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Time for a Rudy Gay safari?

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I'm not really sure how an improved Kevin Love in the post changes much.
Because a dangerous Love makes guarding us just as much of a conundrum for them as it is for us. Love being able to bully his counterpart in the post is a big, big deal....especially if it's Durant assigned to guard him. It's been said time and again at this forum that Barnes was actually a respectable post-up defender and he did well against Love.

Truthfully, I'm not sure how we're going to defend the Warriors yet. A million things can happen between now and next June. I know the whole world is preparing for the trilogy but both teams have players who have a history of getting snake-bitten with injuries.

But I will say that Love not being an afterthought on offense and actually playing like an all-star gives us a deadly weapon that we've lacked the past two Finals series.

And if Shumpert ever gets his shit together (big maybe), he's another vital cog.
 
But simply just "adding" Jefferson or Dunleavy into the lineup doesn't cut it now. It barely did then. Them guarding Barnes, sure, but against Durant? Please don't make me laugh.

No, RJ or Dunleavy on KD isn't good for us.

Switching LeBron or Kevin onto him and making KD guard them in the post over and over is though and will wear him down. KD makes alot of mistakes when he's worn down. He might not go 3/50 like Barnes but he will turn the ball over 7 times. The question is whether LeBron and Kevin can be consistent in the post.
 
Because a dangerous Love makes guarding us just as much of a conundrum for them as it is for us.

I agree, but they're not running the ball through the post with Kevin Love. And frankly, why would you when you have LeBron and Kyrie? There's only one basketball.

Love being able to bully his counterpart in the post is a big, big deal....especially if it's Durant assigned to guard him. It's been said time and again at this forum that Barnes was actually a respectable post-up defender and he did well against Love.

Even if he does, and we try to exploit that mismatch. You're just playing into their hands. Just like when we started Mozgov against their small ball, and worked the ball into him. Now Love is better, but that's what they want. They want the ball out of LeBron and Kyrie's hand.

For all we know Kerr goes Green-Durant, IGGY, Klay, and Curry.

Truthfully, I'm not sure how we're going to defend the Warriors yet. A million things can happen between now and next June. I know the whole world is preparing for the trilogy but both teams have players who have a history of getting snake-bitten with injuries.

So we are relying on destiny?


But I will say that Love not being an afterthought on offense and actually playing like an all-star gives us a deadly weapon that we've lacked the past two Finals series.

I don't want him to be an afterthought either. But he probably is better served coming off the bench against GS for a few reasons. One, he doesn't have to guard Green.

Two, he doesn't have to play with both LeBron and Kyrie. So there, he gets to be featured more offensively.

And if Shumpert ever gets his shit together (big maybe), he's another vital cog.

Whatever he adds is a bonus. Asking to rely on Shump isn't my idea of a sound plan A.
 
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No, RJ or Dunleavy on KD isn't good for us.

Switching LeBron or Kevin onto him and making KD guard them in the post over and over is though and will wear him down. KD makes alot of mistakes when he's worn down. He might not go 3/50 like Barnes but he will turn the ball over 7 times. The question is whether LeBron and Kevin can be consistent in the post.

Kevin Love on Durant? And how do we know they don't just go super small, and just have Durant guard Thompson? That's what I'd do if I were them.

Iggy on LeBron, Green on Love, Klay on Kyrie, Steph hiding on JR, Durant on Thompson.

Man, that works out pretty damn good for them. They don't have any rim protectors. Sure, they'd give up buckets, but they'd just say I dare you guys to try to out score us, and frankly, how would we?

Kevin Durant isn't Harrison Barnes.
 
And frankly, why would you when you have LeBron and Kyrie? There's only one basketball.
Um, because Love is a great (or has demonstrated he's capable of being) player. A 3x, offensively-versatile all-star playing to his full potential sounds like a good thing for us, no? Or would you rather we just continue re-running the "LeBron and Kyrie" show?

Now Love is better, but that's what they want. They want the ball out of LeBron and Kyrie's hand.
The idea is that they should want the ball out of LeBron's AND Kyrie's AND Love's hands :rolleyes:

I don't want him to be an afterthought either. But he probably is better served coming off the bench against GS for a few reasons.
What am I missing here? Listen I've gone on record multiple times saying that I would trade Love for an all-star wing player. But that isn't going to happen. For better or worse, this is the roster the Cavs are going to ride with. We didn't part ways with two #1 picks and a first rounder so Kevin Love can come off the bench and be a spectator for LeBron and Kyrie: Jumpy Young Men. An improved Love gives us a legit Big 3, something we've not had consistently for two years now. And whether you want him to or not, he's not coming off the bench so it's probably a good idea to maximize his abilities.

There's only one basketball.
That maxim seems to run contrary to all this talk about their "four-headed monster".

Whatever he adds is a bonus. Asking to rely on Shump isn't my idea of a sound plan A.
I didn't say anything about "relying" on Shump. But if he gives us comparable production to what he did in the latter half of 2015 he's a valuable addition...
 
Kevin Love on Durant? And how do we know they don't just go super small, and just have Durant guard Thompson? That's what I'd do if I were them.

Iggy on LeBron, Green on Love, Klay on Kyrie, Steph hiding on JR, Durant on Thompson.

Man, that works out pretty damn good for them. They don't have any rim protectors. Sure, they'd give up buckets, but they'd just say I dare you guys to try to out score us, and frankly, how would we?

Yeah, I can see that being a problem. Love would have to slide to center, LeBron to PF, and TT would come off the floor. I'm okay with that if, again, LeBron and Kevin could be a consistent post presence.

But we're not out-scoring Golden State with or without Kevin Love in the lineup. Last regular season, Curry/Thompson/Iguodala/KD/Green combined for 101.4 ppg on their respective teams. Kyrie/JR/LeBron/Kevin/TT combined for 81.1 ppg. So we can't really think that way.
 
Why worry about the back up point guard? You can still throw bodies at Curry, Guys like McRae, Dunleavy, etc... Maybe the Cavs bring in a Chalmers.

I think this is kinda irrelevant. Kyrie is going to play about 40 minutes in the finals. So we're grasping over the final 8 minutes, like, seriously? Kyrie has shown he can hold his own against Curry.



He's fools gold in that he's not a star, and can't be one. We don't want him to be one. We want him to be Iggy. And Rudy Gay is a pretty good defender Lee.

I think it's hard for any player to be tuned in defensively when you're on a terrible team too.

Rudy Gay does fit the mold. He's doesn't have to be a lock down defender, but he gives us the ability to match up against GS.

We don't match up against them at all now. People thought we didn't before, now we really don't.

Sure, I think it'd be perfect/better to get Jimmy Butler. But we know that's just fantasy.

I think with Durant and Green, LeBron is forced to guard Durant (we don't want that) and Love is forced to guard Green (we don't want that).

And we don't have anyone else on the roster that can step in and fill that void. Jefferson is too old. Dunleavy is not that guy. Shump is undersized and a liability on offense.

That Cavs need another big wing perimeter guy that can play both ends of the floor. He doesn't have to be an all-star, but has to be good.

Guess I hit a nerve... but no I don't want McRae or dunleavy guarding curry for even 8 minutes in the finals. If that's our best option then be prepared to watch curry heat up like a microwave. I wasn't saying Gay would be terrible. Just that you have to think of implications of trading our only 2 backup pg for a forward. And that wasn't my only complaint. What about next summer when gay is wanting 15-20 mill a year? Not everyone on this roster can be making 15+ million not even Gilbert can sustain that.
 
Because a dangerous Love makes guarding us just as much of a conundrum for them as it is for us. Love being able to bully his counterpart in the post is a big, big deal....especially if it's Durant assigned to guard him. It's been said time and again at this forum that Barnes was actually a respectable post-up defender and he did well against Love.

Truthfully, I'm not sure how we're going to defend the Warriors yet. A million things can happen between now and next June. I know the whole world is preparing for the trilogy but both teams have players who have a history of getting snake-bitten with injuries.

But I will say that Love not being an afterthought on offense and actually playing like an all-star gives us a deadly weapon that we've lacked the past two Finals series.

And if Shumpert ever gets his shit together (big maybe), he's another vital cog.

This is magical thinking. It doesn't seem likely that we will get bailed out by Love suddenly transforming into the post offensive superstar that he has never been in his time with us, and that we will redo our offense around that. Even if that does happen, we would likely be trading 2 points (post scoring) for 3 pointers by Durant. The idea that Shumpert magically gets an offensive game is way less likely than that.

I'm not saying we don't have a puncher's chance with our current lineup, but we should aggressively be trying to add talent that addresses the fundamental matchup issue that Godfather is emphasizing.
 
So at this point this is just wishes and dreams, right? No actual rumors or anything?
 
I'm not saying we don't have a puncher's chance with our current lineup, but we should aggressively be trying to add talent that addresses the fundamental matchup issue that Godfather is emphasizing.
And just how do you propose we do that?
 
And just how do you propose we do that?

Trading Shump for Rudy Gay, like I suggested in the opening post to the thread? :)

Any of these trades are long shots of course but we have to occupy ourselves somehow during the off season.
 
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@Hydroponic3385
 
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