A "Depth"-Defying Experience - The Best Roster Ever?

[weepinwillow]

I think the Cavs have a ton invested in the Derrick Rose lottery ticket for this season presently. In some ways more than Thomas coming back at full strength. If they can get a lightning in a bottle year and he plays 60+ all the playoffs, there's your beta. I do wonder how the floor is going to look for Lebron with Rose, Wade & TT's defenders all packing the lane, I know Lue has shooters he can go to, but he will need to be judicious with the minutes.

 

[Maximus]

Wayne, Donny, Marie, Neil.....

Who the hell is Neil? Sedaka?

 

[Mavaliersfan]

I'd like to compare our roster player by player with GS...

Ball Handlers:

IT & Rose < Curry
Wade > Livingston

Wings:

Bron > Durant
JR & Korver < Thompson
Crowder = Iguodala
Green < N. Young
Shumpert = McCaw
Osman = Casspi

Bigs:

Love < Draymond
TT = Pachulia
Frye < D. West
Zizic < McGee
Jefferson = Bell
Tavares = Looney

I would rate our ball-handlers as equal. I still give GS the slight advantage at the wing position even with our improved depth. We are clearly at a disadvantage when matching up with their Bigs. Frye was only playable in one game in the finals compared to D. West who averaged 10 quality mins in every game. That's not even accounting for the production Javale provided for whom we had no one to match-up with. And we all know Draymond has repeatedly outplayed Kevin Love.

I think we need to use as many assets as possible to upgrade our Bigs. Or find a way to improve our wings to give ourselves a decided advantage to compensate for the liability of our Bigs.

Who could replace JR/Korver to give us an advantage at the 2? Jimmy Butler or Paul George, that's it and neither of them are going to be available.

That means we need to address our Big situation by upgrading TT & Frye. Even with our improved wing depth, I think GS will be able to outplay us with their small-ball lineups. We need to be able to counter with a versatile big lineup that forces them to either sit Curry or play two traditional Bigs at a time to match our size.

Who are potential prospects? Marc Gasol, Cousins, Deandre Jordan/Andre Drummond, or Robin Lopez. An all-in approach would be an attempt to acquire Gasol & Cousins which would likely require our BKN pick.

Cavs get: Gasol, Cousins
NO gets: Frye, Shumpert, BKN pick
Memphis gets: TT, Osman, 2nd pick

Potential GS counter Big Lineup that forces GS to sit curry and match our size...

Wade - Curry
Bron - Thompson
Crowder - Durant
Love - Igoudala
Cousins - Draymond

A more conservative yet effective approach (that preserves our BKN pick) is to go after Jordan/Drummond and Lopez.

Cavs get: Lopez, Jordan/Drummond
Bulls get: Frye + Jefferson + Zizic + 2nd
LA/Detroit get: TT + Shumpert + Osman + Clev 1st

Potential Big Lineup that forces GS to sit curry and match our size...

Wade - Curry
Bron - Thompson
Crowder - Durant
Love - Igoudala
Jordan/Drummond - Draymond

 

[Arketebel]

Who the hell is Neil? Sedaka?

I prefer Sedaka, but he probably meant Diamond.

 

[Cavatt]

But lack of depth can lose them.

Yeah like we couldn't have used some depth when Kyrie and Love went down in 2015. Watching Delly almost die while golden state starters played like 30 min, made that pretty obvious. I thought 2017 game 3 was the same issue. Cavs were gassed by the end of the game, and Durant was chilling shooting 3's.

 

[bigfigga12]

I really have a strong feeling now that DeMarcus Cousins will be the play and big time addition to this squad at some point this season.

First off, The Pelicans hold ZERO leverage in this situation. With Boogie being an impending free agent, he literally holds the cards to where he wants to go, unlike say Paul George and his situation.

If Boogie demands a trade this season, and informs the front office there is zero chance of he returning, the Pelicans will be left with no other recourse than to find what they can get rather than risk losing him for nothing. Being that he's in his last year, his trade value will rival what the Bulls and Pacers got for George and Butler.

Even if the Pelicans sold Boogie to he highest bidder, the Cavs would be in the drivers seat holding the coveted Brooklyn lotto pick, ESPECIALLY now after the league changed the lotto now to the worst 3 teams now all having the same 14% chance of the top pick.

But I think his value will be much lower. It would be amazing if he could be had and keep Tristan Thompson to come off the bench, but financially in sure the package will start with Thompson and likely include Shumoert who they've long coveted. They will match the salaries and still create good value. Adding Cedi Osman, who many feel is a first round talent, could get the deal done. But the seal to this deal I think could be the Cavs including their own first round pick in '18, and package it along with Thompson/Shumpert and possibly Osman. That's one hell of a return for a team whose losing a player anyways.

Under this scenario, the Cavs could add Boogie and STILL be able to take a top 3 talent in the '18 draft to add to their roster.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I think the best cavs team ever was the 2014-15 cavs after the all star break until the playoffs where Kelly o took out Kevin.

I think that squad was most complete ever and they went on an insane winning run after all star. Without the injuries I believe we win the finals in 5 or 6. It was statistically the best defensive team since Lebron’s return.

We had dynamic, scoring pg, defensive, 3pt shooting 2, best 3 to ever lace em up, most talented stretch 4 ever and a big, mobile, rim protecting center who was playing great.

Tt was an energy 6th man who killed backup bigs and finished games.

Fucking injuries

I defecate in Olynyk’s general direction.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Depth may not win championships on its own, but roleplayers have to step up to win. You have to. PJ brown had to hit a couple little jumpers to beat the Cavs in 2008. RJ had to step up for ours. I trust DWade over Deron Williams in the clutch. That's me

And Korver disappeared last year, and Mo disappeared in 2009...

 

[dark2332]

I'd like to compare our roster player by player with GS...

Ball Handlers:

IT & Rose < Curry
Wade > Livingston

Wings:

Bron > Durant
JR & Korver < Thompson
Crowder = Iguodala
Green < N. Young
Shumpert = McCaw
Osman = Casspi

Bigs:

Love < Draymond
TT = Pachulia
Frye < D. West
Zizic < McGee
Jefferson = Bell
Tavares = Looney

I would rate our ball-handlers as equal. I still give GS the slight advantage at the wing position even with our improved depth. We are clearly at a disadvantage when matching up with their Bigs. Frye was only playable in one game in the finals compared to D. West who averaged 10 quality mins in every game. That's not even accounting for the production Javale provided for whom we had no one to match-up with. And we all know Draymond has repeatedly outplayed Kevin Love.

I think we need to use as many assets as possible to upgrade our Bigs. Or find a way to improve our wings to give ourselves a decided advantage to compensate for the liability of our Bigs.

Who could replace JR/Korver to give us an advantage at the 2? Jimmy Butler or Paul George, that's it and neither of them are going to be available.

That means we need to address our Big situation by upgrading TT & Frye. Even with our improved wing depth, I think GS will be able to outplay us with their small-ball lineups. We need to be able to counter with a versatile big lineup that forces them to either sit Curry or play two traditional Bigs at a time to match our size.

Who are potential prospects? Marc Gasol, Cousins, Deandre Jordan/Andre Drummond, or Robin Lopez. An all-in approach would be an attempt to acquire Gasol & Cousins which would likely require our BKN pick.

Cavs get: Gasol, Cousins
NO gets: Frye, Shumpert, BKN pick
Memphis gets: TT, Osman, 2nd pick

Potential GS counter Big Lineup that forces GS to sit curry and match our size...

Wade - Curry
Bron - Thompson
Crowder - Durant
Love - Igoudala
Cousins - Draymond

A more conservative yet effective approach (that preserves our BKN pick) is to go after Jordan/Drummond and Lopez.

Cavs get: Lopez, Jordan/Drummond
Bulls get: Frye + Jefferson + Zizic + 2nd
LA/Detroit get: TT + Shumpert + Osman + Clev 1st

Potential Big Lineup that forces GS to sit curry and match our size...

Wade - Curry
Bron - Thompson
Crowder - Durant
Love - Igoudala
Jordan/Drummond - Draymond

You lost me as soon as you put Crowder = Iguodala

 

[LeBronistheKing2311]

Crowder is who I am most intrigued and excited to see how he performs on this team and specifically, how he performs playing with LeBron James.

 

[Funkmastabuck]

The depth on this roster is pretty amazing. Forget the 6th man. Our 8th, 9th, 10th man, etc. are strong enough to be starters on some teams.

My one concern is what this team is capable of being without Isaiah Thomas. So for the 1st few months and then again if he has any sort of re-injury of the hip.

If we start Rose, Wade, and Thompson, LeBron will only have Love as a perimeter shooting threat to work with in the starting 5. Last year we routinely put up 30+ in the 1st quarter of playoff games. It might be a different story with this year's collection of starters.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

Crowder is who I am most intrigued and excited to see how he performs on this team and specifically, how he performs playing with LeBron James.

I think it's safe to assume that Crowder will be great for us.

The guy I'm most intrigued by is Jeff Green. Much like RJ 2 years ago, this could be a very under-the-radar signing that ends up surprising people.

 

[Gus Zing]

I think it's safe to assume that Crowder will be great for us.

The guy I'm most intrigued by is Jeff Green. Much like RJ 2 years ago, this could be a very under-the-radar signing that ends up surprising people.

He has to step up because I'm not sure we can play Korver too many mins vs. GS. They just know how to defend non ball handling shooters so well. Its why JR struggled so much in 2015. Its why Frye has been absent the last two finals.

Green has been impressive in camp so far. Truth be told our 2nd unit vs. the Warriors needs to be LeBron or Green at Center. Green's talented. Lets hope he has a JR type resurgence with Cavs.

Not sure TT can play too many vs. GS. Only when Zaza is on the floor.

 

[FrontPageNews]

Crowder is who I am most intrigued and excited to see how he performs on this team and specifically, how he performs playing with LeBron James.

In a perfect world where we have a smart coach we would start crowder. He’s a better and more versatile defender than JR and if he’s starting with Lebron he would shoot around 40% on 3s. Hell Lebron made liggins and Shump into respectable shooters maybe Jae could shoot better than 40. I’m not sure he could do with in a non Lebron lineup.

 

[inliner311]

I like our depth and I hope we can figure out a deep rotation to attack the warriors for 48 minutes on both ends of the floor. We definitely have the players to do it on offense. The question is if we have two players that can take on Curry on defense and annoy him for his minutes on the floor. The hole in our roster is a player that's an elite PG defender.