Cleveland Sports Forum

rocky raccoon wrote:That speed reading stuff never did it for me. Took all the fun out of a book.

The best application was old print newspapers. The narrow columns were tailor made.

Hoopsworld has the Cavs taking Irving #1 and Kawhi Leonard at #4.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/ind ... d_the.html

Cleveland Cavaliers -- and their fans -- will benefit
from a night of good fortune: Terry Pluto


Published: Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 10:21 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cavaliers fans can finally scream it: "We're No. 1."

Finally, they can know that something good will come from LeBron James bolting to Miami. Every one of those 63 losses led to some precious ping pong balls in the NBA lottery that helped secure two of the top four picks in the NBA lottery.

It was a mid-season trade inspired by all the losing and the need to rebuild that eventually led to the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, thanks to adding a lottery pick from the L.A. Clippers.

Cavs fans, say hello to Kyrie Irving, Duke's star point guard. Guess what's his number?

You got it ... No. 1.

That's where he is expected to be picked in the NBA draft on June 23, even if the Cavs are not ready to publicly commit to Irving right now.

The two high picks make that 19-63 record, second-worst in the NBA, seem worth it. Fans can really move past how James held them hostage for a week after the free-agent period began in 2010 before announcing his decision. The delay deprived the team of a chance to make a major bid for another free agent.

Even worse, James' self-absorbed, nationally televised special enraged and humiliated the fans of Northeast Ohio who had cheered and supported the young star from Akron.

So forget the man who once wore No. 23 in wine and gold. Instead, smile about what happened as some many things fell right into place Tuesday night, including how 14-year-old Nick Gilbert charmed the nation as he represented the team on stage.

Battling neurofibromatosis, a disease that leads to tumors growing anywhere and any time in his body, Nick Gilbert was the happiest guy on the set in Secaucas, N.J.

"What's not to like?" he bubbled before the order was established, as if sensing what was coming.

What's not to like?

Yes, this sounds like a cheap cable television commercial, but the luck doesn't stop with the top lottery pick. The Clippers' pick had less than a 3 percent chance of winning the lottery. But it did. So the Cavs now have veteran guard Baron Davis, who played 15 games for the Cavs (they were 6-9 in those contests) and likely Irving to show for that deal that sent Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to California.

Davis can tutor Irving. Coach Byron Scott also likes playing two point guards together, and has to be overjoyed by these events.

The Cavs also will select No. 4. That was their own pick. Devoted fans know that had the balls bounced the wrong way, the team could have been picking as low as fifth and 11th.

What's not to like, indeed!

The Cavs have four selection overall next month, the first, fourth, 32nd and 54th. There are of lot of trade possibilities. They have a trade exception worth $14 million in salary cap room. And they have a rich, motivated owner who will spend and take risks to win.

Irving played only 11 games at Duke because of turf toe injury. His final appearance was 28 points in an NCAA tournament loss to Arizona. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 17 points, and shot 53 percent from the field, 46 percent on from 3-point range, 90 percent at the foul line.

He impressed scouts with his maturity -- drawing comparisons to NBA star Chris Paul.

What's not to like?

Especially on this night, when fans really do have reason to hope again.

Timberwolves GM: “This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” Kahn said. “Last year it was Abe Pollin’s widow and this year it was a 14-year-old boy and the only thing we have in common is we have both been bar mitzvahed. We were done. I told Kevin: ‘We’re toast.’ This is not happening for us and I was right.”

Clippers Not Upset About Trading #1 Pick

Posted: 5/18/2011 6:05:00 AM
Source: Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles

(GM Neil) Olshey admits only to shrugging.

"The trade has played out well for both teams. We added a 28-year-old all star point guard [Mo Williams] and $8.5 million in cap room and they have two picks in the top four," he wrote in a text message to ESPNLosAngeles.com.

"We made the decision at the trade deadline that the next step for our team was going to be via trade or free agency. [This trade] gave us a better odds of improving than a 2.8 percent chance of winning the lottery and adding a seventh player under 23 to our roster."

Cavaliers can move past LeBron with Irving

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports



CHICAGO – Oh, the uneasiness and irony would’ve been thick had Kyrie Irving been seduced so easily and let LeBron James’(notes) inner circle represent him. From LeBron to Maverick Carter to the industry muscle of the Creative Arts Agency, they relentlessly recruited the Duke star. They wanted to do his contracts, his endorsements, everything. As it turns out, they would’ve marched right back into the life of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, with his next fresh-faced franchise star.

Together, James and his associates had lured Irving’s favorite player, Chris Paul(notes), to the agency, and had James hard on the recruiting trail. No one should underestimate the power of James’ tweets toward a hot, young college and high school star, or a well-timed phone call or text here and there.

For parts of Irving’s freshman season at Duke, rival agents believed LeBron’s camp would sign him. “They came very hard for Kyrie,” says an ex-Duke basketball player who spent time on campus this season. “… All over him.”

Yes, the Cavs won the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery on Tuesday night, and Irving is the clear choice for them. Privately, Cavaliers officials gushed over Irving this season and prayed they’d get a chance to draft him. As much as ever, the NBA’s a point guard league and contenders are born of great playmakers.

Had Irving been swayed to the flashy, aggressive pitch by CAA and LeBron’s marketing company, there could’ve been some salacious showdown. Lucky for Gilbert, the pitch fell flat on the Irving family, and substance over sizzle ruled the day. Irving chose an agent, Jeff Wechsler, who hadn’t bothered to recruit Irving at all. Lucky for Gilbert, Irving isn’t entangled in an awkward web of the Cavaliers’ yesterday and tomorrow.

To say there’s nothing but ill-will and downright loathing between Gilbert and LeBron’s associates doesn’t begin to cover the territory. Yet now, Kyrie Irving walks into the Cavaliers with no baggage, no connection to the heartbreak of LeBron James’ departure.

“It’s been a slow, long and painful haul to get through it, and maybe this will be the final straw in getting over the hump and getting to the other side,” Gilbert said.

Irving won’t transform Cleveland overnight, but paired with a frontcourt player with the No. 4 pick and the Cavs can make a rapid ascent to relevance again. There’s no replacing LeBron James, but there is pushing past him and Irving has the talent, the character, to wash away the residue of King James’ departure. This should end Gilbert’s tweeting career on James, and that’ll be beneficial to the city of Cleveland and his organization.

Irving isn’t a savior, but he can be a worthy heir to the generation of Russell Westbrooks and Rajon Rondos. Perhaps Cleveland truly hit the lottery and found itself an MVP, a Derrick Rose(notes), a Chris Paul. For now, Irving’s body of work is too limited to prematurely cast him in those molds, but make no mistake: He’s a godsend in a draft with so few difference makers.

The Cavaliers need to be careful that they don’t overplay him as a savior to sell tickets and create unrealistic expectations. He’s his own man, though. An agent who recruited Irving marveled to his family that they could’ve made a lot of money in the college recruiting and agent processes, but never let it happen. Every big-time college coach and agent you talk to made something clear: Unlike many elite prospects and those surrounding them, the Irvings couldn’t be bought.

A common friend recommended Wechsler, and he sold the Irving family on two themes: Being shrewd with Kyrie’s career earnings, and becoming a beacon of community service and charity. When Wechsler had a chance to make a formal presentation, his pitch wasn’t centered on Irving’s sneaker deals, endorsements and the agent’s role as a 24-7 errand boy. He had Anthony Kennedy Shriver, founder of the globally renowned Best Buddies program, tell Kyrie about the power of charity and giving back.

In the end, the Cavaliers could walk out of the June draft with Irving and an elite power player with the fourth overall pick. GM Chris Grant grabbed the Los Angeles Clippers’ unprotected pick and Baron Davis’(notes) contract for Mo Williams(notes) in February, and the Clippers must be mortified to see it turn into the No. 1 overall. Irving and Blake Griffin(notes) could’ve been a Westbrook-Kevin Durant(notes) partnership, but that’s how it goes with the Clips.

Now, Irving gets the benefit of a coach, Byron Scott, whose inventory of knowledge includes a Showtime Lakers career as Magic Johnson’s running mate and a coaching run that includes Jason Kidd(notes) and Chris Paul under his watch.

Irving will find a city dying to embrace him, and he’ll make it easy. And once they hear that his family took a pass on LeBron and his wooing partners, they’ll be even more impressed. For everyone’s sake, it probably works out that Maverick Carter, Rich Paul and the rest of LeBron’s Akron buddies don’t come marching back into Quicken Loans Arena arm and arm with the future of the Cavaliers’ franchise. It would’ve been a wild scene full of acrimony and tension, but Kyrie Irving made it easy for everyone, and yes, that’s what great point guards are supposed to do.

Kudos to Irving for snubbing LeQuit.

Lucky for Gilbert, the pitch fell flat on the Irving family, and substance over sizzle ruled the day. Irving chose an agent, Jeff Wechsler, who hadn’t bothered to recruit Irving at all. Lucky for Gilbert, Irving isn’t entangled in an awkward web of the Cavaliers’ yesterday and tomorrow.

... He’s his own man, though. An agent who recruited Irving marveled to his family that they could’ve made a lot of money in the college recruiting and agent processes, but never let it happen. Every big-time college coach and agent you talk to made something clear: Unlike many elite prospects and those surrounding them, the Irvings couldn’t be bought.

A common friend recommended Wechsler, and he sold the Irving family on two themes: Being shrewd with Kyrie’s career earnings, and becoming a beacon of community service and charity. When Wechsler had a chance to make a formal presentation, his pitch wasn’t centered on Irving’s sneaker deals, endorsements and the agent’s role as a 24-7 errand boy. He had Anthony Kennedy Shriver, founder of the globally renowned Best Buddies program, tell Kyrie about the power of charity and giving back.

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I'm loving this kid already. What a breath of fresh air he will be after dealing with that immature self absorbed baby for several seasons.

I couldn't watch last night. It's a good thing. If I had watched we would have been drafting 5th and 11th...lol

It's always been Irving or bust for me! Good to hear he snubbed LeBitchs' entourage.

From ESPN ...

As we noted Tuesday, the Knicks are keeping an eye on Hofstra's Charles Jenkins as the draft nears to potentially play point guard for them. But with the Cavs landing the No. 1 pick in Tuesday night's draft lottery and being likely to select Kyrie Irving, there's now the suggestion the Knicks could look to trade for Cleveland PG Ramon Sessions.

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Why Knicks could seek Sessions

9:17 AM ET

The Cleveland Cavaliers have point guards Baron Davis and Ramon Sessions on the roster and they are going to add another one when they select Kyrie Irving with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NBA draft on June 23.

The Cavaliers see Davis as the starter next season, with Irving as the future at the position. That leaves Sessions as trade bait and one team that could have interest in him is the New York Knicks.

Alan Hahn of Newsday writes: "Mike D'Antoni has wanted Sessions since 2009, when he was a restricted free agent. The 25 year old point guard is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina -- yes, the same place where D'Antoni's brother, Knicks assistant coach Dan D'Antoni, coached high school ball -- and both D'Antoni's feel Sessions would be a perfect fit in this offense."

Sessions, who will make $4.25 million next season and has a $4.55 million player option for 2012-13, would be the backup point guard behind starter Chauncey Billups and potentially Toney Douglas, if he did get traded to New York.

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Will Wolves trade No. 2 pick?

9:51 AM ET

Minnesota Timberwolves

Arizona forward Derrick Williams will most likely be the No. 2 pick in the 2011 NBA draft. However, he may not end up with the Minnesota Timberwolves if he's picked in that slot.

ESPN.com's Chad Ford writes: "I'm already hearing from sources that Minnesota has told people it's very open to moving the second pick. David Kahn really wants to add some veteran help to the team."

Ford lists Enes Kanter and Bismack Biyombo as other potential targets for Kahn if he keeps the pick.

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I'd be very open to moving up from 4 to 2 to select Williams!

Does the Knicks have a good scorer at the 3 (or 2) spot that could be available?

Love the post about Irving. While I had preferred Williams, the article sold me.

Also can't say enough about Joe Haden's role in this community. Quite frankly he makes me proud to be from this part of the country and proud to be a fan of his. He brought life back where we had very little. Whether he is magic on the filed or not, he undoubtedly is magic as a person and community leader.

A few months ago, i wrote how we should try to gather the top 3-4 picks. With the way it broke, we might just have enough assets to do it. Irving, Williams and Kanter in exchange for #4, JJ, Sessions and TPE.

Lebron comes up big again at the end, to seal the deal for the Heat tonight.

It's funny how good he can be when he wants to put forth the effort...He's still a LeBitch!