red.
RCF Echo Chamber. #FreeDG!
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Once I saw his name, I just had to come here and post.Wow nice catch...yes it's him.
So he is alive...
He’s not with the Cavs anymore?
Once I saw his name, I just had to come here and post.Wow nice catch...yes it's him.
So he is alive...
Once I saw his name, I just had to come here and post.
He’s not with the Cavs anymore?
Once I saw his name, I just had to come here and post.
He’s not with the Cavs anymore?
Waste of roster spots.
No one's looking at Channing Frye and thinking "I'd like another one of those, but smaller, whiter, less funny, and worse at basketball." But beggars can't be choosers, and having three D-Leaguers round out the bench isn't accomplishing anything. If Babbitt can be a positive locker room guy, and at least good enough on the court that he won't stunt the development of our young players, then I don't have a problem with signing him.
He's mostly been about break-even from an advanced stats standpoint, which is why it doesn't really bother me. He doesn't make his team better, but he also doesn't make it worse, which is about the most you can expect from a role-player who plays ten minutes a game.
Yup, this is a sport where being tall, alive, and an accurate outside shooter will do that for you. Guys like that are particularly useful, actually, because they'll add a little bit of value on offense without taking the ball out of Sexton/Cedi/Zizic's hands.
Lineups like Sexton-Hill-Cedi-Frye-Zizic (or replace Frye with Babbitt) should be fun to watch but not quite good enough to win most games.
Disclaimer: Long post ahead
I've been thinking all summer about how the team will perform now that LeBron's gone... but I'm taking a different perspective and use my past memories of the LeBron-less Cavs (especially 2000-2003).
2000-2003 were ugly years and not a good example of how to rebuild a team after being a fringe-playoff team for several years in the late 90s. But I also believe the environment wasn't any better.
When Andre Miller became a better player (after his rookie year), we were a borderline 30-win team. And when Zydrunas was fully healthy to start the 2000-01 year (for the first 24 games), we were a fringe playoff team (15-9).
- The owner (Gorgon Gund) was getting older and wasn't as hungry for a contender as a decade prior.
- We also had a lousy GM (Jim Paxson) who was given an outrageous extension after the lockout in 1999.
- Randy Wittman and John Lucas were pretty below-average coaches.
- Most of our draft picks were in the mid-lottery range (8-10). I think we only hit well on the first draft after the lockout (Andre Miller). The others sucked (trade for Chris Mihm, DeSagana Diop, etc).
- We had a decent starting quality center who couldn't stay healthy (Zydrunas Ilgauskas).
- Finally, there were a lot of journey-men who couldn't find a permanent home in the NBA (Lamond Murray, Wesley Person, Brevin Knight, Derek Anderson, to name a few).
But once we moved Andre, the team fell off the map despite Z being fully healthy and a fringe all-star. It wasn't enough because it was a selfish team with some lousy personalities and a lack of drive to improve. To many of these players, stats were more important than wins.
Based on these years of Cavs basketball, I have a theory on normally competing in the NBA:
- Ricky Davis once attempted a rebound at his own rim for a triple-double feat.
- Dajuan Wagner was unable to score driving left and got seriously injured later in the season that would ruin his career.
- Darius Miles had athletic ability but no feel for the game.
- The proof that these guys weren't fit to play postseason games was when they were traded for less talented guys who valued basketball (Tony Battie and Eric Williams). The Cavs' 2004 record also improved enough to reach 35 wins (and the 9th seed).
Even before I watched basketball, Mark Price and Terrell Brandon got the Cavs to the playoffs even when lacking healthy all-star big men (1990, 1994, 1995, and 1996). But Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance (who played the full season) couldn't get them anywhere without their all-star point guard (1991).
- A good point guard will pull a team out of the trash of the league (better than the 5 worst teams in the league).
- But only when playing besides (minimum) 1 decent big man will that team bring out its full potential (whether that's winning 40+ games or 50, etc).
We could be better than those early 2000s Cavs, but it will also depend on the development of our young prospects (Sexton, Osman, Zizic), Koby Altman's future transactions, and Lue's ability to coach. Clearly there's more promise compared to before?
Great point! Those were some of my favorite times during our last rebuild.You know how over the past few years there were those games that we should of won, but lost? Those unexplainable losses to the likes of the Knicks, Kings, Nets, others. Now we can be that team some nights when we take down some of the better teams. I'll enjoy those wins in the middle of the winter.
I'll never forget the Baron Davis cut throat towards the Heat's bench when the Cavs beat them while LeBron was with a member of the Heat.Great point! Those were some of my favorite times during our last rebuild.