Chris Parker/Cleveland Scene answers your questions

[TFIR]

Allen drove the lane so much last night, today he’s rotating his tires.

My favorite one of the article.

Not much has changed on that point. At times it feels like Senioritis. They just can’t wait for summer, and can’t be too bothered with classes.

I can't blame them really, nor do I blame the Seniors. It's just that we have to watch!

Look, the fact that even the Memphis Grizzlies "rest" guys during the regular season shows the absurdity of the regular season and it's demands on player bodies with so little at stake. Crazy.

And good call on the Lakers/Warriors. The regular season is littered with examples of it's absurdity. Draw conclusions at our own peril.

 

[buzzdog]

They're apparently still in the character building phase of their preparation.

 

[Jon]

Hell the Lakers beat the Warriors the other night. What does that tell you? Good help is hard to find?"

That the real game may have been played in a nightclub in to the wee hours before the technical game?

 

[TFIR]

They're apparently still in the character building phase of their preparation.

I did happen to listen in on a conversation on NBA Radio (Sirius) today and Antonio Davis was commenting on the Cavs.

He simply believe the Cavs are too inexperienced (he cited Lebron James and James Jones as the only two exceptions) in terms of PLAYOFF experience to understand the importance of preparing for the playoffs.

He DID say that it's important mostly to GO into the playoffs playing well. And that entails the last 2 weeks of the season, which is NOT right now yet. So I will be interested to see if they truly ramp it up with 2 weeks left.

 

[Green Lantern]

25 turnovers...I still say this team is playing like they won it all last year and are having a hangover from the season..

 

[Chris Parker]

25 turnovers...I still say this team is playing like they won it all last year and are having a hangover from the season..

At least three passes were thrown completely out of bounds because of bad communication/pass.

It's almost as if while they play, they're talking on their bluetooth.

Can't believe I haven't even gotten one comment on the Joy Division/Ian Curtis/Love joke

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

On another subject, I'm curious what the preference is on play breakdowns. In my Saturday column I tried four screen captures without writing and described the play in the graph.

In the past I would be more likely to use one picture and draw on it....

But on defensive rotations that may not be clear,

same thing with plays, though to a lesser extent (not that Cavs even run many these days compared to Blatt...)

Must say I prefer stills to video or animated GIFs, but maybe I'm just old (school)... What are people's preferences? Thanks~!

Definitely prefer stills with annotations.

 

[shoes22]

Definitely prefer stills with annotations.

My preference is .GIFs with the annotations built in so we can see the play unfold in real-time, but that wasn't an option.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

New column is up...

Facing Injured Grizzlies, Cavs Lead With Their Jugular

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and...njured-grizzlies-cavs-lead-with-their-jugular

"If Griffin’s goal in firing Blatt and installing Lue was to enhance the team’s inspirational twitter game, throw shade on Sasha Kaun’s thug skills, diminish Love’s game while putatively getting him the ball more, frown ineffectually upon the same type of inconsistent effort that’s plagued this team all season, in the process helping perpetuate a low-level hum of chaos*…. then call round the second-hand stores and look for a deal on used Mission Accomplished banners.

(*“We respond really well to a measure of chaos,” Griffin said, in explaining Blatt’s dismissal.)

We’re being overly facetious because we’ve never been particularly sold on Griffin’s rationale for the move in the first place. The relentless manner with which LeBron pushes this team isn’t going to birth a lot of Shiny Happy People, and who’s to say that’s wrong? (As a personal aside, our two best athletic coaches were overbearing dicks, who got the job done without much concern for niceties.)

That said, effective teams fight for each other as a unit. No doubt. But we also don’t believe the only road passes through Kumbaya City. Jordan engaged in fisticuffs with his teammates and was hardly universal adored in the locker room. (Hence the juiciness of Jordan Rules.) The Kobe/Shaq rivalry was for the ages. Could you imagine if they’d had Twitter back then?

Nor does it necessarily feel self-evident that if a team indulges a penchant for autoerotic asphyxiation during the regular season that they’re going to sneak into Marv Albert’s dressing room during the playoffs. The regular season are like those draggy exposition episodes of franchise series’, where they set up everything that’s going to happen in the next, far cooler episode.

Hell the Lakers beat the Warriors the other night. What does that tell you? Good help is hard to find?"

Does Lue ever actually chew these guys out in private? Every single crappy performance by the Cavs seems to result in nothing more than even crappier excuse-making by the coach. I'd take just one "we played like absolute crap and they're going to hear about it."

I know we only see 10% of the iceberg, but I don't get the sense that it's a whole lot different behind the scenes. Lue should give them the "you lazy assholes got one coach fired, are you now aiming for two?" speech, complete with a flipped table and some spittle.

Honest to God, the lack of heart shown by this team makes them unlikeable as hell at this point. They freakin' deserve to get wiped somewhere during the EC playoffs by some other, hungrier team that actually gives a crap.

I've watched plenty of Cavs teams get outplayed over the years. But i actually liked those teams more than this one.

 

[Chris Parker]

Does Lue ever actually chew these guys out in private? Every single crappy performance by the Cavs seems to result in nothing more than even crappier excuse-making by the coach. I'd take just one "we played like absolute crap and they're going to hear about it."

I know we only see 10% of the iceberg, but I don't get the sense that it's a whole lot different behind the scenes. Lue should give them the "you lazy assholes got one coach fired, are you now aiming for two?" speech, complete with a flipped table and some spittle.

Honest to God, the lack of heart shown by this team makes them unlikeable as hell at this point. They freakin' deserve to get wiped somewhere during the EC playoffs by some other, hungrier team that actually gives a crap.

I've watched plenty of Cavs teams get outplayed over the years. But i actually liked those teams more than this one.

Well since everyone but me seemed to get special visits with GM Griff & can usually be seen sitting with Cavs press staff in commissary, perhaps people are afraid to rock the boat...

Actually if you didn't catch it, someone asked "so was there anything you said or you want to look at film first" Lue said, I have practice at 11am.

It's not "their ass is mine, and I'm running it until it falls off" which my coach used to tell us after a loss, but hey it's better than "I don't want to ever criticize a shot" (another Lue winner from last presser)

 

[Green Lantern]

At least three passes were thrown completely out of bounds because of bad communication/pass.

It's almost as if while they play, they're talking on their bluetooth.

Can't believe I haven't even gotten one comment on the Joy Division/Ian Curtis/Love joke

? I didn't see that comment...

 

[flop]

25 turnovers...I still say this team is playing like they won it all last year and are having a hangover from the season..

Which is amazing considering two of those guys were absentee for the Finals.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Well since everyone but me seemed to get special visits with GM Griff & can usually be seen sitting with Cavs press staff in commissary, perhaps people are afraid to rock the boat...

Actually if you didn't catch it, someone asked "so was there anything you said or you want to look at film first" Lue said, I have practice at 11am.

It's not "their ass is mine, and I'm running it until it falls off" which my coach used to tell us after a loss, but hey it's better than "I don't want to ever criticize a shot" (another Lue winner from last presser)

This team seemed to play (a bit) harder and be more disciplined under Blatt. Right now, it feels like nobody is in charge.

There. I said it.

 

[TFIR]

I'm pretty sure that Warriors loss was under Blatt. So, not agreeing.

 

[Green Lantern]

This team seemed to play (a bit) harder and be more disciplined under Blatt. Right now, it feels like nobody is in charge.

There. I said it.

Cavs season...