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| Photo courtesy of Waitingfornextyear.com |
The preseason is now over, roster has been trimmed to 15 and here is Cleveland's power rankings for the start of the season.
#1 - Kyrie Irving (No change)
Not a surprise. He's the man.
#2 - CJ Miles ( Up three spots)
Miles was the Cavs best player in the preseason not named Kyrie. At 11.9 ppg he was the second highest scorer on the team and at this point it looks like he'll be a fairly serviceable player this year.
#3 - Tyler Zeller (Up three spots)
Zeller was very productive in the preseason despite starting only one game. He was at 8.4 ppg, and he did that on an efficient 55% shooting. He's not a bad passing big man either, getting a little over two assists a game. Rebounding will be an area of improvement going forward, but I liked what I saw from Zeller to this point.
#4 - Tristan Thompson (No change)
In just about 20 minutes per game, Thompson put up eight points and six rebounds. He shot 50% from the field and if this carries over to the regular season with his increase in minutes, I'll be very content.
#5 - Alonzo Gee (Down three spots)
It'll be interesting to see what Byron Scott does at small forward. Miles obviously played better in the preseason, but I feel like his scoring off the bench would be more valuable. Gee shot decent from the field and played good, hard defense in the preseason, but that was expected. No doubt am I glad we got him re-signed. He'll be productive in whatever role he gets.
#6 - Boobie Gibson (Up one spot)
Gibson looked alright in the preseason all things considered. Shot well, moved the ball well and even snagged a few rebounds per game. He's back from the torn ankle tendon he suffered last year, but this season will be interesting for a few Cavs, Boobie being one of them. He could be moved by the deadline.
#7 - Anderson Varejao (Down four spots)
Like Boobie, it's nice to see Varejao back playing after his season-ending injury from last year. His productivity should increase when his minutes do, but otherwise it was the same ole' Varejao. The scrappy big man playing to every whistle, and doing the little things that help Cleveland win games. Here's to hoping he stays healthy this year.
#8 - Dion Waiters (No change)
I'm pretty glad the preseason is over, if for nothing else, because everything is so over analyzed. And in Waiters' case, that was magnified. Yes, he was the number four pick and I think he'll be fine, but through the preseason, he showed no reason that he should have been taken that high. He's a wait-and-see kind of player at this point. In the next power rankings, I won't be surprised if either he moves up in the top five, or drops off this list. My hunch, however, is that Dion will figure it out sooner rather than later.
#9 - Omri Casspi (Up two spots)
When I first did these rankings, I kept Casspi off the list because of how bad he was last year and how little playing time he will probably get with Miles and Gee both ahead of him on the depth chart. But Casspi shot the ball very well not only overall, but from deep which was something he struggled with last year. If he can shoot like that in the regular season, minutes will be there for him, possibly at shooting guard.
#10 - Samardo Samuels (Up one spot)
Samuels slimmed down, looks more athletic and played decent enough in his limited time. He'll be in the mix in the Cavs frontcourt and his expectations, for whatever reason are moderately high. I like Samuels for the record, I think he plays with a lot of energy and passion and hopefully cutting weight can make him a more efficient player.
Biggest Winner: CJ Miles and Tyler Zeller; Up three spots.
Biggest Faller: Anderson Varejao; Down four spots.
Cracking the top ten: Omri Casspi and Samardo Samuels.
Falling out of the top ten: Donald Sloan and Kelenna Azubuike
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