Sunday night around 9:30pm, it will all be over. I was only 70 games and it started in December instead of October, but I don’t know how much more fo this season I could take. There were injuries, food throwing, trades, a player being told he can practice with the team, but not play in games, an old friend making a return for no reason and did I mention injuries?
And all I can think as all the insanity was taking place is
When can I start rooting for this team to win again?
It is one of the oddest things in sports. When your team stinks, you are better off rooting for them to just tank the season with the hope a 19-year-old will come save the team like Luke Skywalker in A New Hope, than actually win games.
We are three years into Jake Chapman coining the phrase “play well, but take the L” and I am beginning to wonder how close this team is to shedding this mantra and being better off getting smoked by Brooklyn or Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.
The problem is I don’t know how close this team is to the playoffs. Hell, I don’t know how close this team is to the play in tournament.
So, when can I start rooting for this team to win games again?
I think the answer is next year, but there are a good amount of variables and assumptions that are being made to say the rebuild is starting to swing up.
At some point you need to end the rebuild. At some point you need to win games and take your butt kicking in the first round and grow from it. It is time for 2021-2022 to be the season to leave “play well, but take the L” and find your way to meaningful basketball in May.
The Cavs could change the attitude in one off-season if they wanted too. It may be a little complicated in some parts, but here is how I would do it.
Step One: Trade/release Kevin Love
Love will be 33 in September. In the last 3 seasons he has played 22, 56, and 23 games. He is averaging 15.6 points 9.4 rebounds per game in the three year stretch. His body is breaking down and when he is on the floor, he is starting to look more and more like the guy at the rec center who floats from three point line to three point line waiting for the next leg injury to creep up.
The other players seem to like Love and even look to him for veteran leadership, but not the kind of leader this team needs. Love spends too much time in street clothes to have an impact on the young kids. He does not pull the younger guys aside and show them the ropes. He is a quiet leader and that is great, but when you have food being thrown at a GM because they moved a player’s locker, you don’t have a leader.
Love has two years left on his contract for 31.3 million and 28.9 million, making him almost impossible to trade. There have been rumblings in the past that teams want the Cavs to attach a young player or first round pick to take Love off their hands. The Cavs will have to take a bad contract back from the team that wants Love
If this team wants to start winning, Love needs to be playing somewhere else. He and his contract are keeping this organization from investing time and money to fill the blatant holes. They need to get him out of Cleveland even if it means eating a bad contract or just paying him to go away.
He is not helping you win at this point when he is hurt most of the time and running gingerly up and down the court, waiting for the next lower leg injury.
I appreciate everything he brought to the 2016 NBA Title, but the story needs to start a new chapter. Sorry Kevin, but to quote Michael Corleone,
The second step is complex and maybe the toughest.
Step Two: Find someone who is between 6’6” and 6’10” who can find his own shot or shoot 40 percent from three.
The reason this is complex and tough is because the man listed above is the most sought after player in the NBA. If those guys become available it usually takes a mess load of first round picks or you have to be really bad and have a high draft pick. The fortunate thing is this team is really bad and has a high draft pick. There comes a time where asset acquisition mode needs to evolve into win mode and we are getting closer to that point. They do not need another guard, no matter where the draft pick is, unless Collin Sexton or Darius Garland gets traded, then you can talk me into it. Funny this came up…
Step Three is to trade Sexton or Garland. They both need the ball and having two 6’1” guards is ludicrous. Before you point to Utah, keep in mind, Mike Conley is one of the best defenders in the league and is a pass first guard. Donovan Mitchell is a slasher and isolation player who can defend.
Both shoot a high percentage from three and play off each other. Let’s get Portland out of the way as well. CJ McCollum has become a above average defender and Dame Lillard is the exception to every rule on the planet.
Sexton is a bad defender and Garland is worse. You can not have those two on the floor at the same time and expect to win games.
I would move Sexton because I think his future is as a sixth man. Not an insult to the guy, he will have a long career in this league coming off the bench for a playoff contender as instant offense and will probably be in at crunch time. This is not a bad thing. I just see his skill set and think “who is he making better?” When Sexton is off the floor, the ball moves more, the defense is better and the offensive rating goes up. Being able to score 25 points a game is great, but when it does not lead to winning basketball, you have a problem. The Cavs are just a better team without Sexton and the numbers bare it out.
Here is what a starting five would look like:
Garland
Issac Okoro
Draft pick
Larry Nance Jr.
Jarrett Allen
This is a promising line up if Okoro can continue to improve his offensive playmaking and grow into his body. I am an Okoro fan and believe he can be a better shooting Andre Igoudala, which is a really dangerous player.
Nance can be the Cavs version of Draymond Green. It sounds really simplistic, but Nance just understands basketball. He always makes the right pass and the right rotation on the defensive end. Guys who understand basketball are tough to come by and they help you win tons of games. Garland went from the worst player in basketball in 2019 to pretty good in 2020. If he continues to get better, you have a franchise cornerstone. The question is, can they get a player who is between 6’6” and 6’10” who can find his own shot or shoot 40 percent from three?
Step Four: Sign Jarrett Allen to a max extension.
Welcome to the Jarrett Allen appreciation part of the column. The guy is the perfect modern big man and improves the talent all around him with his hustle and understanding of his role. When Allen is on the floor, 27 percent of the offensive possessions are a pick and roll with Allen as the roll man. He averages 1.15 points on those rolls. When he was with Brooklyn, those numbers were 32 percent of the time and averaging 1.45 points on those rolls. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant will make any number go up offensively, but he is still great in the pick and roll. The Cavs need to run more pick and roll with Allen because it seems to open things up for the offense. They score 60% of the time Allen is used in the pick and roll.
His defense is sensational and he can help to cover up the issues of having a poor defender at point guard. Please, pay that man!
Step Five: Sign/trade for a proven veteran and do not trade him during the season
This team needs a tried and trued veteran who understands what it takes to win and is a vocal leader. They need JJ Redick, Jared Dudley or someone similar to teach the kids what it take to succeed in the league. The reason is pretty simple, remember Kevin Porter Jr. throwing food and yelling at Koby Altman? This all could have been avoided if you had a veteran who knew him. The veteran could have caught Porter Jr. in the hall and explained to him that his locker had been moved because of COVID-19 protocols. He could have explained that the organization still believes in him, but this is a great motivator to make himself the best player possible. Instead, you got this,
I know I should let the Kevin Porter Jr. incident go because he has a history of boneheaded decisions, but I just can’t. He is supremely talented and this is something that could have been avoided with simple communication from veteran or former player who is now coaching. This team needs talent and when you have talent, you need to help it. Great teams do not let talent walk out the door.
In those five steps, the 2021-2022 season looks a whole lot brighter than it did this season. The attitude of this organization needs to turn at some point soon, or apathy will set in amongst the fan base and possibly inside the front office. They need to make a run at the playoffs. Hell, just give me a reason to stop routing for them to lose.
Three Quick Thoughts
1. I have the Browns at 11-6 after playing the schedule game at a bar with my buddy.
The trap game is at the Chargers. Remember, there is always one game you are should win, that you lose.
2. The NBA Finals prediction: East will be Philly vs Milwaukee. West will be Clippers vs Jazz. Philly vs Clippers, Clippers in 6.
3. Delta Cream, the new Black Keys album is a good listen. Makes me happy to hear them go back to the blues roots they were built on.
