Buckeyes’ Rose Bowl Opponent Determined Tonight
December 3, 2009Browns Granted 24-Hour Extension
December 3, 2009Athletic, but just not there yet. These are the words that described both Christian Eyenga and Leon Powe – two players that Cavalier fans cannot wait to see suit up for the Wine and Gold.
I had the opportunity to attend a question and answer session yesterday evening with Cavaliers assistant general manager Lance Blanks. Blanks fielded a handful of questions regarding the big ticket items like LeBron James’ future as well as Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas beyond the 2009 season. When I was given the chance to ask a question, I focused primarily on the progress of recent first-round draft pick Christian Eyenga.
Blanks mentioned the team’s efforts overseas, so it was an ideal seague. The Cavaliers continue to tout Eyenga’s athleticism. In fact, Blanks said that they feel Eyenga’s athletic abilities would place him among the top 10 percent in the NBA. But when factoring in his age, strength and basketball knowledge, he just isn’t there yet.
When I specifically asked if the team has kept in touch with Eyenga, I was given an emphatic “yes.” Blanks commented on the difference between the European game – as Eyenga has been playing with DKV Joventut – and the game that he played over the summer with the Cavaliers in Las Vegas. Eyenga’s minutes overseas have been a bit of a question mark as he has started a few games and not others, averaging out to about 13 minutes per night.
Amazingly, Eyenga’s athleticism has not disappointed as he is averaging a full block per game in the limited minutes to go along with five points (on 64 percent shooting), three rebounds and almost a full steal. Eyenga recently had one of his best games for Joventut where he tallied 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal…in 10 minutes of play.
But when will Eyenga suit up for the Cavaliers? That remains an unknown. He just turned 20 years of age and plays a wing position that is currently occupied by several more experienced Cavalier players. The Cavs would obviously love to have him here sooner than later, but are in no hurry to rush his development.
The same goes for power forward Leon Powe. Blanks discussed that there are in fact two deadlines for Powe’s return to the floor. The much-discussed deadline of February is the one that the team has put on paper. However, the team has more of their focus on making sure that Powe is ready for the postseason run.
“There is a difference between being ready physically,” Blanks said, “and being ready mentally.”
He continued by explaining that once the knee is healthy, Powe will then have to get used to the Cavaliers style of play as well as where he will fit amongst the rest of the frontcourt bodies. While the second year of Powe’s contract is not guaranteed, the Cavs still have motivation to ensure that he is not rushed back following his third ACL surgery. The progress of JJ Hickson has definitely allowed more leeway with the frontcourt rotation. As Rick mentioned yesterday, Mike Brown will have a lot of options come the spring, but will also have a lot of decisions to make.
47 Comments
Awesome stuff. Thanks Scott.
EYENGA HAS RIDICULOUS UPSIDE POTENTIAL!!!!
Ugh. Worst draft pick ever.
Dear Andrew,
We are the worst draft picks ever.
Sincerely,
Trajan Langdon
Desegana Diop
Luke Jackson
Dajuan Wagner
I still scratch my head with the Eyenga pick. For a while, I thought Mangini snuck into the Cavs war room and made the pick.
Still wish they would have drafted DeJuan Blair when they had the chance. I trust Ferry, so hopefully Eyenga will suit up in the next few seasons.
Those picks are bad in hindsight. Diop started on a team in the NBA Finals. Nobody expected Wagner to flame out as bad as he did, let alone have the health issues he had. I don’t think anyone thought Langdon would struggle with his shot as frequently as he did. But all of those guys at least played in the NBA. I’m still not holding my breath on Eyenga ever playing in the NBA.
It was a weird pick. It seems out of character, based on what they were saying about money being no object, that they would intentionally pick someone they wouldn’t have to pay right away. My only thought is that they wanted the flexibility to tie him into a trade with someone and simultaneously not have him holding down a roster spot. You know, so we could keep Coby Karl.
Diop was the 8th overall pick in the draft and avereaged 1.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 10.8 minutes per contest as a Cavalier.
Thankfully, the Andre Miller pick saved the Langdon draft for us.
Brand, Francis, Baron Davis, Odom, Wally, Rip Hamilton, Miller, Marion and Terry were all in the top 10…
Luke Jackson OMGWTFLOLBBQ
Dear Craig,
Who do you think you are, ignoring me like this? I feel slighted.
Very sincerely,
Vitale Potapenko
I think it’s too early to dismiss this pick. When some of our current roster falls away in the next year or two, this guy might become a Pietrus. That wouldn’t be so bad. I like that we are finally picking athletic players. Blair wouldn’t have done anything for us. He would never play. Hickson is so much better to have on the floor than Blair when it comes to playing teams with that include the likes of Sheed, Garnett, Lewis, Anderson, etc.
for the record, i was 100% against wagner at the time and predicted he’d be a bust. anytime you have a pure SG who is under 6 feet, that is a huge risk. just because AI could do it doesnt mean every super athletic sub-6 foot SG-in-a-PG’s body can be successful in the nba. obviously wagner’s health issues didnt help matters. i remember watching that draft – beer in hand – and repeating “anyone but wagner, anyone but wagner.” frankly, i was hoping they’d somehow trade the pick with andre miller to get the clippers two first round picks and use one of those on caron butler.
From what he’s saying (and since Eyenga is like 20) it seems the Cavs are trying to homegrown their own Jamario Moon for the time when Moon into his 30s and Eyenga is hitting his (physical) prime.
EYENGA TO THE KNICKS IN 2015! BOOK IT!
@Craig: Yeah, but he still at least played for the Cavaliers.
EZ – That’s exactly what I said to my buddy last night. If he can put on some muscle, he could be a lesser scoring version of the Josh Smith/Tayshaun Prince mold.
Eyenga was a HORRIBLE PICK. We should have gotten an “NBA ready” rookie to sit at the end of the bench next to Danny Green, and eat cap and luxury tax money while having absolutely zero chance of cracking the rotation on one of the deepest teams in the league.
Signed,
Stupidity
One thing I know: I know nothing about the European game and can’t seem to figure it out either. Brandon Jennings is obviously exhibit a. He can score 55 in the best league in the world, but can’t stat in Europe? It seems like there’s absolutely NO correlation between performance there and here.
So while I can’t figure out the Eyenga pick, I also wouldn’t expect to. I hope Ferry knows what he’s doing.
Woah why are people hating this pick? You’ve never even seen him play in the NBA. What makes you all an expert?
I’m okay with developing talent. Had he been with the team we all know Mike Brown would have just made him sit the pine the entire season. At least now he’s actually playing basketball.
I’m more excited about Powe. I cannot wait to see him out there.
christianG???
are you sure it isn’t christianE!!!
I just love how people use the money saving aspect of this as justification. As if money was a variable in this equation in any way. Please.
FWIW, I’m not wholly opposed to the pick. My issue lies in the fact that the Cavs are in a “win now” mode and passed on guys that could contribute right out of the gate.
@Scott: That’s been my stance since day 1 on this issue. It’s not about money or anything else. The Cavs said going into that draft that they were looking for people who could help them win now. The Christian Eyenga pick is the exact opposite of that, and I find that puzzling.
I’d be willing to listen to anyone explain how a 30th pick would get any playing time on a team that went to the conference finals last year and improved significantly in the offseason.
Sam Young is averaging 6.8 pts and 2.4 boards… on Memphis. Blair is averaging 6 pts and 5.5 boards. What exactly do either one of those guys bring that Hickson doesn’t have? If you have someone else in mind, let me know.
Ferry is trying to develop talent without paying for it. Please explain how this is a bad thing.
The Cavs saving money wouldn’t make any sense but they could trade his rights to a team (for $ value in a trade) and the other team wouldn’t actually be incurring actual cost at the time. In theory that would make sense if they found a team wanting to dump salary. I think that’s right anyway, the NBA salary rules are crazy.
I love the instant gratification status of the internet sometimes. Just because Eyenga isn’t making an impact in the NBA when we were told on draft day that he would not make an impact this season makes him a bust. Hilarious.
I think Ferry has proven himself to be a good drafter. Shannon Brown (though for the Lakers instead of us), Daniel Gibson, JJ Hickson, and Darnell Jackson have all done relatively well for as low as we were drafting them. No, we don’t have an allstar like Ginobli or Arenas plucked from the 2nd round, but I think Ferry has earned the benefit of the doubt from the fans.
@Clown: That’s a fascinating point, and to be honest, I don’t know either off the top of my head how that would work if they wanted to trade him. But I remember reading that no other team was reportedly even looking at drafting Eyenga (and certainly not that high), so I would imagine teams aren’t exactly lining up to trade for him.
let me reword that…..I think Ferry should have earned the benefit of the doubt from the fans (obviously from some of these comments there are still doubters)
There has been no bigger defender of Ferry than me. That’s a really unfair comment. Prior to last season, when the Cavaliers finally became a true elite team, there were precious few Ferry defenders, but I was always one of them. But I think it’s ok for me to disagree with this one draft pick. I still think Ferry is an excellent GM.
To say that money had nothing to do with it is silly. This isn’t baseball, money (more specifically cap space) always has something to do with it.
I completely understand the “win now” theme, but there obviously won’t be a home run at the end of the first round, and to draft someone who will be guaranteed money just for the sake of drafting someone is dumb, especially when they are virtually guaranteed no shot at playing.
Ferry has done nothing to earn my doubts. If he can turn Damon Jones into Mo Williams, he has to have some concept of what he’s doing.
My vote for worst first round pick ever: Nikoloz Tskitishvili – Denver 2002, #5 overall
I don’t know, Darko going ahead of Carmello and Wade has to be a top 3.
Dear Cavs Fans,
Don’t worry. I got this.
Signed,
#2 all time games played, Cleveland Cavaliers.
I still wonder along with Chris who the “contribute now” guys in the draft were that we passed on at 30?
Bueller? Bueller?…
Worst pick ever?
Sam Bowie ahead of Jordan.
@Chris, again in retrospect. At the time Detroit had a strong team. That’s an all-time bust maybe, but not an all-time worst pick.
Since we likely could have picked up Eyenga after the draft, that makes it a bad pick, IMO. However, since no one at that position would have offered much I don’t personally think it was necessarily worst pick ever. In 5 years we’ll look back and be able to specify one or two players that would have been solid picks, but right now that means we had like a 5% chance of any pick panning out anyway.
You really cant say Sam Bowie was a bad pick, he was more dominant than Jordan on the college level and both Red Auerbach and Larry Bird were in love with the guy.
Please give me some names of who can contribute now. And then tell me how many minutes they’ll get to contribute.
Mike Brown doesn’t develop talent on his own. As I’ve said, at least now he’s playing basketball. Poor Danny Green is just itching to slam dunk it out there because the bench is rubbing him raw.
This was a 66 win team that just added Shaq. Sure the whole West thing shows a kink in the armor, but look how well J.J & Moon have been playing. The cavs are in Win now. Is it not possible Eyenga impresses people in the next two years and is part of a trade that gives us a stronger piece?
Ps: Are you sure nobody would have taken Eyenga? Did you ever hear of Rodrigue Beaubois? Ever think he’d be a starter on Dallas?
I know I didn’t.
I attended the “Rookie Chalk Talk” also. I liked the one last year (with Ferry and Gilbert) better. But this one was pretty good.
Darko Milicic is sad to have been removed from draft bust consideration.
Obviously nobody the Cavs would have drafted would have played when this team is fully healthy. But again, we’re applying a lot of hindsight. Remember, Shaq wasn’t traded to the Cavs until the same day as the draft. Leon Powe hadn’t even been signed yet. Nor had Moon or Parker. It’s not fair to quote the Cavs depth as a reason not to pick Blair because the team didn’t have this depth at that time.
So the only thing we knew at that time was that the Cavs front court had an aging Z, an aging Shaq, an unimpressive Hickson, and an underwhelming Darnell Jackson. We didn’t even know if Varejao would be back. So in that context, the decision to pick someone who had no chance of playing this year was a curious one.
But even still, if injuries catch up to the Cavs at any point, it would have been nice to have had someone on the team who could help out.
I think the original plan was to get both Eyenga and Blair. Remember, Ferry thought he had a deal with Denver to buy their 34th pick before Houston out bid him ebay style in the final seconds. That pick was going to be used to get Blair.
Yes, they could have picked Blair first, but I believe it was more of a contract thing than a money thing. First round selections are slotted to receive a two year guaranteed deal, second rounders are not. Based on the uncertainty of Blair’s knees, I just don’t think Ferry was willing to give him that.
@Andrew – you thought my comment was unfair, but you are calling Eyenga a ‘BUST’ and starting to label him among the biggest Cavs draft ‘BUSTS’ of all time.
your words comparing Eyenga to the worst Cavs draft blunders: “But all of those guys at least played in the NBA. I’m still not holding my breath on Eyenga ever playing in the NBA.”
and you called my comment unfair?
Diop it like it’s hot…
Who cares if those guys played in the NBA? If Eyenga never does we don’t really pay him the vet minimum and ALWAYS hold his rights. No one was talking about drafting Z when he was picked (well except Fratello and Embry) and he’s turned into what we see now.
A guy who is picked as the last 1st round pick in the NBA draft is like a guy picked in the 6th round of the NFL draft. If he works out great, but if he injures his shoulder during opportunity period and is out the whole year, well stuff happens.
You don’t go and call guys picked in the 10th round of the MLB draft busts right away cause they aren’t on the 40-man do you? No, Why? Because they need time to develop. There’s about 2 handfuls of guys who have been drafted in the second round this past decade that are significant players. I am willing to bet you a beer that Blair won’t make that list in 10 years.
Why are we even arguing about this? We need to be talking about who they are going to trade Shaq for this year to get Lebrons Star running mate. You know they won’t have the $$ in the offseason to bring in a talented STARTING player at PF or 2 guard. This has to be done in this season with trades. Shaq makes the team worse, lets get him out of here.
Eyenga can in no way be determined a bust until he’s played atleast 2-3 NBA seasons. You guys all called Boobie worlthless and he’s having a career year.
Nobody at 30 (pick) was going to walk in and be game ready.
S-Dub, that was beautifully put.
So I’m going to focus my comment on the Powe part of this…
Does anyone else feel like Mike Brown having a lot of “options” come playoff time might not be the best thing in the world, given Mike Brown’s penchant for botching the rotation?