Is it too early to judge this Cavaliers team? Quick notes on tonight's game

   

    

 As the Cleveland Cavaliers look to regroup for a showdown with the New Orleans Pelicans after their loss to the OKC Thunder, questions continue to surface about this team. Lebron James, who has been under a microscope as only he could, missed a marquee game because of a sore knee. This will certainly just fuel the fire of the critics who say he's slowing down. James is even being ridiculuosly tallied on his dunks this year and how he's dunking at a much lower rate. The notion that James is slowing down is absurd, he is still putting up great numbers, leading this team in just about every important team category. While his scoring is relatively down, we noted that scoring is down across the league in general. Kobe Bryant leads the league in scoring at 25.5 PPG, a few years ago that would have been good enough for maybe 4th or 5th in scoring so we can give James a pass on that.
    As you watch the Cavs progress through this early stage of the season however, there are certainly concerns. The Cavaliers are not a good defensive team. James is far and away their best defender,  their other two marquee players (Love and Irving) are average defenders at best. Watching the game tonight, with James out and Kevin Durant still on a minute restriction, the attention turned to the point guard battle between Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving. However, from the onset you can tell the difference between the two players, Westbrook started defending Irving and was on him much of the night, while Irving began the game defending Andrew Roberson (who?????).  To say that the Cavs can get out of the East is a fair argument. The East is a weak conference, not taking anything away from the Toronto Raptors, but if the Raptors are first in standings, then you can certainly see Cleveland steamrolling their way to the finals on pure offensive firepower.
   The cavaliers also need to figure out what to do about Dion Waiters. Waiters' game simply does not revolve around standing in a corner and jacking up jumpers, and he certainly is not making any attempts to try to hide his believe that his game is more than that. The Cavs got outscored by 17 with Waiters on the floor today.
   On another note, even with James out, Kevin Love still did not get many touches, attempting just 13 shots, he finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Clearly Irving has made a point that after James, he will certainly be the one taking the most shots on the team. He finished with 21 shot attempts for 20 points and 6 assists. Again, maybe it is still a bit early for this team to judge on what the final product is. Meanwhile we can continue to microscope the fact that Lebron isn't dunking as much as he used to.

Kyrie Irving or Derrick Rose?

Image from NBCchicago.com

            It may seem unfair, to make this comparison between Kyrie Irving and Derrick Rose. Unfair to who though? Kyrie, because he's only in his second year? or Rose because he's recovering from a devastating ACL injury? Obviously Irving has yet to accomplish anything significant in terms of wins, while Derrick Rose already has an MVP under him (then again Kyrie doesn't have Luol Deng and Noah on his team)

Irving is having a blistering second season sort of like Rose's second season, first time All-Star, three point shootout champion, and already considered one of the premier "clutch" players in the league. Derrick Rose on the other hand, after his amazing MVP season, was derailed all of last year by injuries until the season ending torn ACL in the first game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Philadelphia. Now, Rose when healthy is clearly a top 5 player, but he's a player who depended primarily on his explosive attacks to the rim, its uncertain whether he will have that explosiveness again when he returns, albeit he will no doubt be a phenomenal player but 5 years from now will he be better than Kyrie Irving?

          Rose revolutionized the point guard position in my opinion, he was the first "point guard" to take the lead offensive role on his team (excluding the legendary Allen Iverson of course). Taking the majority of the shots and expected to score over 20 points a game every night, rather than the old school traditional point guards who pass first and shoot second. He was quickly followed by Russell Westbrook, John Wall, and now Kyrie Irving. Point guards are now expected to lead their team through scoring rather than through their passing and its all because of how Derrick Rose took the league by storm. People may disagree with his style of play, but it won him an MVP, so it must be working for him. 

        That being said, Kyrie is younger, just as fast (if not faster), and came into the league with a lethal jumper, something Rose did not, so its scary to see what this kid will be 5 years from now. Its uncertain how Rose's knee will respond, but its certain that Kyrie Irving will soon be a top 3 point guard in this league, and with Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook considered to be the top 2 right now, it leads to a very interesting debate
For his career, Rose is averaging 21 PPG and 6.8 APG on 46% shooting, Kyrie? 20.9 and 5.5 APG also on 46% shooting, the numbers aren't too far apart, and Kyrie is only in his second season. So who would you go with? the 20 year old with the good knee? Or the former MVP who has not played a game in over 300 days?

Cleveland Cavaliers 2012-2013 prediction

IF there is one thing for certain about the Cleveland Cavaliers, is that Kyrie Irving will be a star in this league. The Cleveland Cavaliers finished last season with a 21-45 record but with plenty of reason to be optimistic about their future. Let's look at their current roster:
G Kelenna Azubuike, F Omri Casspi, C-F Michael Eric, G Daniel Gibson, F Luke Harangody, G Kyrie Irving, F Jon Leuer, G-F C.J. Miles, G Jeremy Pargo, C Samardo Samuels, G Donald Sloan, C Tristan Thompson, C Anderson Varejao, G Dion Waiters, F Luke Walton, F-C Tyler Zeller
The Cavaliers have done a nice job building pieces since the departure of Lebron James, and this season will be our favorite team to watch. They are very well coached in Byron Scott and have the young pieces to keep growing. For their record last year, they got Dion Waiters in the top 5, and later on Tyler Zeller. The Cavs are high on Waiters, who will provide the necessary fire power in the backcourt for Irving.
In addition, they will have a healthy Varejao this season, to go along with young players such as Thompson and Zeller. However, it ultimately comes down to Kyrie Irving, the reigning rookie of the year will suffer from no sophomore slump we believe, and we expect him to have another marvelous season. In an era where point guards are expected to be more of a scoring threat than a passing one, Kyrie flourish last year in getting in the paint at will, converting difficult layups and finding open teammates when necessary.
The Cavaliers will not make the playoffs for another few years, and truthfully as of right now, we see no clear robin to Kyrie's batman. Their roster still has lots of gaping holes. Besides Varejao, they do not have a capable defender on the team, and a lack of a post presence does not help them either. We do not necessarily believe that Zeller's offensive repertoire in college will translate to the pros. They are young, and thus Scott must suffer through the growing pains and learning lessons that will come with time.
We expect the Cavs to win 30-35 games just on the brilliance of Kyrie Irving, but do not believe that they will make it an the eastern conference that looks a lot stronger this year than in recent years. The Cavs are well coached, and have a potential superstar at the point guard position, they will be very fun to watch this year at the very least.

The Dwight drama continues, nothing new here

Image from straightfromthea.com

The latest statement coming from Howard's camp about not signing an extension no matter where he's traded should not be a surprise. Dwight Howard's drama continues on just like Carmelo's drama back in his twilight days in Denver. While the Brooklyn trade talks have died out temporarily, the rumor mill continues. This drama has some people tired, and others just itching with excitement about the possibilities.
The Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers have been at the top of the rumor mill in the Howard sweepstakes ever since. The Rockets have recently signed Harvard graduate sensation Jeremy Lin. The move obviously gives Howard business reasons as to why he would like to play for Houston. It would give Howard a chance to expand his brand just like Tracy Mcgrady did in his days playing with Yao Ming. Houston is also interested in acquiring Andrew Bynum should they fail to get Howard.
That leads us to the always involved Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are not worried about Howard not wanting to sign an extension, they believe that once he sees the Los Angeles life and the Lakers franchise he will want to stay.
The Lakers are looking for a trade that will land Howard in Los Angeles and Bynum being in the center of the trade. The problem of course is Bynum's willingness to leave LA and agree to sign an extension wherever he goes. The Lakers need a third team that will provide Orlando with the draft picks and salary relief that the Magic are looking for. Cleveland is one of the names that have came up ( Kyrie Irving and Andrew Bynum is a scary thought).
But we believe the drama will continue on at least until training camp if not longer for a couple of reasons. First, the Magic are in no rush and will look to make the best deal possible whether it takes a day or all the way until the trading deadline. Second, no team has spoken to Bynum directly (the Lakers have given no team permission to speak to Bynum or his representatives) and would be foolish to trade for him without first speaking if he has interest in playing long term there. Finally, the Magic can always wait until january where the Nets would once again be available once Brook Lopez is available for trade.
That being said, Our Committee of one find its ironic, that after the Heat were under such scrutiny for forming a "super team" now the Lakers are trying so hard to form another "super team". After all, the Lakers are intent on keeping Gasol and still acquiring Howard. Its specially intriguing, considering that one of the reasons for the lockout was to try to prevent teams from being able to do what the Lakers are so desperately trying. All in all, expect the Howard drama to continue, and leave us with plenty more rumors to contemplate.
News around the league
-Courtney Lee is officially part of the Boston Celtics
-Suns Resign Shannon Brown for 2 more years
-The NBA has decided to extend the use of instant replay
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