Category: Cleveland Cavaliers Blog

The Cavaliers are expected to name Alex Jensen, a St. Louis University assistant, as head coach of their new Canton D-League team, the Plain Dealer has learned.

Jensen has spent the past four seasons as a Billikins assistant under Rick Majerus for whom he played at the University of Utah in the 1990s. St. Louis is one of the Atlantic 10’s top defensive teams and it’s believed his focus on defense is one of the main attractions to the Cavaliers.

Walsh University coach Jeff Young also was believed to be among the finalists.

— Reported by Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Already reeling from economic losses, Cleveland could be out millions of dollars in tax revenue if labor strife leads to cancellation of the upcoming National Basketball Association season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers paid the city $4.5 million in city admission taxes last season, plus income taxes charged against the team’s $53 million payroll. How much in income taxes was not known because Cleveland officials decline to discuss what they collect from specific taxpayers.

The city also took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in parking taxes on Cavs’ game days. The 8 percent tax generated $300,000 for municipal operating expenses, according to Finance Director Sharon Dumas, and a possibly larger sum to pay debt on parking garages.

Effects also could be felt in Independence, which is the site of the Cavaliers’ practice facility and splits income taxes from the home team’s players with Cleveland. The Cavaliers rank as the suburb’s second-biggest source of income taxes this year, accounting for $326,664 through September, according to the weekly Sun Post newspaper.

— Reported by Thomas Ott of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Cleveland Cavaliers today announced their new radio broadcast team. John Michael has been selected as the team’s new play-by-play announcer, Jim Chones will join the broadcasts as the game color analyst and Mike Snyder will return as the studio host anchoring pregame, halftime and postgame shows, as well as serving as host of the weekly Coach Byron Scott Show. All Cavaliers games are broadcast on the team’s flagship station News Radio WTAM 1100 AM, Akron’s AM 1590 WAKR and across the Cavaliers Radio Network.

“We feel great about our new radio broadcast team and having John, Jim and Mike deliver the best radio listening experience possible for our fans. John is a great play-by-play announcer that we feel is the perfect style and fit for the future of our game broadcasts. Jim brings a very credible and deep level of understanding and insight to the game, our team and the league, and Mike is simply the best studio host in the business,” said Cavaliers President Len Komoroski. “This trio will complement and support each other’s contributions to our radio broadcast experience in a new, exciting way as we now enter a new era of Cavs radio.”

Michael has over 10 years of pro sports play-by-play experience. He joins the Cavaliers from the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL, where he served as the team’s television game host, in-game reporter and pregame and postgame contributor on FOX Sports Ohio for the past two seasons. Immediately prior to that, he served as the first-ever radio/TV broadcaster with the Lake Erie Monsters for the first two seasons of the AHL franchise that also calls Quicken Loans Arena home. Prior to embarking on his broadcasting career, he practiced law as a trial attorney after graduating from the University of Notre Dame with mechanical engineering, law and MBA degrees, all cum laude.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be back in Cleveland, while also being humbled to be selected for this tremendous opportunity. I will work extremely hard to help carry on the tradition of radio excellence with the Cavaliers. Of course, Joe Tait can never be replaced or replicated. He’s a Hall of Famer that many of us in the broadcasting community will always consider the best that ever was,” said Michael. “With that in mind, our focus as a new broadcast team will simply be to do everything we possibly can to enhance our fans’ enjoyment of the game. Our fans will always be the focus of what we are doing and why we’re doing it.”

Chones becomes the full-time game analyst after filling in last season along with studio host Mike Snyder, when Tait missed 77 games due to health issues in his 39th and final season. Chones had spent the previous four seasons as the radio team’s postgame analyst. An eight-year NBA veteran, Chones played five seasons with the Cavaliers, including the “Miracle of Richfield” season in 1975-76, when he averaged a career-best 15.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in 33.4 minutes per game. He has also been an active member of the Cavaliers Legends player alumni group.

After subbing in for Tait as the play-by-play announcer for the majority of last season, Snyder returns to his previous role as the Cavaliers Radio Network Studio Host for his 20th season. He will launch each Cavaliers Radio Network game broadcast with the “FirstMerit Tip-Off Show,” host the halftime report and follow each game with the “Verizon Wireless Call-In Show,” which features game analysis, special guests and player interviews, as well as Head Coach Byron Scott’s postgame press conference. Snyder will also continue to host the weekly Byron Scott Radio Show on WTAM 1100  and the Cavs Radio Network as well.

Former NBA player Darius Miles is facing a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon for trying to carry a loaded gun onto an airplane.

Miles was arrested Aug. 3 at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport after a handgun was found inside his carry-on bag.

The felony charge was filed Sept. 30 and court records show Miles, 29, posted 10% of his $15,000 bond on Monday. A court date was set for Nov. 17 in St. Louis.

— Reported by the Sports Network

Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

While some might view Kyrie Irving as a threat to Baron Davis’ starting role with the Cavaliers, the 32-year-old point guard seems to be embracing the youngster. They met this spring in Cleveland at Irving’s predraft workout and have remained in touch during the NBA lockout.

“[I’m] really looking forward to playing with, and mentoring, Kyrie,” said Davis in an e-mail. “He’s so talented, creative, smart, has so much potential and could become a great cornerstone of the Cavaliers’ franchise for many years to come. I’ve been talking to him a lot this summer about NBA life, and in Cleveland, he’s going to learn so much from coach [Byron] Scott, who will be a great mentor as well.”

Davis, who’s taking classes at UCLA, had a decent finish to last season after the Los Angeles Clippers shipped him and a first-round pick to the Cavaliers for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon on Feb. 24. The draft pick was the lottery winner the Cavs used to select Irving.

The two-time NBA All-Star could help shepherd the teen through his first season. Davis has played and clashed with the demanding Scott during their days together in New Orleans (2004-05), but he has gained perspective on the relationship.

Jason LLoyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reports (via blog):

Maybe a lengthy lockout isn’t so bad for the Cavaliers after all. If nothing else, it will give rookie Kyrie Irving’s injured foot enough time to fully heal.

Irving said at his youth basketball camp Saturday that his foot feels “150 percent,” but that doctors told him it will be another few months before the foot is completely healed. NBA training camps were expected to open in about a week, but the league postponed everything following the latest breakdown in negotiations.

“My foot is not going to fully heal for a full year and it’s only been six or seven months,” Irving said. “I still feel 150 percent healthy, but my foot, in terms of healing properly, is going to take about another three months.”

By that timetable, Irving’s foot would be totally healed around Christmas. Many agents and various personnel around the league don’t believe a season will start before January, anyhow.

“It hasn’t hurt for almost seven months,” Irving said. “It’s feeling good.”

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