While We’re Waiting…Ahtyba Rubin, Shaq Struggling and Big Ten Expansion
December 13, 2009Akron Zips/NFL Sunday Open Thread
December 13, 2009Sitting at 16-7 on the season, there are many ways you can come up with excuses for the Cleveland Cavaliers thus far this season. The big Shaq-uisition would definitely be up on that list, and as linked to in WWW this morning, Stepien Rules had a pretty solid list of other reasons with the schedule. Well what does that mean going forward? Not a whole lot, as the schedule becomes increasingly more difficult starting tonight with their road game at contending Oklahoma City.
In the first 23 games this season, representing just over a quarter of the entire schedule, the average winning percentage of a Cleveland opponent has been .463. Additionally, of their seven losses only two were against teams that currently have records above .500 (Boston and Houston). Those are disappointing signs when looking toward home court advantage for the Cavs in the playoffs this season. Now with the day-to-day importance of the season cranking up ever so slightly, the team needs to crunch down against some key opponents in order to make a push.
Only a quarter of the way through the season, and our beloved team sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They are three games back of Boston, while Orlando and Atlanta are one game and one half game ahead of Cleveland, respectively. This was not the plan for GM Danny Ferry this season as the team clearly looks to be just behind all three of those teams thus far in the conference. Considering the relatively easy schedule so far, things have to get more difficult eventually and they certainly do later this month.
Here is a look at the details of the rest of the December schedule for the Cavaliers:
Sun, Dec 13 @ Oklahoma City (12-9)
Tue, Dec 15 vs. New Jersey (2-21)
Wed, Dec 16 @ Philadelphia (5-18)
Fri, Dec 18 vs. Milwaukee (11-11)
Sun, Dec 20 @ Dallas (17-7)
Mon, Dec 21 @ Phoenix (16-8)
Wed, Dec 23 @ Sacramento (10-12)
Fri, Dec 25 @ LA Lakers (18-4)
Sun, Dec 27 vs. Houston (13-9)
Tue, Dec 29 @ Atlanta (16-6)
Wed, Dec 30 vs. Atlanta (16-6)
The first four games look relatively calm, and combining those with the first 23 games it gives the Cavaliers a strength of schedule of .443. From that point on however, right after my finals finish up here at UD, it will be a rough holiday season for the Cavs. They face eight straight teams with 10 wins or more starting with Milwaukee, and all but Sacramento are currently projected to make the playoffs. The Lakers, Dallas and Atlanta all will host the Cavaliers and all three of those teams rank in the top six in the NBA right now.
While we can guess all the problems with this team currently, we are about to learn a lot more about the strength of this unit later this month. Will they be strong enough to not overlook teams like New Jersey and Philadelphia? Can they consistently dominate the mediocre teams like Sacramento and Milwaukee? How can they handle adversity on the road against the elite teams like Los Angeles, Dallas, Phoenix and Atlanta? Is this team good enough to compete for a title four months from now? These answers will become more apparent in just a few more weeks.
11 Comments
Dayum we have a hard remainder of December. Ideally, I see us with 2 losses over the next 11 game stretch. Ideally…
Lebron just has to stop whining and getting all worked up. We need to turn it around mentally. Our mental strength, as WFNY as highlighted, has been the biggest concern for me. Why does Lebron look so unhappy?
I still believe he’s upset about not getting Jax.
I am very afraid of that nj game.
I am very afraid of tonight’s game as Z will be seeing an inordinate amount of floor time w/o Shaq and because Brown absolutely refuses to play Varejao and Hickson together; even though we are going to need that combination against Boston.
Why does Brown have to jerk Hickson around so much? Why?
@ 2,I believe lebron is a very immature player. He whines way too much for someone of his stature. I think he doesn’t get called out on it enough because everyone is afraid of upsetting him. That will change next year when he’s locked into a contract somewhere.
@Jack – Good point about Z against the Thunder. Ideally, the big man from Lithuania should never play more than 24 minutes a night. Anderson should probably be around 30 tops with J.J. no greater than 20 or so, unless he is performing brilliantly with his opportunities on offense.
With Shaq questionable tonight, that means that there are about 74 of the 96 minutes taken up at the 4/5 slots. LeBron should be the one getting the rest of those minutes meaning we should see more lineups with Andy/JJ, LeBron, Moon/Parker, Gibson/West, and Mo.
@Jack
Brown jerks Hickson around so much because he cannot handle some above average PFs defensively. Aldrige tore him up Friday and some with even lesser talent have given him a hard time. Be prepared to see Hickson get jerked around again tonight when having to guard people like Jeff Green and Kristic. Especially if Kristic is knocking down his jumper from anywhere inside the arc.
[…] in the comment section. Look back to my article earlier in the day today for a brief description of the team’s December schedule. This is an important game to focus on for the Cavaliers if they do intend to be a championship […]
I want D-Block to get about 10 minutes today in place of Z’s. He should be motivated to be playing in his hometown, and he’s been working on his jumpshot. He hit 1 or 2 when he had significant minutes against the Wizards in the Verizon Center, plus there was that 3.
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