After watching almost all Cavs games so far this season, I've seen how terrible the bench is. I wanted to brainstorm some ideas on how to make it better, here is that list.
First, here is the second team that keeps giving away Cavaliers victories:
PG: Donald Sloan
SG: Gibson
SF: C.J. Miles/Omri Casspi
PF: Jon Leuer/Luke Walton
C: Samardo Samuels
1) The obvious thing is to have either Kyrie or Varejao on the floor with Daniel Gibson and the scrubs. Maybe rest Kyrie with about four or five minutes left in the first, put him back in, in the second quarter, while you give AV a five minute rest or vice versa. You could do this with quarters three and four also. Especially when Tyler Zeller comes back, this second team may not be half bad.
With this lineup, there is no doubt points can be scored:
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Gibson
SF: Miles
PF: Leuer
C: Zeller
Alternatively, if you let Varejao rest in the first:
PG: Sloan
SG: Gibson
SF: Miles
PF: Varejao
C: Zeller
Not as ideal as the first, but it could work if Miles ever comes around.
2) This is along the same lines as the first, but with different players. With this option, you would play Kyrie the entire first quarter as Dion Waiters would get pulled with about three or four minutes remaining in quarter one. Gibson would come in for him, and stay in during Kyrie's rest time.
PG: Gibson
SG: Waiters
SF: Miles
PF: Leuer
C: Zeller
Here I would play Gibson at point guard, specifically for defensive purposes. Watching him try to defend Joe Johnson the other night wasn't pretty. So we'll let Waiters handle the bigger guys. The offense however would go through Waiters. He's a better ball handler/playmaker than Gibson.
3) Run the offense through the bigs. Here I would sit Tristan Thompson and Varejao for a bit in the first. This way, you have a respectable amount of defense on the court, plus TT and AV can go up and get the rebound on the inevitable misses. I'd like to see a lot of pick-and-rolls with Varejao with this team.
PG: Sloan
SG: Gibson
SF: Miles
PF: Thompson
C: Varejao
4) Sign free-agents! There are plenty out there that frankly it's a surprise they don't have teams. The Cavs are so far below the salary cap that they could probably sign four or five players. It won't hurt the rebuilding effort to give some of these guys one or two-year deals. Admittedly, this one is more for fun, but here's what the bench could look like.
PG: Delonte West/Gilbert Arenas
SG: Gibson
SF: Miles/Mickael Pietrus
PF: Eddy Curry
C: Zeller
An overhaul that big wouldn't be welcome I don't think. But an acquisition like West may pay dividends. We all know he has talent, offer him a contract where if he screws up, he's done. It would be Chris Grant's terms, make it low risk and high reward. West would instantly make the bench better.
Showing posts with label Chris Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Grant. Show all posts
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Until next year kids.
I've said it before, but can it really be said enough? This season had its high point a few months back for Cavs fans, now I think its safe to say it needs to end. With playoff potential on the horizon, due to cap space that will almost certainly be thrown at someone, a probable decent draft pick, and piles of draft picks in the next few years, Cleveland may be on to something. It's all on Chris Grant. I can say I was a fan of last years draft, even if only for the picks of Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.
Kyrie was a high school stud who unfortunately played less games than the Duke football team in college. You could argue that it was a shame but truth be told, I don't see anything being different. He still would have been the top pick, still would have impressed in his rookie season, and if nothing else, it would have eased scouts and fans alike that weren't sold on him being a franchise changer. Irving is the most important step forward for this Cavaliers team, and Grant knocked it out of the park by selecting him first overall. Not much else to say about this except, well done sir.
Then came pick number four, which was actually Cleveland's pick (Thanks Neil Olshey for that top pick, we appreciate it). At four I wanted Enes Kanter, which obviously couldn't happen because he went third. After he was taken, I wasn't sure. Although I'm still pretty sure they took Thompson to trade down to about the eighth spot, but were stuck when all three international big men were already gone by the sixth pick. Anyways I had heard nothing but good things about Jonas Valanciunas and little about Tristan Thompson. The only game I watched of Thompson's was Texas' second round match-up against Arizona, where Thompson played quite valiantly against the number two pick, Derrick Williams. He held WIlliams to 17 points, and blocked a key Williams shot towards the end in a one-point Texas loss. But he seemed more unknown to me than Valanciunas, sporting a less-than-stellar offensive game and was a bad free-throw shooter. The only thing on track to me was his defense, he may have been the best defending big man in the draft. As the 2011-2012 NBA season has come and mostly gone, I feel 10 times better about the Thompson selection. His defensive abilities show up every game (although, please quit trying to block everything, you'd be a far better rebounder), month-by-month he's getting better from the free-throw line, and he's showing flashes of an offensive game now. He still has the far too occasional head scratching game, but overall he's a great piece to have in the rebuilding process.
And then came the second-round selection of Justin Harper. I wish I could have looked at my face when this pick was called in. It was downright confusing. The Cavs were stacked at Power Forward, and hell, they just took one 28 spots before this one. I trusted the pick though, a solid role-playing bench guy. Then, when I finally warmed up to it, BAM!, shipped off to Orlando for two future second-round picks. From a talent standpoint, I doubt the Cavs get anything with those two picks that they could have with this pick. I'm looking at you Chandler Parsons. But that's to see for another day.
Then Milan Macvan was Cleveland's last selection of the draft. This was a throw away pick, he won't play in the NBA. He's got a pretty sweet name though. The cool thing about this pick was his highlight reel, this guy was a tank, 6-9 and 260. I smiled a few times watching the highlights of him playing in Serbia. But again, throw away pick. Sadly, I feel like those two Magic picks will be similar to this one. Cleveland should have taken a player of need there.
After almost a full (shortened) season I feel the same way I did about Cleveland's roster after draft night, with the exception of quite a better feeling about the Thompson pick. With eight first-round draft picks in the next four years, it'll be fun to see what this team can do.
Kyrie was a high school stud who unfortunately played less games than the Duke football team in college. You could argue that it was a shame but truth be told, I don't see anything being different. He still would have been the top pick, still would have impressed in his rookie season, and if nothing else, it would have eased scouts and fans alike that weren't sold on him being a franchise changer. Irving is the most important step forward for this Cavaliers team, and Grant knocked it out of the park by selecting him first overall. Not much else to say about this except, well done sir.
Then came pick number four, which was actually Cleveland's pick (Thanks Neil Olshey for that top pick, we appreciate it). At four I wanted Enes Kanter, which obviously couldn't happen because he went third. After he was taken, I wasn't sure. Although I'm still pretty sure they took Thompson to trade down to about the eighth spot, but were stuck when all three international big men were already gone by the sixth pick. Anyways I had heard nothing but good things about Jonas Valanciunas and little about Tristan Thompson. The only game I watched of Thompson's was Texas' second round match-up against Arizona, where Thompson played quite valiantly against the number two pick, Derrick Williams. He held WIlliams to 17 points, and blocked a key Williams shot towards the end in a one-point Texas loss. But he seemed more unknown to me than Valanciunas, sporting a less-than-stellar offensive game and was a bad free-throw shooter. The only thing on track to me was his defense, he may have been the best defending big man in the draft. As the 2011-2012 NBA season has come and mostly gone, I feel 10 times better about the Thompson selection. His defensive abilities show up every game (although, please quit trying to block everything, you'd be a far better rebounder), month-by-month he's getting better from the free-throw line, and he's showing flashes of an offensive game now. He still has the far too occasional head scratching game, but overall he's a great piece to have in the rebuilding process.
And then came the second-round selection of Justin Harper. I wish I could have looked at my face when this pick was called in. It was downright confusing. The Cavs were stacked at Power Forward, and hell, they just took one 28 spots before this one. I trusted the pick though, a solid role-playing bench guy. Then, when I finally warmed up to it, BAM!, shipped off to Orlando for two future second-round picks. From a talent standpoint, I doubt the Cavs get anything with those two picks that they could have with this pick. I'm looking at you Chandler Parsons. But that's to see for another day.
Then Milan Macvan was Cleveland's last selection of the draft. This was a throw away pick, he won't play in the NBA. He's got a pretty sweet name though. The cool thing about this pick was his highlight reel, this guy was a tank, 6-9 and 260. I smiled a few times watching the highlights of him playing in Serbia. But again, throw away pick. Sadly, I feel like those two Magic picks will be similar to this one. Cleveland should have taken a player of need there.
After almost a full (shortened) season I feel the same way I did about Cleveland's roster after draft night, with the exception of quite a better feeling about the Thompson pick. With eight first-round draft picks in the next four years, it'll be fun to see what this team can do.
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