Cavs Vs Pistons

[RedBlackAttack]

Brandon Jennings 25 pts, 10-18 FG, 5-9 3PT?


Something gotta give...

There's no explanation for the effort given today, but Matthew Dellavedova being the starting PG and playing virtually every minute while the game was still in doubt helps partially explain Jennings' big night. When you don't have to even really exert yourself defensively, any NBA player worth their salt is going to take advantage on the other end against a reserve.

[jrong]

Lol I guess LeBron is back in chill mode.

[VengefulAngel]

LeBron's decline as a player is so obvious this season. His quickness is OK, but he cannot elevate/explode in the paint at all. He's pretty much enitrely a below-the-rim player now.

He needs to get in the low post more, being entirely perimeter orientated isn't helping him at all for the exact reason's you've outlined.

[RedBlackAttack]

LeBron's decline as a player is so obvious this season. His quickness is OK, but he cannot elevate/explode in the paint at all. He's pretty much enitrely a below-the-rim player now.

Pretty much, but he is still an effective player when engaged. The problem hasn't been his lack of explosion, imo. It has been his effort and demeanor when things get remotely difficult. It looks like he shuts himself down and his teammates/coaches out.

Maybe that's not the case, but it sure looks like it.

[jayfan]

Cutting Smith might end up winning Van Gundy GM of the year!






.

[poido123]

Cutting Smith might end up winning Van Gundy GM of the year!

It deserves to pay off.


Such a ballsy move and one I think should open a path to other primadonna high payed ballers not taking for granted their spot on a roster.

[Heavincent]

Time to admit it: the Cavs are slightly above average. Nothing more.

Not even hating, but their defense is unfixable, and the supporting cast around the big 3 is weak. No rim protection, no elite perimeter defenders, etc. Irving, Bran, and Love are enough to win them some regular season games, but they're not a title contender by any means.

[Andrew Wiggins]

It deserves to pay off.


Such a ballsy move and one I think should open a path to other primadonna high payed ballers not taking for granted their spot on a roster.

how so? if anything it enables them. play like shit and stop caring and force a team to waive you. now you're essentially an unrestricted FA and can make even more money

[KG215]

Time to admit it: the Cavs are slightly above average. Nothing more.

Not even hating, but their defense is unfixable, and the supporting cast around the big 3 is weak. No rim protection, no elite perimeter defenders, etc. Irving, Bran, and Love are enough to win them some regular season games, but they're not a title contender by any means.

And even when fully healthy their bench is pretty terrible, too. But yeah, the Cavs this year are like a worse version of the 2011 Heat who also had a pretty crap supporting cast around LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. But 2011 LeBron was better than 2015 LeBron, and 2011 Wade was one of the 2-3 best players in the league, and neither Love nor Kyrie are anywhere close to as good as 2011 Wade.

[BigTicket]

Time to admit it: the Cavs are slightly above average. Nothing more.

Not even hating, but their defense is unfixable, and the supporting cast around the big 3 is weak. No rim protection, no elite perimeter defenders, etc. Irving, Bran, and Love are enough to win them some regular season games, but they're not a title contender by any means.

I'm not buying that. It's true that the Cavs have been mediocre so far, but it's not at all true that they can't be something more.

The problem right now is that the Cavs, starting with Lebron, just do not seem to care, and there is no system on offense or defense.

[Rake2204]

There's no explanation for the effort given today, but Matthew Dellavedova being the starting PG and playing virtually every minute while the game was still in doubt helps partially explain Jennings' big night. When you don't have to even really exert yourself defensively, any NBA player worth their salt is going to take advantage on the other end against a reserve.

I think that played a pretty big role, not just in terms of relaxing on defense, but probably just from a mentality standpoint. Jennings sometimes strikes me as the type of guy who thrives most when he knows he has the upper hand. As cocky as he can seem sometimes, it feels like he can get shook by big time opposing challenges.

Then again, I have zero basis for that claim so... I could just be completely wrong, haha.

[chips93]

Time to admit it: the Cavs are slightly above average. Nothing more.

Not even hating, but their defense is unfixable, and the supporting cast around the big 3 is weak. No rim protection, no elite perimeter defenders, etc. Irving, Bran, and Love are enough to win them some regular season games, but they're not a title contender by any means.

this

barring a trade of course

we just dont have the personnel to be a good defensive team, even if lebron were get back to his previous level of defense. kyrie and love are giving decent effort, but they just arent long/athletic/smart enough to be great defenders.

with that said, there is a clear ceiling on this team. we could outscore some teams to get to the ECF, but the bulls, wizards, and raptors should handle this team easily.

[RedBlackAttack]

Time to admit it: the Cavs are slightly above average. Nothing more.

Not even hating, but their defense is unfixable, and the supporting cast around the big 3 is weak. No rim protection, no elite perimeter defenders, etc. Irving, Bran, and Love are enough to win them some regular season games, but they're not a title contender by any means.

At this stage of the season, that's a completely reasonable and fair assessment. I wholeheartedly agree.

As was stated above, though... that's fair right now. There's plenty of time and talent to work with.

[andremiller07]

The Suns/Pelicans/Kings at full strength >>>Cavs at full strength

Aside from 1 quality win against a fully healthy Hawks team, all there wins have been against teams missing either there best or 2nd best player or are just garbage in general. They beat the Raps twice without DD, they beat the Wizards without Nene. They beat the Bulls without Butler and Rose went down......

What was there last impressive win aside from the Hawks game where they beat a quality HEALTHY team?