June 19, 2013

2013 NBA Draft, 2013 NBA trade scenarios and more with Kirk – WFNY Podcast – 2013-05-29

May 29, 2013 by 2 Comments

WFNY Podcast LogoKirk wrote a fantastic article exploring the trade market available to the Cavs and I wanted to go over it and push him further on it since it has been out there a few days. Of course we also talked about some other stuff like Dwight Howard.

  • Kirk’s NBA Draft Rumors article
  • Being an eighth seed and the pains of it
  • The finishing of one three year plan and starting another to compete for a title
  • Oklahoma City trading Harden one season too early to Houston
  • Should OKC have played one more year and taken a CLE deal?
  • Did people expect Harden to be as good as he’s been this season in Houston?
  • Demarcus Cousins and how scared we all are of him
  • Luol Deng and why he might or might not work
  • Joe Johnson contract hell
  • Deron Williams and the Brooklyn cap space situation
  • Dwight Howard and whether or not you can gamble with him
  • Would you take a chance on Dwight Howard with the Cavs? (hypothetically)
  • The Dream scenario and how Kevin Love is not a possibility
  • What if the Cavs do nothing?
  • How coachable are the Cavs’ young guys like Kyrie Irving, Tyler Zeller and Tristan Thompson?
  • Missing Delonte West and loving his game
  • Ben McLemore and Nerlens Noel and who they can become [Read more...]

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NBA Rumors: Cleveland Cavaliers will be “vying” for Dwight Howard

May 21, 2013 by 24 Comments

The Cleveland Cavaliers were a buried mention as a potential suitor for Dwight Howard in free agency in an ESPNLosAngeles report yesterday. Cleveland was tossed in after meticulously exploring the merits of Houston and Dallas, so it’s reasonable to assume that the Cavs are going to be tossed into every discussion due the the extraordinary amount of cap space they will have this off-season.

Howard is expected to entertain the free-agency process and hear competing offers from Houston, Dallas and others, multiple sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com. Cleveland and Atlanta are teams that will also be vying for Howard, among other suitors.

If I was making the book in Vegas, I’d say there’s a 80% chance that the Cavaliers talk to Howard or his people this off-season, because you kind of have to when you have the cap space and a player of that caliber is a free agent. The idea that it would get past the talking stage and Howard would come join the Mike Brown-led Cavaliers has to be at 5% or less I would think.

We don’t know exactly how Dwight Howard feels about Mike Brown, but in Howard’s first season with Brown, the coach was fired after only five games. At minimum, it would appear that familiarity or some personal connection would be somewhat unlikely to benefit the Cavaliers should they even truly be in pursuit of the big man.

[Related: Cavalier NBA Draft Film Room: Shabazz Muhammad]

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2013 NBA Draft: Lakers receive 19th pick; will go to Cavs

April 19, 2013 by 10 Comments

While the Cleveland Cavaliers received initial good news with the Los Angeles Lakers officially making the playoffs Wednesday night (thus earning the right to swap with Miami’s No. 30 first-round pick), it was previously undetermined what pick that might be in the first round.

Per the NBA draft rules, playoff teams are sorted by regular season record alone. The Lakers, Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls were all tied at 45-37 at the end of the season, thus tying for the 18-20 picks in the first.

Finally then, the NBA hosted a tiebreaking coin flip today. Per the Cavs’ Fred McLeod on Twitter:

Overall, the Houston Rockets were awarded pick No. 18 and the Bulls will receive No. 20.

Thus, along with the Lakers’ No. 19 pick, the Cavaliers also are in formal possession of the No. 3 lottery slot 1 and two other second-round picks: No. 31 (via Orlando) and No. 33 (CLE’s).

It’s potentially expected that the team might look into packaging multiple picks to move up in the draft, as they did in 2012. In order to acquire the rights to Tyler Zeller (No. 17 pick) from the Dallas Mavericks, the Cavaliers traded away picks No. 24 (Jared Cunningham), No. 33 (Bernard James) and No. 34 (Jae Crowder).

For folks with long enough memories as well, they might also remember that Cleveland was on the winning side of a couple other coin-flip tiebreakers in the 2012 draft as well. “What’s not to like,” eh?

[Related: Fair or not, it was time for the Cavaliers to move on]

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  1. Here are the exact lottery odds for that slot: 15.6% of No. 1; 15.7% of No. 2; 15.6% of No. 3; 22.6% of No. 4; 26.5% of No. 5; 4.0% of No. 6. [back]

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WFNY Stats & Info: Mavericks closing in on Lakers in West

March 28, 2013 by 2 Comments

The NBA regular season concludes in just 20 days on Wednesday, April 17. Between now and then, boy, there’s going to be a whole lot of exciting back-and-forth action.

Most notably as it relates to the Cavs besides their own draft position, fans should be paying attention to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference playoff race. Back on March 8, I shared an update about how the Lakers were closing in on Utah. But now, there’s a new competitor: Dallas.

Fitted with some gnarly motivational playoff beards, the Mavericks are on a 10-4 tear in March while the rest of the hopeful playoff teams continue their relatively mediocre play.

After a busy Wednesday night in the Association, here’s the most recent look at how the bottom of the West playoff standings play out right now:

Rk Team W L Pct GB Left SRS JH Rt JH Rk JH Odds
6 GSW 41 32 0.562 +3.5 9 0.75 100.8 12 98.8%
7 HOU 39 32 0.549 +2.5 11 3.90 104.1 7 98.4%
8 LAL 37 35 0.514 – 10 1.14 100.8 13 54.5%
9 UTA 36 36 0.500 -1.0 10 -0.17 99.8 18 26.1%
10 DAL 35 36 0.493 -1.5 11 -0.09 100.5 15 19.2%
11 POR 33 38 0.465 -3.5 11 -1.36 100.1 16 3.0%

 

Now, with data through Tuesday’s games, here is a look at these teams’ remaining schedules:

Rk Team Left P/L H/R P: H/R L: H/R W Pct JH Avg SRS Avg
6 GSW 9 3/6 6/3 2/1 4/2 0.497 100.4 0.5
7 HOU 11 5/6 5/6 2/3 3/3 0.480 99.2 -0.8
8 LAL 10 6/4 6/4 4/2 2/2 0.539 101.4 1.3
9 UTA 10 5/5 6/4 3/2 3/2 0.527 101.4 1.1
10 DAL 11 6/5 6/5 4/2 2/3 0.506 100.2 0.2
11 POR 11 8/3 7/4 5/3 2/1 0.586 103.0 2.8

 

Key: JH stands for John Hollinger’s ratings, rankings and playoff odds at ESPN. SRS is a standardized ranking system built around an average of 0.0. P/L is playoffs and lottery teams, while H/R is home and road games.

Both Golden State and Houston appear to be playoff locks with only a few weeks left. Thus, after all the positioning thus far, it appears these next four teams are battling only for the No. 8 spot.

With Wednesday’s win, the Lakers actually jumped from about 42% playoff odds to over 54%. That’s also because every other team besides Utah (win) and Dallas (didn’t play) lost last night. But it shows how the Lakers’ progress had been stagnant over the last few weeks.

In terms of remaining schedules, Dallas and Utah are both at a slight advantage over the Lakers. The Jazz play the fewest remaining playoff teams (5), while the Mavericks have the easiest opponent winning percentage, Hollinger rating and SRS rating by a slight margin.

Portland’s blowout loss Wednesday against Brooklyn (they trailed 46-17 just 14 minutes into the game) probably ended its playoff hopes. The Trail Blazers also have a brutal schedule left — facing eight playoff teams in their 11 remaining games.

[Related: The Boots: NBA Draft Lottery, John Wall and winning streaks]

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Another Cavs blowout brings more ‘fire Byron Scott’ murmurs

March 23, 2013 by 22 Comments

Chris Grant, Kyrie Irving, Byron ScottAny time your team is having a 22-47 season, it’s certain to elicit negative reactions from fans about the organization’s head coach. But it’s a very nuanced type of negativity when it deals with Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott.

Multiple times this year — notably, after the team started 5-23 — fans have questioned whether he’s the right coach to lead the Cavs into their hopeful playoff seasons down the road. Many have questioned his rotations. Others have questioned his overall toughness. Some have recalled how previous New Jersey and New Orleans teams started to ignore him by the end of his reign.

Whatever your Byron Scott-related point of view du jour, it’s likely that you displayed it on Twitter as the Cavaliers suffered their worst loss of the season, 118-76, on Friday in Houston. This of course followed Cleveland’s loss despite a 27-point lead against Miami on Wednesday. Placed within the context of Scott’s 186 games with the organization, it’s just been another tough week on the job. [Read more...]

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NBA Rumor: Injured Omri Casspi wants buyout from Cavaliers

February 24, 2013 by 10 Comments

More news on the Omri Casspi front broke yesterday afternoon.

Officially, from the Cavaliers, it was announced that the seldom-used forward from Israel would be checked into a hospital from Orlando and miss Saturday night’s game against the Magic.

Here was the release from the team: “Cavaliers forward Omri Casspi was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center this afternoon for evaluation of acute abdominal pain. He was accompanied by Cavaliers Head Athletic Trainer Max Benton. Both Casspi and Benton remain at the medical center. Casspi is listed as OUT for tonight’s game in Orlando and his status will be updated as appropriate.”

Then, unofficially, Israeli outlet Walla Sport (which has interviewed several times Casspi previously) reported that Casspi would like a buyout from the team. This isn’t shocking news considering his reported trade request from last month, but there were more details in this news bit.

According to the entirely Hebrew article (aka don’t click the link unless you know Hebrew), Casspi would like a buyout from Cleveland within 2-3 days. He then would hope to sign with a playoff team, namely Houston or Memphis. However, he would only like the buyout once a deal is in place with the next team.

Oddly enough: These murmurs come just days before Jewish Community Night at the Q, which is scheduled for Wednesday. We’ll see if Casspi is granted his reported request before the planned night of events, which included a meet-and-greet with the 24-year-old player.

Update at 11:30 a.m. Sunday: Casspi was diagnosed with acute appendicitis last night in Orlando. His appendix was later removed by Dr. Michael L. Cheatham. He stayed the night at the Orlando hospital and will be reevaluated today.

Update at 2:30 p.m. Sunday: Casspi just posted to his Facebook page with nearly 82,000 likes the following status (translated from Hebrew via Google): “Dear Friends, thank you for your concern, I am recovering and feeling much better today.” I’m sure we’ll have more news from him by tomorrow.

[Related: Chris Grant and the Cavaliers sit this trade deadline out]

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Box Score: Rockets 112, Cavs 104

January 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

James Harden was just too much in the second half as the Cavaliers couldn’t take advantage of the home crowd in a 112-104 loss to Houston on Saturday night. Harden, who scored just 2 points on 0 FGs in the first half, finished with 29 points and 7 steals.

Kyrie Irving, who made several spectacular plays again tonight, scored 30 points and had 6 assists, but had 8 turnovers and was forced to be the only offensive weapon late in the game again. Tristan Thompson had another great game with 14 points (on 9 shots) and 16 rebounds (including 8 offensive), while Dion Waiters had 13 points, but was a -13 for the night as Houston’s bench dominated while on the court.

HOUSTON ROCKETS 20-14 (Won last 4)
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS 8-27 (Lost last 1)
Team 1 2 3 4 Total
HOU 20 34 24 34 112
CLE 26 24 28 26 104

Houston

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
J. Lin G 38:13 7-13 3-5 3-5 +6 0 4 5 4 1 0 1 5 20
J. Harden G 37:56 6-17 3-9 14-15 +2 0 2 3 5 7 1 1 3 29
O. Asik C 21:18 1-3 0-0 2-4 -1 3 6 1 0 0 2 0 4 4
C. Parsons F 25:57 2-9 1-5 2-2 -7 1 5 3 3 0 0 1 0 7
M. Morris F 21:46 4-8 1-4 2-2 -5 2 5 3 1 1 0 0 0 11
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 37-79 12-34 26-36 12 43 23 17 11 4 3 23 112
Percentages .468 .353 .722 Team Rebounds: 13
C. Delfino 27:34 3-6 2-5 1-1 +17 0 3 2 2 1 0 0 2 9
P. Patterson 26:14 7-13 1-4 0-0 +13 1 6 2 1 0 1 0 3 15
G. Smith 26:12 5-5 0-0 1-5 +8 4 11 2 0 1 0 0 5 11
T. Douglas 14:50 2-5 1-2 1-2 +7 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 6
C. Aldrich DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. Anderson DNP – Coach’s Decision
T. Jones DNP – Inactive
S. Machado DNP – Coach’s Decision
D. Motiejunas DNP – Coach’s Decision
R. White DNP – Inactive

Cleveland

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
K. Irving G 41:08 10-24 3-8 7-8 -6 1 4 6 8 4 0 1 2 30
C.J. Miles G 25:52 4-14 1-6 0-0 0 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 4 9
T. Zeller C 37:04 4-9 0-0 4-4 0 1 5 5 0 3 1 0 3 12
T. Thompson F 37:07 5-11 0-0 4-6 -8 8 16 2 1 1 1 1 3 14
A. Gee F 31:30 6-12 2-4 4-4 -1 1 6 1 1 1 0 2 6 18
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 36-91 7-23 25-28 17 44 20 13 11 3 4 25 104
Percentages .396 .304 .893 Team Rebounds: 10
D. Waiters 28:50 4-13 1-5 4-4 -13 1 5 1 3 0 0 0 2 13
S. Livingston 16:40 0-3 0-0 0-0 -4 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 3 0
K. Jones 12:13 2-2 0-0 2-2 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 6
L. Walton 9:36 1-3 0-0 0-0 -8 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 2
O. Casspi DNP – Coach’s Decision
D. Gibson DNP – Inactive
J. Leuer DNP – Inactive
J. Pargo DNP – Coach’s Decision
S. Samuels DNP – Coach’s Decision
A. Varejao DNP – Inactive

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Report: Cavs Have Placed Bid for Luis Scola

July 15, 2012 by 13 Comments

According to Fox 8′s John Telich, the Cleveland Cavaliers have submitted a bid on the waiver wires for recently amnesty-waived Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola.

Earlier in the week, it was reported that the Cavs and Dallas Mavericks would be the two leading contenders for Scola’s services. The 32-year-old forward has averaged 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds during his five-year NBA career, entirely with Houston.

On Saturday, Fox Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico tweeted that a move likely will not be made officially until Monday, when it will be 48 hours since Scola was waived.

He’s set to make slightly over $30 million over the next three seasons. The team that places the highest sealed-envelope bid will win the claim for Scola and pay that portion of his salary for the 2012-13 schedule.

[Related: Cleveland Cavs Notes: Kyrie Irving’s Injury, Luis Scola, Andrew Bynum, Start of Summer League]

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Cleveland Cavs Notes: Kyrie Irving’s Injury, Luis Scola, Andrew Bynum, Start of Summer League

July 15, 2012 by 12 Comments

What a hectic week to be a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It seems that almost every single day brings along a new news cycle, and this week has brought along its fair share of hectic news.

From the Kris Humphries-Brooklyn Nets rumors to the possible Luis Scola waiver claim, to the more recent Andrew Bynum murmurs and recent Kyrie Irving injury, there’s been plenty to talk about in Cavs town lately.

Tonight, the Cavaliers begin summer league play in Las Vegas at 8:30 p.m. against the Charlotte Bobcats. With this in mind, I thought this would be a great time to round up some of the recent rumors and my thoughts on the team for this Sunday afternoon. [Read more...]

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NBA Free Agency Rumor: Cavs Reportedly Interested in Luis Scola

July 12, 2012 by 32 Comments

No one exactly knows what the Houston Rockets are up to these days with their constant roster moves. Regardless, with today’s news of their upcoming amnesty move on F Luis Scola, the Cleveland Cavaliers are already linked to have some interest.

ProBasketballDraft cited a source on Twitter that both the Cavs and Dallas Mavericks have some early interest in the 32-year-old Argentine forward. Scola was slotted to make $9.4 million this coming season, as a part of the three years and $30.7 million left on his contract.

With the Cavs no longer linked to Kris Humphries in the Dwight Howard mega-trade, this is a connection that definitely makes some sense. Scola has averaged 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds in his five-year NBA career, building a reputation as a dependable low-post scoring presence and rebounder. He’s not likely ever going to make an All-Star team, but he’s a solid veteran that could fit in nicely with the Cleveland frontcourt.

Per the amnesty waiver process, teams must may sealed bids to the Rockets for his services. The highest bid will pay that portion of Scola’s salary for this coming season. The official announcement on Scola’s release is expected in the coming days.

[Related: Report: Cavs discussing sign and trade of Antawn Jamison]

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Box Score: Cavaliers 118, Rockets 107

March 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Kyrie Irving scored the team’s final 15 points as Cleveland pulled away from Houston in the fourth quarter. Antawn Jamison scored 28, and Scola had 30 for the visitors.

Cleveland

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
K. Irving G 28:42 5-15 1-3 10-10 0 1 6 5 3 0 0 3 1 21
A. Parker G 21:04 2-4 1-1 0-0 -10 0 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 5
R. Hollins C 18:36 2-3 0-0 0-1 -13 0 3 1 2 1 0 0 2 4
A. Gee F 33:03 4-11 0-0 3-4 -4 2 4 2 1 3 0 1 5 11
A. Jamison F 28:38 8-16 4-7 8-8 +7 1 5 2 0 0 1 0 3 28
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 39-82 11-20 29-36 10 41 25 13 6 4 6 21 118
Percentages .476 .550 .806 Team Rebounds: 12
D. Gibson 26:56 5-10 1-4 0-0 +21 1 4 2 1 2 0 0 1 11
S. Samuels 24:13 4-6 0-0 3-4 +9 3 5 0 1 0 1 1 3 11
T. Thompson 23:15 2-2 0-0 0-2 +16 1 4 3 1 0 0 0 4 4
R. Sessions 20:36 4-8 2-2 5-5 +14 0 4 7 1 0 0 1 2 15
O. Casspi 14:57 3-7 2-3 0-2 +15 1 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 8

Houston

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
G. Dragic G 34:21 7-11 4-5 2-2 +8 1 1 8 4 1 0 1 5 20
K. Martin G 15:53 1-6 0-3 1-2 -3 0 4 4 3 0 0 0 0 3
S. Dalembert C 31:32 6-11 0-0 3-4 +9 3 10 0 0 1 5 0 2 15
L. Scola F 38:35 15-25 0-0 0-1 -3 1 8 1 0 1 0 1 4 30
C. Parsons F 27:25 4-6 1-3 0-0 -4 2 3 3 2 0 0 0 4 9
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 44-86 8-17 11-17 9 39 25 13 5 6 4 25 107
Percentages .512 .471 .647 Team Rebounds: 6
C. Budinger 29:47 6-10 2-3 2-4 -8 0 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 16
C. Lee 24:13 2-5 1-2 0-0 -10 0 3 3 1 2 0 0 1 5
P. Patterson 17:45 2-4 0-0 0-0 -10 1 3 1 1 0 1 0 3 4
J. Flynn 13:39 1-4 0-1 2-2 -19 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 4
J. Hill 6:50 0-4 0-0 1-2 -15 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 4 1

 

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Dan Gilbert Letter Expresses Outrage Over Chris Paul Lakers Trade

December 9, 2011 by 47 Comments

Well, Dan Gilbert is writing letters again. As you’re well aware, the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, and Houston Rockets had agreed to a trade in principle that would send Chris Paul to the Lakers. The NBA, which coincidentally owns the Hornets, vetoed the trade late Thursday. Now, it’s complete chaos – apparently Paul will not report to the Hornets on Friday, while Lamar Odom (who, along with Paul Gasol, was to be traded out of LA) may not report to the Lakers.

Stern’s veto of the trade supposedly came from pressure among smaller market owners who were worried about competitive balance, and didn’t like the fact that after five months of a lockout, it was more of the same among star players “choosing” their destinations.

And late Thursday, Yahoo! published a letter from Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to Commissioner Stern that is a seething plea to block the trade. As you can imagine, Gilbert’s letter has not and will not go over too well.

One thing that is interesting is that this letter was leaked late to Yahoo! after intense and relentless criticism of David Stern and the league office mounted over the course of the evening. The leak had the effect of immediately turning the guns from Stern on to Gilbert, who was getting crushed on Twitter and in the press. Unlike the comic sans contretemps, this one, as far we know, was sent in confidence to limited recipients and not for the public.

The complete letter, via Yahoo!, after the jump:

[Read more...]

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Scott Credits Defense, Rebounding For Cavs’ Recent Success

February 26, 2011 by 3 Comments

The last three weeks have been an odd sight for Cleveland Cavaliers fans this season, as the team has suddenly reeled off three wins in the past five games.

When asked after Friday night’s 115-109 victory over the New York Knicks about what has been the key to this mild success, head coach Byron Scott said an improving defense has been the secret ingredient.

“That’s a great win for us,” Scott said. “I thought our guys are really starting to buy in to what we are talking about, especially defensively, and we’ve gotten much better at that end of the floor, and we are just going to keep trying to improve there.”

But amidst a rebuilding year when the Cavs were on pace for setting historic lows for defensive ineptitude, and after a game where the Knicks still scored 109 points at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, has this really been the case?

[Read more...]

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Chuck Hayes Just Pulled Down Another Rebound

February 24, 2011 by 5 Comments

Editor’s note: Hey, Mo Williams was traded! Feel free to discuss this topic over here or wait for Andrew’s upcoming analysis.  This post, however, is about last night’s game.  Do enjoy.

It has become a bit of an inside joke within the media that, following a Cavaliers loss, Antawn Jamison is the “‘Twan-man Show.” 

Taking the role of Papa Bear, Jamison is the veteran who takes the time to given his take on the last 48 minutes of play, discusses the faults and sheds light on what the team needs to do to get better. Sure, a lot of it may be rhetoric and redundant, but when a team loses approximately nine of every 10 games, what else can be expected?

Well, following the Cavaliers 124-119 loss to the Houston Rockets, the media circle of cameras and voice recorders was on the familiar far wall of the locker room, the same one where one LeBron James would command the entire room for 10-15 minutes of postgame questioning.  But this time, said circle was around none other than…

[Read more...]

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Cavs Fall to Rockets as Losing Streak Reaches 7

December 12, 2010 by 5 Comments

Zanesville native Kevin Martin lit up the free-falling Cavaliers last night as the Rockets coasted to a 110-95 victory in Houston.  Martin is a prolific scorer who is always a threat to explode for 30+ points in  game.  Last night, he finished with 40 to eclipse the individual scoring output from that other Ohio native that torched the Cavaliers earlier this month.  His 22 point first quarter was the 3rd highest scoring quarter in Rockets history and although the Cavs hung tough throughout the first half, it set the tone for a Rockets victory that was never truly in doubt.

The losing streak now stands at 7 and has included only a handful of competitive moments.  Antawn Jamison, however, continues to show up for Byron Scott.  He scored a season-high 24 points and was 9 of 15 from the field.  He has scored 20 or more in 3 of the last 4 games during this stretch of horrendous play.  Jamison has always been the ultimate pro and he continues to appear to be the only one fighting to end this streak.  He wants to be traded.  The Cavs want to trade him.  But it’s not that simple as the financials of Jamison’s contract make him close to “untradeable.” Alas, he will likley have to continue to toil along in what is becoming a disastrous season.

[Read more...]

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Cavs’ Joe Tait to Miss Rest of 2010

October 22, 2010 by 9 Comments

Next Wednesday’s opening night will undoubtedly have a bit of a different feel to it.  Not only will there not be any pregame comments from individuals like Mike Brown or LeBron James, but Hall of Fame play-by-play man Joe Tait will not be visiting with those outside of the Cavalier locker room. 

Tait, who was diagnosed with pneumonia earlier in the preseason, will miss the rest of the 2010 calendar year as he undergoes treatment for aortic stenosis – a hardening of the aorta which restricts blood flow out of the heart.  [Read more...]

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Cavaliers Must Improve During Texas Road Trip

October 10, 2010 by 2 Comments

The NBA preseason continues tonight and hopefully it will include a better effort from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite the absence of several key players from the expected rotation, it will be important for head coach Byron Scott to get more balanced play out of his Cavs than the last game against the Wizards.

Tonight the Cavaliers travel to Houston to face the Rockets (No TV broadcast). It’s the first of back-to-back games in the state of Texas for Cleveland including a contest tomorrow night in Dallas.

Last time out, the Cavs finished with a clunker against the Washington Wizards, falling by the score of 97-83. That was a sloppy affair that should have been much more competitive if the team played up to its full potential. Below the jump here are some keys to get for Cleveland to get back on the right track tonight.
[Read more...]

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NBA Free Agency: Cavaliers Sign PG Kyle Lowry, For Now

July 14, 2010 by 24 Comments

Updated (2:38 pm): Daryl Morey has confirmed via Twitter that the Rockets will indeed match this offer for Kyle Lowry. (Twitter)

For the Cavaliers, free agency didn’t really begin until about 9:01 when Rich Paul called Dan Gilbert and told him the bad news that LeBron James was about to announce his decision to take his talents to South Beach. Despite the fact that all the top free agents had already been signed elsewhere, the Cavaliers didn’t hesitate to jump head first into free agency, and late Tuesday night they made their first signing.

The Cavaliers have signed Houston Rockets restricted free agent point guard Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet. According to the Plain Dealer’s Brian Windhorst, the deal is a 3 year deal with a 4th year team option that would total the contract at $24 million. The Rockets will now have a week to match the Cavaliers’ offer.

Lowry, who will be entering his 5th season out of Villanova, is an exciting prospect for the Cavaliers. Some might be wondering why the Cavaliers would want Lowry when they already have a lot of similar guards in Mo Williams, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, and Sebastian Telfair, and it’s a fair point. However, Lowry would allow the Cavaliers to trade both Delonte West and Mo Williams if they wanted to. If they keep Mo, then Lowry is a solid backup who is an excellent defender at the point, something the Cavaliers have been lacking. [Read more...]

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Cavs Second Half Defense Helps Top Rockets 108-83

December 28, 2009 by 1 Comment

Cleveland Cavaliers Huddle Houston RocketsA Cavaliers team that experienced one of its worst losses of the season on the road against the Houston Rockets decided to flip the script on their home court.  Efficient shooting, timely scoring and solid second half defense propelled the Wine and Gold to a substantial victory over the 18-win, and apparently tired Rockets to the tune of 108-83.

It looked like it was going to be another one of “those” games thanks to a trip back home following a four-game stint out west.  The Rockets were up 12 points early in the first quarter and appeared to be giving us another dose of quick, frustrating play.  The Cavaliers, however, did not fold early.  In fact, they fought back and earned every point that they had given up early on and took a three-point lead (thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Mo Williams) into halftime.  From there, they went on to outscore the Rockets by 22 points in the second half, forcing the Rockets into season low territory in the third quarter. 

All in all, this game came down to six key numbers. [Read more...]

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Cavaliers Preview #32 – Cavaliers vs. Rockets

December 27, 2009 by 7 Comments

Cavaliers vs RocketsCleveland Cavaliers (23-8)
vs. Houston Rockets (18-12)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
Sunday, December 27, 2009
6:00 PM ET
WTAM 1100 AM, FS Ohio/HD

The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to build off their positive momentum from their victory over the Lakers in returning home tonight to face the Houston Rockets. A pesky team with no seven-footers at all, these modified Rockets are way different from the T-Mac team of great expectations. Orchestrated by Oregon product Aaron Brooks, this is a crafty unit that finds ways to win ball games despite not being spectacularly good at any particular facet of the game.

Without Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady or Chase Budinger, this is a very banged up franchise similar to the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite all of the crazy injuries however, the Cavs cannot afford to look down upon this matchup and expect to play with little intensity. During the LeBron James-era, Houston owns a 10-3 record against this franchise and has pretty much held LBJ in check every single time. It will be a dog fight no matter what tonight as the Cavaliers look to protect their home court and extend their winning streak to four games.
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