D’Qwell Jackson ‘shocked’ if he’s not with Browns in 2014
December 28, 2013Cavs at NBA’s one-third mark: How much patience is left?
December 28, 2013Center Andrew Bynum has been suspended from the Cleveland Cavaliers for “conduct detrimental to the team”, the team announced Saturday morning.
In the official release, the Cavs said that Bynum did not travel with the team for its game against Boston today and he has been excused from all team activities indefinitely. The organization will update the media of his status as appropriate.
It’s a surprising and shocking announcement for the 26-year-old. He missed a few games earlier in the season while dealing with a family medical matter. There have been no reports over what the “detrimental conduct” might have been.
We’ll keep this article updated with any further information as it makes its way out into the public.
Update at 11:12 a.m. — Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski delivered a bomb with his latest tweet.
About Bynum suspension, league source tells Yahoo: "He doesn't want to play basketball anymore. He never liked it that much in first place."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 28, 2013
That talk of not enjoying the game of basketball resembles the retirement consideration discussion from earlier in the season. We’ll see if there are any other such updates soon.
Update at 11:24 a.m. — HoopsWorld’s Steve Kyler tweets that he’d be surprised if Bynum is not cut by Jan. 7, the day in which his remaining $6 becomes fully guaranteed for this season.
The Akron Beacon Journal’s Jason Lloyd already wrote a quick post about the suspension. In his article, he writes: “It is realistic at this point to believe Bynum has played his last game for the Cavaliers.” He also said that those in the organization have started to question Bynum’s desire to play anymore.
Meanwhile, both ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (tweet) and FOX Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico (tweet) report that Bynum is now on the trade block, with his nonguaranteed contract viewed as a possible asset.
Update at 11:50 a.m. — Jason Lloyd (tweet) and the Plain Dealer’s Cavs beat writers (tweet) have some updates from head coach Mike Brown over in Boston. Brown said he’s worried about the players in the locker room and called the suspension an internal matter. He did not qualify what Bynum might have to do to be reinstated. Anderson Varejao will be the new starting center.
Wojnarowski also tweets that Bynum’s presence was reportedly “disruptive” to the Cavs and the team felt the partnership could no longer be sustained.
[Related: Andrew Bynum, Cleveland Cavalier — WFNY Top 10 Cleveland Sports Stories of 2013: No. 9]
40 Comments
So that happened. As I stated yesterday, this doesn’t really bug me. I think having Bynum in the game has hurt more than helped this season and Tyler Zeller may finally be ready for that backup role (I hope).
Release him please Chris and Dan! He is holding our young playmakers progress back. We have made the moves to become a definsive minded ball club and mr. Bynum does not have a definsive motivated bome in his body.
great now we gonna lose even faster now
Bring back Delonte and straighten out Bynum
lol at putting him on the trade block. If they were able to get ANYTHING for him, even as an expiring contract, it would be a stunning show of negotiating skill. IMO the only way it happens if somebody has a player with a similar salary to trade and desperately wants to save luxury tax money with a trade-and-cut type deal.
Alternate headline for this article: Cavs begin new GM search.
What a mess
The only reason why your alternate headline is irrelevant is that Chris Grant offered Bynum a 2 year $24 million deal with only $6 million that’s guaranteed to him. In other words, the Cavs knew he was a risk. And since the situation looks more likely that the Cavs will part ways with Bynum, they’ll only lose $6 million out of all this, not $24 million.
Those kind of trades happen all the time in the nba.
The Cavs are playing almost 10 points per 100 possessions better with Bynum off the court.
Yeah, i dont get the complaints or whining. We all knew Bynum would be a huge risk. If he paid off, we have a playoff team, if not, were just back in the situation we started in. No great loss.
And here are all the reasons why the headline IS relevant:
1. Anthony Bennett
2. Five top ten draft picks in three years; one All Star
3. Cap space created for the 2014 free agency class which will now do 0 in attracting the top players of the free agency class
4. And the latest; three years unable to draft, acquire or develop a Center.
Indeed. At least this gives Tyler Zeller a chance to get more playing time. But I’ll bet this transaction will probably start up the Omer Asik rumors again.
Kudos man looks like your feelings were right yesterday. I must say I didn’t see this blowing up in their faces but for some reason I’m not shocked. I just hope bringing Mike Brown back isn’t the next mistake.
Serious question to you Steve, in no way am I trying to be irritating…. Do you watch the games or just rely on stats?
Your argus are always so,eh based in a statistic that has serious flaws to it.
They average higher in out out because they don’t know how to use the Center position with Bynum in.
Anyone who was watched one game this year can see that.
Granted the way the contract was structured helps the Cavaliers save some face/money but between this the Bennett failure to this point and Mike Brown the Cavaliers may have just completed a dubious hat trick. I think the LeBron haters can rest comfortably I can’t imagine why he’d want to return and undo the correct decision he made years ago to leave.
I’m SO HAPPY that Bynam revealed himself to be the worthless, lazy, malcontent that has been his NBA career, before the Cavs were obligated to carry him for 2 years. Zeller is twice the player and twice the man, give him the minutes. Andy should be starting anyway, he deserved it.
Maybe fans are tired of the Cavs making terrible decisions
Tyler Zeller does not need more playing time; he needs cut.
I know you don’t get the complaints or whining Steve, you never do.
The risk in Bynum not playing was due to injury, not him being a flat out mental case.
For him to simply say that he doesn’t want to play basketball anymore wasn’t a part of the equation.
You can chalk it up to the “risk” factor if you’d like to, I see it as a major failure by Grant.
1. Word on the street is that it takes at least 3 years to develop a front court player, not 28 games.
2.It should be noted that only ONE all star has been selected from the previous 3 draft classes. No other team was able to send any of their rookies during that time span. So what’s your point?
3. it takes more than money to attract free agents. If you are willing to take the risk of giving your entire payroll to a player who doesn’t want to play under a specific coach, city, and/or player(s) and expect him to play as well as he did with his previous team, then go ahead and do so.
4. Tyler Zeller. And as I stated above, I’m waiting until year 3 to see how he turns out.
So who would backup Anderson Varejao?
this is a really bad comment.
1. I’ll give you this point (and only this point)
2. How many other All stars came from the past 3 draft classes? 0
3. Since when do you only need cap space to attract players? It runs a lot deeper than that.
4. How many teams in the NBA currently have a true center?
I agree with the sentiment that Chris Grant should be on thin ice by now, but this was still a risk worth taking. Cut ties and move on, the Cavs are a better team when Bynum is not on the floor anyway.
1. A number one overall selected player taking three years to “develop” is ludicrous. He’s a bust, if you can’t see that; you’re not watching.
2. I’m not talking about the players that went in the last three years… I’m talking the players that will be sent. Waiters, Thompson, not Bennett are heading to All Star weekend…. Ever.
3. You’re making my point for me; it does take more than money… It takes a team worthy of selecting to go to as a Free Agent; Grant has failed to build it. So my point. from earlier is he’s acquired all these assets and cap space pining for 2014 and now there’s no team built to attract.
4. And as I stated above, Tyler Zeller doesn’t need more playing time, he needs cut.
Yep, you called it. The flashes were enough for me to this point but obviously there is more to it too. Glad that the structure of his deal makes him an asset regardless.
Exactly, but we can take back twelve mil for a six mil commitment for the other team.
1. is Andrew Bynum a bust too, after seeing what he did in his first season? http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bynuman01.html
2. You seem to be able to predict the future. Tell me, what is the stock market forecast for the next 10 years? And does Cleveland get a MLS franchise within that timeframe?
3.Regardless if Chris Grant made a good team or not, you still didn’t address whether or not the “top” player wants to play under the coach, city, and/or certain player(s). He just might decide to play for the Pistons for example because he wants to be the center of attention, or he wants to be closer to friends and family. Try again, StrongBad.
4. And as I stated before, who would backup Anderson Varejao?
Edit: Cavs vs. Boston
Tyler Zeller: 21min. 5p 10r 3a 1b.
Not bad. Again why should we cut him?
1. Yes, at 26 years of age if he is truly hanging it up, he’s a bust.
2. It’s not hard to predict who’s a star, all star and superstar in the NBA if you’re watching.
3. In fact it is TOP regards to the fact that Grant has failed in three years at building a team through the draft with top picks. In what world has a top free agent signed with some Midwest team to be the center of attention, closer to family, or whatever ludicrous reason your throwing out?
4. Varejao should be the backup, not the other way around.
2. It’s not hard to predict who’s a star, all star and superstar in the NBA if you’re watching.
It’s actually very hard. 20/20 hindsight and self fulfilling prophecies make it seem easy. I think I’m a decent scout with high basketball IQ and I’ve missed on some kids big time. More often wrong than right, I’d guess.
There’s a reason guys get paid millions to evaluate talent and still get fired each and every year for failing. Look through the draft results for any given year, see how many top 15 picks you don’t even remember.
I agree with moving Bynum but let’s not pretend that Zeller is twice the player.
It’s hard to have the facts if you don’t watch the game, and all I care about are the facts.
And no, “some saber metric” (that you use this term as such a catch-all suggests you don’t understand what these stats actually are) can’t be used to suit any argument.
They average outscoring their opponents more with Bynum out for a few reasons. I do agree that our guards being unable to use their big men effectively is an issue. The offense grinds when Bynum is in, but the defense is worse too. But that the team, at both ends of the court, is so much better with Bynum out suggests that Bynum is more of a negative than positive out there.
I rarely get the complaints or whining because they almost never are worth the energy. Fine be upset that Bynum is not going to play because of a mental issue instead of a physical one. We’re still in the same boat we should have expected to be in – without Bynum able to contribute.
why dont reporters reporter? /rheotorical /startover
it’s a shame trained journalists paid to report on a team fail to report the detail behind ‘conduct detrimental’ to a team. couldn’t we all read the cavs press release and get this same level of insight?
i could be wrong but i think there’s about a dozen people paid to report on the cavaliers. welp, here’s your chance boys. what was conduct detrimental? what is the story??
That’s what I was thinking too. Bill Simmons went on a Twitter rant today about how the Cavs screwed this up and the deal actually favored Bynum. Haha. Nope.
Steve’s all over this but coming from someone who has seen every Cavs game this season, I am backing him up. Bynum has no use in the offensive set outside of an isolation play or a tip in. He doesn’t have the legs (knees) to run pick’n’roll anymore. His jump shot had been awful in the pick’n’pop. Defensively he’s been brutal in pick’n’roll. He’s useless outside of the paint. He gave the Cavs a handful of exciting plays per game that gave everyone hope, but he is a shell of his former self and I don’t see that changing much.
This comment is excellent, even if you made it without a hint of sarcasm.
how does it favor Bynum? all the options are for the Cavs? would it have been better to guarantee everything?
when was the last time you heard of a mid-year option too? it’s really weird, but looks like the card the Cavs are going to play now (as a trade-chip).
The sad thing is national writers know more than local ones. I think Wojo even said he’s lost his desire to play basketball.
Other then taking a shot and having it fail I agree the Cavaliers did the best they could do. Now we know how Philadelphia felt but at least this time it didn’t cost a very good player in Vucevic to find out Bynum is a head case. That being said if Grant could find any team willing to trade for Bynum that would be a magician like feat IMO.