Though the Cleveland Cavaliers will play their final 48-minute contest of the 2010-11 season, several players on the Wine and Gold are already discussing offseason plans to practice together even once team facilities have closed for the summer.
Despite pending collective bargaining agreement issues that could render players unable to legally meet with their coaching staff, the Cavaliers are looking to carry the momentum which they feel they have built over the course of the last several weeks well into the offseason as to better prepare themselves for next year’s challenges. Both Antawn Jamison and Baron Davis have taken a surprising step forward this season in terms of veteran leadership and both players hope to host several of their young teammates though the summer months, Jamison in Charlotte, North Carolina and Davis on the West Coast in Los Angeles, California or Las Vegas, Nevada (previously home of the NBA’s Summer League).
Davis has hosted players in the past where he and those that take him up on his offer work out during the summer for weeks at a time. This summer, there is the sense of added pressure due to the potential work stoppage where players cannot use facilities and have hands-on contact with their coaching staff. The recently-acquired point guard has spoke often about the team’s camaraderie as of late and seems to have an appreciation for the importance of ensuring continued growth of the players whom he has taken under his wing since his late-February arrival.
Typically, players work out during the summer months, but in various locations with their own trainers and strength coaches. Having them play and practice as a unit (or two smaller units, in this instance) would be considered a huge testament to the commitment of a very young group of players looking to rebound off of what will be one of the worst record-based campaigns of the 2010-11 NBA season.
“Those are two of our leaders,” said Byron Scott on the potential workout hosts. ”I think it’s a great thing and if they can get it together, it puts us a little further along.”
–
(AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
