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.
“And so the Cavs, less than two years after winning the no. 1 pick, have a chance to do it again, unless they use $10 million or so in present-day cap space to upgrade their current roster before the trade deadline. This is, of course, by design. The Cavaliers, flush with max-level cap room last summer, scoured the free agency market and decided to splurge on Alonzo Gee and C.J. Miles. They passed on all the high-profile restricted free agency building blocks — from Roy Hibbert to Nicolas Batum — and somehow came away mostly empty-handed on the front line in a mid-tier market featuring plenty of available free agents (Chris Kaman, Ian Mahinmi, Carl Landry, Green, Boris Diaw, the Memphis backups), available trade targets (Samuel Dalembert, Timofey Mozgov, Gustavo Ayon), and amnesty castoffs (Luis Scola, Elton Brand, Andray Blatche, Brendan Haywood).” [Lowe/Grantland]
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“Your stat of the night: six Cavaliers recorded at least three assists, which is evidence that the ball was moving much better than it has during the majority of the Cavs’ games this season. Because the Cavs don’t have many players who can create their own shots, they have to work hard to manufacture decent looks and that means quick passes and movement off the ball.The Cleveland broadcast highlighted one such instance in the third quarter where the ball started with Irving on the right wing and moved from the corner, to the baseline, to the opposite corner, to the left wing, and all the way back to Kyrie on the right in a span of a few seconds. It didn’t create a great look, but Irving caught the ball with the defender half a step off him, which is all he really needs to have a solid chance at converting a three-pointer, which he buried. At C:TB, we’ve been bemoaning the lack of ball movement on offense, and tonight demonstrated hat the Cavs can be pretty effective on offense with a little extra effort and some luck.” [McGowan/Cavs the Blog]
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Meyer vs Saban- “College football is about turnover – coaches, players, seasons. But a constant for the past decade has been the success rate of Meyer and Saban’s teams. Since LSU won the national championship in 2003 with Saban at the helm, he and Meyer have won six titles. Sixty percent! And that doesn’t include two undefeated seasons by Meyer-coached teams that didn’t win the national title.” [Rowland/Eleven Warriors]
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“In the summer, the Cavs gave C.J. a very small and extremely friendly deal. He makes just $2.5 million this year and his next year’s contract isn’t even guaranteed. After a horrific start to the season, Miles has really turned it on. He’s currently the Cavs’ second best scoring option (this is not a good thing). His three-point stroke looks awesome and when he plays within the offense, it works well. What doesn’t work well is when C.J. decides that he’s Kevin Durant and starts taking tons of jumpers off the dribble.
Recently, Miles moved into the starting lineup and pushed rookie Dion Waiters to the bench. While it’s disappointing to see Dion come off the bench, it really helps Miles. When the Cavs signed Miles, Byron Scott was really excited about him because of what he does well and how that fits in Cleveland’s offense. He comes around screens and shoots off the catch particularly well. We’ve seen that in recent weeks as he is draining tons of jumpers and his form is virtually perfect when he doesn’t have to dribble.” [Kaczmarek/Fear the Sword]
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Gimme some Kent State news. Ok- “On the one hand, Archer’s stock will probably never be higher after leading the Golden Flashes in rushing (1,482 yards, 16 touchdowns and 9.0 yards per carry), receptions (39 catches for 561 yards and four touchdowns) and averaging 36.9 yards per kickoff return with three touchdowns (before teams stopped kicking to him).
On the other hand, Archer has only this big year on his resume (he missed last season over an academic issue) and he is just 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds. After watching Cleveland’s Travis Benjamin (who’s two inches taller than Archer but the same weight) look pretty small on an NFL field, it’s easy to wonder if there is a place for Archer in the NFL.” [Moore/Red Right 88]
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“Between ordering those burgers and eating them, Kenny Lofton smacked a pitch from Jay Howell into the right-field seats in the bottom of the 12th. I can’t be certain what Tom Hamilton on WTAM yelled regarding this home run, but I would guess that it was something like SWUNG ON AND BELTED! Herb Score probably said something grandfatherly and not entirely coherent. My dad and I expressed happiness that our early and slightly disloyal departure hadn’t jinxed the Tribe.
I never saw a highlight of that Kenny Lofton home run, never saw the celebratory beatdown or the perfunctory shot of the crowd going bonkers. I never felt like I needed to, either, because I could then and can still see now Kenny Lofton hitting a home run without much strain to my imagination. When Kenny swung for power, he grimaced, his teeth bared in concentration. The cords in his neck jumped into relief and his left arm flew up as a counterbalance, his right arm sweeping the bat like a sword. His thin gold chain spilled out of his jersey’s neckhole, and his legs began to tear around the bases, extremely insistent on getting back to where it was starting from. On the ratty old Costacos Brothers poster in my office, Kenny is frozen in that exact pose, the Willie Mays Hayes uppercut, for as long as I need him to be.” [Beatty/The Classical]
