Cleveland Cavaliers Blog – Page 34 – NBA Blog

Cavs deliver beating to Thunder

In a battle between teams on a very short list of NBA championship contenders, the Cavs Sunday unleashed a beatdown on the Thunder. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal blog reporting:

Kevin Love scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in one of his finest performances of the season and the Cavaliers handed the Oklahoma City Thunder their worst loss of the season Sunday, 115-92, despite severe limitations in their backcourt.

LeBron James had 25 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds on a day the Cavs were without Iman Shumpert, Mo Williams and Kyrie Irving. Shumpert missed the game with a sprained left shoulder, Williams was out with a sore knee and Irving departed in the first quarter with flu-like symptoms and did not return.

Iman Shumpert day-to-day

The Cleveland Cavaliers are 39-14 this season and getting a modest 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds on 38.6.% shooting in 24.2 minutes per game from shooting guard Iman Shumpert. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal with a health report on the defensive-minded guard:

Iman Shumpert did not practice Friday after he sprained his left shoulder during Thursday night’s win against the Chicago Bulls. Coach Tyronn Lue called him day to day, leaving his availability for Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in jeopardy.

Shumpert missed six weeks last season after dislocating the same shoulder as a member of the New York Knicks. Lue said Shumpert hurt the shoulder reaching for a steal.

Via two separate trades, Cavaliers get Channing Frye from Magic

Through two separate trades, the Cavaliers have acquired F/C Channing Frye from the Orlando Magic. The Cavs traded F/C Anderson Varejao and a protected future first round draft pick to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for a second round pick. The Cavaliers then traded the second round pick and guard Jared Cunningham to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Frye.

“Anderson is a special player, teammate and person,” said Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin. “Few players have earned the respect, support and admiration of an entire organization, fan base and community as Andy did here. Those are all things that made this a difficult deal to do. At the same time, we have a deep obligation to do whatever we can to reach our ultimate goal and we believe this was a deal that improves our team now and positions us better in the future as well. We thank Andy for his hard work, dedication and contributions to the Cavaliers and our community and wish him and his wife, Marcelle, the very, very best.”

Playing in his 10th NBA season, Frye has appeared in 44 games (29 starts) for Orlando, averaging 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game. He is also shooting .397 from the three-point line and .905 from the foul line. Over his career, the 6-11 forward has played in 701 games (420 starts) with New York, Portland, Phoenix and Orlando, averaging 9.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 24.1 minutes per game. He is a career .387 shooter from beyond the arc, which includes .404 shooting on catch-and-shoot threes over the last two seasons (446 attempts).

“Channing Frye is someone we know well. His length, floor spacing ability and locker room presence will impact us positively,” said Griffin. “He is a great fit with our group, both on the court and off, and we look forward to Channing, his wife Lauren, and their children, Hendrix and Margaux joining us here in Cleveland.”

Varejao has spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Cavaliers and holds career averages of 7.6 points on .512 shooting from the field and 7.5 rebounds in 25.0 minutes over 591 games (208 starts). Among franchise leaders, he ranked third in offensive rebounds (1,479), fifth in defensive rebounds (2,955), fifth in total rebounds (4,434), seventh in games played, tied for seventh in blocks (397) and eighth in steals (529). In 2015-16, Varejao has appeared in 31 games with averages of 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 10.0 minutes.

Cunningham, who signed on as a free agent after the 2015 Cavs training camp, appeared in 40 games (three starts) for the Cavs this season and averaged 2.6 points and 0.7 rebounds in 8.9 minutes per game.

Cavaliers trade Anderson Varejao to Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired a future first-round draft pick and forward Anderson Varejao from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for a future second-round pick, it was announced today by president of basketball operations Neil Olshey.

“This was an opportunistic way to use our cap room to acquire a valuable asset,” said Olshey.

Varejao, 33, holds career averages of 7.6 points (51.2% FG, 63.2% FT), 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists over 12 seasons with the Cavaliers. He is posting averages of 2.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 10.0 minutes in 31 games this season.

Kevin Love shoulder injury seems very minor

Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love’s latest shoulder injury appears to be very minor, fortunately. Here’s ESPN.com reporting:

Cavaliers forward Kevin Love exited Cleveland’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers late in the first half on Wednesday with a left shoulder contusion and did not return.

It is the same shoulder Love dislocated in the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics, causing him to miss the remainder of Cleveland’s postseason run to the Finals.

“At the time I didn’t know really what it was,” Love said after the Cavs’ 120-111 win over the Lakers. “Just like when you get hit in the funny bone, the elbow has shooting pain. It felt like fire was running down my arm. Just a stinger, and doctors decided we’ll be cautious and use the break for it to feel better, but it actually feels OK right now.”

Cavs general manager David Griffin told ESPN’s Lisa Salters that Love is not expected to miss much time. Griffin said the injury looked a lot worse than it is. Love told reporters he did not expect to miss any games.

Cavs hire Mike Longabardi as assistant coach

Mike Longabardi has joined Cavaliers Head Coach Tyronn Lue’s staff as an assistant coach, General Manager David Griffin and Head Coach Tyronn Lue announced tonight.

Longabardi spent the last two-plus seasons as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics under Doc Rivers, four of which with Coach Lue. While with the Celtics, he helped them reach three Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals, including winning the 2008 NBA title. Before joining the Celtics, he was an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets under Jeff Van Gundy.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Longabardi played at Newberry College (S.C.) then transferred and graduated from Frostburg State University (Md.).

Tyronn Lue wants the Cavs to play faster

The Cavaliers (30-12, 4th best record in NBA) are getting 25.0 ppg from LeBron James, 15.8 ppg from Kyrie Irving, 15.6 ppg from Kevin Love, and 12.3 from J.R Smith. They recently said goodbye to head coach David Blatt and put assistant Tyronn Lue in charge. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:

The Cavs rank 28th in the league in pace, or possessions per 48 minutes. Lue wants to get this team playing faster, but he cautioned Saturday that will take time. This team is used to a slow pace that has proved successful.

When Lue tried to speed that pace up Saturday, all three of his stars asked out of the game early because they were tired. That forced him to use 10 players in the first quarter, jumbled his preset rotation and he struggled to recover. LeBron James didn’t dispute the idea the Cavs aren’t physically ready yet to run Lue’s style of offense.

“We played slow basketball up to this point,” James said. “We walk the ball up a lot. … All of us need to do something different as far as our pace and our conditioning. If he wants us to play faster and you want to be out on the floor, you can’t get tired. And if you do, you’ve got to come out. Something that Coach Lue wants us to do and we’ve all got to accept it.”

Cavs fire David Blatt; Tyronn Lue takes over as head coach

Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin announced today that David Blatt has been released from his duties as head coach. Associate Head Coach Tyronn Lue has been named Head Coach. The current Cavaliers assistant coaches and staff remain under contract and will continue working with the team.

“On behalf of the organization, I would like to thank David Blatt for his efforts and commitment to this franchise,” said Griffin. “He spent the last year and a half battling intense scrutiny, working to mold a very willful group and we all recognize that is not at all an easy task.”

“But with that said, when you have the clarity of purpose that our ownership has instilled in this entire organization, decisions often make themselves. Every decision made is an answer to the following question: does it put us in the best position to deliver Championships to Northeast, Ohio.”

“So, today, we are elevating Tyronn Lue, from his role as Associate Head Coach to Head Coach. I am more than confident that he will have the pulse of our team and the buy-in required to enhance the habits and culture that will foster the kind of identity and results we must have.”

Blatt was named the 19th head coach in Cavaliers history on June 20, 2014. During his one and half seasons as head coach, Blatt compiled a regular season record of 83-40 and a 14-6 mark in last year’s playoffs.

“Over the course of my business career I have learned that sometimes the hardest thing to do is also the right thing to do,” said Dan Gilbert, Majority Owner of the Cavaliers. “Our ownership group supports David Griffin’s decision. We would like to thank David Blatt for his work over these past two seasons where the Cavaliers transformed into a playoff team after a rebuilding phase. We believe Tyronn Lue is the right coach at the right time to put us in the best position to take the last but most challenging step to complete our mission to deliver Cleveland an NBA Championship.”

Lue is in his second season with the Cavs after being hired as the associate head coach in June 2014. He was previously an assistant coach on Doc Rivers’ staff with the Los Angeles Clippers, who captured the Pacific Division title with a 57-25 record in 2013-14. Prior to the Clippers, Lue spent four seasons as a member of Rivers’ Boston Celtics staff, the last two as an assistant coach. He began his time in Boston as the Director of Basketball Development in 2009-10.

Originally drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 23rd overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, Lue played 11 seasons in the NBA, appearing in 554 career games with the Lakers, Washington, Orlando, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas and Milwaukee. The former University of Nebraska star won NBA Championships in 2000 and 2001 with the Lakers.

Cavs continue to lead the East

With a 27-9 record, the Cleveland Cavaliers have the third best winning-percentage in the league. They are 4.5 games ahead of the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern conference standings. Last night in Dallas they hung on in overtime to beat the Mavericks. Here’s ESPN Cleveland with more:

The Cavs like their chances against anyone these days as they’ve now won 14 of their past 16 games to surge to the top record in the Eastern Conference by a 4.5-game lead over Toronto. As they entered into their toughest portion of the schedule all season on Tuesday — over a six-day stretch their schedule reads at Dallas, at San Antonio, at Houston (on a back-to-back) and home against the defending champion Golden State Warriors — the manner in which they beat the Mavs makes you think they’re ready for whatever comes next.

That’s not to say they’ll sweep the next three games of this murderer’s row to extend their streak to double digits while handing the Spurs their first home loss of the season in the process. It’s just that the way they approached the Dallas game seems like a solid formula for success along the way.

No, not the way they fell down 23-7 in the game’s first seven minutes. And not the way they settled for 44 3-pointers out of their 97 shots. But the way it was a true top-to-bottom type of effort. Seven of the nine players to see the court scored in double figures. Everyone took care of the ball, amassing only nine turnovers as a team in 53 minutes. Everyone shared the ball, too, notching 28 assists on their 40 made field goals.

Cavs trade Joe Harris to Magic

The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired the Portland Trail Blazers’ protected 2020 second round pick from the Orlando Magic in exchange for guard Joe Harris, the Sacramento Kings’ 2017 protected second round pick, owned by the Cavaliers, and cash, Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin announced today.

This season, Harris appeared in five games for the Cavs and 10 games for the Canton Charge.

He was originally selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round (33rd overall pick) of the 2014 NBA Draft.

Today, Harris underwent successful surgery in Indianapolis on his right foot for excision of 5th metatarsal apophysis.

The Cavs roster now stands at 14.