Jabaal Sheard getting rave reviews in New England
September 28, 2015Mike Pettine says Browns haven’t thought about cutting Dwayne Bowe
September 28, 2015When one converged upon last season’s Cleveland Cavaliers Media Day, they were greeted by a tent fit to house an Italian wedding. Tables upon tables were set up as a means for a makeshift media room. Wi-fi was faint, extension cords didn’t necessarily extend. The Cavs communications team had a table set up at the far end where the year’s horde could retrieve their credentials for the day’s event as well as the season that excited ahead. There was The Homecoming and The Trade and The New Head Coach and hundreds upon hundreds sought answers to questions which had been looming for the entire summer.
This season, there was no such tent. ESPN’s SportsCenter did not have a live broadcast streaming from the southwestern corner of the facility. While there was the standard Media Day shuttle, the second one pulled up to Cleveland Clinic Courts, it was evident that this season was going to be, for a lack of a better term, different. The media room was no longer shared with the rest of the floor, the communications team set up shop inside. It was very similar to years prior to the 2014-15 edition save for one minor difference: Every player had a shot at the podium.1 And where last season was shrouded in mystery and wonderment—can this new team with a new coach and new players gel?—Monday afternoon’s events were much different.
[Related: Tweets from Media Day 2015]
The 2014 Media Day LeBron James was much more stern and serious than the one presented this time around. Last season’s had a headband and barely cracked a smile; this season’s wasted little time in throwing out a few jokes, the first being about him feeling as good as his rookie year with an ear-to-ear grin. The 2014 version of Kevin Love waited until the very end of the day to make his rounds, barely making eye contact with the group and saying little more than what was required to provide a response; this year’s Love was bouncing around the gym with a Varejao-like head of curls, joking with James and point guard Kyrie Irving throughout the day, laughing when asked about his cover of ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue.” J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert yelled for each other across the gym. Timofey Mozgov joked about needing to improve his three-point shooting (in between not knowing how to say something in English and just deciding to answer the question in Russian).
Last season was littered with new faces, many of which were not even present when the season started. This year, as general manager David Griffin stated in his event-opening address, the band was back together. The Tristan Thompson contract impasse loomed a bit, but even that was put to rest not long after Griffin stated that the team is confident that something will get worked out in short order and their desire to have him in Cleveland has not waned as the negotiation process has worn on.
It’s entirely too easy to read too much into such an orchestrated event. The players largely know what questions are coming their way. The pomp and circumstance is borderline monotonous for veterans, and this Cavaliers team is littered with them. But where last season’s media event took the large part of an afternoon, this year’s came and went with David Griffin and David Blatt starting things off around 1 p.m. eastern, and the horde filing into the work room or to back to the shuttle not long after 3 p.m. Nevertheless, the group that had all of the chemistry-based questions at this time a year ago has now played into the middle of June with one another, and have actually managed to add some key pieces. There’s a very good chance the discussion next season is no longer “championship or bust,” but rather the potential for a repeat. If so, one couldn’t be faulted for tying it all back to the body language that permeated Cleveland Clinic Courts back in late September.
Additional notes from Media Day:
– It sounds a lot like David Blatt will be rolling with nine- and ten-man rotations. He repeatedly mentioned the team’s new-found depth and appears destined to limit his stars’ minutes as much as possible, keeping them all fresh for the postseason. He is also very glad to no longer have any doubt surrounding his non-rookie status as a head coach.
– LeBron James discussed his physical condition in decent detail. While he wouldn’t go into what he worked on this offseason, he did state that he feels he improved a facet of his game large in part to three-a-days (five days per week) in the month of September. When asked about potential distractions with all of his off-court happenings, James quickly rebuffed them all, saying that they wouldn’t be possible without the game of basketball and he has no issues with prioritizing. An interesting note that not many picked up on: When asked about his ability to sit throughout games, James specifically mentioned Kevin Love as a reason why he will be able to rest more often. While little was said beyond this, it makes one wonder if a soon-to-be 31–year-old James will see more time at the power forward spot this coming season. “I will take all the pain that comes with competing for a championship at the end of the day,” he said.
– I’m trying to not read too much into things, but Love’s body language was night and day compared to last season. After joking during his portion of the podium time, he stood up to greet Kyrie Irving (who was next in line), only to tip the chair over when he walked away, the way a mischievous child would when parents weren’t looking. If only the loud thud didn’t occur as he tried to sneak away…
– Richard Jefferson is a good dude. We all know how Mark Cuban had one hell of an offseason, but it was Jefferson—not an agent or business partner—who called the Dallas Mavericks’ owner to let him know that he was going to be leaving in free agency. Jefferson added that he believes there are six teams that have the potential to win a championship this season, and the Cavs are his best chance at obtaining a ring .
– Anderson Varejao says he is 100 percent recovered from an injured Achilles. It’s so easy to forget about Andy given his absence during the team’s run last season. “I’m ready to go for the season,” Varejao said. “I sat down with the medical staff and we had a nice talk and I’m able to be full go from the beginning.” It goes without saying that his being back will only serve to help the Cavs’ frontcourt flexibility. The additional depth will hopefully serve to preserve his own health.
– Kyrie Irving says he has been cleared to run, something he’s been doing for three weeks. He has not been cleared for contact or any sort of two-a-days, something he’s taking very seriously as to avoid any sort of setback in his surgically repaired knee. Irving stated that he spent much of the offseason studying film of himself, attempting to learn ways—angles, technical aspects—that he can take less contact without changing his game much. It sounds an awful lot like vintage Chris Paul who changed his game to more of a mid-range, elbow-based attack after spending considerable time on the shelf early in his career.
– Love, who is visibly thinner, also says he is recovered from his shoulder injury and will start to take on some pad contact before being cleared for actual five-on-five play. “I feel really good, but I’ll just basically go off of what the doctors and training staff tell me and go from there, but I’m very eager to get back,” he said. While he couldn’t comment on the type of response Kelly Olynyk will get when Boston visits Cleveland, he did reiterate that the two have spoken and that there are no hard feelings.
– J.R. Smith referred to himself as a “gambler” when asked about his decision to opt out of his contract, only to sign for less this season. He reiterated that he’s glad to be back as this was the best place for him to play given his desire to win and his fondness for his teammates.
– Iman Shumpert, another player who was banged up last season, stated that his shoulder and groin are 100 percent. He spent a portion of the offseason working on his ball handling, feeling that he left a lot to be desired when he was called upon to facilitate the offense in Irving’s absence.
- To pull back the curtain on Media Day a bit, it’s not for the novice. It’s a weird mix of boring and chaotic. There’s a lot of standing around and the need to be carefully positioned in the event you wish to obtain more than what’s said in front of the group. Typically, the Cavaliers have had a podium set up with a Cavs logo backdrop for the players who command more in the way of media attention. Surrounding this podium set up were high-top tables where the Luke Harangodys of the world would post up and answer a few questions during an allotted amount of time. The rest of the afternoon is spent chasing players around as they move from station to station—NBA/Getty and USA TODAY have photo stations, every sports talk radio station within a 50 mile radius of Independence has a table set up for remote broadcast, and ESPN and NBA TV have stations for live interviews. It’s an incredible song and dance with each player having a checklist of items they have to bang out before they can swap the unis for their street clothes. This season, however, there were no high-top tables—every player who was presented to the media got a shot at the podium, from LeBron James to Matthew Dellavedova. [↩]
2 Comments
$86/HOURLY
SPECIAL REPORT!!!!……….After earning an average of
19952 Dollars monthly,I’m finally getting 100 Dollars an
hour,just working 4-5 hours daily online….It’s time to
take some action and you can join it too.It is simple,dedicated and easy
way to get rich.Three weeks from now you will wishyou have started
today – I promise!….HERE I STARTED-TAKE A LOOK AT MY
llllllllll PR0FILE llllllllll…….
95
i can not wait