Browns extend backup QB Austin Davis for two years
September 30, 2015Nike’s LeBron 13 prioritizes technology over style and that’s OK
September 30, 2015Happy Wednesday, Blawg Pound. I mean, sort of. Been a rough few days around the ol’ Cleveland sports water cooler, eh? The Browns suck in a variety of ways right now. They lost to the Raiders, they’re whispering to TMZ, they’re parting ways with their accused-of-domestic-violence offensive line coach, and now they’re giving their third-string QB a contract extension. The Indians’ playoff chances have dwindled to the point where we can safely say they ain’t gonna make it (almost; a glimmer of hope remains), and Iman Shumpert’s wrist injury makes him the latest Cavalier scheduled to miss a chunk of the NBA season.
I THOUGHT SPORTS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FUN.
Ah, but they are, even when (especially when?) they’re not. When they’re at their best, however, we don’t need to manufacture the fun. We just get to kick back, watch, and marvel at the supreme athletic feats unfolding before us. The Indians have provided a decent bit of that this season — especially Francisco Lindor, who I swear has single-handedly restored Tom Hamilton’s love of baseball — and the Browns do so every now and then; if you get your jollies off of offensive line play, Joe Thomas stonewalling Khalil Mack is a good place to start.
https://vine.co/v/eQbPHt77pKj
Football season may just be beginning, but there’s another season on the way, sports fans. A season that will make us stand, and shout, and cheer, and do it all for the right reasons. A season with home games filled to capacity and a team bursting with talent. A season with more wins than losses. Cavs season is nearly upon us.
Media days are rather silly things by nature, but Cavs media day got me earnestly psyched for Cavs season. Much of it was just seeing the guys in uniform again. A bunch of guys are banged up, but no one looked hurt smiling for photos. Whereas last year’s team was assembled on the fly, this year’s is familiar. There are a couple new faces, but even the new ones aren’t that new. Mo Williams knows his way around town, and Richard Jefferson has been in the league long enough that everyone knows him. About the only guy who’s really new is Sasha Kaun, and what do you know, there’s someone right there with whom he can commiserate about being a 7-foot Russian in Cleveland.
My only real point here is that this team is going to be super fun, and I’m glad we have about a month to prepare for this thing. Some may lament the 82-game season. The Eastern Conference is still weak — in terms of real contenders, at least; I reckon some of the bottom feeders will be at least watchably bad — and the Cavs are a shoo-in for the playoffs. The only real question is how long they’ll have home court for, right? The possibility of injury or other outside factors always looms, but the Cavs should be among the very best teams in the league this year. Won’t it be kind of boring?
Bruh. Hell no it won’t be boring. Do you remember who’s on this squad? That’s what today is about for me; just drinking it in and remembering who’s on this team, and what makes them fun. I can’t wait to watch 82 of these things. There’s bound to be a stinker or two along the way, but this team is going to be a hell of a time, one that is worth watching every night. Rejoice, basketball junkies, because the Cavs are loaded with fun guys…
…like J.R. Smith, who dropped 27 on the Warriors in his Cavs debut after declaring that “when it doubt, shoot” was his m.o. and then proving it…
…like Kyrie Irving, perhaps the very best ballhandler in the league at the tender age of 23, he of the 57-point outing against the San Antonio Spurs…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXxt8hJbelo
…like Kevin Love, outlet passer extraordinaire, with a season’s worth of comfort and familiarity under his belt…
…like sweet Matthew Dellavedova, who rose to the occasion as much as he possibly could and was an honest to god folk hero for a minute there…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfyjOMBGO8o
…and like Anderson Varejao, who many have given up for dead but for whom I will always hold a candle; like Mo Williams, a Mississippi native who said “I’m coming home” when he decided to sign with the Cavs; like Tristan Thompson — presumably; we’ll find out his contract status soon — now playing to prove scores of new doubters wrong, whether he wants to or not; like James Jones, a living breathing embodiment of veteran savvy not seen since Eric Snow’s heyday; like Joe Harris, who I hope can one day become like 60 percent of Mike Miller; even head coach David Blatt, who is reportedly more confident in his second season (have fun with that, beat reporters).
I’m just excited. And that’s without mentioning this guy, who’s gonna be out to show who this league still belongs to.
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Well, ok, after thinking a bit about Iman’s injury…
1. At least it happened now, and not later in the season.
2. He’ll be fresh and rested when he returns.
3. Some of our bench depth will get a chance to play extended minutes, and prove who actually may belong at this level.
Deep breaths, deeeeep breaths…
This is Cleveland, if we are not manufacturing the fun for our sports teams then you can be damn sure we will manufacture misery instead.
See also: RGB’s comment below LOL
I’m not too stressed over Iman’s injuries for the reasons you listed and also:
(1) He’ll be back long before the playoffs start.
(2) He wasn’t going to start
(3) Mo can and has played a bit of SG if our depth gets tested
(4) Griff has shown that he’s pretty good at the whole “making moves” thing, although there isn’t much wiggle room left.
You think JR was going to start over Shump? I think we have enough firepower in the starting unit that JR would have been better served coming off the bench with Mo. I realize the first 5 minutes of the game are not as crucial as the last 5, but i would much rather debate who should start at SG as opposed to who should start at QB.
See, I don’t recall much of the Cavs 2014-2015 season being “fun”. For most of the season, everyone was so uptight about “Why are they not winning ALL OF THA GAMEZZZZ???!!” and stressing about whether the team would ever truly gel that they never really appreciated the whole thing until the playoffs started. My hope would be that, if for no other reason than to make the interminable regular season a bit more tolerable, Cavs fans will sit back and relax: we know what this fully operational battle station is capable of already. Save the hand-wringing over fitting in vs. fitting out or who play what minutes or our spot in the standings and just hope for good health and those occasional DID YOU SEE THAT?! moments. Then it might actually be fun.
I think JR would have started because (a) he started over a healthy Shump most/all of last year so…continuity; (b) he stretches the floor much better than Shump. But I suppose the point is academic at the moment.
To be fair the “fun” didn’t really start until January 15th for the team.
It was at that point LeBron came out of chill mode, the defense upticked big time and the team literally turned into an offensive death machine.
the fact that no one was literally prosecuted for that is still somewhat of a head scratcher.
I think we’ll get more 09-10 season, which was a lot of fun (until the end).
The whole team literally should have been indicted for what they did to Memphis.
Just gruesome. 😉
Cavaliers who seem at least as brittle as Derrick Rose:
(1) Kyrie Irving
(2) Anderson Varejao
(3) Iman Shumpert
Not quite, but not exactly a bastian of health either:
(4) Kevin Love
Hopefully, this can be counteracted by bench depth than can actually contribute.
I’m looking at you Miller, Perkins, Marion, Haywood…
Ideally for me the team comes out angry and vengeful and lays waste to the league, not unlike what Kyrie was saying the other day. I don’t need 73 wins in the regular season (honestly, as long as we make the playoffs and stay healthy, I’m not worried about the regular season much), but I’d love to see a genuine juggernaut out there, kicking ass and not even bothering to take names. 09-10 was goofy fun. Give me “taking care of business” fun.
I just didn’t expect offensive death machine in the first few months anyway, so it didn’t bother me that they weren’t. It was a sight to see once it all clicked, though.
I think he started over Shump once Shump got healthy mainly because it was working, and if it ain’t broke and all that. Had Shump come to Cleveland healthy, I think he would have slid into the starting SG spot.
P.S. Debating Shump vs JR is infinitely better than debating whoever the hell our SGs were a few years ago
The bench has definitely been upgraded the question will be how Blatt uses them. Mo by default will be used plenty since we don’t know when KI will play but I’d like to see Jefferson and Kaun have definite roles. The loss of Shumpert means more opportunities for Delly and James Jones as well.
Rose going down helped me feel a little better about losing Shumpert before the season even started. Just shows how freak things can happen to certain guys.
Shumpert wasn’t going to start, since when?
Yeah, it was goofy, but, it was also win a lot of games in dominant fashion.
I’m beaten down as a fan. Being competitive and competent will get me through the winter.
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