Comments on: Cavs lose their first two

By: alan t.

alan t. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:48:41 +0000

They know how to play together. They just don't care for their roles. Not to mention several of those current roles is a wrong role. O'Neal will never acquiesce to his role, let alone let Williams be second dog. Which is why they got the wins last season, a tweener guard that could handle the ball when necessary and shoot outside as second dog. No, it wasn't because of Milk Dud Head. He just happened to be there, as were the assistant coaches. You could have coached them to 50 wins, with no assistants. And Varejao should be backing up O'Neal, not Ilgauskas. That fork in Ilgauskas' back has been stuck in there for years. Can't wait until he gets the itch to start launching his three-point Scud missiles. That's always fun.

By: Geoff Beckman

Geoff Beckman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:59:25 +0000

Alan, I know you can only feel good by telling everyone that they're wrong, regardless of what they said, but I didn't realize you also couldn't read.

What I said: They don't know how to play together. After listing three reasons they looked so bad, I said it was going to take a while, and I didn't know how well it could be done. Only you could be able to mangle that

An excuse is saying something like "When Williams, Gibson, Parker, James and Varejao were on the floor, they outscored Toronto 32-21– and they got off to a 28-7 start against Boston. They just need to put a few more runs like that together."

I also like how you perceived a criticism– the Cavs didn't replace the coach who improved them from 45 wins to 66– as an excuse. And I didn't realize that you were such a homer that you credited them all to the addition of Mo Williams and Joe Smith.

By: alan t.

alan t. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:56:44 +0000

Oh, come on, Geoff. The flu excuse … again? A short exhibition season? Hate to break the news to you, but Bryan Colangelo's overhaul of his roster made Mangini's overhaul of the roster look like the epitome of stability. If any team should be trying to find its way right now, it's Toronto.

And wait a minute … you say the absence of the same guy that designed the "give the ball to LeBron at the top of the key and let's see what happens next" offense is another excuse? Oy.

They'll be fine, any team with LeBron on it will be fine. Which is precisely why he ain't comin' back next season. But please, put the excuses to bed.

By: alan t.

alan t. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:45:22 +0000

Reghi called it like he saw it? Unless he saw it as a hollering self-promoting homer, I'm not really sure what that means. In the Cavaliers' entire local telecast history, the sole Cavaliers TV guy that hasn't had Stevie Wonder's eyes and P.T. Barnum's mouth is Matt Guokas.

By: Geoff Beckman

Geoff Beckman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:44:21 +0000

These guys obviously haven't figured out how to play together. The combination of a short exhibition season, the flu that kept half the team off the court and the "Never play your players in an exhibition game, because they might get hurt" notion.

To make matters worse, the guy who designed the offense that functioned well last year is now the coach of the Pistons.

Whether they're going to sort it in 15-20 games, whether it takes 40 or whether the old Loverboy song* was correct, I don't know. These guys are, on the whole, smart and hard-working, so I'd assume they'll figure something out. But I don't know how well it'll work and it is gonna be ugly for at least a while

* "Pig and Elephant DNA Just Won't Splice", of course.

By: drew

drew — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:33:22 +0000

Alan,
As long as Gilbert owns the team, that is the only type of announcer that we will get: yes-men that don't criticize the team. I'm not saying Reghi was great, or even good, but at least he called it like he saw it. Fred and AC call it like Gilbert WANTS them to see it.

By: terje

terje — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:47:27 +0000

i'm in favor that larry.

and while their at it they can get rid of their potato head version of doug collins.

By: alan t.

alan t. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:16:44 +0000

In the same breaths, Austin also was saying that Mo Williams' ridiculous flop like a Nova Scotia lox was an outrageous non-call, so I really don't put much weight into what the Cavaliers' biggest fan employee has to say for himself.