Cavs 2020-2021

It makes perfect sense. Veteran players that are (or used to be) any good don't have any interest in playing on a terrible rebuilding team in a non-destination city, even if they are getting paid a boatload to do so. Since starting the season 9-9, the Cavs have only won 12 of their last 47 games. That's demoralizing if you've previously been used to at least being competitive let alone winning at a high level. Some past their prime player like Kevin Love doesn't want to play with a ball dominant point guard like Collin Sexton that's a chucker with a very low assist rate.

Their remaining schedule is very tough, which is great since they're currently in a three way tie for the fourth worst record and only two games ahead of the second worst record. If all of their remaining opponents continue to have playoff or play-in tournament seeding to play for, they could very conceivably lose out.
 
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I'd have to agree with a previous post, there are multiple players in this draft that could potentially be very good. There's a chance to get a very good player in the top-3, and I think a couple of the G-League guys that are projected at #4 and #5 could be good as well.
 
Just keep tanking. This is a five player draft. Don’t be drafting at pick six. One or two gets you franchise players (Cunningham/Mobley). Three through five gets you potential all stars (Suggs/Green/Kominga). Anything after that is a hope and a prayer.
 
Mobley is big time. If he was at UK or Duke instead of playing late night games on the west coast he'd be getting hailed as the obvious #1 pick IMO. The last prospect with this much length and athleticism that had as many (or more) all-around skills as Mobley was Anthony Davis. Total stud defensively and has major tools to work with offensively with more of a modern face-up floor spacing style of game from the 4 and 5 positions. With the way the modern NBA game is played, a pairing of Mobley with Jarrett Allen in the post is about as good as it gets defensively between pick & roll defense, being able to switch and guard effectively in space, and protecting the rim while also not clogging the floor or slowing the pace offensively.

This is not a good year to be in the Cavs position with the newer draft odds adjustments that were supposed to disincentivize tanking. If all four teams tie for the third worst record at 21 wins, I believe they'll all have a 40% or greater chance of picking 6th or lower.
 
Nice time for Kevin Love to show up and lead these fuxx to a win that could very well cost them the player they desperately need to climb out of the crapper when Love is long gone from CLE. Jeesh.
 
Untimely and meaningless win against a Celtics team that's down multiple starters.

This could cost them dearly in the draft.
 
Honestly,

Sell the team and move it to Seattle

Do they really have a viable path forward to compete for titles without having a generational talent like LeBron?
 
doubtme said:
Honestly,

Sell the team and move it to Seattle

Do they really have a viable path forward to compete for titles without having a generational talent like LeBron?
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Sure. Sexton, Garland and Allen are solid core pieces. I’m not as high on Okoro as they are and the rest of the team are end of bench players on any decent playoff team. But...this draft could yield a player that can get them over the hump as long as they draft in the top five. That “win” last night put that in jeopardy.
 
The Cavs are currently sitting in the 6th position from the bottom after their glorious win the other night. They would have been 3rd from the bottom without the win. There are five impact players in this draft. For them not to pick in the top five and get one of those players would be a massive setback for the franchise. They better hope the ping pong balls bounce their way or this franchise sinks deeper into irrelevance as they are stuck drafting another complimentary player like Okoro with a high pick.
 
Being as bad as they've been for 2/3rds of the year, especially the back 1/3rd, it will be a major setback if they pick outside of the top-5.

Next year will be more of the same if they get stuck with another young complimentary player that's a big picture rotational guy and maybe starter.
 
I would like to see the Cavs take the pick and some other assets and get a good veteran ... much like Phoenix and the Knicks did this year .... I think the could make the playoffs next year with that formula
 
joesports said:
I would like to see the Cavs take the pick and some other assets and get a good veteran ... much like Phoenix and the Knicks did this year .... I think the could make the playoffs next year with that formula
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That’s not a bad idea if they can make it work.

Unfortunately, the big “win” the other night really puts them in a bad spot. They went from third to sixth in the draft lottery and it looks like it’s going to finish that way. Their odds of drafting 6 to 8 are better than their chances of drafting 1 to 3 now, and this is a five player draft. If they wind up not drafting in the top five it will be a crippling blow and a complete waste of a season.
 
Those last two wins were really stupid,no one draftee or two is not going to make this team where it needs to be.Half of these players need to be gone,the roster really sucks...BAM!
 
Had some good fortune in the T-Wolves winning a meaningless game against the Mavs yesterday with the Mavs playing their starters limited minutes. That win dropped the T-Wolves behind the Cavs and left the Cavs in a two-way tie for the 4th best lottery odds. There's a slightly better than 50/50 chance the Cavs draft in the top-5...with their "big win" the close out the season, the T-Wolves now have a 63% chance of drafting 6th or lower. Ouch.
 
nwwarrior09 said:
Had some good fortune in the T-Wolves winning a meaningless game against the Mavs yesterday with the Mavs playing their starters limited minutes. That win dropped the T-Wolves behind the Cavs and left the Cavs in a two-way tie for the 4th best lottery odds. There's a slightly better than 50/50 chance the Cavs draft in the top-5...with their "big win" the close out the season, the T-Wolves now have a 63% chance of drafting 6th or lower. Ouch.
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Haha! I saw that. The T-wolves out-Cav the Cavs!
 
cjb56 said:
Haha! I saw that. The T-wolves out-Cav the Cavs!
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Haha. Hard to feel too bad for them. That probably should have been a 30 or so win team and their roster is significantly better than the Cavs and the other bottom feeders between having Towns, Russell and Edwards. If they beat the odds and land one of the five promising players in this draft, the T-Wolves could become pretty formidable in a couple of years.

Same song for the Cavs though. If they fail to hold on to a top-5 selection in the lottery, this will have been an equal parts miserable and wasted season.
 
Koby Altman better be on thin ice as GM. In fact, he probably should be fired. The trade to get Jarrett Allen was good, but the Drummond fiasco was an embarrassment. Then drafting Okoro, because they liked his defense, shows me Altman is out of touch with the league today. It’s all about scoring now. The rules are skewed that way and all the Okoros in the world aren’t going to advance the Cavs. Total waste of a high draft pick.
 
I don't love Okoro, but there haven't really been any rookies that were drafted in the 5-10 picks after him that have lit the world on fire in scoring or that I see becoming legitimate scorers. The only guys that have had any early success scoring are Haliburton (Kings) and Anthony (Magic), and they are both very redundant with Sexton and Garland, especially Anthony as a smaller guard. Haliburton is the only player that went in that range that might have made the Cavs slightly less crappy this year. Last year they got squeezed slightly too far down the lottery to get any real potential difference maker, like what will happen this year if they get squeezed out of the top-5 picks.

Drummond was way overpaid for his utility in the modern NBA game. There's a reason he was acquired cheaply and eventually bought out. There's no market for someone like him at the contract he had. Cutting Kevin Porter loose was a worse fiasco. He's proven to be a capable scorer, although it's on a team that's even worse than the Cavs and seems to be entirely due to getting more volume around worse players. His shooting splits are down across the board, but he's benefitted from getting to shoot a lot. Jarrett Allen is a prototype center in the modern game and a legitimate starter on a playoff team. That deal might spare Altman for another year, although like last year he's going to be limited in improving the roster if they get squeezed down the draft lottery.
 
nwwarrior09 said:
I don't love Okoro, but there haven't really been any rookies that were drafted in the 5-10 picks after him that have lit the world on fire in scoring or that I see becoming legitimate scorers. The only guys that have had any early success scoring are Haliburton (Kings) and Anthony (Magic), and they are both very redundant with Sexton and Garland, especially Anthony as a smaller guard. Haliburton is the only player that went in that range that might have made the Cavs slightly less crappy this year. Last year they got squeezed slightly too far down the lottery to get any real potential difference maker, like what will happen this year if they get squeezed out of the top-5 picks.

Drummond was way overpaid for his utility in the modern NBA game. There's a reason he was acquired cheaply and eventually bought out. There's no market for someone like him at the contract he had. Cutting Kevin Porter loose was a worse fiasco. He's proven to be a capable scorer, although it's on a team that's even worse than the Cavs and seems to be entirely due to getting more volume around worse players. His shooting splits are down across the board, but he's benefitted from getting to shoot a lot. Jarrett Allen is a prototype center in the modern game and a legitimate starter on a playoff team. That deal might spare Altman for another year, although like last year he's going to be limited in improving the roster if they get squeezed down the draft lottery.
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It was a blow to lose Porter. He was the most talented player on the team. I can’t fault them for letting him go, of course, because he clearly has issues that can be detrimental to a team. That’s why he was drafted where he was, anyway. Every team knew he was a potential cancer. I actually applaud Altman for taking a chance on Porter and also for cutting him loose when he caused too much trouble. Houston is so bad that anything he’s done there needs be taken in the context you mentioned — bad team = high volume shooting opportunity with no pressure to win.
 
Cavs lose coin toss with OKC and drop to #5. They now can wind up picking as low as #9. Their best odds are to wind up at #7...in a five player draft.
 
Koby Altman sounded like a complete goof in the post-season presser. I don't have a lot of faith going forward. The next decision, other than the draft, will be what to do with Sexton. He's not a max player but will demand it. He's a small combo guard that hogs the ball, not a guy you build around. They need to figure out a buyout for Love and stretch what's left. By the time they draft, there will be no one elite left.
 
As a person who watch most of the games (75%) ... I believe Sexton gets a bad rap as a ball hog ... is the ball in his hands more than the other players ... mostly yes (not as much when Garland is on the floor) ... but every team’s leading scorer is ... to me a ball hog is a player that keeps the ball for the entire shot clock ... dribbling away the entire time ... I really don’t see that from him (much) ... he just tends to touch it several different times during the possession.

To me the biggest problem with the Cavs is 3 point shooting ... they take near the lowest amount in the NBA ... mostly because the are the worst (%) at shooting the three ... pair that up with one of the worst teams at defending the three ball really puts them in a bad place in the modern NBA.

If you want to criticize Sexton ... do it on his 3 point shooting ... IMO, he need to take more 3 point shots .... and shoot better .... but that could be said for the entire team ... they need to get a knock down 3 point shooter ... a Joe Harris type of player ... to me if they fall down in the draft ... I would look at the white kid from Gonzaga (Kisper?) ... and really put an emphasis on getting each player better at shooting 3’s
 
joesports said:
As a person who watch most of the games (75%) ... I believe Sexton gets a bad rap as a ball hog ... is the ball in his hands more than the other players ... mostly yes (not as much when Garland is on the floor) ... but every team’s leading scorer is ... to me a ball hog is a player that keeps the ball for the entire shot clock ... dribbling away the entire time ... I really don’t see that from him (much) ... he just tends to touch it several different times during the possession.

To me the biggest problem with the Cavs is 3 point shooting ... they take near the lowest amount in the NBA ... mostly because the are the worst (%) at shooting the three ... pair that up with one of the worst teams at defending the three ball really puts them in a bad place in the modern NBA.

If you want to criticize Sexton ... do it on his 3 point shooting ... IMO, he need to take more 3 point shots .... and shoot better .... but that could be said for the entire team ... they need to get a knock down 3 point shooter ... a Joe Harris type of player ... to me if they fall down in the draft ... I would look at the white kid from Gonzaga (Kisper?) ... and really put an emphasis on getting each player better at shooting 3’s
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Agree. Especially about Sexton. Today’s NBA is about offense. Sexton gives it to you. Who else on that roster can create their own shot like Sexton can? Somebody needs to score. He does it. Garland is a keeper. Okoro might develop into a useful player. Allen is a keeper. Love needs to go. The rest are just fillers until better talent replaces them. This draft could either catapult the Cavs to a playoff team on the way up, or another year of just developing Sexton, Garland and Allen and hoping for better luck in the 2022 draft.
 
Sexton can sure score the ball bu t I think he occasionally forgets he's not the point guard. He's a solid NBA scorer, I just don't think he's a max contract player.
 
I believe there were 51 players that made over $20 million this year and there's 27-28 players currently on "max" contracts. In his 3rd year Sexton was 18th in the league in scoring and 54th in player efficiency rating (PER). He's going to get paid a ton of money next off-season, especially if in year four he improves a little in both scoring and PER. Cavs have to figure out how to keep both him and Allen on the roster, and it starts with figuring out how to get rid of Kevin Love.
 
Even if they slide out of the top-5, there will be players available in that 6 through 9 range that can add scoring and/or shooting. They probably should have taken Haliburton last year, but there will be more players outside of the headliners that can shoot or score in this draft.

As noted above, perimeter shooting is a major problem for this team. Kispert and Davion Mitchell (Baylor) both shoot it at a very high level from behind the arc and are probably in that mid to late lottery range. A prospect I like that's generally projected in that range is Moses Moody (Arkansas), a 6'5 wing with a 7'0 wingspan that averaged about 17 PPG as a freshman and shot about 36% from 3. Very good in catch and shoot situations, and while not the prototype elite athlete if he can add some muscle I could see him being a guy that could average 17-20 a game on a playoff team down the road.
 
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It's felt like this parting has been coming as Nance was one of their better potential trade pieces and possibly the best piece in terms of being appealing as a high quality role player for a team hoping to be very competitive in the playoffs right now. Still sucks in that he was very active within the community, and is a legacy player with a father that played a very big part in a good run for the Cavs in the late 80s and early 90s.

That said, in this trade the Cavs get a guy that's four years younger and a better fit with Allen and Mobley as a floor spacing big. Last year he shot 40% from 3 with over half of his shot attempts being 3s. Markkanen has some quality scoring talents, especially from the perimeter, and at times is a good rebounder. Defense may leave something to be desired.
 
I’m wondering if they are thinking 3 bigs with the 2 little guards to help their defense? … although saying Markkanen helping with defense is oxymoron.
 
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