Tag Archives: Sports

Why All the Fuss Over LeBron James and Rest

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

 

Over the weekend The Cleveland Cavs sat Kevin Love, due to his injury he’s not yet cleared to play back to backs. Kyrie Irving was ruled out as well from a knee ailment suffered in their last game against the Utah Jazz. Last but not least, LeBron James was a healthy scratch and did not play, for rest. To say the league and fans were upset wouldn’t describe the feeling of disgust enough. Fans were pissed they spent money on tickets to see the best player in the league and were unable to do so. Adam Silver and other league officials weren’t happy the Cavs decided to sit their players on the front end of a back to back considering the Saturday night game was a marquee match-up for the league. What looked like a potential finals preview, turned out to be like the previews before the full length movie.

 

Due to the idea of resting players during the regular season, Cavs management and coaching staff received a fair share of criticism, though LeBron took the most heat. Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson made their feelings known throughout the broadcast that one of the big 3 stars should be playing, and if rest was a big concern then why not rest LeBron the following night against the Los Angeles Lakers and play Love and Kyrie? Or if rest was a necessary precaution, then why have the Cavs been one of the most injury riddled teams this season? You can see listen to their opinions in the video below.

 

 

While very few may have watched much of that game since there were plenty of other options (NCAA Tournament, Netflix, family time) there were a few things the ESPN on ABC crew failed to mention or take into consideration while laying out an otherwise fair criticism.

 1. They mentioned during the game, if their training and coaching staff was trying to protect the players with this rest regimen then why have they been so injured, or why does Tristan Thompson have such an impressive (439) games started streak? Well at the end of the 2015-2016 season, he was started, but only played 4 seconds and was taken out the game to keep the streak alive. When addressing their injury concerns, yes they’ve had just about as many injuries one could have, however, there’s one player they can’t afford to lose and that would be LeBron. you hope not to lose any other important pieces, though I think most would agree losing LeBron would definitely end their chances at a title run, let alone a chance to win it.

2. The Cavs have had limited practice time since the all-star break, have only had more than one day off between games twice. That doesn’t lend itself to more practice time to get the new guys acclimated to the defensive schemes, the offensive plays, where your teammates like to spot up on the floor, how they interpret situations etc. While it would be ideal for them to learn to play on the fly with Love, Kyrie and LeBron, if the first two are out, why not just let the other players get accustomed to each other. You never know what situation will arise where you may need to try a different lineup, i.e. bringing Love off the bench in the finals. Without that extra time, you as a coaching staff have to find times in games to experiment and even in a loss your team can learn things that may be valuable later in the season.

3. The last player they can ill afford to lose is LeBron, we all believe this as fact, yet we have no problems with LeBron playing as if he’s indestructible. Look at his peers, Dwayne Wade, hobbled with injuries the last few years. Carmelo Anthony hasn’t been the most healthiest player in New York with aching knees. The wear and tear eventually catches up to you. LeBron has played in over 6,000 minutes over the last two excluding this current season. Among players who All NBA selections the last two years, he’s played the second most playoff games, and second most minutes. There’s something to be said about the accumulation of minutes played over his career. Don’t forget he’s also played in the Olympics and FIBA competition in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012. While they only kept records of minutes play in 2012, he played 199 minutes during those London, England Olympics, even if we were conservative and assumed he played 150 minutes during the Olympic years and 80 minutes in the US Men’s National teams, thats an extra 599 minutes of basketball played. So bringing up the comparisons of other players who play more games, it lacks the equivalence of a player that has played competitive games during times where players train and recuperate. That time matters for athletes to ensure their body is in the requisite condition to withstand a season that stretches into June.

  • List of All NBA selections with total minutes played from 2014-2016 seasons

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4. Lastly the dude has been to 6 consecutive NBA Finals. That has to count for something right? You’d think he’d get the benefit of the doubt that maybe he deserves a break. When speaking of stars from the past, the 1990’s, the 1980’s and 1970’s, none of them had the kind of run that LeBron is currently on. It’s unprecedented to see a player able to carry whatever team he’s on in this way. Even Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, etc weren’t asked or needed to do what LeBron has to just for his teams to have a chance. Think about the Cavs woeful record when he sits and Love and Kyrie plays, its awful and looks equally as bad. He’s a great player for a reason, the Cavs should take a step back when he’s not on the floor, he’s just that good. Should they be more competitive than they are, yes, but if they could sustain success without LeBron we’d see other teams rise to the occasion. They don’t because no matter what team LeBron is on, he automatically makes you a title contender and it’s not even close when you look at another player in the league that improves a team that drastically.

 

LeBron has never suffered an injury that has sidelined him for more than a few games. He plays through sprained ankles as if they’re equal to having chapped lips. He’s been incredibly durable. Until he’s not. No one knows when he’ll fall off, we just know the fall off is coming, because there’s one thing in this world that is undefeated, father time.

 

*Statistics from Basketball-Reference

As Indians Win, Attendance Stays flat, Why?

JbSmooth84.com Indians v Tigers

Cleveland Indians Host the Detroit Tigers on May 4th, 2016

Photo courtesy of JbSmooth84.com

 

The Indians are currently in first place in the American league Central with a 71 wins to 51 losses, and barring a complete collapse, are a lock to make the playoffs. This is looking like one of those years where they won’t fade come September and they’ve been good since opening day. However, as the Indians keep winning, attendance numbers at the stadium hold steady to the ballpark being half full. Why so? Well the answer is neither simple nor complex, but takes some nuance.

 

First let’s look at baseball and what has changed about the game; everything! The game has changed, less steroids, fewer home runs. Baseball’s inherent problem is it’s slow, and in a day and age where getting everything as fast as you can is at a premium, waiting through 3 pitching changes, 3 meetings between the catcher and pitcher, a pinch hitter and pinch runner isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to watch anymore. So the Indians lack of interest at the stadium isn’t surprising to me. There’s a plenty things to do on a Wednesday night than sit in the sun or battle mosquitos and watch a .260 hitter go for the fences (to be fair Napoli is having a career year in home runs). The Indians lack a few things that would improve attendance; I’ll lay them out here.

 

The Indians have no recognizable star to the world. In the 90’s they had guys with multiple all-star and home run derby appearances and commercials. Parents viewed them as role models, kids saw them as heroes. The 00’s they had guys that were budding with potential that just never panned out, but there was at least a vision of guys that would be around for a while. Now, even without a salary cap, and only as recently had the farm system groomed guys to be every day contributors. But until those guys become household names, it’ll be hard to sell the fan base on a team of ‘Who’s that guy again?’

 

Jazz Player Hits Best Trick Shot of the Year

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On any given night you can see an NBA player do something that will make you say “woooooowwwwww”.

Well tonight was one of those night’s. The Utah Jazz faced the Oklahoma City Thunder and with only .2 seconds on the shot clock, when the ball was passed to him, Bookerhad to be as fast a western gun slinger reaching for his holster. Check out the vine video below.

Cavs Trade Waiters for Knicks Smith & Shumpert

Dion-Waiters-444x320

Well the Cleveland Cavs season just a little more interesting, Dion Waiters after being sent to the locker room after shoot around, later found out he was the subject of a three team trade. The Cavs will send Waiters to the Oklahoma City Thunder while getting J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from the New York Knicks and a lottery protected first round pick from the Thunder. The Knicks recieve the Cavs 2019 second round pick along with Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk, along with Lance Thomas from the Thunder.

The upside for the Cavs, they get a wing defender they’ve need all year. Shumpert is 6’5” 220 lbs which makes him a more viable defender in a league where they average shooting guard ranges from 6’3” -6’7”, that added length comes in handy. If he can hit shots when the defense collapses on Kyrie and LeBron he may have found a perfect home. J.R. Smith is the wild card, since winning the sixth man award he’s longed for an expanded role to display his talents. If he is willing to accept that role he could increase his market value when he hits free agency. Another big ‘if’ is can he play to the ceiling he showed to when he was in Denver and his first few years in New York? Is he that same player any more. Time will tell.

The Knicks shed some necessary salary to and get a draft pick which is something they’ve lacked the last decade. The Knicks know their season is lost and are smart to look to ways to accumulate assets to build out that roster in the summer.

The Thunder might have gotten the player with the most upside in the deal. Waiters, can create his own shot, showed himself to be a decent defender when effort is shown and he has improved his jump shop since last season. Will he fit is the question? He was often frustrated not being a starter and being allowed to freelance this season, how will he cope with having to share the ball with Westbrook and Durant? Waiters, if he can accept his bench role with the Thunder will provide them with another guy who you aren’t afraid of him having the ball in his hands and someone who can create a shot independent of Durant and Westbrook.

The trade deadline is about 7 weeks away, this should be just the start of trades as teams try to round out their team with talent to make a championship run. For the Cavs and Thunder, we’ll see how these moves affect their play going forward.

2 Months Down, Where do the Cavs go from Here

LeBron James

It was a summer day in July, after days of speculation, innuendo, rumor and assumption Cleveland fans finally was on the good end of the joke for the first time in a long time. LeBron wrote (with the help of Lee Jenkins) a heart warming, humble letter and ode to his appreciation to northeastern Ohio. It was the spring that allowed hope to freely dance in the heart and minds of fans.

5 months later the Cavs are 19-14, in their last 10 games they’re an average 5-5 after coming off a streak where they won 8 straight games out of 10. Except where they stand now they wouldn’t have home court advantage if the playoffs started today. With their next 6 out of 9 games against opponents of teams who have an average winning percentage of .695 the Cavs will have their work cut out for them as they will have no LeBron as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love deal with a knee bruise and back spasm respectively.

Yet they could use this time to define their bench as that has been a point of contention for this team and new coaching staff. With multiple changes to the starting lineup and no consistent rotation for the bench, if they could have the latter half of that equation figured out by the time LBJ comes back, life for the Cavs could be improved vastly.

The only problem with that is, they’re playing very good teams with established coaches who don’t have to figure out rotations, installing new defensive schemes, and learning the NBA game as a whole. While I believe the notion of learning the NBA game is overstated, dealing with strangers’ ego, personalities and fostering relationships isn’t. David Blatt didn’t come up through the ranks here such as guys like Erik Spoelstra, Mike Brown. While they were world beaters when they started, players knew them when they were assistants, they were the guys pulling film for them to study. They were able to build relationships which allowed for players to trust them when times get tough. Blatt, has very little of that. While there are players that will vouch for his brilliance as an offensive strategist, that list is very small and with a team with as many young players as the Cavs have those words only go so far.

While the coach definitely must prove to his players that he does indeed knows what he’s doing, the players at some point to have to buy in and give what the coach is saying a chance. I know, a real chicken and the egg situation. In the meantime I’ll list some things below the Cavs can do now to improve their fortunes before the All-Star break.

Kyrie Irving

1. Kyrie should distribute more; Kyrie might never be Chris Paul or Rajon Rondo when it comes to passing the ball, but if he’s going to average more turnovers than steals and less assist than Kobe per game then this team won’t go but so far. Too often Kyrie dribbles to not create for others, but to only create for himself. On pick and rolls, he either gives up the ball a beat too late or not at all. If he shifted his focus slightly to generating offense for others that would potentially open the floor for others and should lead to easier buckets for him.

Kyrie, Kevin, LeBron

2. Pick and roll and post action with Kevin Love. Love looks uncomfortable, he’s the third wheel to LeBron and Kyrie and while we could argue that shouldn’t be case, that’s the hand that’s been dealt. Get Love involved, this would probably increase his energy on the defensive end. Basketball is so much more fun when you know you’re going to touch the ball. It has energy, there’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to be involved past just inbounding the ball and grabbing rebounds.

How often have we seen pick and roll with Love and LBJ, Love and Kyrie. This would cause the defense to have to make a very hard decision, double and leave one open, go over the top and risk getting burned with the screener dashing to the hole, or popping out for a jump shot. Go behind and risk the man with the ball having space to rise up and shoot. It’s a simple enough concept, but under pressure, the obvious is easy to miss. Secondly, place Love in the post, let him create for him and others, he’s a good passer, and he can be efficient down low. This will also prevent him getting 3 happy. With him in the post you can runback door action, cutting, off ball pick and roll which could produce easy shots for others and not allow the defense to plant and double down on Love.

Remember Karl Malone and John Stockton, well they ran the 2 man game about as good as any big man guard combo ever. If the Cavs could implement this kind of action with Love, LBJ and Kyrie the three of them wouldn’t have to work so hard on offense and should reduce their turnovers so they don’t get crushed in transition.

NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers at Orlando Magic

3. Pick a starting rotation. Waiters, Dellavedova, Miller, Marion, pick one, stick with it, and let that be it. Nobody wins with the constant flux of guys in and out of the lineup. There’s a comfort in knowing when you’re going to play, knowing in general how many minutes you’ll get. It also allows you to prepare. If I know I’m only going to get 10 minutes with Halle Berry compared to a week, I’ll probably work a little faster, use more urgency. When you know who’s going to be on the court with you it allows you to figure out your approach to the game well before you get to the court.

I would say start Miller, hespreads the floor and doesn’t need the ball to be effective, he can spot up from any point on the floor and requires the defense play him honest or get burned if they double off of him.

Make Waiters your 6th man, commit to it. Develop him into your leader of the second team and pseudo back up point guard. He can score and create for others and with the second team he’s allowed the space to do so without stepping on toes that would allow for him to place his ego on the back burner when on the court with LBJ and crew cause he knows he’s going to have dedicated time on the court without them.

As for Dellavedova, the coaching staff loves his defense, me, not so much. However, it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere so utilize him in spurts. While he’s on the floor for his defense he must be more discipline and not fall so hard for the pump fake, he’s putting too much pressure on the big men when guards drive past him. He also has to become a viable offensive threat, can’t play hot potato with the ball. Defenders lay off on him so far you’d think they were on a stake out when they’re guarding him. If he’s not going to shoot he can’t be on the floor, it places unfair pressure on everyone else.

Love, Miller, Harris High five4. High fives; I know, it was just as weird when I typed it as when you read it. Nonetheless, there was a study a few years back that teams that gave more high fives than others were more successful. It was a sign that they were more supportive of each other as teammates. This team looks like an arranged marriage at times. They deal with each other because they have to, not because they’re in love. I’m not suggesting they all have sleep overs and eat smores, but encouragement and support from one another can go a long way.

Six games out of the top seed in the Eastern Conference, 48 games left to make a move. While it’s not early, they have 4 months to get this team where they need to be to make a deep playoff run. The stakes are high, all eyes are on them, not a position a Cleveland team is used to being in, and one they won’t be in long if this falls apart.