2023-24 Playoff Series #2 | Game #2 | Cavs @ Celtics | May 9, 2024

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The Cavs get a day off without travel and a chance to review Game 1 and made some adjustments.

“You go from [playing] a team that didn’t shoot a ton of 3s to a team that wants to shoot a whole bunch of 3s,” Bickerstaff said. “It’ll take us a little bit of time to just kind of adjust. I think tonight was that night. We’ll watch it, we’ll study it, we’ll break it down some more, get more reps at it and go at it again on Thursday.”

Bickerstaff talked about the need to react quicker on defense and force the Celtics off the 3-point line. Fully 50% of the Celtics shots in Game 1 were 3’s.

Just have to be earlier in our technique and make them put the ball on the floor and try to make them take more 2s. - JBB

But is that even possible with so much emphasis on limiting paint points? Can the Cavs simultaneously guard the interior and contest on the perimeter? - Chris Fedor

“That’s what we’re all trying to figure out,” Strus said.

One of the keys going into Thursday’s Game 2 is trying to turn the plethora of catch-and-shoot triples into off-the-dribble jumpers, with an organizational belief that it will cause Boston’s efficiency to drop. - Chris Fedor

I’m skeptical that making them shoot 3’s off the bounce will result in more misses, but the Cavs are going to try.

It’s kind of the opposite of last series, so it’s understanding where it’s going to come. You were protecting the paint, protecting the paint for seven games, hammering it home. Now you’ve got to get out to guys and it’s not just like it’s two guys. It’s really one through 15. - Max Strus

In addition to defense, better offense has to be part of the equation.

“We got 40 3s up. We only hit 11. We’re getting the looks. I think the biggest thing now is just being able to hit and knock them down.” - Donovan Mitchell

The problem with that is the Cavs are not good 3-point shooters, ranking 19th in 3-point percentage during the regular season. That’s against the entire league. Against elite defenses they’re worse. They only shot 26% on 3’s against Orlando.

One thing that has bothered me this year is the Cavs ranked 10th in 2-point percentage and 19th in 3-point percentage, so you’d think they would emphasize the 2 and take whatever open 3’s were available in the flow of the offense. But the Cavs ranked 7th in 3-point rate - they went out of their way to force up 3’s even though they are below average at long range shooting.

I assumed they figured that if they just keep hoisting them they’ll be a lot better by the playoffs. It didn’t happen.

I don’t see how a team becomes better outside shooters in the middle of a playoff series.

The Cavs know what they need to do. On defense they want to stay closer to the 3-point shooters, reduce the catch-and-shoot 3’s, and force them to shoot 3’s off the dribble and also more 2’s.

On offense the Cavs need to hit their open shots. They missed 31 three-pointers in Game 1. Some were contested with the clock expiring, but others were wide open that they simply missed. They also missed a number of open mid-range jumpers.

Against the most efficient offense in NBA history you need to score a lot to have a chance. The Cavs simply need to hit more open 3’s. When they beat the Celtics in March the Cavs were 20-for-42 on 3’s, or 47%. It’s going to take shooting like that to have a chance against the best offense the league has ever seen.

But they also need Mobley to make those little jump hooks right in front of the rim. He has no touch on those shots; he just kind of shoves the ball at the rim and hopes it bounces in. He needs to develop a reliable jump hook right now, but again, you can’t do that in the middle of the playoffs. He should have been working on a killer jump hook all season instead of shooting thousands of 3’s, which aren’t going him any good now.

The Cavs don’t need to win Thursday but they need to make progress. Tristan Thompson said that in the 2016 finals it took them two games to figure out how to defend the Warriors, but once they did they took four of five.

 

[jjvors]

Okay, it's time for my game 2 prediction.

I won't change it from what I predicted, despite the big loss.

Game 2: If Game 1 lost, Game 2 chance of victory 48% 112-111 Cavs

I made all my predictions 1 point victories, since that's how we beat them during the season.
We will have to hit 3s, unless we go inside to Mobley and Allen and run the offense through them.
Of course, Allen has to play.

Celtics now have a 16.02% chance of sweeping.
We have a 6% chance of winning 4-1
They have a 21% chance of winning 4-1

We have an 11% chance of winning 4-2
They have a 17% chance of winning 4-2

We have a 14% chance of winning in 7.
They have a 16% chance of winning in 7.

Overall, Cavs have a 30% chance of winning the series.
The Celtics, 70%.

 

[Thelastcavsfan]

think Cavs win this one and go into game 5 tied 2-2.

 

[Futuredome]

Obviously no Allen makes the Cavs short handed. Wings need to play better.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

I don't see any way the Cavs can disrupt the Celtics' 3-point shooting without giving up blow-bys and layups. If the Cavs protect the paint the Celtics will bury them from deep. One way or another the Cavs are going to get it.

Best thing they can do is watch the film of the 105-104 Cavs' win in Cleveland and see what was effective in holding the Celts to 104.

 

[Adam]

Cavs have to make their fouls count. If Celtics are going to get whistles they can't be touch fouls. They have to piss off Tatum into trying to go one on one and ignore his team. It's the ball movement that is Boston's elixir. I would also spend this game force feeding mobley just to find out how much offense he can generate.

I don't think we will do any of these things though.

 

[Pierre Pan]

‎Wine and Gold Talk Podcast: When could Dean Wade return for the Cavs? on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Wine and Gold Talk Podcast, Ep When could Dean Wade return for the Cavs? - May 8, 2024

podcasts.apple.com

Transcribed from the podcast :

Some excellent information and opinions:

Chris Fedor

On JA-

I did see Jarrett Allen briefly and it feels like to me, this is a lot of gamesmanship on behalf of the Cavs just by listing him as questionable repeatedly. Um, And JB Bikershaff is going to say pregame, before game two, he’s going to say, we’ll see, when asked about his availability. But like, Jarrett pushed the button for the elevator with his shoe, in his hand. Like, he used his shoe, kinda like as a poking device, for the button on the elevator, because he didn’t want to reach forward, because he didn’t wanna make any of those kinds of movements. So I just think, this is a guy who is clearly in discomfort. If you watch him on the bench throughout the course of games, he is clearly in discomfort. He looks like he’s having a hard time breathing. He looks like he has a hard time moving. He’s just kind of like robotic when it comes to his movements. And I’ve been reporting all along that the hardest thing for him to do right now is raise his arms above his head. But when I saw him push, the elevator button with the shoe in his hand so that he could use the size 16 to extend the reach. Yeah, that was pretty telling to me.

On JBB -

The Good-

Alright, so I mean, I think one of the things that he has done with this team, it is very hard in general to get young teams to buy into defense first. They want to score, they want to jack a bunch of threes, they want all the glitz and the glam and the stats. So he has gotten this team to become a top 10 defense every single year that JBB has been here. I don’t think you can overlook that.
He has gotten them to buy in to this particular identity, to this particular style. I also think he’s really, really good when it comes to building cultures. It’s something that he learned throughout the course of his time in Memphis. He took tips from some of the other assistants that he knows really, really well, including David Fisdale and what Fizz learned during his time as a head coach and also while he was with the Miami Heat. This culture here,
Is one that I think people want to be a part of it’s not a disaster the way that it was in the early stages of the rebuild And I do believe that JB Bickerstaff Um deserves credit for getting the Cavs out of the darkest stages of this rebuild rebuilds are very very difficult guys They’re very very long and there’s no guarantee that a team is actually going to get out of the rebuild and come out on the other side.
And he has allowed them to get through the dark times of the rebuild and he has brought them here where they are. It’s the Eastern conference semi -finals. There are eight teams remaining in the NBA. Only eight and the Cavs are one of them. So I do think you have to give him credit for that as well. Um, and I do think he is good when it comes to communicating the things that, that he demands from players and the things that he wants from players. Coming into this season, every single player in that locker room was given like a note card with a bunch of bullet points. And it’s pinned up in each individual player’s locker. And it outlines their roles and their responsibilities and the specific areas where those guys can best help the Cavs win basketball games. It’s not about necessarily what’s best for that individual

The Bad-

This offense just is not dynamic enough. The Cavs, members of the Cavs front office gave JB Bickerstaff, I don’t want to say an ultimatum because I think that’s going too far.
But they basically said to him, your responsibility in the off season coming off the heels of the playoff flame out against the Knicks. Members of this organization said to JB, fix this offense. Make this offense more dynamic. Diversify the offensive attack. And the front office said, we’ll get you more pieces. We’ll get you different pieces. We’ll get you more two way type players. but you need to make this offense get a little bit closer to what you’ve done with the defense. And in the regular season, you know, the Cavs showed flashes of that. They certainly weren’t bottom five, bottom 10 in the NBA. They were basically middle of the pack in terms of offensive efficiency. But so far in the playoffs against both Orlando and the one game against Boston, this offense has not been good enough.

And I do think that JB deserves a little bit of blame for that. And I do think it is his responsibility when it comes to schemes, tactics, play calls, player development. All of those things are under that same umbrella. And unless he shows that he can be a better tactician and unless he shows that he can make this offense what it probably should be, with Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, with Jarrett Allen. I think it’s something that is going to be put under the microscope this off season and it’s going to be up for evaluation.

Jimmy Watkins

On Shooting-

I mean, we know, like Isaac Okoro, we know that that’s a, you don’t really know where his confidence is going to be at until you get to the arena that day and see the first one go in, right? And even then he made three in the first half against Boston in game one, didn’t score at all in the second half. I think he was 0 for 2 from 3. Max Syrud looked like he was putting it together at the end of that Orlando series, three straight double digit scoring games, hit some threes in all those games, game one. two for eight, one for five. And that’s kind of the story of Max Strus’ career as a shooter. He’s always been 36 -ish, 35 -ish, 37 -ish percent from three point range, but on high volume attempts, which still makes him a valuable player and a shooter that you have to respect over large samples. We‘re not playing in large samples right now. We might be in a dip. I don’t know. Guys, I mean, Caris Levert, 0 for two, Sam Merrill. He’s in a particularly hard, hard, hard, difficult spot because of the short leash that’s on him. We can go on and on. There are complicating matters for the Cavs confidence right now. I don’t think Darius Garland is playing with a ton of confidence right now. And that’s especially difficult, not just because the Celtics are going to ask you to take threes, but because of the kind of threes they’re going to ask you to take, right? Like Boston, yes, they will leave Isaac Okoro open in the corner for a catch and shoot three to rotate, but like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, we’re talking pull up threes.

Chris Fedor

On Shooting

But if you look back at the numbers from game one, the Cavs got 42 threes, guys, 42 of them. 38 of those were classified by NBA .com tracking data as open or wide open.

That’s good offense. Those are good shots, especially against a Boston team. All eight of Darius’s three point attempts were open or wide open. Max Strus got open looks consistently. Like yes, that number is going to be skewed a little bit because they certainly do not guard Isaac Okoro and they’re not going to guard Isaac. So every single one of his threes is going to be open or wide open, but there was space out there.

There was space out there for Donovan Mitchell. There was space out there for Darius Garland. There were clean looks for all of those guys. You cannot shoot 26 to 28 % on open or wide open threes. Like that can’t happen. Max Strus gotta be better. Darius Garland gotta be better. Sam Merrill gotta be better. All these guys at some point, like these guys have to play to the level that they are capable of; before we really dig into the minutia of the X’s and O’s of JBB, the tactics of Bickerstaff, the in -game adjustments of JB, and his coaching overall. And they’re getting nothing from George Niang. Nothing. He was a key member of this team throughout the entire regular season. He was the stabilizing force of the second unit. He was one of the primary signings that they made this off -season. He has been nothing in the playoffs.

Caris LeVert has given them one game, one game to this point out of eight, I think, where he actually played to the level that you feel like he’s an asset to the team. Darius Garland has been hit and miss. This is supposed to be the second most important player on this roster, or the second most important player to their offensive success on this roster, I should say.

And he hasn’t been good enough. And Max Strus, like, are you kidding me? This is a $63 million man who’s going two of eight from the field and one of five from three point range. So at some point it’s just on these dudes to make some shots. And you would think, you would think eventually variance swings in their favor. But every time you sit there and you say a shooting variance, shooting variance.
It’s been eight games of not being able to make open shots. Like, what is going on here?

Chris Fedor:

On Dean Wade-

But my reporting has pointed to if Dean is going to come back, barring any kind of setback, the Cavs, people close to Dean, everybody has really been circling the game three, game four in Cleveland. That’s right around the two month mark from when he injured his knee.
Chris Fedor & Ethan Sands

On DG and the future of the team

Ethan :

I just remembered seeing a Darius Garland highlight with a quote tweet that said, he’s in there somewhere. And it was from a highlight from 2022. And I just typed, just now, I just typed in, he’s in there somewhere. No Darius Garland reference, no nothing. Four to five different highlights pulled up with people commenting this year about Darius Garland being in there somewhere about plays like against Jrue Holiday when he was on the Milwaukee Bucks or just plays against the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this year or plays from 2022 when he was young, naive and doing whatever he wanted with the basketball. Cause there was no nothing wrong he could do. Like, so I want to say he’s in there somewhere. We’ve seen Darius Garland shine. He’s had 51 points and 27 of them in the fourth quarter at one point. Like that is something that we...

That’s why he got the max deal. That’s why he got 200 million. Like, and to the point that you guys are making on buying low, is it really buying low if the Cavs know that they’re gonna have to eat his contract or do something with it and gonna either need a whole bunch of assets to get it back or anything else? Or is that a conversation we gotta save for a different day? Because that’s a whole different can of worms and I feel like you guys open an hour into this podcast.

Chris Fedor -

I don’t know. I mean, I brought it up recently on a podcast, a fake trade. We do fake trades all the time. People go to the trade machine. Bill Simmons does it. Darius Garland -Mobley for Kevin Durant. Who says no?
So all I’m saying is like, there is a pathway out of Darius’s contract, right? There is a framework that the Cavs could put together that could rejigger the roster and not be a significant step back in talent. And you’re right, Ethan, that means in some cases you have to attach another asset to him. But if you don’t want to make the Evan Mobley decision in terms of how much to pay him.

If you’re not ready to give him a max contract extension and you’re not ready to fully commit to the Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley thing, then that and Darius is a pathway to rejigger the roster and maybe bring in a different running mate for Donovan Mitchell that you think would be a better fit. Again.

I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m not saying that that’s definitely the way that the Cavs are going to look at it this off season. I’m not saying that they’re definitely going to explore those options, but those are things that members of front offices across the NBA are going to think about on a daily basis. How can we improve? How can we take the next step? Maybe it’s organically. Maybe it’s a new coach. Maybe it’s changing up the roster dynamics.

Maybe it’s breaking up Darius and Donovan Mitchell. So many things, the Cavs owe it to themselves. The front office owes it to themselves to explore many different avenues within reason to improve this team. If they see in this particular series, it’s only game one in the series against Boston, but if they see in this particular series, Hey, we’re not on the same level with Boston.

What’s our path to trying to get on the same level with Boston? Because as of right now, guys, it looks like the Cavs are the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference. And they’re playing like the fourth -ish best team in the Eastern Conference. Like, are they going to be satisfied with that? Are they going to be cool with that? Or are they going to look at possibilities of taking another step next year?

 

[jmilo]

Garland needs to show up. If he's going to be outshined by Derrick White, this is going to be over quickly.

 

[Peacedog]

No way I'm trading Garland and Mobley for 35 year old Kevin Durant. Get real.

 

[foucault87]

One thing I will quibble with. Just because 3s are open doesn't mean they are good shots. If I throw the ball to my guard 35 feet away from the basket with 2 seconds on the shot clock, that's a wide open 3 but a terrible shot.

Rhythm shooters taking shots off rhythm, pulling up in awkward gaps, and whatever the off thr dribble 3s we see from Strus sometimes that are super off balance or from an awkward catch....these are not good shots

A lot of the shots we took on Tuesday may have been good looks, but were not good shots.

 

[foucault87]

‎Wine and Gold Talk Podcast: When could Dean Wade return for the Cavs? on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Wine and Gold Talk Podcast, Ep When could Dean Wade return for the Cavs? - May 8, 2024

podcasts.apple.com

Transcribed from the podcast :

Some excellent information and opinions:

Chris Fedor

On JA-

I did see Jarrett Allen briefly and it feels like to me, this is a lot of gamesmanship on behalf of the Cavs just by listing him as questionable repeatedly. Um, And JB Bikershaff is going to say pregame, before game two, he’s going to say, we’ll see, when asked about his availability. But like, Jarrett pushed the button for the elevator with his shoe, in his hand. Like, he used his shoe, kinda like as a poking device, for the button on the elevator, because he didn’t want to reach forward, because he didn’t wanna make any of those kinds of movements. So I just think, this is a guy who is clearly in discomfort. If you watch him on the bench throughout the course of games, he is clearly in discomfort. He looks like he’s having a hard time breathing. He looks like he has a hard time moving. He’s just kind of like robotic when it comes to his movements. And I’ve been reporting all along that the hardest thing for him to do right now is raise his arms above his head. But when I saw him push, the elevator button with the shoe in his hand so that he could use the size 16 to extend the reach. Yeah, that was pretty telling to me.

On JBB -

The Good-

Alright, so I mean, I think one of the things that he has done with this team, it is very hard in general to get young teams to buy into defense first. They want to score, they want to jack a bunch of threes, they want all the glitz and the glam and the stats. So he has gotten this team to become a top 10 defense every single year that JBB has been here. I don’t think you can overlook that.
He has gotten them to buy in to this particular identity, to this particular style. I also think he’s really, really good when it comes to building cultures. It’s something that he learned throughout the course of his time in Memphis. He took tips from some of the other assistants that he knows really, really well, including David Fisdale and what Fizz learned during his time as a head coach and also while he was with the Miami Heat. This culture here,
Is one that I think people want to be a part of it’s not a disaster the way that it was in the early stages of the rebuild And I do believe that JB Bickerstaff Um deserves credit for getting the Cavs out of the darkest stages of this rebuild rebuilds are very very difficult guys They’re very very long and there’s no guarantee that a team is actually going to get out of the rebuild and come out on the other side.
And he has allowed them to get through the dark times of the rebuild and he has brought them here where they are. It’s the Eastern conference semi -finals. There are eight teams remaining in the NBA. Only eight and the Cavs are one of them. So I do think you have to give him credit for that as well. Um, and I do think he is good when it comes to communicating the things that, that he demands from players and the things that he wants from players. Coming into this season, every single player in that locker room was given like a note card with a bunch of bullet points. And it’s pinned up in each individual player’s locker. And it outlines their roles and their responsibilities and the specific areas where those guys can best help the Cavs win basketball games. It’s not about necessarily what’s best for that individual

The Bad-

This offense just is not dynamic enough. The Cavs, members of the Cavs front office gave JB Bickerstaff, I don’t want to say an ultimatum because I think that’s going too far.
But they basically said to him, your responsibility in the off season coming off the heels of the playoff flame out against the Knicks. Members of this organization said to JB, fix this offense. Make this offense more dynamic. Diversify the offensive attack. And the front office said, we’ll get you more pieces. We’ll get you different pieces. We’ll get you more two way type players. but you need to make this offense get a little bit closer to what you’ve done with the defense. And in the regular season, you know, the Cavs showed flashes of that. They certainly weren’t bottom five, bottom 10 in the NBA. They were basically middle of the pack in terms of offensive efficiency. But so far in the playoffs against both Orlando and the one game against Boston, this offense has not been good enough.

And I do think that JB deserves a little bit of blame for that. And I do think it is his responsibility when it comes to schemes, tactics, play calls, player development. All of those things are under that same umbrella. And unless he shows that he can be a better tactician and unless he shows that he can make this offense what it probably should be, with Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, with Jarrett Allen. I think it’s something that is going to be put under the microscope this off season and it’s going to be up for evaluation.

Jimmy Watkins

On Shooting-

I mean, we know, like Isaac Okoro, we know that that’s a, you don’t really know where his confidence is going to be at until you get to the arena that day and see the first one go in, right? And even then he made three in the first half against Boston in game one, didn’t score at all in the second half. I think he was 0 for 2 from 3. Max Syrud looked like he was putting it together at the end of that Orlando series, three straight double digit scoring games, hit some threes in all those games, game one. two for eight, one for five. And that’s kind of the story of Max Strus’ career as a shooter. He’s always been 36 -ish, 35 -ish, 37 -ish percent from three point range, but on high volume attempts, which still makes him a valuable player and a shooter that you have to respect over large samples. We‘re not playing in large samples right now. We might be in a dip. I don’t know. Guys, I mean, Caris Levert, 0 for two, Sam Merrill. He’s in a particularly hard, hard, hard, difficult spot because of the short leash that’s on him. We can go on and on. There are complicating matters for the Cavs confidence right now. I don’t think Darius Garland is playing with a ton of confidence right now. And that’s especially difficult, not just because the Celtics are going to ask you to take threes, but because of the kind of threes they’re going to ask you to take, right? Like Boston, yes, they will leave Isaac Okoro open in the corner for a catch and shoot three to rotate, but like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, we’re talking pull up threes.

Chris Fedor

On Shooting

But if you look back at the numbers from game one, the Cavs got 42 threes, guys, 42 of them. 38 of those were classified by NBA .com tracking data as open or wide open.

That’s good offense. Those are good shots, especially against a Boston team. All eight of Darius’s three point attempts were open or wide open. Max Strus got open looks consistently. Like yes, that number is going to be skewed a little bit because they certainly do not guard Isaac Okoro and they’re not going to guard Isaac. So every single one of his threes is going to be open or wide open, but there was space out there.

There was space out there for Donovan Mitchell. There was space out there for Darius Garland. There were clean looks for all of those guys. You cannot shoot 26 to 28 % on open or wide open threes. Like that can’t happen. Max Strus gotta be better. Darius Garland gotta be better. Sam Merrill gotta be better. All these guys at some point, like these guys have to play to the level that they are capable of; before we really dig into the minutia of the X’s and O’s of JBB, the tactics of Bickerstaff, the in -game adjustments of JB, and his coaching overall. And they’re getting nothing from George Niang. Nothing. He was a key member of this team throughout the entire regular season. He was the stabilizing force of the second unit. He was one of the primary signings that they made this off -season. He has been nothing in the playoffs.

Caris LeVert has given them one game, one game to this point out of eight, I think, where he actually played to the level that you feel like he’s an asset to the team. Darius Garland has been hit and miss. This is supposed to be the second most important player on this roster, or the second most important player to their offensive success on this roster, I should say.

And he hasn’t been good enough. And Max Strus, like, are you kidding me? This is a $63 million man who’s going two of eight from the field and one of five from three point range. So at some point it’s just on these dudes to make some shots. And you would think, you would think eventually variance swings in their favor. But every time you sit there and you say a shooting variance, shooting variance.
It’s been eight games of not being able to make open shots. Like, what is going on here?

Chris Fedor:

On Dean Wade-

But my reporting has pointed to if Dean is going to come back, barring any kind of setback, the Cavs, people close to Dean, everybody has really been circling the game three, game four in Cleveland. That’s right around the two month mark from when he injured his knee.
Chris Fedor & Ethan Sands

On DG and the future of the team

Ethan :

I just remembered seeing a Darius Garland highlight with a quote tweet that said, he’s in there somewhere. And it was from a highlight from 2022. And I just typed, just now, I just typed in, he’s in there somewhere. No Darius Garland reference, no nothing. Four to five different highlights pulled up with people commenting this year about Darius Garland being in there somewhere about plays like against Jrue Holiday when he was on the Milwaukee Bucks or just plays against the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this year or plays from 2022 when he was young, naive and doing whatever he wanted with the basketball. Cause there was no nothing wrong he could do. Like, so I want to say he’s in there somewhere. We’ve seen Darius Garland shine. He’s had 51 points and 27 of them in the fourth quarter at one point. Like that is something that we...

That’s why he got the max deal. That’s why he got 200 million. Like, and to the point that you guys are making on buying low, is it really buying low if the Cavs know that they’re gonna have to eat his contract or do something with it and gonna either need a whole bunch of assets to get it back or anything else? Or is that a conversation we gotta save for a different day? Because that’s a whole different can of worms and I feel like you guys open an hour into this podcast.

Chris Fedor -

I don’t know. I mean, I brought it up recently on a podcast, a fake trade. We do fake trades all the time. People go to the trade machine. Bill Simmons does it. Darius Garland -Mobley for Kevin Durant. Who says no?
So all I’m saying is like, there is a pathway out of Darius’s contract, right? There is a framework that the Cavs could put together that could rejigger the roster and not be a significant step back in talent. And you’re right, Ethan, that means in some cases you have to attach another asset to him. But if you don’t want to make the Evan Mobley decision in terms of how much to pay him.

If you’re not ready to give him a max contract extension and you’re not ready to fully commit to the Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley thing, then that and Darius is a pathway to rejigger the roster and maybe bring in a different running mate for Donovan Mitchell that you think would be a better fit. Again.

I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m not saying that that’s definitely the way that the Cavs are going to look at it this off season. I’m not saying that they’re definitely going to explore those options, but those are things that members of front offices across the NBA are going to think about on a daily basis. How can we improve? How can we take the next step? Maybe it’s organically. Maybe it’s a new coach. Maybe it’s changing up the roster dynamics.

Maybe it’s breaking up Darius and Donovan Mitchell. So many things, the Cavs owe it to themselves. The front office owes it to themselves to explore many different avenues within reason to improve this team. If they see in this particular series, it’s only game one in the series against Boston, but if they see in this particular series, Hey, we’re not on the same level with Boston.

What’s our path to trying to get on the same level with Boston? Because as of right now, guys, it looks like the Cavs are the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference. And they’re playing like the fourth -ish best team in the Eastern Conference. Like, are they going to be satisfied with that? Are they going to be cool with that? Or are they going to look at possibilities of taking another step next year?

Thanks for transcribing this. I hope I'm not reading into Fedor's tone too much here since he is the Cavs mouthpiece in a sense. But I get the feeling based on how he is talking about JBB, he expects JBB to be back for 2024-25 which ...just no

 

[Peacedog]

Thanks for transcribing this. I hope I'm not reading into Fedor's tone too much here since he is the Cavs mouthpiece in a sense. But I get the feeling based on how he is talking about JBB, he expects JBB to be back for 2024-25 which ...just no

If we don't get to Game 6 (minimum) he's gone.

 

[Peacedog]

Game 1 was sobering. No way we can beat this team without BOTH Allen and Wade. Without them, we've got no chance.

What I'm looking for is a little fight, at least one win, and no more 20+ points blowouts.

 

[foucault87]

If we don't get to Game 6 (minimum) he's gone.

I wanted him gone 2 years ago but here we are

 

[shoes22]

One thing I will quibble with. Just because 3s are open doesn't mean they are good shots. If I throw the ball to my guard 35 feet away from the basket with 2 seconds on the shot clock, that's a wide open 3 but a terrible shot.

Rhythm shooters taking shots off rhythm, pulling up in awkward gaps, and whatever the off thr dribble 3s we see from Strus sometimes that are super off balance or from an awkward catch....these are not good shots

A lot of the shots we took on Tuesday may have been good looks, but were not good shots.

I agree with you to a point...but it also speaks to a weakness in these players games. Even if we had an offensive system that resulted in better shots, there will still inevitably be times where a shooter gets the ball in less than ideal circumstances. Good defenses will force this. Open is open, and when you're wide open you need to convert.

The very best shooters in the league are so good because they can routinely hit open 3s that are not in rhythm or off balance or with 2 seconds on the shot clock. These are all things you can rep and practice in non-game settings.

If all of our 3pt shooters need perfect circumstances in order to make shots, they shouldn't be the kind of shooting specialists Koby targeted. Guys like Sam Merrill are so one-dimensional as it is, if he is going to stay in the league he needs to develop these little wrinkles and learn tricks the best shooters use to make off-rhythm shots at a higher clip.