. He is a good basketball mind and should find another NBA job soon, but he is more class than Dan Gilbert deserves.
“it’s time “fans” start holding Dan “look at me stick my foot n’ ego in my mouth” Gilbert and hold him accountable”
So, hold him and then hold him accountable while holding him? Got it.
Scott I have no idea what that means.
MIKE BROWN WOULD HAVE THIS TEAM AT 30 WINS!!!!!
“I could go on but I’m tired [o]f trying to wake you fans up.”
Shamrock, if you’re so tired of trying to wake us up, then just stop trying. It’s bad enough that we have to endure this season and rebuilding that’s only beginning, but reading your commentary only makes it that much worse. No, I don’t come here looking for rose-colored glasses, and yes, I enjoy both sides of every argument, but all you do is come here and say the same thing game after game like you were appointed the voice of reason for us Cleveland fans, a group I don’t think you even consider yourself a part of. You have said in the past that you are a Lebron fan, not a Cavs fan (and no, I’m not tracking down your post where you said that so don’t bother asking), so why don’t you take your writing talents to a sports blog from South Beach. Let the rest of us wallow in the current state of our team and blame who we want to blame.
As far as Gilbert goes, I stand by him 100%. He did what he had to do to try and win a championship with the uncertain status of Lebron. Any one of us would have done the same thing, and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. As Clevelanders, we would trade our own mothers for a title, and if our mothers were from Cleveland, they would understand. And as for his response to the Decision, God forbid an owner (who’s not even from Cleveland) show a little pride in his team and adopted city.
My apologies to everyone else for singling one person out and making this somewhat personal, but I have been holding this in for a while now. Seriously, Shamrock makes me miss Isis…
THEY WOULD PLAY DEFENSE FOR MIKE!
Look, Dan Gilbert pays attention to his franchise and cares. He also doesn’t go all Al Davis (as far as we know) and attempts to make specific changes to the lineup.
What else would you prefer from your owner? A guy who with a lot of money but doesn’t care too much?
The Cavs suck. We know this. We played with D league players, a basically washed up guy and a point guard that can only score when better players are drawing defenders away. We got got destroyed by the 2 time defending champs. A guy with an ego the size of Uranus (see what I did there?) made a jerky egotistical comment. The hardest part to understand is why people are getting so riled up when everything happened exactly according to what should be expected.
I’m not sure Mike would have had this group at 30 wins, but certainly 18-22 wins. Loved Byron Scott as a player, but Mike Brown was a better coach.
Scott, holding Dan and holding him accountable? He owns the team and is cash strapped because he let LeBron call all of the shots in free agency years past. It will take awhile to get this righted.
Agreed about Jamison, Lyon. It can always get worse.
I am also still a Cavs fan.
@Shamrock, I love it when anonymous Internet posters say that they are trying to get people to “wake up.” Precisely what is your point? Did you really go out on a limb when you predicted that the Cavs would be terrible? I never liked Gilbert’s promise of winning a championship before LBJ, but I still support him as an owner and I still support the Cavs. Gilbert is not the GM, and even if he was, you have no evidence that Gilbert passed up on various excellent trades and roster moves that would have enabled him to ditch the current roster and rebuild with high 1st round draft picks and young talent. We didn’t have many options after this summer. Right now, we are stuck with this roster until we figure out a way to improve the team and I’m guessing that most teams aren’t pounding on our door for trades. We don’t have many healthy assets, and we have absolutely no leverage. We can debate the decisions of Ferry that led us to this point, but I don’t understand the animosity toward Gilbert. All he has done is pay the luxury tax since he became owner of the franchise. In other words, he has spent as much money as possible on the team. I’m not sure what more you could want from an owner, particularly when he has a competent GM and coach in place.
Regarding Mo, I never thought he was an All-Star but I understand why people wanted him to be considered an All-Star. He had great numbers, and he was the starting point guard on the best team in the league. I have no problem with fans sticking up for the players on their favorite team, and I will never understand why you are so upset over fans supporting Mo Williams. I think it is pretty clear to any real fan that Mo has been disappearing in the playoffs for years. But again, I don’t see your point. Mo seems to care about the Cleveland and the Cavs. Everyone knows that he isn’t a hall-of-fame player, and I’m guessing that most fans think it would be best if we can trade him. But we can’t just invent trades. Who is going to trade for him? Would it make you happy if the fans started hating the guy? He’s playing poorly right now (and he recognizes it), but so is the entire team and I’m not going to stop supporting my team because they are terrible. If I did, I wouldn’t have any teams left for which to cheer. I hope the Cavs can turn it around with smart trades and drafts. Until then, I guess I can just hope that people like you can “wake” me up to whatever truth you claim to have found.
Lloyd – it was a reply to a prior inane comment, not the piece.
gotcha.
moratorium on the Cavs?
“THEY WOULD PLAY DEFENSE FOR MIKE!”
So instead of losing 112-57 they’d lose 87-47….Mike Brown is a good defensive coach but he does not have an offensive scheme….without #23 (or #6) out there, who would the other 4 stand around and watch dribble all over the place and then dish it with 4 seconds on the shot clock?
I love the Cavs and all but all the wind was taken out of their sails. They are not a good team. Their record proves that. I mean how do you go from the best league in the NBA to not even double digit wins? It’s sad, really sad. Cleveland basketball now has to wait for yet another rebuilding phase (much like the Browns and Indians are) and once again the Cleveland fans need to wait. The bad part about it is that the Cavs actually have an owner that cares. Dan Gilbert is a great asset to Cleveland. He is staying positive during this crappy streak the Cavs are on. There truly is nothing worse than seeing the team that represents your city getting pummeled every other night. I just don’t understand what the next step will be or what Gilbert is doing. Someone explain that to me, please?
Dear Mr. Gilbert: I can’t play basketball, but I’ll at least show heart out on the floor. Can I get a roster spot? I can’t be much worse than this.
So let me get this straight. LeBron’s allowed to find happiness in others’ misfortunes, and that’s perfectly acceptable to him? What a moron.
Also, this loss isn’t surprising to me at all. How are we supposed to win with this lineup?
We need the #1 pick. Badly.
@6 – YOU HAVE WOKEN ME UP SHAMROCK! THANK YOU! I NOW HATE MO WILLIAMS AND THE CAVALIERS. I AM SURE ALL OTHER (FORMER) CAVS FANS FEEL THE SAME WAY I DO. YOUR MISSION IS ACCOMPLISHED. YOU MAY LEAVE NOW.
Obviously losing by 55 points sucks. But the second LeBron left I think that losing as many games as possible (sans setting NBA record) is literally the BEST situation for the Cavaliers.
With the exception of Hickson/Eyenga everyone else on the roster will be too old/past their primes when the next round of Cavaliers are ready to make a serious run (and yes, I mean Boobie, Mo, etc.) The injury to Andy was awful because I wanted him to be traded for picks/young guys NOW.
@#25: I totally agree. In the NBA the absolute worst spot you can be in is being a solid team, but never good enough to compete or win a championship ala the Wizards a few years back. You either want to be competing for championships or getting some great draft picks to help mold and build a team down the road. C’mon #1, C’MON!!!!
Once Lequit left, the best way to build for the future was to have the worst record. Thus, the losing does not bother me at all. I expect that we will get picks near the top of the lottery the next 2 years. This should give us 2 solid players. If we can put some others around them either through our other picks or some of these young guys, we will be ok.
LeQuit has absoulutely no class, as evidence by his tweets. He has shown his true colors.
At this point the key is Christ Grant, and his ability to evaluate talent. Let’s hope he has a aharp eye.
The good news is a lockout is coming…
cavs were something like 1-10 the last 2 or 3 seasons w/out Lebron. Look it up. And that was with supposed “difference makers” like … Anthony Parker, Boobie, etc.
This is just reality. The team never was that good, one great player inflated the play of everyone else (and someone will inevitably ask in denial – “to 60+ wins?!” – yes. to 60+ wins. He was freaking good).
so…
SULLINGER ANYONE?!
Hold me closer, Tiny Gilbert. / Something, something, on the hiiiiighwaaaay.
There would have been absolutely no shame in Gilbert coming out after “the decision” and saying it was time to rebuild from the ground up. While his battle cries of “reload” and “we’ll win before he will” were inspiring to an extent, I think most rational fans would have understood completely. Instead it’s being drawn out, making the situation worse. I could handle losing streaks if there were light at the end of the tunnel, but I’m not seeing any at the present time.
One more thing: Can we add an explanation of the Sarcasm Font to the “Before You Comment” section of the site, please?
I still love the cavs. I believe in Dan Gilbert and I respect that he isn’t doing anything rash. Yes we stink, many good teams in the league stunk at times within the past few years. Oh, and kudos to the Lakes for playing tough against the Cavs and laying down against the Heat. What a bunch of wusses.
on the bright side, Gee looked good last night…unfortunately, noone else showed up
I’ve tried to remove myself emotionally from sports a bit, esp since The Decision, but this is embarrassing and depressing all the way around. What a cluster this has become in such a short time.
I disagree with Dwyers article on a number of points. First, regardless of the “overarching goal” of the franchise, the organization still needs to put a team of 13 men onto the court. With the losses of LBJ, Shaq, Z, and then West, they team had to fill the roster spots. They filled them like most rebuilding teams would, taking a flyer on an undrafted FA (Harris), trading West for a young, potential asset in Sessions, and then filling the rest of the spots with D leaguers. I do not believe the Cavs thought Sessions was replacing Lebron as Dwyer insinuates; they were getting something of value for West.
Additionally, the whole “blow it up” mantra is great but you still have to find someone to actually trade with. Right now why would a team trade for Jamison? Specifically, why would another team give up anything of value for him? Ditto Anderson now with the injury? The Cavs do have some assets but short of just cutting the guys (which would be incredibly idiotic) what do you want them to do? Just trade Mo Williams for a late 2nd round pick in 2015? I believe the Cavs will make deals when they come along. Until then we are going to be forced to watch this train wreck of a season.
Sorry for the grammar misuse unlike people who have hours to write things or those here who like to cherry pick I post on the fly using a mobile device with a pop-up keyboard. Anyways my point is Dan Gilbert may be the best owner Cleveland has but that isn’t saying much. He hired the San Antonio duo because he probably thought the Spurs success would rub off, oops! Also for the most part all I read was what a great job Ferry had done and how great the Cavaliers roster was blah blah blah. Well obviously it wasn’t since basically just one player is missing. Well I guess that one missing player was worth more then the other 14 huh? People want it both ways around here you seem unwilling to except the hometown teams shortcomings while pronouncing them as being so great. You still haven’t won a championship. 60+ winning seasons are meaningless especially when the same team folds like a house of cards in the playoffs. Players get overrated automatically and nobody wants to hold them accountable. Heck people are still blaming James and he’s not even here. Instead blame the great owner. Why is he great btw? Because he let Ferry misspend his $$$ on one dimensional role players or overpay for the likes of Gibson and Varejao? If you say so. And let’s just wait to see what Chris Grant does I’m sure with his vast NBA experience he’ll be able to turn it around. Oh that’s right this is his first GM job. All Cleveland hires is first timers, why, because they have such great owners who have people knocking down their door for jobs!!! No because they have to pay just to get someone to come. Facts are facts.
“Also for the most part all I read was what a great job Ferry had done and how great the Cavaliers roster was blah blah blah. Well obviously it wasn’t since basically just one player is missing.”
Ok Shamrock. You lose LeBron, Shaq, Z, and Delonte. Replace them with Gee, Samardo Samuels, Eyenga, and Hollins.
Then you go ahead and add in injuries to Boobie and Andy
Hardly a one player difference last night….
Really, you just lose Lebron. Shaq is 40 years old and playing less than 20 minutes a night (albeit decently) for boston. Z plays even less for miami. Delonte wasn’t around for much of the last 60 win season anyways so its a moot point.
The real issue, which everyone is in DENIAL over, is that Lebron essentially took this crap 8 win roster literally by himself and somehow morphed them into a 60 win team. Which leads to the logical conclusion that his leaving was justified, basketball-standpoint wise. How he did it and the personal aspect, etc, everyone has their own opinion. Call him all the names you want, hate him, whatever. Not disputing that. but once you decide the Basketball Point that this roster around him was inadequate, the blame becomes shared. The GM and owners are taken into account now. ANd for the life of me i cant understand why nobody is capable of seeing Gilbert as anything but the greatest Sports Owner of All Time. They messed up, Lebron messed up in how he left, it happened. It wasnt Evil manipulative lebron led the cavs on and then purposely torpedoed your awesome 60 win roster just to satisfy his evil little heart. Poor Dan G.