MLB News: Grady Sizemore resumes baseball activities
June 2, 2013Weekend Recap: Bizarro-Tribe Drops Two to Rays
June 3, 2013
“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.
Possibilities for Cavs at 19- “Reggie Bullock, SF, North Carolina. Bullock measures in at 6’7” and is listed as a small forward. He averaged 13.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assist this past season while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from behind the arc.
Not only is Bullock a great perimeter scorer, but during his junior season at UNC he was also charged with guarding the opponent’s best perimeter scorer on a nightly basis. This is one of the biggest reasons why the Cavaliers could make Bullock their pick at 19. With Mike Brown’s focus on the defensive side of the ball, Bullock fits into that mold while adding length to the perimeter. He does a great job of being at the right place at the right time, which is why he averaged nearly 7 rebounds per game this past season.” [Poloha/Stepien Rules]
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“Just to be clear on my opinion, the novelty of interleague seemed to have worn off several years ago. Verducci is absolutely right about the fewer weekend games driving down the bottom line, but the buzz just hasn’t been there for a long, long time. I’m sure a lot of the apathy this season has to do with both Chicago teams, both Los Angeles teams and half of New York struggling mightily, but the Crosstown Classic felt more like Cubs-Padres in August than anything remotely buzzworthy.
That has to be more than a little concerning, but I’m sure we’ll see tweaks in the schedule next season that are at least done with attendance in mind. It’s up to the teams to create the buzz, however, so there’s no doubt MLB will be pulling for quick turnarounds in those major markets.” [Townsend/Big League Stew]
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“Players typically toil for years in the minor league system employed by the MLB, as teams work players through several tiers of the farm system, honing their skills and developing the young prospects into productive big league contributors, if all goes right. But every now and then, there are exceptions to the usual order of things. The Indians’ Cody Allen is one of these exceptions.
Allen was drafted in the 16th round of the 2010 draft by the Cleveland Indians from St. Petersburg College in Florida. The Florida native did not sign with the organization after the draft and returned to the collegiate game.
One year later, the Indians again came calling to the young right-hander, drafting Allen in the 23rd round of the 2011 draft from High Point University in North Carolina. Picked 218 spots later than the previous season, Allen signed on with the Tribe and jumped into the team’s minor league system.” [Toth/DTWLN]
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“The first option, and my preference, would be to sign Golden State Warriors Carl Landry. The Warriors were a team that surprised a lot of the NBA this season, and Landry was a big part of it. Despite only starting two games, he played over 1700 minutes, and achieved a PER of 17.5. His true shooting percentage was over 60%. He is a really valuable offensive player off the bench, and he is a decent enough rebounder. He isn’t a good defender, but if he spends most of his time playing against other teams’ second unit he would be just fine. At 29 years old he would be a solid locker room presence who has been around a young team that showed substantial improvement. I see this as being close to a perfect match.” [Zavac/Fear the Sword]
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34 Comments
Reggie Bullock is the only option at 19 in that Stepien article that didn’t make me start banging my head against the desk. Withey would be a stretch at 31, let alone 19. There’s a difference between getting a lot of blocks in college and projecting as a plus defender in the NBA. Doubt Withey has the quickness or strength to bang with Cs or PFs in the league.
Love the idea of either Caldwell-Pope or Bullock at #19. But doubt we’ll be picking there, given the reality that Grant has too many picks, must trade, and might jeopardize his career by just flipping them for yet more future picks when the Cavs are expected to start competing now. They’re not bringing in 4 rookies, and they already have additional future first rounders stockpiled. Seems to me #19 is ripe to either be combined with #1 overall and the second rounders for two picks in the top 12 or 13, and/or packaged in a deal for a good young veteran, with any deal probably involving multiple teams.
Also, get a kick out of some of the scouting report criticisms on guys potentially available in mid-late first round: “but so-and-so is not explosive on both ends of the court.” Like, how many players are, other than the precious few at the top of the lottery?
I’ve said enough on Bullock at this point I think.
C-P is a very good mid-range shooter. One of the best from college last season. As such, I wouldn’t mind him though there are others I prefer.
I agree that Withey is more likely a very late 1st round to early 2nd round pick. I think he does have some strength, but he’s going to be a statue and I don’t think Mike Brown wants that in his center.
Plumlee is a taller, less-quick version of Tyler Hansbrough.
Hard to see them trade out of #1 for what you suggest. Esp in basketball, if you have the ability to select #1 and get the best guy in the class, you do so. Draft an Allstar
There is no all-star at #1 heck maybe not in the first five it’s another weak draft to have a top four pick.
I disagree there are options at #19 especially when it comes to big men. You have Adams and Goebert who could potentially be available. *Note: I think you might see those pair of second round picks, not necessarily both, used with #19 to try and possibly move up with the second first rounder.
Anyways the potential of either Adams or Goebert is another reason I’m not on the Noel bandwagon at #1. The silver lining is Grant has a multitude of options as possibilities so lets see if he uses any of them.
They already have their Plumlee in Zeller IMO.
Plumlee and Zeller are a bit different though. Plumlee likes his back to the basket and has more post-moves. Zeller is more of a face-up guy who can (at least could) hit jumpers.
I would wager that at least one player from this draft makes an allstar game 🙂
15 man roster even the Cavaliers roster, can’t afford both IMO.
Safe bet I guess that’s why I said “first five!”
I may have worded that a little confusingly. I agree that Adams and Goebert should warrant a look. What I was saying was that they mentioned 4 guys in that piece (Withey, Plumlee, KCP, and Bullock) and I’m not a big fan of Plumlee, KCP, and Withey being the answer at #19.
I missed your Bullock points. Give me the crib notes, was it yay or nay?
I’d much prefer Karasev over C-P
Here it is in essence:
Snell and Mitchell have much more upside than Bullock. They also have considerable more risk. I’d bet that one of them becomes a much better player though and trust Grant to figure out which one it is 🙂
Here is the discussion with V-P and Sham on him:
https://waitingfornextyear.com/2013/05/while-were-waiting-back-to-the-grind/
I am not advocating for Plumlee here. However, any 15man roster needs both a stretch jump shooting big man as well as a back-to-basket big man. Always nice when it’s the same guy (Randolph), but there are not many of those guys.
ok, I would safely wager that one of the first 5 picks becomes an allstar as well 🙂
Bullock for mayor! All kidding aside, I am still high on the guy even if he’s not a good post defender at this point. I’m trusting that Mike Brown will have the Cavs giving better help defense down there, and it also seems like most teams are using that SF spot for shooters and/or slashers. Aside from LBJ, Kobe, and Durant, I can’t really think of many small forwards or shooting guards who like to work out of the post. You could put Carmelo in there, but I think he’s really a PF now.
Just for fun, thinking about playoff teams and their starting SFs, I don’t see any of these guys taking Bullock into the post for more than a couple possessions in the game: Kawhi Leonard, Gallo, Matt Barnes/Caron Butler, Chandler Parsons, Luol Deng, Harrison Barnes (although Klay Thompson played the 3 in crunch time and Barnes was at the 4), Iman Shumpert, Keith Bogans, Kyle Korver, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Guys I can see going into the post with Bullock: LBJ, Durant, Paul Pierce, Tayshaun Prince, MWP, and Stevenson/George.
it’s not just post though, it’s how he plays the game “soft” and I was using that as a main example. Deng and Kawhi would eat him alive with their toughness, IMO.
And hey, I could be wrong, but I say Bullocks to drafting Bullocks!
My best-case-scenario for Mason Plumlee is to mimic Jason Collins’ pro career. That’s an okay guy to have coming off the bench, but I don’t want to wait for him to develop into that okay guy coming off the bench… let him go to another team and the Cavs can pick him up in 5-10 years as a free agent if they want to.
Ah ha! To that we disagree then, I never thought his game was soft.
I know you aren’t I was but what you just said reminds me of the Cavaliers of old when they had Z who wanted to be a seven foot three point shooter and had no one inside.
I’ve heard good things on this Karasev guy. Hey maybe with Koskoskov (no idea how to spell it) we can establish the Russian connection!
Time restrictions apply no way would that kind of wager be so open ended. The Rock’s end is never open in such a way!
hopefully, we will have Tristan and possibly Noel inside. Or Len or someone else entirely. It is a definite and obvious need for our team (I just don’t like Plumlee for the role).
He allowed himself to get pushed around too much. If he was in the Big East, I think he would have gotten eaten alive (as they tend to play much more physical).
I am also noting that I may be biased here. I watched him get man-handled by Oladipo and Butler’s wings early in the season. I was at the game @Tx where he looked like Larry Hughes (put up “pretty” counting numbers against a terrible team by just throwing crud against the wall and eventually a few things stuck).
After that, I only saw him a few times the rest of the year. One of the Duke games, a couple of the Miami games (ACC tourney and one of the others), then both of his NCAA tournament games. He just wasn’t impressive in any of those settings. And yes, my feeling while watching was that when play got physical, he sank to the outside and shrunk away from it.
Len is another big guy who I would like later, as in not #1 overall, the problem is he won’t last until #19 and I’m not sure the Cavaliers would be able to move up high enough to get him. So you’d be looking at possibly a wing/backcourt guy #1 then a big man with the next first round pick. How I envisioned a Noeless draft.
Karasev is one of the better shooters in the draft. He might only ever be average as a defender but dude should shoot lights out, which is appealing since Waiters and Irving are more suited to attacking (which bugs me about C-P, he’s also an attacker, which makes me wonder how good of a fit he’d be.)
Or the Heat with Bosh as they get murdered on the boards and pushed to a Game 7…
The more I read about Noel (knee, weight, limited offense) and Porter (solid, but not great at anything). I really wonder if we should be giving McLemore a longer look… Though I hate the idea of not being able to play 3 of your best players (in this case Irving, Waiters, McLemore) in crunch time.
Interesting. I saw different things when I watched him… mostly just ACC play, but I remember him playing well against Villanova in the NCAA tournament. He typically guarded the best perimeter player for the opposing team and did very well. He guarded Erick Green for most of the game the Hokies played against the Tar Heels and did well. Green shot 33% in that game, one of his lowest marks of the season. Bullock didn’t shoot it well himself, just 1/8 from 3-pt range, but he made up for it by assisting 5 shots and pulling down 4 offensive rebounds. “Soft” players usually aren’t good rebounders, which doesn’t fit the bill for Bullock… he rebounds his position well. I also remember him playing good defense on Seth Curry in UNC’s first game against Duke and absolutely punking CJ Leslie on both ends of the floor in their second game against the Wolfpack.
but how did he get the rebounds? in the game against Texas, he ended up with a whole bunch of rebounds, but they were mostly just long rebounds from the frantic pace the teams were playing. he wasn’t boxing out, working for them.
anyways, this is one of the reasons scouting is so flawed. small sample sizes, limited exposure and guys like Snell didn’t go against some of these tougher teams that I mentioned for Bullock (I would also consider Snell a bit soft but he makes up for it with a better 3pt shot). Mitchell didn’t play those tougher teams either, but he sure is a beast down low, on rebounds and noone can slow him down with a little physical play.
anyways, it’ll be fun to see who Grant & company have their eyes on in the 19 slot (or how high they try to get with their other assets to grab someone).
Yeah, the sample size issue is certainly a factor… I just don’t have the opportunity to watch enough games to get a good enough read. What’s funny is that Grant may just as well end up doing something that nobody would have ever guessed, like solving the SF and C questions in free agency and drafting a power forward or point guard in spite of the fact that those positions seem to be filled. Or maybe he trades away both Waiters and Thompson for an All-Star. Stranger things have happened, although that doesn’t really sound like a Chris Grant move.
A lot of people think that McLemore is a limited player as well… supposedly doesn’t play great defense and has a hard time getting his own shot. He’s a guy you’d like Irving to kick the ball out to in crunch time, but not a guy you give the ball to at the top of the key like Kyrie and Dion. That’s not a bad guy to have and you could certainly run some offense/defense changes with all three guards in on offense in crunch time and switch one out for a defender after made baskets and timeouts, but if you’re primarily using the #1 pick to get a guy who can shoot corner 3s, I’d rather have the two-way guy in Porter.