The Colt Report: Week 2
October 25, 2010The Problem With Prognosticating The Cavaliers Season
October 25, 2010The Cavaliers open the 2010-2011 season Wednesday night at home against the Boston Celtics. Shaquille O’Neal will no doubt find his way from the visitor’s locker room to see some of his Cleveland friends, but the trip will be all business for the poetic big man. Delonte West will likely not make the trip as he will begin serving his suspension for the weapon’s related trouble he got into prior to last season.
The Celtics will come to town on the second half of a back-to-back. They play the Miami Heat on Tuesday.
The Cavaliers finished the preseason with a 6-2 mark. That record means absolutely nothing of course. The team has been trying to implement a new system, all while adjusting to a different roster. This year’s roster features 6 players that were not members of last year’s team. To make matters more difficult, they have played the majority of the preseason without starters Mo Williams and Andy Varejao. Antawn Jamison has also been limited in his on-court time.
The system that Coach Scott is implementing is completely different from what the team has run the last 5 years. This offense is based on movement, which as Cleveland fans know all too well, wasn’t a big part of what the Cavs have done recently. The ‘stand around and watch #23 do something’ play is missing from this playbook.
It may take fans a while to get used to what’s happening out on the court. From the new uniforms (way too much ketchup and mustard for my taste) to the new system, to a revamped roster fans may find themselves wondering who it is exactly on their screen. And the part that perhaps I dread most- hearing time and time again about how LeBron James isn’t here anymore.
I wonder how long it will take before Cleveland’s team is once again the Cavaliers instead of the not-LeBrons? From clever comic book style team previews and power rankings, to expert predictions and prognostications all the world can think of to describe this team is who they are not. Fortunately, local broadcasts should fairly exempt. No way that Fred McLeod does that to the franchise.
4 Comments
well at least we’re doing better than miami so far
Yep. All last year we had to listen to all the talk about how LeBron was going to leave Cleveland all season long, now this year we get to listen to them all talk about how LeBron is gone all year long.
This will be a fun season to watch imo. If you subtract LeBron from the equation, the Cavs have quietly gone from being old, slow, and mired with poor shooters to being young, athletic, and sporting some big time bombers.
Hickson, Hollins, J-Moon, and Eyenga are simply freak athletes that will be fun to watch.
Sessions and Varejao get the absolute most out of their athleticism, and will make a lot of teams pay for being out of position.
No team in the NBA will hit the 3 as efficiently as the Mo/Boobie/Parker trio.
Don’t sleep on Mo Williams either – I smell a dozen 30 point games for him this season.
The Cavs have 2 huge problems: They will struggle mightily to get easy baskets in half-court sets and I have no idea how they will guard big post threats.
Someone is going to want Jamison at the TD and they have that huge trade exception. If they have a few injuries and shut it down they will get a lottery pick. I think this team could be real nice in 2-3 years though if they get the right guys for the right system.
“If you subtract LeBron from the equation, the Cavs have quietly gone from being old, slow, and mired with poor shooters to being young, athletic, and sporting some big time bombers” sorry but I couldn’t disagree more.
If Hickson, Hollins (huh?), Moon and Eyenga are freak athletes then public enemy #2 (behind Modell) was off the charts. C’mon, lets be realistic.
That’s just one there are so many others I just don’t have the time to dissect it point by point.