Cleveland Sports Blog Outing Game Preview
July 16, 2009All Cliff Lee Needs is One Mic, Two Runs
July 17, 2009While 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 in the sidebar.
Ri-valry? “The Washington Wizards will give head coach Flip Saunders his first taste of the rivalry between his new team and the Cleveland Cavaliers when they meet Tuesday in Washington’s opening game of the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. “Is LeBron [James] playing?” said Saunders. “We might have someone who can dunk on him, I don’t know.” [Craig Stouffer/Washington Examiner]
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Rivaling the Redskins, your 2009 Offseason [NBA] Champs?: “It’s hard not to be condescending or matter of fact, but I can’t help but implore to readers that the Orlando Magic have absolutely owned this offseason. […] Even before the new stadium goes up. Even in this economy. Good on them. Appreciate these moves, because this team is running rings around everyone else this summer.” [Kelly Dwyer/Ball Don’t Lie]
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Shaquille O’Neal’s tribute to the late Michael Jackson [NESW Sports]
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Remember when Manny batted sixth? And Jim Thome had the day off… “[Fifteen] years ago on this day Dennis Martinez pitched a shutout, leading the Indians to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. The victory moved Martinez to 9-4 and put the Tribe 19 games over .500. Here was the lineup that day:
K. Lofton CF
O. Vizquel SS
C. Baerga 2B
A. Belle LF
E. Murray 1B
M. Ramirez RF
C. Maldonado DH
T. Pena C
A. Espinoza 3B”
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Matt Herges found a new home. A home that has potential to have a lot more “W’s” attached to it. [Troy Renick/Denver Post]
30 Comments
I like Kelly Dwyer’s writing a lot, but I don’t see it. Vinsanity is really all they added, they lost Turk, Courtney Lee and overpaid for Gortat. Am I missing something?
The Cavs and Magic were probably the two best teams in the East, no?
Cavs add: Shaq, Parker; lose: Wallace, Pavlovic
Magic add: Carter; lose: Lee, Turkoglu, Alston
How exactly are they running rings around the Cavs?
The Magic also signed Brandon Bass.
Sorry–and don’t forget Ryan Anderson.
LOL @ the Wizards.
That’s like the Browns talking trash about the Steelers. They have no right to be saying anything until they can actually beat them.
Maybe the LBJ getting dunked on thing might add fuel to his fire. Like how Shaq did with Kobe and the whole championship thing without him.
I don’t see an end to this.
They also essentially “tricked” the Mavs into giving them Bass while retaining Gortat. People see this as a bold and tricky move, instead of just bloating the hell out of their luxury tax for a guy who will avg about 12 minutes a game.
Then again, we don’t know what their midseason plans are. It could be that signing Gortat to a contract like that was simply so they could trade him for some significant pieces later on in the season.
You guys are taking the words right out of my mouth.. Is anybody else not really worred about the Magic? Im more worried about the C’s getting healthy, Detroit with our coach, Bulls uprising, and Kobe just to name a few. The Magic are good don’t get me wrong but I feel like they lost more then they gained and they kinda got lucky/hot against us last year.
Man that line up is awesome. Miss those days so much, how did we not win ATLEAST 1… sigh…
What’s with that mess I seen on ESPN by Stein that says “Don’t be surprised if you see Delonte West get traded this season”.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=Chatter-090714
@#7: I hear ya. I often wonder if the 1994 season hadn’t gotten cancelled if that wouldn’t have actually been their best chance to win one. And I say that even in spite of how “juggernautic” the 95 Tribe was.
@8 –
The weirder thing is that Stein makes it sound like a salary dump situation for the Cavs. The Cavs are buyers not sellers right now and I don’t think the news of an uptick in season ticket sales did much to change that. Oh ESPN……..
@8
i read the other day that there were reports of a blockbuster trade in the works for a “big” name guy…no names were mentioned other than the fact that delonte would be part of the deal…interested to see how that plays out
I’m pretty much done with this “big name” stuff anyways. We we traded for West, he was Seattle’s third-string PG. But his style fits so well with what we do, he’s not only a starter, but possibly one of the more untouchables that this team has.
I don’t need names. Just get me guys that fit in with what we’re trying to accomplish.
I can’t wait for a Wizards player to take a swipe at Lebron causing Shaq to send them into the bleachers
@ Clown- we kicked that one around by email last week. I think the only way Delonte is dealt is if the player coming back is a BIG TIME player. In that scenario we think Delonte plus maybe Hickson or Green would be packaged with Z’s contract. Don’t see that happening anytime soon, if at all. I’m really not sure what Delonte’s value is around the league. He is a guy that has been available for trade his whole career before coming to Cleveland, and he isn’t expensive. Hard to tell nowadays when GM’s are selling off stars at .25 on the dollar.
@7 – agreed…I dont see how anyone is worried about the Magic – I mean yah Jameer is healthier, but I still dont fear them as much as I do a full stregnth C’s team with Garnett…
You know what, that’s fine let everyone hype up the Magic. Let us “fly under the radar” sp to speak. That just puts more pressure on the Magic. I agree with all of you though, they got worse IMO. We need to worry about the C’s. The Pistons and Bulls will be good too. The two that really scare me are the Lakers and the Spurs.
If the Spurs are actually healthy this year everyone needs to look out. Including the Lakers.
Delonte?! I say HELL no, and I feel like LBJ probably would too. Seems like they get along real well. Im curious to see who the “big name” player is though.
The Magic are getting major props this offseason because they have adjusted their roster to better match-up with the Celtics and Lakers (both of whom they had matchup issues with).
Howard/Gortat/Bass help them have a 3-man rotation at the PF/C spot that provide strength and muscle down low.
The reason that, as Cavs fans, we see them as not improved is because they also made themselves an easier matchup for the Cavs. We couldn’t contend with their athleticism up front and now they have made themselves into a more traditional team. That helps us matchup with them (yeah, they can still go small with Rashard at PF…but then they weaken themselves at SF, so that will probably be a part-time line-up now instead of their main one).
I agree with Brett. The Spurs could be the team to beat if they stay healthy..
Personally, I don’t really fear a healthy Celtics team. We were going to beat them with Garnett or not. And I don’t think they are going to get healthy anyway… So the point might be moot.
I fear the Lakers and a healthy Spurs. Thats it.
Memo to the wiz: It’s not a rivalry when one team wins all the time
And Delonte moving would be tough personally: he’s easily my favorite non-LeBron Cavalier. Makes me wonder just who this “big name” is though.
@ Wizards…YAWN.
Maybe “big name” means a name with lots of characters in it.
B-Bo, You better send that memo to the Browns, and UofM too while you’re at it.
Yeah I don’t see us beating the Lakers unless they can’t resign Odom. Artest is really the only guy in the league that has had success against LeBron. We can’t match up with Odom. But if he’s gone – they are very beatable.
The Magic are indeed better. Vince is a better player than Turk. And Nelson is a better player than Alston. Bass is also a very nice addition. But ultimately, as some have pointed out, the Magic don’t pose as many match up problems with this lineup. Delonte and or Parker can guard Carter without any problems, and LeBron can stick with Rashard as long as he doesn’t have to be running all over the court closing out on the open man. Howard’s not going to get doubled as much either.
I don’t think people realize how good this Cavs team can be. They are a 66 win team that upgraded two positions and addressed 2 match up problems.
Not bad.
Oh, and get ready for LeBron to shoot above 50% this year.
Agree, its not a rivalry. Now Browns/Steelers – that is a REAL rivalry.
LOL @ Nicko.
Just make sure you bookmark that Ball Don’t Lie article so we’ll all have a good chuckle this time next year.
i just have a feeling lebron isn’t going to take all this ribbing lightly come november