Nice !

Figured you'd like that one rusty2

Not So Nice, Says Mike Brown

Is this what rock bottom feels like for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Head coaches always have faith. They may question effort and hand out daily tongue-lashings, but they generally believe in their team. Mike Brown doesn't.

Feelings of contempt boiled over following the Cavs' 124-80 road loss to the Sacramento Kings. It was one of Cleveland's worst losses in franchise history, and the worst for any NBA team this season.
Afterward, Brown ripped into his troops, showing no signs of mercy or optimism.

"Did we fight or not?" Brown said, per the Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Lloyd. "We didn’t fight. That’s disappointing. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again, but I don’t know. I’m not sure with this team yet."
Harsh words befitting a loss like this, where the Cavs seemingly gave up.

The second half was especially excruciating. Cleveland was outscored 65-30 and allowed the Kings to drill nearly 60 percent of their three-pointers. Sactown actually hit almost as many treys in the second half (10) as the Cavs did overall shots (11). And it's not like the Kings, which rank 20th in three-point percentage, are known for their long-ball prowess either, hence Brown's postgame rant.

Worse still, Brown cannot promise this won't happen again. That his team won't, by all appearances, quit. "I never thought it would be like this again," he admitted, via Lloyd. "But knowing my team, it could happen again to us. You hope it doesn’t. You hope tonight is a lesson learned."

Blowouts have become an all-too familiar sight for Cavs fans, who have also watched their team lose by 29 and 30 points this season. These types of listless, subservient performances aren't what was expected from a team that figured into the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Cleveland needs more from this roster.

The Cavs are all in on this season. If they weren't, Luol Deng wouldn't have been pried from the Chicago Bulls. This squad is desperate for a postseason berth, hoping to finally climb out of the hole LeBron James left them in almost four years ago.

Losses like this aren't going to help. They're going to pillage locker-room morale and incite unnecessary drama. They're going to enrage Brown, who has yet to find an answer for Cleveland's laundry list of issues.

They're going to push the Cavs, who are two games off the East's final playoff spot, further and further away from their ultimate goal.

"Like coach said, we just have to bring it in more and be more together during the hard times," Kyrie Irving said, per The Associated Press (via ESPN). "Especially when I am having a bad shooting night. That's part of the game. We just have to continue to compete, including myself."

Sustaining a competitive edge nearly halfway through the season shouldn't be a problem. Not for these Cavs, who should be hungry and determined but have instead lost the faith of their head coach.
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They're going to push the Cavs, who are two games off the East's final playoff spot, further and further away from their ultimate goal.

There is the sad truth of the NBA right now. Teams with superstars and teams tanking the season to acquire superstars through the draft.

Cavs Rumors: Deng, LeBron, Irving
January 13 at 11:08am CST By Chuck Myron

Luol Deng is open to signing an extension with what he calls an “amazing organization” in Cleveland, as he tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Talks between the club and Herb Rudoy, Deng’s agent, have yet to begin and might not start up for a while. Still, Deng is impressed with the way the Cavs treat their players, and he’s excited about the team’s up-and-comers, particularly Kyrie Irving, for whom he believes “the sky is the limit.”

“If we sit down and something comes up in time, I’m more than open to it,” Deng said about the possibility of an extension. “I’m not the type of guy who wants to be chased. I’m going to play hard and work hard and look for what the best situation is for me.”

There’s more on Deng and another small forward who could hit free agency this summer, as we detail:

Sam Smith of Bulls.com has spoken with people close to LeBron James who “pretty much laugh at and dismiss” the notion that the four-time MVP would return to Cleveland this summer. James himself has kept quiet this year on the issue of his potential free agency, and as Smith points out, the Heat were a surprise choice in 2010, so it’s hard to gauge the superstar’s thinking.
If James does consider the Cavs, it would please Deng, who appears to be recruiting the Heat star in his comments to Spears, even though they play the same position. “I really think for Cleveland that LeBron knows the way he left, and he apologized for it already,” Deng said. “…And at the end of the day, he is a great basketball player and I think for him to come back to Cleveland is not only a great story, but you can’t hold grudges forever.”
Smith hears the Cavs could have a difficult time re-signing Kyrie Irving, who has interest in returning close to New Jersey, where he grew up. Irving could become a restricted free agent in 2015 if he and the Cavs don’t agree to an extension this year, but Cleveland would have the right to match any team’s offer, so as long as the Cavs view the point guard as a maximum-salary player, they wield control.

rusty2 wrote:Team needs more outside shooters. Waiters (IMO) does not compliment Kyrie. I see Dion being traded this season or off season.

Still think Dion is not long for the Cavs if things do not change before the trade deadline.

He may not fit, but it is soooo hard to trade this kid.

Putting a value on him is the hard part. He is a very good athlete with a great body, really good scoring skills. A diamond in the rough who is still so young.

IMO that's what makes it hard, he could be a scoring machine in the NBA once he matures more.

The rift may be too large between him and Irving and Thompson. The Cavs are going to make another trade before the deadline. Not good when the coach says that he has no idea what to expect from his team. That he asks the media if it looked like his team quit against the Kings ?

Waiters has a warrior attitude but I don't think he has the ability to back it up. Not a good shooter, can drive to the basket, has a hard time finishing most nights. Should be a point guard that penetrates and dishes instead of a shooting guard.

I agree, but he doesn't exactly have the point guard mentality. Think....Tyreke Evans.

By the way, this is pretty stupid, but it's Cavs related so here it is:

Something Smells in Cleveland

Poor, poor Cleveland. Have sports fans in any other city suffered as much? LeBron's Decision, Jose Mesa's Blown Save, Earnest Byner's Fumble – all bitter tragedies. And now, after being one of the few East teams to commit to making the playoffs, they are the rare don't-want-to-tank-but-can't-help-it team in the East. Even the Bynum-for-Deng trade isn't working.

Did you see the lowlights of Sunday's 44-point loss in Sacramento? Yes, SACRAMENTO!?! Can we officially call Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett busts yet? Poor Deng. Do you think he's really going to stick around next season and re-sign with Cleveland? Deng is saying the right things but also hedging. If Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau continues to fight with the Bulls' brass, look for him and Deng to reunite in a spot like Washington or New York next year.

PS - Sacramento is definitely improving this year. And the Rudy Gay trade helped even more.

Rudy Gay

The Memphis Grizzlies traded Rudy Gay and reached the Western Conference Finals. The Toronto Raptors traded Gay and are streaking toward home-court advantage in the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Regardless of anything Gay did, his perceived value dropped considerably in the last two years.

But might Gay be taking control of his own narrative now?

Gay has played well in his 15 games with the Sacramento Kings, at first alternating gems and duds throughout the first seven contests as he’s done for much of his career. But in the last eight games, Gay has taken off while helping Sacramento to a 5-3 record. He’s producing better than usual across the board, the biggest uptick coming in the area he’s under the strongest microscope: scoring.

In his last eight contests, Gay is averaging 23.0 points per game. Everyone knows Gay can score. He’s had 23 other eight-game stretches within a single season where he’s scored this much, all with the Grizzlies.

But the typical questions revolve around how he scores. Is he efficient? Is he helping his team’s offense? The answers in this stretch are a resounding yes and yes.

In this stretch, Gay has made 57.3 percent of his shots and the Kings have a 112.1 offensive rating with him on the court. Both marks best his previous 23 eight-game stretches with at least 23.0 points per game.

But it’s difficult to see why Gay has been scoring so much better.

He’s working within the flow of the offense about as much as usual. His baskets aren’t any more likely to be assisted than prior to this run.

His shot selection by area of the floor is basically the same as usual, too.

And it’s probably not the opposing defenses, either. The Kings’ last eight opponents – Heat (10th in defensive rating), Spurs (5th), Rockets (11th), 76ers (28th), Bobcats (8th), Magic (18th), Trail Blazers (22th), Cavaliers (16th) – average out to an approximately median defense. (Though the Kings are scoring a solid 105.7 points per 100 possessions without Gay in these eight games, at least leaving the door open that something larger than Gay is afoot).

The simplest answer is that Gay, for all his foibles, is an extremely talented player and this is well within his range. Gay has never matched individual volume and efficiency like this, let alone mixing in the team-wide offensive success. But the results are not so far beyond his previous high-water marks that this couldn’t be another regular wave, splashing just a little higher toward shore.

One contributing factor might be the Kings’ schedule. They haven’t played a back-to-back in these eight games, the last five of which have been at home. Gay, an impressive athlete, has looked particularly explosive in this stretch – elevating quickly and highly on his jumpers, starting and stopping on drives and just making strong moves with the ball in his hands.

Sacramento begins a six-game road trip that should really test just how far Gay has come, and the results could reveal themselves very soon.

Tonight, he’ll face the Pacers, who are led by small forward Paul George, one of the NBA’s best defenders at the position. A Wednesday game with the Timberwolves will mean Gay’s first back-to-back since this run started. And then Friday, he’ll be back in Memphis, where he’ll surely want to prove the Grizzlies erred by giving up on him.

Gay has never played like this before. I’m not sure he ever will again.

But the chance to prove this improved production, or something near it, is sustainable begins tonight in Indiana.

-Dan Feldman

Erik Gundersen @blazerbanter

"He's one of the best point guards in the league. He's All-star already. I want to be in that category."--Damian Lillard on Kyrie Irving.

TFIR, this is from a poster that works with the Cavs in some unknown position.

In fairness, Dion is a much greater source of frustration than Kyrie. I'm not just talking about for MB, but for everyone...coaches, trainers, teammates, referees, etc. Dion's A.F.D.(Average Frustration Distributed) is very high. The dude has to somehow learn to control his emotions. I bet he'd rank top 10 in the league if you asked the refs to rank the biggest complainers. If he wants to get more calls he needs to stop bitching at the refs 20x a game too. We all think the "AYYYEEEEE" and "AND ONE!!!!" shtick is funny...the refs really don't. So Dion is only hurting himself in that regard.

The coaches are trying to make him better and develop him, and part of that is an occasional quick hook. It usually works well for Dion and it gets his attention. I'm not sure yesterday's was warranted, but i think it's getting a little overblown. He's been pretty good and buying into what the coaches are telling him, whether he continues to buy in or not, time will tell. He's grown a lot in the last year, but he still has a ways to go.

I personally think Mike is handling Dion pretty well...and Dion's not easy to handle. Either way, the wins will start coming soon and all this will be forgotten in my opinion.

OK, many wonder why Bennett was selected #1.......

Here is a video of Anthony Bennett from this past preseason .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3TKtobE ... e=youtu.be

How have things changed so much ? Go back and watch this kids videos from college.

What has changed ?

One nice quarter of shooting in that video. Maybe he'll have another one some day.