It wasn’t an easy task.
-You have to integrate 7 new players.
-Kyrie is gone.
-The replacement PG/scoring threat is out til January.
-You have to integrate Crowder, Green, Wade(LeBrons best friend), Rose(a former MVP)
-You have JR in his feelings about Wade
-You have to determine what Calderon can give you
-you have to determine if two rookies who are in the United States for the first time are ready to play real minutes from the beginning or if they needs practice, skills development with Handy and Vitaly and perhaps some games in Canton.
You’ve been given these vets, some by the FO, some directly by LeBron, and charged with making them gel as a team with high expectations.
There are very few coaches who in those circumstances were just going to right away give automatic rotation roles to rookies.
Now after JR could continued week after week to struggle, should Lue have gone to Cedi 8-12 games sooner. Yeah. That was a mistake.
Was Ante perhaps ready to go in real NBA action by mid season? Probably? He’s gotten better each game.
All I’m saying is that these are not coaching crimes against humanity. These are not young players who were buried for 2-3 years. This is the way that almost all non lottery rookies are brought along by the vast coaches on playoff teams are integrated. And they’re not kids who when put into the game looked clueless so clearly they had been coached and prepped decently(yes, some of both Ante and Cedi’s strength are just instinctual)
And probably most importantly, if Cedi and Ante can both reach what their peak levels appear to be, is it not a testament and good sign to the eye for Koby Altman or someone in the Cavs front office?
Specifically to Ante though, great game against a really long team. It is a team though for all its length though that is consistently pushed around by other front courts. Good to see Ante more than hold his own though and excited to have his cheap cost effective rights for another 4 seasons beyond this one.
