Jonas Valanciunas' Lithuanian coach, Kestutis Kemzura, said that Valanciunas needs to "slow down" how he approaches the game.

"There you go, this is the thing with Jonas," he said. "Sometimes, he wants to come in and do everything right away. In his head, he is working too fast. He is young, that happens. But he needs to slow down." Valanciunas is averaging just 10.6 minutes in the Olympics, and although the Raptors are expecting big things from him eventually and Valanciunas has the physical tools for the NBA, his success in the league is unlikely to come immediately. For what it's worth, his coach said that he needs to "get bigger and stronger" as well as develop better post moves.


Source: Sporting News Aug 7 - 9:26 AM

We out of the Bynum talks?

..

Report: Howard-to-Lakers talks resume

By The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange – 5 hours ago.. .

Dwight Howard's trade demand stands, and the Orlando Magic are back working on obliging the five-time All-NBA center.

Yahoo Sports reports the Magic have re-engaged the Los Angeles Lakers and two other teams -- believed to be the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets -- in a blockbuster proposal that would ultimately get Howard what he wants: out of Orlando.

Howard met with first-year general manager Rob Hennigan last month and shot down the team's last-ditch effort, believed to be the third since Hennigan was hired a week before the 2012 NBA Draft, to convince Howard to give new management a chance with the Magic.

Howard is remaining in Los Angeles and this week skipped his basketball skills camp for youth.

A previous proposal from the Lakers involved the Cleveland Cavaliers receiving center Andrew Bynum and both teams sending picks and players to the Magic, whose main objectives in any deal remain unloading salary and stockpiling future draft choices.

Sources: Dwight Howard to Lakers
Updated: August 9, 2012, 10:50 PM ET
ESPN.com news services


Sources: Howard To Lakers

Trade call scheduled with NBA tomorrow on Dwight Howard trade to Lakers.

A four-team trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers is complete, multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday night.

A source with direct knowledge of the talks told ESPN.com's Marc Stein the Lakers will receive Howard, the Denver Nuggets will acquire Andre Iguodala, the 76ers will receive Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, and the Magic will get Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic and one protected future first-round pick from each of the other three teams.

Sources: Dwight Howard to Lakers
A four-team trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers is complete, multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday night. A look at what each team will receive if the NBA approves the deal:

Team Receives in trade
Lakers Dwight Howard
Nuggets Andre Iguodala
76ers Andrew Bynum,
Jason Richardson
Magic* Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless
*- Magic also will receive a protected 1st-round pick from each of the other three teams
In addition, the Magic will be getting other pieces, including 76ers No. 1 draft pick Moe Harkless, a source told Stein.

Sources close to the process told Stein and ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne that a trade call with the league office has been scheduled for Friday to secure the necessary NBA approval to make the deal official.

Lakers forward Pau Gasol had been in and out of talks, sources told Shelburne, before ultimately being excluded.

One source briefed on Howard's plans told Stein that the All-Star center will indeed stand firm on his intent to play out the 2012-13 season without extending his contract so he can become a free agent on July 1, 2013. Going that route will enable Howard to decide how comfortable he is in Los Angeles before deciding whether to re-sign with the Lakers or join the Dallas Mavericks, who will have the requisite salary-cap space to sign Howard and remain one of his preferred destinations from his original list of three teams (Brooklyn Nets, Lakers and Mavericks).

"If Los Angeles doesn't work out for Dwight, Dallas will be there waiting for him," the source told Stein.

One source close to Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, told Stein that the Lakers' star was estatic Thursday night upon hearing that Los Angeles was able to complete such a significant transaction without surrendering Gasol. Bryant is currently with Team USA at the London Olympics.

Sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard that Philadelphia has not spoken to Bynum or his representatives, and has no assurances he will sign a long-term extension with the team.

"The Sixers are willing to take a shot (without Bynum's commitment)," one source said.

Although Bynum signing an extension with the 76ers is not out of the question, according to a source, his stance all summer has been he only will sign an extension with the Lakers.


Bynum, who grew up about an hour away from Philadelphia in Plainsboro, N.J., could sign a three-year, $60 million extension this season or wait to become a free agent after the season and be eligible for a five-year, $102 million deal.

Earlier Thursday, Yahoo! Sports, citing sources, reported that talks of a four-team trade involving Howard have taken place this week and have "grown serious."

Near the end of July, Howard met with Magic general manager Rob Hennigan and reiterated he still wants to be traded, and if he isn't, will leave the team as a free agent after next season.

The Lakers' position on Howard had remained relatively unchanged for the past few months, league sources familiar with the situation told ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Lakers always had been willing to trade for Howard without assurances he'd re-sign with them after the season, believing that once Howard experienced a championship culture, he would want to stay.

Information from ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard and ESPNLos Angeles.com's Dave McMenamin and ESPNLos Angeles.com's Ramona Shelburne was used in this repo

&^%$#@!

I sure hope the Cavs did all they could to get Bynum. Not every day you get a chance to acquire one of the top centers in the league.

Updated: August 21, 2012, 11:56 am ET



Cavaliers Creating Their Own Thunder
By Stephen Brotherston
NBA Writer
EmailPrint3 Comments
When NBA teams are mired in mediocrity or futility, it isn’t long before the calls to blow the whole thing up and rebuild like the Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder did after 2006. What most complainants gloss over is just how hard it is to deliberately spend multiple seasons in the lottery, collect enough early lottery picks to make an impact, and limit your misses on draft night. However, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is showing how it can be done, if your checkbook is big enough.

Just like many of today’s rebuilding teams, Seattle didn’t actually start the process at the first signs of collapse and who could blame them. The year before, they were a 52-win team with Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis and seemed to be just one more piece away from contending. The high-risk draft of seven-foot project-center Mouhamed Saer Sene with tenth pick in 2006 that followed did not seem to be that big of a deal at the time.

Back to the lottery in 2007 and under newly-installed executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti, the rebuild went into full effect. Lewis was allowed to walk to the Magic as a free agent and Allen was swapped for the Celtics fifth pick of the 2007 draft, Jeff Green, in a multi-player deal. Seattle had finished fifth from the bottom, but lottery luck moved them up to second overall and they nabbed future all-star forward Kevin Durant. The Thunder had both an all-star to trade for a high lottery pick and a big helping of lottery luck in year one of their rebuild. Ending up with two top-five picks in a NBA draft is more than a little unusual.

Maybe Cleveland was lucky to have their rebuilding program forced upon them when former franchise player LeBron James decided to take his talents to South Beach in 2010 as no one had any real illusions about a quick return to playoff contention. Under new general manager Chris Grant, the Cavaliers didn’t wait long to begin blowing things up.

The biggest move the Cavaliers made in that first year was to ship former All-Star Mo Williams to the Los Angeles Clippers for a sure-fire lottery pick in 2011 and the balance of Baron Davis’ massive contract. Checkbook in hand, Gilbert amnestied Davis and the $13 million left on his deal at the first opportunity. The move paid off though as the Cavaliers hit the lottery with the eighth pick from last-place Clippers’ pick and drew first overall in 2011 to go with their own pick at four. Cleveland took Kyrie Irving, the only sure-fire future star with the first pick, and took a chance at four with the Canadian big man Tristan Thompson. After acquiring two top-five draft picks, the eerily similar first step in copying the Thunder’s model for success was well underway.

In 2008, the Thunder finished second from the bottom, but the draft lottery pushed them back to the fourth selection and they made a trade to acquire the twenty-fourth pick from the Suns. The Thunder got their point guard of the future in Russell Westbrook and a prolific shot blocker in Serge Ibaka.

In the Cavaliers second trip to the lottery in 2012, they held their own draft pick at four plus the twenty-fourth pick from the Lakers and two second round selections. At the draft they selected shooting guard Dion Waiters, but traded their three other picks for number 17 to acquire 7’ center Tyler Zeller. The original trade with the Lakers did require Gilbert to keep his checkbook open as the Cavaliers are stuck with paying $6.1 million to Luke Walton in 2012-13.

Just like the Thunder had done in their first two rebuilding drafts, the Cavaliers had acquired four first round players who they believed would form part of the team’s core going forward.

The Thunder had eight players on their rookie contracts during 2008-09 and spent one more year in the lottery where they used the third pick of the draft to select shooting guard James Harden. The young core of Durant, Green, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden led the Thunder back to the playoffs and Presti made the moves that completed the transition from doormat to NBA Finals contender.

The Cavaliers had over $20 million of salary cap space heading into the summer of 2012 and could have gone after talent that might have made them a playoff contender now, but that wasn’t the plan. The veteran Antawn Jamison scored 174 more points than anyone else on the Cavaliers last season, but the team let him walk away in free agency. After trading backup point guard Ramon Sessions to the Lakers to get the extra first round draft pick in March, the Cavaliers quickly entered a nine-game losing skid and stumbled badly the rest of the season. Currently Cleveland has two minimum salary point guards to backup Irving next season. Add in the potential for up to 11 players on their rookie contracts and it seems safe to say the Cavaliers are following closely in the Thunders’ footsteps and looking for a top five pick in next year’s draft.

After spending one more season in the lottery, Cleveland will have a young core of Irving, Thompson, Waiters, Zeller and other top draft pick to hopefully lead them back to the playoffs. Grant will only have $14.5 million of guaranteed contracts on his books, not counting options, qualifying offers and unsigned draft picks, and could be looking at a very strong free agent class depending on what transpires over the next few months.

Whether or not Grant has been able to draft as well as Presti is yet to be determined and Grant still has to prove he is as skillful at acquiring NBA talent via trade and free agency as he has been adapt at off-loading unwanted players, but so far, he has completed a pretty fair duplication of the Thunder’s successful model.

Checkbook in hand, Gilbert remains as motivated as ever to recover from the loss of James and Grant is closely following a rebuilding plan that has attracted a lot of praise. With a little luck, the 2013-14 season could be the Cavaliers’ time to create some thunder in the NBA.

Next year has arrived for the Cavs.

The annual Wine and Gold Scrimmage marks the unofficial start of the Cavaliers season and thousands of fans came to the corner of Huron and Ontario to take in the entertaining intersquad exhibition.

The Gold team – led by Omri Casspi and C.J. Miles – came away from the preseason dress rehearsal with the 54-44 win. But the real winner was Byron Scott, who got his squad through the game healthy and ready for a back-to-back at The Q beginning Monday night against Siena.

Overall, Scott – who lets his assistants coach the respective teams while he observes – seemed pleased with the performance.

“We didn’t get out and run as much as I want us to, especially off missed shots,” said Scott. “But for the most part, offensively, I thought we did a good job of executing – especially the (gold) team – and defense did some real good things. You could see the difference, from an athletic standpoint, today from a year ago.

“Our guys are still doing a lot of thinking out there and that’s something we want to get them away from. And hopefully the next couple weeks they can get back to just playing and reacting.”

The young Cavaliers looked disjointed at times, but that’s expected with only a week of Training Camp under their belts.

Rookie Dion Waiters started across from Kyrie Irving for the Wine team and the tandem combined for 25 points on 9-for-22 shooting. Waiters was 4-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the stripe for 12 points in his first action as a Cavalier.

“First and foremost I’d like the fans for coming out and supporting us the way they did,” said Waiters. “It was really fun, getting up and down, going against the other guys. Playing with Kyrie, that was my first time. We never play together in practice.”

The first-year combo guard from Syracuse added: “It felt to get out there, that’s the biggest thing, finally getting out there and getting acclimated to the whole system.”

Irving led both teams with 13 points – going 5-of-13 from the floor, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Irving added five assists, including a couple flashy passes to excite the Cleveland crowd.

The reigning Rookie of the Year also got his first chance to run with Waiters in the same backcourt. Irving knows that the game is still moving fast for the fellow 20-year-odl.

“Dion’s going to do a phenomenal job,” praised Kyrie. “He’s getting better every single day, in terms of watching film and getting more prepared. Right now, it’s about (the game) slowing down, but I know Dion will get acclimated.”

The victorious Gold squad started Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, Jeremy Pargo, Omri Casspi and C.J. Miles. The Wine team went with Irving, Waiters, Tyler Zeller, Alonzo Gee and Jon Leuer.

Casspi and Miles netted nine points apiece – with Casspi going 4-of-5 from the floor. The Gold team also featured a pair of Big East bangers – Kevin Jones and Samardo Samuels – grab five boards apiece in the win. Irving and Luke Harangody snagged five boards each for the Wine team.

The Cavaliers will practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Sunday before welcoming Siena from the Euroleague’s on Monday night and the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.

No Cavs chat here. Maybe you Cavs fans are at a Cavs-only forum, which would make sense. "Spring Training" is about half over and no one is hurt yet, Waiters start playing better after a couple poor games to start with, Miles seems to be useful, Zeller's numbers are pretty decent, Thompson hasn't shown that he's breaking out to another level quite yet. It's too early for the experts to predict yet, I guess, but this team should be better. But the offense at 4 will be down significantly and not sure if anyone has shown a lot as TT's backup.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- So far this preseason has been a pendulum for Cavaliers forward Omri Casspi.

It swings from not playing at all in two games (both losses) to playing about 20 minutes and contributing in the other three (all victories). He's averaging 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. It's not easy waiting for his turn, but he is staying positive.

"When I'm not playing, my job is to help the guys who are on the court," Casspi said by telephone after Tuesday's practice in Philadelphia, where the Cavs face the Sixers on Wednesday night. "Only five guys can play at a time. We on the bench try to motivate them, stay focused and wait for our opportunities. I just want to be ready, be aggressive and contribute to the team."

His best game of the exhibition season came Monday at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, where he had 12 points and five rebounds in a 114-111 overtime victory over Orlando. Playing all five minutes of the overtime, he made three of his four shots, including a big 3-pointer, a steal and a dunk.

"I thought he played pretty well tonight on both ends of the floor," coach Byron Scott said after the game. "We saw glimpses of that last year. I've got to look at the tape again, but from what I remember watching him out there, he was pretty active.

"That steal at the end was big. The dunk that put us up by five really kind of sealed the game. He's done some good things the last couple games."

Scott thinks one key is that Casspi finally is completely healthy. "It helps him big time," the coach said.

Casspi injured his knee training with his national Israeli team in the summer of 2011 and wasn't fully recovered when he reported to the post-lockout training camp. This summer, a healthy Casspi played well for the national team and brought that confidence back to Cleveland. Although Scott has yet to name his starters and backups, it looks as if Casspi and Alonzo Gee will be backing up C.J. Miles at small forward.

Casspi said he doesn't worry about things he can't control.

"My goals coming in were to stay healthy and do what I do -- come in and play aggressively and with a lot of energy," he said.

Speed bump: Scott knows rookie Tyler Zeller is still struggling with the speed of the game.

"I asked him the other day, 'OK, is it down from 150 miles an hour to about 100 yet?'" the coach said. "He just started laughing. I said, 'Well, by October 30, it will still be about 85 or 90 miles an hour.' It's not going to get to the speed limit probably for a little while."

Like Casspi, Zeller did some nice things against the Magic, finishing with eight points and five rebounds, bringing his preseason averages to 8.0 and 4.8.

"I thought he was pretty aggressive on both ends of the floor, did some good things for us on the offensive end as far as attacking that basket," Scott said. "That's something he's getting more comfortable with.

"I think it's still fast for him. He admitted that it's a lot faster than he ever thought it was going to be. But he's one of those guys who has a very good basketball IQ. Once the game slows down more for him, he'll understand exactly what he's doing on both ends."

Mum's the word: Scott is going out of his way to not tip his hand when it comes to his starters, rotation and roster. He was asked if Gee was likely to continue to be the sixth man as he has been throughout the preseason.

"I like when he comes off the bench," Scott said. "He does a great job. He gives us energy. I like when he starts, too."

Jason Lloyd: Random Cavs thoughts on Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and the backup point guard dilemma

By Jason Lloyd
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published: October 16, 2012 - 11:29 PM

Random thoughts as the Cavaliers reach roughly the halfway point of training camp …

• I understand fans’ concerns over Kyrie Irving’s shooting woes, particularly since he’s coming off a fractured hand. But really, on a list of things the Cavs have to worry about this season, Irving ranks somewhere between refilling the lotion bottles and ordering the postgame pizzas. He’s the reigning Rookie of the Year, well on his way to becoming one of the 10 (five?) best players in the league, and it’s the preseason. Moving on.

• I’m also not concerned about Dion Waiters … yet. I’d like to see him shoot from the outside with a little more consistency, but there have been enough flashes through the first five preseason games to see what the Cavs like about him.

• In Monday’s preseason game against the Orlando Magic, Waiters was dribbling at the top of the key. One crossover and what seemed like one dribble later, he was at the basket. The problem was he missed the shot, which was a problem in summer league, too. Waiters has shown little trouble in breaking down defenses and getting to the basket, but he hasn’t finished well. The Cavs believe that will come.

• Fans might have thought the Cavs were just trying to pump Luke Walton’s trade value when Byron Scott said recently that Walton was the biggest surprise of camp. But the Cavs truly believe it. Walton believes a combination of yoga, pilates and strength training over the summer left his back feeling better than it has in years. He dealt with a minor hamstring issue recently, but appears healthy and moving well.

• Walton will probably make this team, and not just because the Cavs owe him $6 million. He obviously isn’t part of their long-term plans, but his expiring contract could be a nice chip at the trade deadline — particularly since the tax penalties will increase significantly for teams over the cap beginning with the 2013-14 season.

• Perhaps the most intriguing battle of this camp has been at backup point guard, where neither Donald Sloan nor Jeremy Pargo has done much in their game opportunities. Irving will be expected to play about 34 to 36 minutes this season, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for the backup. The main job of the backup point guard on this team is to not turn the ball over and hold things down until Irving re-enters. But Sloan and Pargo are both turning the ball over too much.

• Sloan has seven turnovers and seven assists in 50 minutes. Pargo has nine turnovers and 10 assists in about 50 minutes. Sloan is averaging a turnover every 7 minutes. Pargo averages one every 5½ minutes. It’s an incredibly small sample size, but to put it in perspective, Washington Wizards guard John Wall led the league in turnovers last season. He averaged one every 9.4 minutes.

• No one (thankfully) asked me, but I’d have a hard time keeping both Sloan and Pargo and cutting loose 7-foot center Micheal Eric. Granted, Eric has played sparingly and done little in his time on the floor. But the Cavs have been high on him since summer league, when Scott compared his defensive potential to first team All-Defensive Team member Serge Ibaka.

• Eric no question is a project, but I’d rather see him make the team and spend some time in Canton to see if anything develops rather than keep an extra point guard hanging around. Point guards are pretty easy to find in the Development League, but 7-footers aren’t.

• I have no idea if C.J. Miles will start, but he looks awfully good at small forward with Alonzo Gee coming off the bench. Gee is best suited for a bench role, he was simply thrust into the starting lineup last season when Omri Casspi collapsed. Miles does a little bit of everything and will be a nice addition, but truthfully, he’s probably a bench player on a legitimate playoff contender, too. Provided the Waiters and Tyler Zeller picks work out, small forward remains the biggest area of need on this team.

PHILADELPHIA -- Are the Philadelphia 76ers that good? Or are the Cavaliers that bad? On Wednesday night in the Wells Fargo Center, the answer to both questions was yes.

The Sixers completely dominated the Cavs in a 113-99 victory that pushed their preseason record to 3-1. All-Star center Andrew Bynum, obtained in the three-team trade that sent Dwight Howard from Orlando to the Lakers, is out with a knee injury and didn't even play.

"They beat us in every facet of the game," a quiet Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "They outplayed us, outworked us. They did a lot of good things and we didn't. It's as simple as that. I've got to do a better job of making sure our guys are prepared and ready to play. I guess I didn't do that tonight because we just didn't come ready to play."

Nick Young and Maalik Wayns each had 19 points for the Sixers. Dorell Wright added 17 points, and Lavoy Allen had 11 rebounds. Philadelphia shot 50 percent overall, 48 percent from 3-point range (12 of 25) and outrebounded Cleveland, 50-39.

Kyrie Irving had 23 points, and Daniel Gibson added 18 as the Cavs slipped to 3-3 in the preseason. Dion Waiters, in his first return to his hometown as a pro, had five points, three rebounds and three assists. He made two of nine shots in 26:47.

If it's any consolation -- and it probably isn't -- the Sixers beat the Boston Celtics here on Monday, 107-75. At this early stage, they clearly look like one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference -- with or without Bynum.

Scott figured all along Philadelphia would be tough.

"I thought from the start, when they made the trade and some of the other acquisitions, that they were going to be pretty good," he said. "Their thoughts coming into this season were probably to get into that home-court advantage [for the playoffs], which means you've got to be in the top four. Their aspirations are high. There's no doubt about that. If Andrew's healthy, they're going to be tough."

Gibson agreed.

"They're going to be extremely tough," he said. "They've got a lot of guys who are very versatile, a lot of guys who can do a lot of things on the floor. They're really deep and talented."

But Gibson noted that Bynum's return will alter things for the Sixers, who had 27 fast-break points on Wednesday, compared to 20 for the Cavs.

"He changes things, because he takes away the up-and-down factor that makes them so tough," the veteran guard said. "We'll see. They'll be pretty good, tough."

They certainly were on Wednesday, as the Cavs jumped out to a 24-17 lead and then completely fell apart. The Sixers outscored them, 49-17, the rest of the first half for an insurmountable 66-41 lead at halftime.

In the second quarter alone, the Cavs were outscored, 38-14. They made six of 21 shots (28.6 percent) and two of eight free throws (25 percent). The Sixers, running at will, hit 14 of 23 shots (60.9 percent) but it felt much, much worse. They also had a 19-7 rebounding edge.

The Cavs reserves cut a 32-point third quarter deficit to 13 in the fourth quarter, but the game was never as close as the score indicated.

[These numbers are before last night's game in which for example Irving shot well]

With 5 preseason games already in the books, let's take a look at some numbers. Yep, that's all you're getting for set-up text. Hey, it's the preseason.

29.6%: Kyrie Irving's field goal percentage

Bryon Scott isn't worried, but there is no excuse for Kryie Irving to be making less than 30% of his shots in five games, especially given the number of shots he is taking. Irving's broken hand certainly impacted his ability to work on his shot this Summer, but even bad mechanics cannot explain the tumble in Irving's shooting. The fact is that he is taking a lot of bad shots, many of them outside of the flow of the offense, and he is missing most of them.

3.2 APG: Kyrie Irving's assists

If it seems like I am picking on Kyrie Irving, it is only because he is having a rather terrible preseason, with the exception of his 22-point (but only 3 assist) performance against Orlando on Monday. Irving's drop in shooting percentage would be more tolerable if it was the result of him trying to set up his teammates, but the Cavalier offense has looked frequently stagnant with Irving running the point. The Cavs desperately need Irving to excute Byron Scott's (admittedly complicated and arguably arcane) offense, and we are not seeing that in the preseason.

(Which is why it was a little discouraging to hear Irving contribute his good game on Monday night to being less concerned about getting his teammates involved. Irving has been averaging a shot every 2 minutes prior to Monday's game, while only racking up an assist every 7 minutes. I don't think Irving's problem in the first four games was that he was being too unselfish. Irving took 15 shots against Chicago without registering a single assist. Know how many zero assist games Chris Paul has in his career? Zero.)

7.4 FTA: Kyrie Irving's free throw attempts

While Irving is not having a good preseason so far, there is one encourage statistic in his line. Irving is averaging 7.4 free throw attempts per game, a huge jump from last season, when he averaged 3.8 free throw attempts per game. If Irving could keep that up in the regular season, it would put him in the top-10 in attempts, something that would be incredibly valuable for a player who shot 87% from the stripe last season, good for 11th in the league.

While I would argue that trying to draw fouls has led to some of Irving's more ill-advised shots - and the resulting drop in his field goal percentage - it is encouraging to see him recognize the value of getting to the line. The ability to get easy, efficient points at the free throw line is what separates All-Stars and winners like Chauncey Billups from "nice" shooters like Mo Williams.

(While keeping in mind that what separates Hall of Famers like Isiah Thomas from All-Star point guards like Chauncey Billups is their ability to set up their teammates - 9.2 career apg for Thomas vs. 5.5 career apg for Billups.)

184: C.J. Miles combined FG% (46), 3PT% (47) and FT% (91)

The benchmark of truly great shooters is the 180 club - where a player's combined field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free throw percentage equal greater than 180 total. Only four players have career averages over 180, and those four - Steve Nash, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller and Mark Price - are considered some of the best pure shooters ever to play the game.

Through five preseason games, C.J. Miles is shooting as well as any of them. Miles is making a truly impressive amount of shots, despite the fact that many are taken completely outside of the offensive sets. In general, Miles is just launching whenever he feels that his defender has left him too much space, and so far it is paying off.

While there is no way that Miles will continue to shoot this well throughout the season - he made only 38% of his shots last season and his shooting has declined each of the past five seasons - Miles is showing that he can be a legitimate offensive option when he is on the court. The Cavs need Miles to pick up some of the slack created by the departure of Antawn Jamison and his 17.2 points (and 16.1 shots) per game.

On media day, I asked Miles if he expected to start this season, and Miles said that he was just hoping for a chance to compete for that spot. Miles has started every game of the preseason so far, and it seems like he will find himself in the starting lineup on opening night, whether as the starting shooting guard or at small forward.

7 Blocks Against: Tristan Thompson's Shots

With the exception of the opening game against Montepaschi Siena, Tristan Thompson has had at least one of his shots blocked in each preseason game. While Thompson brags about his 40 inch vertical leap, the young big man is still having trouble catching, gathering and rising quickly around the basket, which allows defenders to get a piece of the ball when he tries to shoot.

This still happens way too often.
Thompson had 15.8% of his shots blocked last season, 7th-worst in the league, and that number has jumped up to 20% in the preseason. Thompson is always going to have his shot blocked on occasion because he takes so many shots near the hoop surrounded by defenders, but Thompson exacerbates the problem with his slow rise to shoot after he catches the ball. The hope was that Thompson would have improved in this area over the Summer, but the early results are discouraging.

7.8 rpg, 3.2 orpg: Anderson Varejao's rebounds

Anderson Varejao is doing a very good job on the glass, grabbing rebounds at a rate on par with his career-best rebounding of last season (11.5 rpg, 4.4 orpg). It has been a long time since Varejao was playing basketball at the NBA level, and it is good to see that he is just as productive after the long layoff.

Varejao hasn't done much scoring so far at just 6.6 points per game, but that seems to be another casualty of the generally terrible ball movement that the Cavs have shown in the preseason. Andy is only going to score off of passes from his teammates, and his teammates have been rather selfish with the ball.

27.8%: Daniel Gibson's shooting percentage

Daniel Gibson is coming off of major knee surgery last season, and is (probably? hopefully?) coming to grips with the fact that there is a clear ceiling on his NBA career. He is never going to be a reliable starter in this league, and he couldn't find a consistent role on a team that started Anthony Parker a season ago. At the same time, he is married to Keyshia Cole, he is the co-star of a new reality show, and he is somehow going to make over $4 Million to play basketball this season.

There is a lot going on in Daniel Gibson's world, which might hide the fact that if his name was Manny Harris, he would not be making this basketball team. Gibson has been awful in the preseason, looking disinterested while failing to convert anything but wide open jump shots. While there remains a lot of sentimental value in seeing Daniel Gibson in a Cavalier uniform, he needs to be better than ever to justify his salary, his role and his minutes on this team. So far, he has been playing the worst basketball of his career. Maybe too much is going on right now.

0 Free Throw Attempts: Dion Waiters' last four games

Dion Waiters took six free throws in the Cavs' opening game against Montepaschi Siena. He hasn't taken one since.

Getting to the free throw line needs to be part of Dion Waiters' game. In order for him to thrive as a strong, dribble-driving shooting guard in the NBA, he needs to attack the defense, force contact and get to the line, hopefully finishing a few shots for and-one opportunities in the process. Under no circumstances should he have twice as many three-point attempts (12) as he does free throw attempts (6) in a single game, let alone over five games.

To once again compare a young Cavalier with the All-Star he should hope to one day become, Dwyane Wade has only failed to take a free throw in 13 games over his entire 706 game career. While it is unlikely that Waiters will ever be a Hall of Famer like Wade, he would be well-served to model is game after the Heat star as much as possible. That starts with getting to the free throw line.


As with all preseason stats, everything here should be taken with a grain of salt. With the exception of these few outlying statistics, the rest of the Cavalier roster is putting up expected and predictable numbers. Everything should start to even out as we get closer to the regular season, and hopefully the scarier anomalies - like Kyrie Irving's shooting - will be gone by the time the Cavs host the Washington Wizards on October 30th.

But for now, let's just say that a wild improvement over last season cannot happen unless a few of these more glaring issues are resolved.

Loved what I saw of Tristan Thompson last night!!

John Hollinger ESPN Insider

It started off pretty well. After 24 games, the Cavs were 10-14 with an eight-game homestand coming up, Irving was already a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year, and Cleveland was looking very much alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

How quickly it fell to pieces. They lost the next game in overtime to Milwaukee, Varejao was lost for the season, and things quickly degenerated from there. The Cavs went 5-22 over their final 27 games, openly mailing it in on defense while trotting out a nightly parade of ex-D-Leaguers. This can partly be excused by the Cavs going into full-blown tank mode later in the year -- Cleveland traded Ramon Sessions to the Lakers for Luke Walton to get a future first-round pick, and once Irving missed time, they had gone from two NBA point guards to zero.

But other problems were visible the whole time. As you can see below in the '11-12 stats chart, the Cavs were a bottom-five team in both offense and defense and were fortunate to win as many games as they did -- Cleveland's scoring margin suggested they should go 15-51, which would have been the league's second-worst record.

Worst shooting percentage, 2011-12
Team 2-Pt% Overall FG%
Charlotte .439 .414
Cleveland .446 .422
New Jersey .457 .425
Minnesota .469 .433
Sacramento .471 .436
League avg. .477 .448
Offensively, the Cavs suffered from an amazing inability to make shots. Cleveland was 29th in both 2-point shooting percentage and overall shooting percentage, and in a league with the Bobcats you can't do worse than that. Another standout feature was all the rejections -- 7.6 percent of the Cavs' shots were blocked, the second-most in the league; unlike the league leader in that category (Denver), Cleveland wasn't attacking the basket with notable frequency. It just ate leather when it did.

On defense, the Cavs suffered from a lack of shot-blocking and athleticism in the frontcourt, especially once Varejao went out. Cleveland was last in blocks, rejecting only 4.82 percent of opponent offerings (see chart). In a related story, the Cavs were the league's second-worst defense on "first shots," with only a decent defensive rebound rate raising their overall rank to 27th. Breaking it down, the Cavs were abysmal at virtually every individual phase of defense, although they didn't foul at a high rate.

Fewest blocked shots, 2011-12
Team % of Opp. FGA blocked
Cleveland 4.82
New Jersey 4.91
Minnesota 5.18
Orlando 5.20
New York 5.27
League avg. 6.26
The horror show on defense extended to the perimeter, we should point out, as the two point guards (Irving and Sessions) were routinely torched and forced the rest of the defense into rotations. Losing Varejao, one of the league's top pick-and-roll defenders, was so hurtful in part because now opposing pick-and-rolls attacked two awful defenders.

While we're dealing with bad news, we should recount a few other tales. Casspi had a somewhat disastrous cameo as the starting small forward and had to be replaced, and while Irving was a revelation, fourth overall pick Tristan Thompson had a disappointing rookie season. His need to stop and gather on every catch nullified several fine dishes from Irving and Sessions, as did his inability to make free throws.

Looking deeper, the Cavs didn't seem to play that hard, frankly, and there were some bizarre personnel interludes -- most notably the five-game stint for Mychel Thompson as the starting shooting guard.

Despite those woes, there was some good news from this season. The Cavs rescued Gee from his D-League/10-day purgatory and he became a credible two-way small forward, Irving won the Rookie of the Year award, and the Sessions trade gives the Cavs more assets going forward -- Cleveland has two first-round and two second-round picks in the 2013 draft and could end up with three first-round picks in 2015.



Offseason Moves

Rookie Dion Waiters could develop into the backcourt complement to Irving the Cavs need.
The Cavs could have plunged into free agency but elected to keep their powder dry for another season. Instead, the most notable move was that veteran shooting guard Anthony Parker retired. Bear in mind that Cleveland can now use cap space during the season to take on more assets, particularly from teams looking to purge salary for luxury tax purposes. Check out these moves:

Drafted Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller: Waiters came off the bench in college but showed major potential as a slashing scorer at the pro level, one who has ballhandling and passing skills and could prove a potent backcourt partner with Irving. Cleveland desperately needed another player who can get them some easy baskets and he should help the offense immediately.

HOLLINGER'S 11-12 STATS
W-L: 21-45 (Pythagorean W-L: 15-51)
Offensive Efficiency: 98.1 (27th)
Defensive Efficiency: 106.0 (26th)
Pace Factor: 94.0 (12th)
Highest PER: Kyrie Irving (21.49)

The pick from L.A. in the Sessions trade was used on Zeller, which again solved a need -- this time addressing the size and shot-blocking problems on defense. While Zeller isn't exactly Dikembe Mutombo, he gives Cleveland a true 7-footer and he has some offensive skills; his presence should allow Thompson to play full-time at the 4.

Let Semih Erden go, signed Jon Leuer: Erden couldn't play; Leuer can. Picked off of waivers after Houston let him go, Leuer has a non-guaranteed deal, but he played quite well for Milwaukee in limited minutes last season and it would be a shock if he didn't make the team.

Re-signed Luke Harangody for one year, $1.05 million: Your guess is as good as mine. Harangody's production has consistenly been sub-replacement level, so I don't understand the need to give him guaranteed money. Or any money.

Let Antawn Jamison go, signed C.J. Miles for two years, $4.5 million: A value pickup to fill in the wing rotation, Miles is more comfortable as a 3 than a 2, but at either spot he's likely to be the go-to scorer for Cleveland's second unit. That's really his one skill, so it's an inexpensive fit, especially since the second year isn't guaranteed.

Traded D.J. Kennedy to Memphis for Jeremy Pargo, a 2014 second-round pick and cash: This is the type of move you can make when you're under the cap -- getting paid to take a bad contract off another team's hands. The Grizzlies dumped Pargo, paid his salary and gave the Cavs a pick to take him; Kennedy had a non-guaranteed deal and was waived on arrival. The twist is that Cavs may actually need to play Pargo, depending on how disastrously Daniel Gibson performs, as backup point guard looms as a huge weakness.

Re-signed Alonzo Gee for three years, $9.8 million: That Gee would re-sign was never in doubt since he was a restricted free agent; the two sides finally agreed on a fair deal for the likely starter at small forward, keeping one of the few Cavs with legit defensive chops.



2012-13 Outlook

In a word, "brighter." Irving and Thompson should be better in their second seasons, Varejao should play more than he did a year ago, and rookies Waiters and Zeller fill in important gaps that plagued the Cavs a year ago.

Obviously the most important part is Irving, who I'm projecting to make the All-Star team this season. Offensively he has all the skills and should only continue to develop them, but it's also important that he demonstrate some willingness to stop the opponent. That's especially true with another greenhorn playing alongside him in Waiters, who is also undersized. Perimeter defense could plague this team all season, particularly if the Cavs don't upgrade their effort.

On the other hand, replacing Jamison with a pretty much any warm body will improve the defense some, and the Cavs' parade of replacement-level frontcourt players seemingly has come to an end with the additions of Zeller and Leuer and the return to health of Varejao.

With all this said, they still have some major questions. Can Byron Scott get these guys to play hard on defense? Is Thompson any good? Will Varejao stay healthy after two straight injury years? Can they find a backup point guard?

Given all those issues, it would really require a perfect storm for this team to make the playoffs. Instead, Cavs fans should rejoice in the mere fact that we're discussing this possibility. It's only Year 3 of the post-LeBron nuclear winter, and one shouldn't expect a big payoff just yet. But this will be a competitive team, one that should be particularly improved at the offensive end.

Prediction: 34-48, 4th in Central Division, 11th in Eastern Conference

Is this a season to maybe reach the playoffs, or another season to secure a lottery pick? They seem to be in danger of improving too much for the lottery or am I being too optimistic?