God Bless Bruce Drennan
May 6, 2010Cavs/Celtics NBA.com Blog Contest #2
May 7, 2010While 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
Free JJ!! “Questioning his team’s energy and focus is fine, but if Brown wants to dig a little bit deeper to find answers as to why his team has struggled so much so far in these first two games against Boston, then he needs to take a look in the mirror.
In particular, Brown needs to ask himself why he is not finding more minutes for sophomore big man J.J. Hickson, who has been a heck of a spark for the Cavaliers this season whenever they have been matched up with Boston. […]
Brown may or may not get a more focused and motivated team in Game Three. He does not control that as much as he would like. But one thing is for sure:Â he would definitely have a better team if he played the 21-year-old Hickson far, far, more than the 38-year-old O’Neal.
And that much he does control.” [Amar/Wine and Goldrush]
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DE-FENSE, [clap, clap]: “I think on the whole, the Indians have been playing pretty adequate defense (and I know, the timing of this statement is poor). But specific assessments are more tricky. The early season UZR numbers for Asdrubal, for example, show him once again as below average. In particular, UZR is once again down on his range. But then if I look at the number of plays Cabrera has made out of his zone (OOZ), I see he has made an astounding 16 OOZ plays so far this season (compared to 74 balls in his zone, BIZ). To put that in perspective, across the entire season last year he was credited with just 29 OOZ plays in more than 4 times as many chances. How do these two numbers make sense?” [APV/Lets Go Tribe]
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Glass half full? “There are two ways to look at Game 2: 1) Boston was sort of fortunate to win; they turned the ball over 17 times, Cleveland, the 2nd-best three-point shooting team in the NBA, missed 17 of 21 three-pointers, and the C’s hit 9-of-19 from deep. You can’t reasonably expect that kind of three-point disparity again; 2) Boston turned the ball over 17 times and still won by 18 points on the road. And, sure, they were hot from three-point range and Cleveland was cold, but what are the chances Cleveland attempts 20 more foul shots than the C’s once the series moves to the Garden?” [CelticsHub]
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Some advice for the kid: “Brian Sipe hasn’t seen enough of Colt McCoy to know if the Browns’ third-round draft pick will become an impact player in the NFL. But Sipe does know what it’s like to be a quarterback for the Browns. He also knows what it takes for a quarterback such as Texas product McCoy to adjust from warm weather to the wind, snow and cold in Cleveland…” [Terry Pluto]
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WFNY’s Andrew fires off a lead question to Brent Barry surrounding the Cavaliers defense [NBA.com]
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And a little updated info on Carlos Santana: “Questions about Santana’s arrival date in Cleveland won’t stop until it happens, but the fact that the 24-year-old has been truly comfortable as a catcher for less than a year can’t be forgotten. He is a two-time minor-league MVP based on his bat, and there are no doubts about his hitting. Asked if Santana would already be an Indian if he still played his former positions of third base or the outfield, Alomar said, “Probably.” Frankly, Alomar doesn’t quite understand the decision the Los Angeles Dodgers made to move Santana to catcher in Single A in 2007.” [Doug Lesmerises]
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(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
29 Comments
Is Brent Barry less orange than his brother?
I have lost complete respect for Dwight Howard. Obviously I hate the Magic as a team, as a rival of the Cavs, but I am still man enough to give respect where respect is due. But after seeing highlights from last night’s game when Howard mocked LBJ’s pregame chalk toss…I mean, grow up man. Maybe it was all in good fun, and maybe they are actually buddies in the offseason, but never before (at least as far as I know) has someone had such sour grapes about not winning the MVP or his team’s lack of respect and exposure. He may be the best defender in the league, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s also a whiny little baby, too.
I want Sipe in my club.
Cavs win pulling away tonight
The whole JJ thing needs to go away. JJ isn’t going to be the difference between a playoff win or loss, not this year. If this team needs JJ’s energy to wake them up then we are screwed anyways. The team’s (and especially LeBron’s) lack of intensity is why they are embarrassing in their losses and unconvincing in their wins. JJ Hickson’s 10-15 minutes aren’t the reason this series is 1-1.
clown baby – but JJ’s athleticism and energy for 30 minutes COULD make the difference between a W and L against boston.
It’s not necessarily only the spark of energy the team needs from JJ. He’s athletic and played well this year against Boston that created some issues for them. Not to mention that Shaq is obviously struggling. I think it’s a no-brainer to get him more minutes. This isn’t something that will go away…and it shouldn’t.
While JJ is my favorite topic this season, it would be way too convenient to say that lots more JJ would create a win. That’s because it ain’t gonna happen, and, thus, there would be no way to disprove the hypothesis.
But, in the vein of the JJ thing, I think coach Brown needs to find a way to mine the pine – there could be a hot hand there on any given night. I reckon finding the night’s hot 6th man is not sufficient but is necessary to win it all.
For now, Shaq and Mo seem to be quarter-by-quarter men. When on, they’re the bomb. When off, they’re a penalty. Until they start stringing some good quarters together, I’d test them for four minutes at the turn of every quarter.
If they’re not on, they need to be subbed.
I think people like to clamor for JJ because if he does not play, everyone refers to the “Did JJ play?” part of the floe charte, which invariably leads to PANIC.
People like PANIC way too much.
Mike – Disagree. JJ’s defensive lapses balance out anything he may do on offense. Yeah, he might have a couple dunks and that may be somewhat uplifting but when he doesn’t box out and is out of position on the other end….what’s he really bring to the table? I know we all know more then Mike Brown here but there is a reason JJ isn’t seeing the floor and I think it has something to do with the space between his ears. JJ is going to be good and in time he will “get it” but now isn’t the time for teaching. I’m all for a few minutes, but in the end he’s going to give up as much as he gets.
I’d rather the Cavs’ starters come out and dominate the way the should. Jamison could embarrass KG on offense and LeBron can score at will. Mo needs to stop the matador defense and Shaq just needs to hit his 3-footers. If they do all that (like the way the can) then whatever JJ does or doesn’t do wouldn’t matter.
Denny
I clamor for JJ because he’s a good story, a diggable story, fun to root for. EMOTIONS, he belongs in Kelley’s Heroes or something.
it can be easy to hide JJ’s defensive lapses. stick him on perkins. boston doesnt run anything through perkins. whats wrong with AV on garnett, lebron on pierce, west on rondo and moon/parker on allen? you can switch it up a little – put powe (why is he inactive?) for 5 minutes or so on KG and varejao/hickson on perkins. obviously, we dont know that more hickson equals a win. we do know that boston struggles the most against teams that are athletic and energetic. they had alot of problems beating atlanta this year for that reason. one of our most athletic and energetic players is hickson so why not give it a shot? whats the worse that can happen – they lose again?
also meant jamison on allen too.
From an X’s and O’s standpoint, I like what Shaq can do in there because of his ability to rebound and will Rondo pause before he decides to come in the paint. JJ isn’t going to to do either of those things. This is all besides the point.
If the Cavs starting 5 cannot beat Boston’s staring 5, THE CAVS WILL NOT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP. We may beat Boston, but Orlando will run us out of the gym if our starters are playing below their abilities. We aren’t going to beat Orlando because we are getting great production out of our 8th man. I think the focus and ridicule right now should be on the starting five and their lack of execution…or maybe Brown’s inability to run plays for Jamison or to get the team focused. But blaming Brown for not getting JJ freaking Hickson in the game? Not buying.
Clown Baby,
not to go all (fill-in-the-blank) about the bench, but … the starting five can beat boston’s starting five, but maybe not every night and on Sunday, too. I don’t think we can beat Orlando if we’re not getting production from the bench. No one is saying bench production is sufficient, but it’s necessary, and it may be the difference in a game or three.
I’m not devaluing the bench, I’m saying that if the starters play like garbage (which they have for the majority of the playoffs) then it isn’t going to matter what we get from the bench. It’s really not, they aren’t going to win a game where the LeBron has 30 points and nobody else hits double figures. It’s not going to happen. I agree the bench can keep us in a game/put us over the top in a close game, but it’s going to take some sort of effort from the starting 5 to get to that point.
Agree with Mike. In game 1, thier jump shots were off in the 4th due to heavy legs from playing so long. This was never an issue in game 2 due to the score. We need to run on them all nignt. The other obvious key is intense defense. If we bring this tonight, we win. I expect LeBron to show up big time, since tonight is the bigget game of the year. Don’t force feed Shaq, and if he isn’t hitting early get him out of there, and only bring him back to use some hard fouls.
JJ was the reason for the mini comeback in game 2. He did what Andy usually does, tried his butt off on each and every play. The difference is that JJ can be effective on offense as well. He was pressing the inbound passes and the ball handler, when the rest of the team was lazily walking up court. A little aside, JJ pressuring Rondo led to the ‘and one’ for Garnett which ended our run and sparked the Celtics to finish the game strong.
Agree with Clown Baby
Now, for the next level: If the starting five continues to play like their in the middle of breakups with their high school sweethearts, how does coach Brown get the light of day into their heads?
I say: sit ’em ’til the sight of the bench getting creamed elevates their blood pressure enough to beg to get back on the floor.
It may, of course, be too late in the season for bench therapy.
clown baby – lets arm wrestle to settle this once and for all! 🙂
mike – I Indian Leg Wrestle or I do nothing.
ok, whatever. just dont ask me to swordfight – not that theres anything wrong with that.
oh my god, Brendon. That avatar is fantastic.
Did everyone forget Z is on the team?
He can at leas handle KG in the low post better than anyone else we have.
Look:
Jameson, great offensive player…no defense
JJ, good from about 10 feet in slashing to the basket…not defensive power
Shaq, would someone just put him out of his misery. He can’t hit anything other than a dunk, and he gives us nothing on defense
Then there is Z: he’s lanky and long and strong. He can at least make KG work for it on the low post. Note i’m not saying he will stop him, but Z will at least provide some resistance. And he will draw KG out of the lane on D since Z is at least a theoretical threat all the way out to the 3 point line when his jumper isn’t rusty.
JJ is really a Matt Barnes type, who is not a starter. He can provide some offense spark near the basket but with our D hurting he’ll just give back any points he generates on the other end
exiledCav
I think KG would man the lane until Z gets his jumper back.
also about KG, if his foot sprain is an issue – theres even less of a chance he can keep up with a quicker, more athletic and energetic JJ.
I think we should have let Z walk, he would get worked by Perkins, and we all know how well Z and Shaq play together when they’re in the lineup. So exiled you want Z playing the four with who guarding Perkins?
Lest we forget LeBron actually took the “pre-game powder toss” from KG. If you remember the old NBA commercials KG used to do that. It just wasn’t as big as now b/c LeBron is the best player in the NBA, and he does it on the opposing team’s home court haha.
And I agree with most of the JJ comments. He does provide a spark, but his defense is lacking at times. And he really only plays well w/ LeBron on the court for some reason…? Granted, with Shaq struggling, JJ is the next best option.