Quarterly report
Posted December 18th, 2005 by Brian Windhorst
Technology issues have plagued this blog — well, that and Alan Tucker — over the last week. I’m typing this report for the third time. Let’s hope it takes and the host site figures stuff out.
Cavs reached the quarter pole over the last week and now they’ve won two straight. Here’s my look at what I’ve seen so far:
LeBron James — Most impressive stat is he’s shooting 50 percent from the field so far. When he was a rookie, he shot 41 percent and averaged 10 fewer points. His issue continues to be defense. He goes for steals above all else. He doesn’t work to get in position on defense, which is why he’s committed just 59 fouls in 915 minutes. Part of it is so much is asked of him and he plays too many minutes. Grade: A.
Larry Hughes — I‘ve been a supporter since day one. He does stuff that doesn’t show up in the box score. Sometimes he takes jumpers when he should use his driving skills, but this has been a criticism since his Wizard days. His sore Achilles is holding him back a little, as does LeBron when the offense stops moving. But he’s been a great addition. Grade: B.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas – I’m not sure he knows where he belongs in the offense. Sometimes they feed him, something they forget about him. Sometimes he sells out on defense, sometimes he doesn’t. He gets extra credit for playing through a lot of pain already. Grade: B.
Drew Gooden — Nice guy, works hard, does what he’s told, will have a long NBA career. I have to believe Mike Brown is already tired of him getting lost in defensive rotations, which happens a lot. Grade: B-.
Eric Snow — Solid defender who doesn’t turn the ball over. He won’t like to read this, but at this point in his career he’s probably a role player that should be coming off the bench because of his offensive issue. Grade: C+.
Damon Jones – As I wrote in my Sunday column, he makes 3’s and plays average defense. The Cavs knew this. What wasn’t expected was his constant complaining about playing time and not starting. Grade: C+.
Donyell Marshall — His strong rebounding has been a good plus. Sometimes he settles for 3’s too much, but he’s gotten much better at going to the basket. He’s not a great defender because he doesn’t have great lateral speed. But this was already known. Grade: B.
Alan Henderson – Hendy isn’t an All-Star, but no one said he was. He’s a solid veteran big man, they’re hard to find. Grade: B-.
Luke Jackson — Didn’t deliver when he had the chances earlier, hasn’t delivered when he’s gotten minimal chances lately. Outlook not good. Grade: D.
Sasha Pavlovic – Injuries have slowed him, hasn’t shown much when he’s played. Grade: D.
Mike Wilks – Quality NBA player, he’s not great but he’s solid. He should get more time against teams with quicker guards that Snow and Jones struggle with. Grade: C.
Zendon Hamilton — Strange guy. Bonus points for being team cheerleader. Grade: C.
Ira Newble – Hasn’t played yet. Grade: Incomplete.
Anderson Varejao — Hasn’t played yet. If you ask me, he’ll be back within a month. Grade: Incomplete.
Martynas Andriuskevicius — Hasn’t played yet. Not close if you ask me. Grade: Incomplete.
Mike Brown – Sometimes he coaches like he’s still an assistant. He conducts very long practices and preaches, sometimes I know the players tune him out. But he has a great philosophy and, more importantly, a strict fidelity to it. If the players eventually buy into it, he’ll be called a genius. If. Grade: B.
Now, for some other stuff:
–Back when I was a kid and Pat Riley was coaching the showtime Lakers, he was the essence of cool. I mean there was a phrase called "Riley style." Not sure if you saw the suit he wore to the Q on Saturday, but, um, things have changed. I know it was the end of a road trip and it wasn’t a national TV game, but still.
Plus the hair, I mean, it is dangerously close to being a mullet. The guy has more than 1,200 wins and four NBA title rings along with literally tens of millions of dollars, so I’m not ripping him. I’m just saying all that time in Florida is starting to show up, you know.
–A lot of people have e-mailed me privately and I think we’re going to have to govern the comments section a little more. Let’s try to limit it to two posts per person, per topic. No bias here, just reader reaction.
More posts to come.
December 18th, 2005 at 2:31 pm
Hey. Major league cheapshot. I’ve never said anything but good things to you and about you. Keep it up, and I might have to plug my keyboard into the nasty unholy spirit of Pete Franklin. If you said that about him, he would have ripped you a new one. Well, actually more than just one.
Jones gets a C+? Please. For that much cash guaranteed over four years, you’ve got to do more than simply chuck 40% of three-pointers and make hand puppets using the giant shadows cast by the Q’s disco ball. Look at NBA stats from prior years, and 40% will usually land you anywhere from 15th to 25th in the entire league. Jones can’t create shots, he can’t pass, he can’t dribble, he can’t play defense. “Average” defense? This is a Cavs “point guard?” Come on. Ferry could have gotten very solid three-point guys for cheap and no ridiculous long-term commitment, such as Jason Kapono and/or Jim Jackson. Shoot up Ferry with truth serum, and he’d admit it. Change that C+ to a C-.
And I read Jones’ “member of the Beatles/Isley Brothers backup singer analogy.” All because he’s not starting? He wouldn’t even be starting with Miami, let alone Cleveland. Brian, you really oughta tell that clown the reason he’s no longer a member of the Beatles is because the Beatles did not want him anymore. With all those dollars and all those years, Ferry was pretty much bidding against himself. Jones ain’t Ringo and never was. If Jones wants to equate himself to a member of the Beatles, then Jones is Pete Best.
And Ilgauskas does not deserve “extra credit.” When you’re guaranteed that much money and that many years to the ultimate detriment of the franchise in the last few years of that contract, then you’d better shoot up painkillers and do whatever else is necessary to get on the court and produce right here and right now. That’s all part of the deal. Extra credit was never part of it.
With respect to Riley, if you’re going to mock his hair, then the very least you can do is also make a beeline for his Clairol. Black hair, if it doesn’t fall out, eventually gravitates into gray. It doesn’t transform into reddish-brownish-orange-gray. At least not on any planet that I’m aware of.
December 18th, 2005 at 8:19 pm
You say two comments, so he writes an extra long one….of course. ANyway fact is we need a point guard. Snow isn’t enough anymore, and damon is a shooting guard. Z isn’t half as bad as some are making him out to be, and is one of few legit big men that can play ball in the league (see diop, kwame, ect) Although if we really want a lumbering giant let’s check out the new WBC World champ … 7′0″ 330 pounds. Bet he has 6 HARD fouls to give.
Here’s hoping Marshal and Jones the self proclaimed (TBTPSITW) (The best three point shooter in the world) keep showing up so Bron Bron doesnt’ have to score 80 for us to win.
December 18th, 2005 at 9:30 pm
Aaron, if you don’t care for a comment, then nobody says you have to read it. When you see my name, simply skip over it. Problem solved. It’s a free country. Or so George Bush asserts on those few days he’s not authorizing the bugging of Z’s bathroom phone.
There, short and sweet. Well, just like the house rules say, it’s two and I’m out. Until the next Big B blog entry, as daffy Dan Rather used to say, “Courage.”
December 18th, 2005 at 11:44 pm
i become more intrigued by alan tucker with each comment. but please don’t let the attention get to your head and try to start your own blog. you’re only entertaining here.
and aaron- you’re dead on.
December 19th, 2005 at 8:57 am
yeah, hopefully Brian’s right and i wont have 2 scalp my season tix anymore when Andy comes back so i can watch my favorite player… as for his incomplete i give him a b-. he hustles good, but he has too many loose balls and turn overs. Plus when he tries to dribble in the paint he susally fouls or he misses he shot, or turns it over, Hopefully hes got all these kinks worked out….
December 19th, 2005 at 12:37 pm
In the games I’ve watched so far, LeBron has forgotten how to pass. Anyone else remember when his passes made the highlight reel his rookie year? When’s the last time we saw one of his passes on SportsCenter? He’s got weapons now and needs to remember how to use them.
Its frustrating to see the team not use Z more effectively on Offense. I mean, how hard is it to pass it in to Z and have Marshall and Jones wait for the kickback and an open look at a 3? Is this only obvious to me?
December 19th, 2005 at 7:12 pm
I’m going to have to disagree with ya tyson. Lebron is averaging almost 5 and half assists a game and 7 per over the last five games including 10 against the Heat. If ya watched the game against the Nuggets he had 4 or 5 no lookers, that had the anouncers and the studio crew comparing him to Magic.
He’s leading the team and is 13th in the East I don’t knwo what more to ask from him. ( I suppose we could ask him to not be fourth in TO’s with 3.4)
I will say I wish Z was used a bit more. He’s gotta be frustrated when it looks like they just forget him out there.
December 20th, 2005 at 8:35 am
OH MY GOD, alan tucker went a WHOLE DAY with out a comment! We need to celebrate this somehow… how about a.. (nasty)McRib for Alan Tucker…
December 21st, 2005 at 4:30 am
Hey All! First-timer responding to comments. Some general responses:
1) On the floor, isn’t Jones doing essentially what he was brought to do at essentially the level he has done it throughout his career? (The grumpiness, I agree, is unbecoming, but this is the NBA.) I thought C+ was a little low, unless he was a C+ when we signed him.
2)Z does deserve extra credit. How can we grinch in one moment about the self-serving comments of Jones (something all too typical of many, mnay NBA players), and then not praise the player that seems to check his ego and doesn’t nurse each injury?
3) LeBron — I think he’ll do whatever the team asks to make it more successful. I’d say he’s getting fewer rebounds because in this scheme the team asks him to be near the board less. The assists are a result of the ball being in his hands less. His assist and rebound numbers soared last year as the season wore on and he had to assume a bigger and bigger role.
December 21st, 2005 at 10:24 am
I agree with Tyson, and I have been surprised by the lack of attention to LeBron’s reduced overall game. He’s one of the most efficient scorers in the league, but his assists are down two per game, and his rebounds are down too. I haven’t seen a lot of Cavs games recently, but in the Jazz game, I saw 4 or 5 possessions in the second quarter alone where he just drove or posted up, while the rest of the team just stood around. I didn’t bother tuning in to the rest of the game.
December 21st, 2005 at 11:14 am
Regarding these quarterly grades, I think the one that stands out the most is Drew Gooden’s. I think the B- grade, along with the assessment that he gets lost alot on defensive rotations lends credability to the idea that we might want to look into trading him come the mid-season trade deadline. He does not give us what we need from a starting power forward on the defensive end, but he does possess lots of other skills that would make him attractive to other teams. Better to take care of it now, than lose him without compensation to the free-agent market.
December 21st, 2005 at 6:40 pm
25 pts, 7 reb, 7 ast is not a regular occurence. LBJ’s numbers were bound to drop a little.
December 22nd, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Come on, Damon Jones is playing fine, he’s doing exactly what we brought him here for. The deal with him isn’t that he shoots 40% from 3, it’s that he shoots 40% while averaging 7+ 3 point attempts per game! That’s hard to do. He’ll be among the league leaders in 3 pointers made.
Also, why are you selling out on Hughes? If anyone deserves a C+ it’s him. He’s had a couple of good games, but in general he’s been markedly inferior to last year, definitely a below average shooting guard by NBA standards.
If Z is playing through pain already, should Brown be limiting his minutes more?
Finally, I’m an Alan Tucker fan. Eccentric commenters are key to blog success, roll with it. Limiting people to 2 responses per topic is a bad idea, look at any blog with long comments threads and you will see a number of regulars who comment more than that. Reconsider the policy.