Hello, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s Austin – checking in for the first time this offseason. What’s happening?It was a crazy last couple weeks of the regular season and everyone needed a minute to decompress.
The Cavaliers went through another difficult season, in terms of wins and losses. But I thought a lot of the guys grew up this year.
Some of the younger guys struggled. Samardo was late coming on – he had an up-and-down year. But the one thing he seemed to realize towards the end is what type of effort you need to bring every night. And that’s very important for him if he’s going to take the next step with the team.
I think the same thing happened for Manny. The light came on towards the end of the year.
And again: Manny, Samardo, Tristan, Alonzo – this summer is very, very important for them. They have to continue their development this summer.
I’m looking forward to see all those guys improve, but I’m very curious to see how Tristan improves his game this summer. This offseason is huge for him – especially because now he’s had a chance to experience being a starter, what it takes every night to be good and not just average. He knows that now.
Tristan knows what level he has to take his game to. And with the coaches working with him early this offseason (and during Summer League) he’ll get a chance to get into the right frame of mind, ready for his sophomore season.
But I think all the youngsters will come back much better. They should. If they don’t, that means that they didn’t work on the things they should work on. And you should be able to see the areas of improvement in all of them.
Manny has to work on his ball-handling skills and his jump-shot – how to get more consistent with it if you’re going to be a two-guard in this league. Samardo has to learn to use the left side of his body and finding his efficiency areas – where he should be shooting from. And, more than that, to bring energy to the floor every night.
Tristan’s going to learn how to play in a crowd; to be more productive in traffic. He got a lot of shots blocked and committed a lot of turnovers by not knowing how to handle the ball in a crowd. Tristan needs to learn how to use that length that he has. He was the wing-span – use it! Shoot it with an extended arm, not a chicken wing. And he must add the 12- to 15-footer to his arsenal. He has to add that.
Gee also has to learn to handle the ball with a crowd around him. He commits too many turnovers for a guy with that type of skill.
The Cavaliers could look like a completely different team next season. And there’s a chance they’ll be without a pair of their most solid veteran leaders from the last couple seasons – Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker.
Losing those veterans is huge, but I think they’ve imparted a great deal of wisdom on the youngsters. Because one thing I know they understand is how to deal with adversity. With injuries, the schedule, etc. – the whole season was filled with adversity. The Cavs never really got on a roll. Maybe a couple back-to- back wins. The youngsters may have to learn how to deal with success as their careers go on. But they definitely know how to handle adversity.
I think the vets gave them enough knowledge to start with, but you’re going to have to bring a veteran in here that has a similar personality that those two guys had. They had a sharing-type personality. You can’t bring in a veteran that’s selfish. It won’t work, I don’t care how good he is.
Regardless of who they bring in, Kyrie Irving is now the leader of this team.
As a 19-year-old rookie, he wasn’t demonstrative this past year. But I started seeing that in him towards the end of the year. He’d throw guys passes and they’d miss the shot and I started to see him be little more vocal than he was at the beginning of the season. So, it’ll come.
He is the leader, there’s no doubt. And everybody’s going to follow him. If he understands how to win, he’s going to have to be more of a vocal leader.
You watch Chris Paul play. And Chris Paul understands the pace his team has to play at to be successful. Now, he might not be scoring, but he’s still keeping the pace going. And Kyrie started to learn that as the season went on. You’ll see Chris Paul pushing the ball up the court, not even looking for his shot. He knows his team functions better at that pace.
And I think Kyrie’s understanding that the team needs to play and keep them at that pace all the time. Playing that way some of the time will get your butt kicked.
It’s difficult, as the top overall pick, to get used to losing. Like Kyrie, I lost more games in my first year as a pro than I had in my life combined. And though I don’t believe you learn much from losing, you do learn that you don’t like the taste of it. It knocks you down a few notches, but it tells you what kind of spirit you have inside to fight your way back to the top.
And even though I went through a bunch of injuries, it felt so good the year before the Miracle year – when we started winning. It gave me more energy to keep going. But professional basketball – unless you come in like Magic Johnson or somebody – it’s a completely different world to a rookie.
This offseason is going to be as big as any I can remember. And quite honestly, the team needs an infusion of talent. They have a good core. But right now, we have more bench players than we do starters. We have good guys that we can bring off the bench. But the Cavs need to get more frontline talent, and that’s what the team is working on this offseason. You have to get more frontline guys.
I’m anticipating Andy and Tristan as the starting center and power forward. Right now, we have Gee at the three. I’d rather see Gee coming off the bench and get a guy who can give me 15-20 points at the three and a guy who can give me 15-20 points from the shooting guard to go alongside Kyrie. You’d have a nice mixture there. And that’s a group you can really grow with. But, minus a pair of veteran starters, you have to bring 25 points in from somewhere.
Right now, I’m dialed in to the NBA Playoffs. And as much as fans hate to hear it, I’m seeing Miami come out of the East. I can’t see anybody stopping them.
I see a Boston-Miami Eastern Conference Finals, but Boston can’t do it in a seven-game series. If they had Perkins, it’d be different. That’s a different team – with and without Perkins.
Philly is just a hodge-podge. And Indiana, with Granger – he’s good, solid guy. But he doesn’t have the bravado. Those teams aren’t going to roll over and die, but I don’t think they’re ready to roll with the big boys just yet.
The Western Conference is a different animal.
I see San Antonio and Oklahoma City battling for the West crown. And I think, between the two, it’s a total toss-up. You have a total team effort versus two-and-a-half superstars. (James Harden, who’ll be the Sixth Man of the Year, is close for OKC.) San Antonio can beat you with their second team. Their bench can give you 40 minutes, maybe 50 on a good night. And they’re going to defend you.
So I think San Antonio and OKC, it’s a toss-up from there. But I think either team can knock off Miami in the Finals.
I’ll be checking out the postseason, but I’m also ready to hit the links.
I’ve been out and played a few rounds, but I’m still a little rusty. I’m having trouble finishing a round – after I get to about the 15th hole, I’m beat. I’m hooking the ball and missing putts that I normally make. But it just takes a while to get into the golfing frame of mind and get going for the year.
My course is Stonewater. But we played in Huron at Thunderbird Hills a couple times. We played in Chippewa. All over the place.
I have my tournament coming up at Stonewater in a couple weeks, on May 21. It’s for Youth Opportunities Unlimited. We raise money to help at-risk kids.
We’ll have guys like Reggie Rucker, Kevin Mack, Ben Davis. I’ve been trying to get Hanford Dixon to play, but I can’t catch up with him. And I’m trying to get Josh Cribbs, but I don’t know if he plays or not. We’re trying to get Larry Nance to play, Coach Scott’s going to play. Of course, Fred McLeod is going to play.
We have a nice little time and I’m sure the guys will talk some Cavaliers out on the course.
And the next time I check back in on CavFanatic, we’ll be talking about the Draft Lottery and whether Nick Gilbert and Co. can do it again.