Who is the Most Overrated Team in the East ..aka.. Why Boston Sux.

[planetmars]

It's going to be fascinating to see how much Dan Gilbert believes in this team. If he doesn't use that pick, it means he's fine with letting this season play out because he wants to hold his chips for the next round. The pick would really help kickstart the post-Lebron era in Cleveland. Most teams, given a year of Lebron James and a shot at the Finals, would go all in. But he's Dan Gilbert. Lebron left Cleveland disgruntled once before and I won't be at all surprised if it happens again.

That Brooklyn pick is a tad overrated.. feels like our Bargnani pick. Poeltl is a nice player but not a game changer. Brooklyn right now has the 8th pick.. we had the 9th that year.

If I was Cleveland and you feel this might be your last kick at the can you go for it. You'll be bad anyway without LBJ and will get good picks going forward simply because the team is going to be bad anyway.

[KeonClark]

Or 3rd...or 6th...I understand your reservations that we have seen this movie before ..the one that ends with Lebron dragging this team to the finals on his back....after they have been prounced D.O.A as the regular season comes to a close.

But...maybe not this year.

In what should have been games that mattered to them against GSW, Da Raps, and a bounce back game vs Indy after getting blown out in the previous two....the Lebrons have come up well short on the scoreboard and with effort. Just like Bitcoin doesn’t always go up because it always goes up..so too will Lebrons feel the affect of gravity this season. They look slow and tired. Finger pointing has started per some diligent Disney reporting from ESPN “sources”.

Can they turn it around?

Sure.

But it will come at a huge cost. They have a lottery pick to move for whatever they think they need to get over the top or not one last time.
That’s a huge bet..... and if they don’t make it ....and Lebron leaves for parts unknown.....Cleveland will stink for a while.

You may rarely be correct on these doomsday scenarios, but they are entertaining and fill me with hope

"The lebrons are old. They are wearing thin. Can they turn it around? Sure, but at what cost? This is our year"

"The celtics are slowing down. Kyrie is carrying the whole offense, and the all star game looms. It says here he won't be able to do that all year. This is our season"

"The hinkies rebuild continues on for years. Embiid will be the best 35 games played center going. This is our next 5 years"

I'm buying what you're selling! Do I need it? Likely not, but you've convinced me I want it!

[KeonClark]

This article is fun

You’ve always been a flip-switch believer, right?

Ryan: I was up until the third quarter of Monday’s game against the Warriors. That was when I realized that they can’t play two of their best three players against their biggest rival. I love Isaiah Thomas’s game and I’m really pulling for him, but you can’t hide him and Kevin Love on defense. Forget the Warriors—I don’t know if they can beat the Raptors or Celtics.

Ryan: Here’s the doomsday scenario:

Under LeBron pressure, the Cavs include the Brooklyn pick—which, even though it’s depreciating, is the first good pick they will have had since they took Wiggins and traded him for Turtleneck up there—in a deal that sends Tristan Thompson to Los Angeles for DeAndre Jordan. We’ve heard this rumored over the last couple of days. Their defense gets better, which ... it certainly can’t get worse. They make the playoffs, make a run to the Eastern Conference finals, hell, maybe even to the Finals. But they lose. And lose badly. And LeBron leaves, and DeAndre leaves (he can opt out after this season), and Isaiah leaves, and they are left with Love and their own late-first-round pick

That’s catastrophic. But you think DeAndre is worth the risk, right?

Verrier: This got dark.

Ryan: It’s dark!

Vardon’s piece also included this chestnut:

“Rotations are awful. IT [Isaiah Thomas] is so much worse than Kyrie [Irving] defensively it’s insane,” said a league source. “There is not a great feeling anywhere. They need to limp into the All-Star break and get away from each other.”
This is bleak.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/1...deandre-jordan

[Demographic Shift]

It's going to be fascinating to see how much Dan Gilbert believes in this team. If he doesn't use that pick, it means he's fine with letting this season play out because he wants to hold his chips for the next round. The pick would really help kickstart the post-Lebron era in Cleveland. Most teams, given a year of Lebron James and a shot at the Finals, would go all in. But he's Dan Gilbert. Lebron left Cleveland disgruntled once before and I won't be at all surprised if it happens again.

I think Gilbert keeps the pick either way.

If Lebron stays then it’s a young blood transfusion to an old Cavs team.....

If Lebron leaves then the rebuild starts...His cap hit is 35m$...Shumpert has a player option of 11m$ and without Lebron he may try elsewhere ...The landscape has changed but if his agent thinks he can get a multi year term ( 3 x 7 ) its still better than 1 x 11 and perhaps The Shump leaves...

And f shump does opt out that leaves them at 75 m$..... with the bulk of the money committed to Love and Thompson ~ 40$M

And the elephant in the room is Isaiah Thomas ...do you let him walk or use you bird rights and give him the Lowry deal for 3 and 90 and cap yourself out till Love and Thompson come up in 2 years.

Can you win with IT..Love..Thompson..as your top paid big 3 ?

Interesting times for the Cavs as they balance the future vs present value...



Decision will be interesting on Thomas..as he is a UFA.

[tDotted]

That Brooklyn pick is a tad overrated.. feels like our Bargnani pick. Poeltl is a nice player but not a game changer. Brooklyn right now has the 8th pick.. we had the 9th that year.

You're forgetting how much "luck" Cleveland has in the lottery

[3inthekeon]

That Brooklyn pick is a tad overrated.. feels like our Bargnani pick. Poeltl is a nice player but not a game changer. Brooklyn right now has the 8th pick.. we had the 9th that year.

If I was Cleveland and you feel this might be your last kick at the can you go for it. You'll be bad anyway without LBJ and will get good picks going forward simply because the team is going to be bad anyway.

Not much into draft chatter this year, for obvious reasons, but the top of this draft projects a lot better than 2 years ago from the little I've read.

[Demographic Shift]

Not much into draft chatter this year, for obvious reasons, but the top of this draft projects a lot better than 2 years ago from the little I've read.

In the words of the immortal Juan Antonio Samaranch... It will be the best draft ever ....

[S.R.]

That Brooklyn pick is a tad overrated.. feels like our Bargnani pick. Poeltl is a nice player but not a game changer. Brooklyn right now has the 8th pick.. we had the 9th that year.

If I was Cleveland and you feel this might be your last kick at the can you go for it. You'll be bad anyway without LBJ and will get good picks going forward simply because the team is going to be bad anyway.

A top 10 pick as good as Poeltl would be huge to a team looking at a talent exodus on the level of what's facing the Cavs this summer. They would have to stay in the a 1-10 spot for the 2019 draft or they lose that pick to Atlanta, but a middling pick in 2018 shouldn't interfere with that.

[KeonClark]

Why would Lebron wanna go to the West is what I don't understand. He's on the gravy train in the East. Granted the Cavs are a sinking ship and their ownership sucks.

And the risk of sounding like Bart and Lisa's dad, is there really a better fit than playing 3/4 for the Toronto Raptors? (Goodbye Val, goodbye Pow)

Standard lineup
Poeltl
Ibaka
Lebron James
Derozan
Kyle

Death lineup
Ibaka
OG
Lebron
Derozan
Kyle

I'll take my championship ring in Medium, please

[3inthekeon]

In the words of the immortal Juan Antonio Samaranch... It will be the best draft ever ....

Doubt it's as good as 96, 84 or 03, but it's almost assuredly better than the Bargnani draft, (which wasn't the worst ) where only 6 of the top 20 picks lasted more than 8 years in the league, and Bargs was one of the 6.

[KeonClark]

Doubt it's as good as 96, 84 or 03, but it's almost assuredly better than the Bargnani draft, (which wasn't the worst ) where only 6 of the top 20 picks lasted more than 8 years in the league, and Bargs was one of the 6.

2013 was one of the worst, although Giannis alone is helping brings its stock up. 2000 probably the worst in the new era for me

[Nilanka]

I'll take my championship ring in Medium, please

I've always believed that RR members are MORE deserving of rings than the actual players.

[KeonClark]

I've always believed that RR members are MORE deserving of rings than the actual players.

We've been here through it all. Been a fan since before demar or dwane or even...who's the longest tenured guy around..are we stI'll paying wayne embry to sit in a chair stoically with his arms crossed every home game?

[Demographic Shift]

Doubt it's as good as 96, 84 or 03, but it's almost assuredly better than the Bargnani draft, (which wasn't the worst ) where only 6 of the top 20 picks lasted more than 8 years in the league, and Bargs was one of the 6.

Oh I do as well.... I was being a lot tongue in cheek with that....
Every year its the deepest most promising draft in decade and it has several MVP calibre players....till its not....
Then you wait for 7 months... the NBA MSM pump the tires again... and proclaim .. its the deepest most promising draft in a decade and it has several MVP calibre players....

[The Great One]

It would be foolish for the Cavs to trade the Brooklyn pick.

If you're picking in the top 6 in this year's draft, you're likely going to get a cornerstone type player.

Bagley
Porter Jr.
Young
Bamba
Doncic
Ayton