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2022 Off-Season Thread II: Fab Four Preseason

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cavsfever said:
I think the front office could have preserved Eason

It drives me nuts how people judge the FO based on “does an unpaid random basement forum poster think they personally could have done it”. The FO guys are paid MILLIONS. They are supposed to do difficult shit. We gave away one of the richest draft pick packages in all of NBA history for Mitchell, plus a good starter, plus a S&T. We traded away more draft capital than NJ did in their famous trade with Boston when Ainge was there. And you’re telling me we couldn’t have kept a late round pick had we wanted to? GTFO
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I’m sure they had the deal done and Koby was like “ya know, why don’t you take Ochai too just cause you’re a cool guy”
 
I couldn't watch the game for Bally's mysterious reasons.

Was Cooper any good? I wanted him to take Nembhards spot and Diakite to get the 15th spot
 
Sir'Dom Pointer said:
The fuck is this. Add
Diakite you fool. I'm talking about you Koby. Waive Nembhard
already you fuck. Jesus f. Christ.
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Garland, Mitchell, and Neto can play the point plus Rubio will be back in December if not sooner. I don't see the need for Nembhard, although he had some moments last year.

Diakite is a work in progress (5 fouls in 14 minutes against Orlando's backups last night), but a 6'9" shot blocker who hit 4 of his last 6 from the 3-point line is intriguing.
 
Wham with the Right Hand said:
Garland, Mitchell, and Neto can play the point plus Rubio will be back in December if not sooner. I don't see the need for Nembhard, although he had some moments last year.

Diakite is a work in progress (5 fouls in 14 minutes against Orlando's backups last night), but a 6'9" shot blocker who hit 4 of his last 6 from the 3-point line is intriguing.
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Foul called against is not an indicator at all for being foul prone or not. Refs are absolute clowns running a compete shit show. Most fouls are not even close to being correct. It's sad.

I'm really bored watching teams shoot free-throws fie the majority of the game.
 
Sir'Dom Pointer said:
Foul called against is not an indicator at all for being foul prone or not. Refs are absolute clowns running a compete shit show. Most fouls are not even close to being correct. It's sad.

I'm really bored watching teams shoot free-throws fie the majority of the game.
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And its WAY worse in preseason. The refs are practicing too, I guess.
 
In the first two games against Philly Diakite played 24 minutes and went 7-for-8 from the field for 16 points. He also had 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. Not bad at all.

Then came the 29-minute game against Atlanta where he had 13 points and 11 rebounds and went 2-for-4 from deep. Finally, the Orlando game where he had 8 points in 14 minutes going 2-for-2 on 3's.

So over the four games he played 67 minutes scoring 37 points on 14-for-17 from the field, including 4-for-7 from deep, He had 5 blocks, 5 steals, and 18 rebounds.

Yes, it's the preseason and 67 minutes is not a big sample. But he's shown that he can get steals, rebound, block shots and hit 3's, especially corner 3's. Do the steals and blocks prove he's a good defender? No, it might mean that he's just super aggressive and gambles for steals and blocks rather than playing solid defense and forcing contested shots without fouling. We would have to look closer at the film.

But a 6'9" guy with the quickness to get steals and blocks while also being able to knock down 3's at a high rate while showing excellent shooting form is very, very interesting. He seems to be able to get off the floor quickly, without needing time to gather himself, which is a key to shot blocking and rebounding.

He grew up in Africa (Guinea) and mostly played soccer. He came to the U.S. his junior year in high school. His senior year he averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds so obviously he hadn't played a lot of basketball. He got a late start but after five years at Virginia and two years in the G League and NBA he may be ready to compete for minutes, especially next year if Love doesn't return.
 
cavsfever said:
I think the front office could have preserved Eason

It drives me nuts how people judge the FO based on “does an unpaid random basement forum poster think they personally could have done it”. The FO guys are paid MILLIONS. They are supposed to do difficult shit. We gave away one of the richest draft pick packages in all of NBA history for Mitchell, plus a good starter, plus a S&T. We traded away more draft capital than NJ did in their famous trade with Boston when Ainge was there. And you’re telling me we couldn’t have kept a late round pick had we wanted to? GTFO
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Late round pick? The Cavs picked in the lottery, friend.

These aren't conclusions based on thoughts - it was widely reported that Ochai was seriously valued by Ainge. The Cavs aren't getting the deal done without including the young player, especially because the picks don't kick in until 2025.

You are the one judging based on what you think they could have done. The rest of us are using information that is presented.
 
foucault87 said:
I dont think its enough to just look at a guys physical profile to characterize them by position. 6'9" 228 was LeBron at parts of his career, Thad Young, and Tmac. One of those guys was a guard half his career, the other a big man. It is a question of where Diakite likes to operate on the floor and how we can best utilize him defensively.

The guy is a plus rebounder and weakside shot blocker. Sending him to the perimeter to chase around the Kawhi's and Klay's of the world takes away what is his biggest strength. How is he running around screens? How is he shading a shifty ballhandler 1v1? Unless he can do all of that he is a small ball big in the vein of PJ Tuck or Patrick Williams rather than a perimeter defensive wing like Danny Green or Reggie Bullock.

On offense, he can space but you can do that from 1-5 so no big deal as he would never be more than the 4th option. IMO, starting 3 is not possible for Diakite. There might be situational lineups where he is the nominal 3 on defense, maybe something like a Diakite/Love/Allen frontcourt, but that should be a rarely used tool in the toolbag.

Lauri at the 3 worked because of his offensive and defensive fit. Despite his height and length, he was soft on the interior. Not a bigman level rebounder or a high level rim protector. His long arms made it hard for perimeter players to throw lazy passes and he had surprisingly solid balance for his size, which let him stick with larger perimeter guys. On offense, he is a bonafide sniper (better than Diakite by a notable margin) and had enough juice off the dribble to be a 3rd-4th option as a starter. Even if you resized him to have Diakite's height and weight, he would've been a 3 and vice versa for Diakite going to Lauri's proportions. Just totally different skillsets between the two guys.
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I'm agnostic as to whether he's better suited for the 3 or the 4, but I would note that one of the most, if not the most common play run in the NBA is the high PNR. There are a lot of stretch 4s in the NBA which also complicates the idea that he needs to stay around the basket on defense.

I suspect his fit into certain lineups is going to be far more important than what position label is attached. If he struggles to defend the smaller, quicker player coming off the PNR, then the opposing team will hunt him regardless of whether it's a 1-4 or 1-3 PNR (see the second half of the Hawks game). If he's starting at 3, and I'm not there yet, then we already have a pretty good weak side defender at 4.

Offensively, whoever starts at the 3 for us shouldn't be a focal point of the offense. We have too many mouths to feed already. We need a reliable shooter as an outlet for when opposing teams are collapsing the paint.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
So it looks like the Pistons will cut Kemba Walker (and eat his remaining contract.)
Yeah, I know he's not what he used to be. However, he did almost average 12 points per game last season for the Knicks.
So he would be a free agent.
The question is: Would you rather have today's version of Kemba Walker, or today's version of Raul Neto?
I wouldn't count on Rubio till Christmas or later.
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Neto, and I'm not a fan.
 
InBoobieWeTrust said:
I don’t care about his ball handling TBH.

PJ Tucker can’t dribble for shit.

Putbacks. Lobs. Corner threes. Run the wing in transition. Maybe bully a midget guard once or twice a night.

I dunno. Let me have my one pre season hot take
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Yeah, I'm wondering if anyone who wants to see the Cavs trade Allen for O.G. has ever watched O.G. try to dribble or create.
 
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