While We’re Waiting… Getting to know Shaun Livingston

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

“By now, you’ve probably seen the phrase “Keep calm and remain cool” somewhere on the Internet, on a T-shirt or on a coffee mug. The catchphrase first appeared during World War II as a public safety poster in Britain and has recently returned to popular culture. Unfortunately, the fad does not appear to have reached Berea. Too often this season, the Browns offense has shown a penchant for panicking when trailing. Instead of staying on course with what is working, the offense opts to try to score points quickly. It simply hasn’t worked.” [Delco/The OBR]

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“Livingston was simply electric with the ball in his hands while playing for the Clippers early in his career. He was lightning fast for a 6’7” player, and just saw the floor differently than others did because of his height and passing acumen. He wasn’t the best player yet (hell, with PERs of 10.4, 10.2, and 13.7 it’s pretty evident he wasn’t even an above average player), but he was clearly starting to turn the corner when “it” happened.

“It” refers to the most gruesome, debilitating knee injury I’ve ever seen. While driving for a layup on a fast break, (and I’m doing this off of a 5 year old memory because I don’t want to watch it again), he went up for a layup and came down on his knee. Yes, I mean he tried to land on his foot, and came down on his knee. Livingston dislocated his kneecap on top of tearing his ACL, PCL and lateral meniscus. This was an injury I honestly never expected him to come back from.

It took a full three years for Livingston to return to being an NBA contributor, which occurred for Washington back in 2010. Since then, he has bounced from Washington, to Charlotte, to Milwaukee, to Houston, back to Washington, and now to Cleveland. Livingston went from being a sure-thing, point-guard of the future to a journeyman NBA point guard in a flash, and it really sucks.” [Vecenie/Fear the Sword]

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“For any interested parties, Brad Beal is still struggling to adapt to the NBA. He went 0-for-5 tonight and was generally a non-factor. I was pretty enamored with Beal when he was coming out college—mostly because of his jumper—but he seems stuck in the same shooting funk he experienced during the first half of his freshman year at Florida. He’s shooting just 36% on the year. For comparison’s sake, Waiters is shooting 37%. (And both are prone to having nightmarish 2-for-11 nights.) Here’s to Beal relocating his shooting stroke and Waiters assuming his identity as Wade-lite. It would be really fun if Irving-Waiters vs. Wall-Beal was a marquee matchup in a couple of years.” [McGowan/Cavs the Blog]

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Finding Boog Powell– “But it meant 10 times more to me because (1) Boog Powell was my favorite player at the time; this was just before that gritty second baseman Duane Kuiper had pierced my consciousness. When you’re 9 and in Cleveland, you are going to love Boog Powell. He was a Cleveland Indian. He hit home runs. And his name was “Boog.” Done deal.* (2) This was the last card that we needed for the set, and my mother was becoming somewhat haunted by it. She did not know Boog Powell from William Powell (of “The Thin Man”), Dick Powell (who married June Allyson) or jazz pianist Mel Powell. She would pronounce “Boog” so it sounded like the first syllable in “Booger,” and she would wonder what grand conspiracy was keeping us from finding one. Still, this card was keeping us from happiness. We bought pack after pack, searched through all the Lezcanos and Moneys and Locklears on earth. Never got one. I would offer incredibly lopsided deals to my friends — trade you a Hank Aaron, Pete Rose and Steve Carlton for one Boog Powell — and no one bit. It was haunting.” [Posnanski/Joe Blogs]

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“Lately, the Cavs have displayed growth. When you’re constantly talking about a process, well, growing up counts for a lot. That’s not to say the Cavs have arrived. Not even close. But at least now we can see flashes of what their plan is supposed to be about.

It’s supposed to be about youth, hustle, character and learning on the fly. In beating the Wizards (and Milwaukee on Saturday), those are some of the things we witnessed. Not always, and not at the level of a playoff-contending team.” [Amico/FSO]