While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Don’t forget about the draft party hosted by Brendan Bowers of Stepien Rules- “In response to the great turn-out and tremendous time we had last year with the Stepien Rules Draft Party at Mullarkey’s Irish Pub in Downtown Willoughby, we’ll be running it back again in a couple weeks on June 28th in celebration of Draft night. This year we will be hosting a Cavs Draft Tweet-Up in conjunction with our good friends @VerizonAl and @TMadCLE from TheSocialDudes.com. It should be an awesome Cavaliers Draft Party, arguably the best one ever, and we’d be thrilled if you had a chance to stop by.” [Bowers/Stepien Rules]
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“Dion “Please Tip Your” Waiters is a shooting guard out of Syracuse that we really haven’t talked about much. The reason that we haven’t talked about him much is that he’s an ungodly reach with the fourth pick. According to Woj’s article, it seems that the Cavaliers would really only have to consider Waiters if both Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bradley Beal are off the board. At this point, I don’t anticipate that being the case.
I’m not really sure what to say about these reports right now. It’s pretty insane that the Cavaliers would take Waiters ahead of MKG, but nobody saw them drafting Tristan last year either. I would not be comfortable with the Cavs taking Waiters ahead of MKG or even Harrison Barnes. At this point, I’m basically hoping that the Cavaliers swing a deal for the 2nd pick so they can just take Bradley Beal and be done with it.” [Kacmarek/Fear the Sword]
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“The Indians have lost a season-high five games in a row and are now 1-6 on this road trip with four games to play. Cleveland (37-37) is 11-19 since being a season-best eight games over .500 on May 24, and the team is back at the break-even mark for the first time since April 18 (5-5). “Tell me something positive,” you say? Sure thing.
Over their last 10 innings, the Indians have hit .293 (12-for-41) as a team with a .357 (5-for-14) showing with runners in scoring position and eight runs scored. In the 44 innings prior to that stretch, Cleveland hit .176 (26-for-149) with a .100 (3-for-30) mark with RISP and only five runs scored.” [Bastian/MLB]
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“In Cleveland, we’ve certainly seen our share of busts. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the recent ones. And by “fun,” I actually mean “excruciatingly painful.” But anyway. This is my list, and I went back as far as I’ve been alive, which means 24 years.
10. Vitaly Potapenko, Cavaliers – 1996 With the 12th overall pick in 1996, the Cavaliers took this big man out of the Ukraine. Potapenko had three forgettable seasons in Cleveland, but he did end up returning a first round pick when he was traded to the Celtics. Of course, many fans will remember him for being the guy drafted one spot ahead of… Kobe Bryant. Oops.” [Mayer/Rebuilding since 1964]
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“If you take a look at Cavaliers history, you’ll probably notice that one position in particular has rarely been better-than-ordinary. That would be none other than shooting guard. In fact, since the Cavs entered the NBA in 1970, they’ve really only had three who were worth bragging about: Austin Carr, World B. Free, and Ron Harper, for what seemed like a minute.” [Amico/FSO]
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Finally, chat with Scott Raab about LeBron, the Cavaliers and everything sports. “Whore of Akron author and noted Lebron-hater Scott Raab is hosting a live, interactive Q&A this Thursday at 6PM to answer all your questions, take your best shots, and give his final thoughts on the Miami Heat and LeBron James, NBA Champion. (He’ll also discuss writing, sleeping over at Bill Murray’s house, and anything else.) All are welcome. The event is free – RSVP here.” [Eventbrite]
