Lebron nut huggers saying 30+ wins isn't good but I remember most of you saying they wouldn't win 20 at the start of the year and last year when telling us Lebron had no supporting cast. I find it funny people like t_mac1 say in threads Miami needs time to adjust and they will improve but he doesn't afford the Cavs who have had just as big of a shake up the same deal. They lost the center of their offense in Lebron and significant rotation players in Shaq, Z and West and their best player had a injury plagued start to the season.. I would say 7-10 isn't too bad.
Didn't the Cavs have a chance to bring in Amare Stoudemire last year before they opted for Jamison? IIRC, they didn't do the trade because they weren't willing to let go of Hickson, a guy that barely ended up playing in the playoffs. They had a chance for one of the league's elite scorers, who happens to be in his prime. I wouldn't say they did all they could.
Shaq was not the same player that he was 5 years ago. LeBron's 2nd banana should have been Boozer, but management didn't have enough sense to include 3rd/4th yr team options on their rookie contracts like Morey(Landry, Dorsey). It's not even about saving money. They would save with a 3rd/4th yr option on Boozer's rookie contract. If he sucked, they would not excercise the option.
Byron Scott is a proven coach. Also in New Orleans after Chris Paul that team wasn't very good so I don't get your point. Not to mention that he went to the finals 3 teams with the Nets. Yes the East was weak but to sit here and act like he hasn't accomplished anything as a coach is just foolish.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Boozer ask for them not to match his RFA offer sheet so they could give him a better structured contract only to have him screw them?
Saying most of his notoriety from before is just based on the fact that he had a good Point Guard, sure he went to the finals with the Nets, but the first thing you think about when mentioning Byron Scott is Chris Paul. He's going to fade into obscurity now that he's coaching such a bad team.
The Rockets would be 11-4 with their schedule. They didn't go to China right before the regular season. @ Toronto L 81-101 vs Sacramento L 104-107 vs Atlanta L 88-100 @ Philadelphia W 123-116 @ Washington W 107-102 @ New Jersey W 93-91 vs New Jersey L 87-95 vs Indiana L 85-99 vs Philadelphia W 101-93 @ New Orleans L 101-108 @ San Antonio L 92-116 @ Indiana L 89-100 vs Milwaukee W 83-81 @ Orlando L 100-111 vs Memphis W 92-86 vs Boston L 87-106
You know what else surprises me? New Energizer. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-2RSu9Gw61U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-2RSu9Gw61U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
They allowed him out of the final year of his deal at about $900k because he agreed to sign a long term deal for $5-6 million per year with them. It was a total douche move by Boozer, but the Cavs may have gotten what they deserved. I'm not sure the pre-arranged deal was totally legit anyway.
From Bill Simmons new column: LeBron James returns to Cleveland Anyways, I still think the Cavs will crack 30 wins, but that is still not a whole lot to be proud of. Bringing Jamison off the bench gives them a spark at times, but they don't really have any wing players that can create their own shot at all.
Speaking of Simmons latest column - I thought he kind of mailed it in(maybe by design?). That was one of the least interesting BS articles I have read in a while. I thought he said he was going to do a running diary for the game but I guess it was boring enough that he couldn't stand to do a full one.
He said on this Twitter that the game was "unrunningdiaryiable" I have no idea how he knew this before the game actually happened, but that's his explanation. Simmons has plenty of opinions about the Heat, somewhat self-servingly wrapped up in his own thoughts such as "Alpha Dog," "The Secret," and notions of sports karma, but his interest in the Heat stems more from watching them fail than offering perspective on their success. Which is understandable, I guess, since 3 top 15 players together should be successful. But it would still make me disappointed if Bill goes through the entire season rehashing his old bits.
What makes you think they are actually pretty decent? The fact that they have a losing record and the fourth worst point differential in the league despite playing one of the softest schedules so far?
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Look a little deeper than "a losing record". The combined record of the teams that have beaten the Cavs is 106-75. That's 58.6%. 11 loses against primarily playoff bound teams from both conferences. And beyond caliber of competiton, point differential is easily diagnosed. They haven't been to the Lottery since 2004 (year after LeBum). Just not that easy to replace 30 ppg in one summer. The point diff is driven by what is now the NBA's 3rd worst ppg @ 94.3. Their defense isn't bad. They are #19. (The Rockets are 25th).
I did look beyond just the "losing record." The teams they've actually managed to beat have been awful, except for the Celtics in their first game and Memphis last week, both of which were the second night of a back-to-back for their opponents. In the games against the good teams, they haven't even been that close. They've also lost some games to very mediocre teams (Indiana, Toronto, NJ). It's not like they've played Orlando, LA, and Boston four times each already. I'm using point differential because it's usually a better indicator of future success than win-loss record. By that measure, we can guess that the Cavs will finish with one of the five or so worst records in the league, which would put them somewhere around 30 wins. Again, that's hardly "pretty decent."
