Cavs are a weirdly assembled team

[lilteapot]

PG - Kyrie who is Great, but doesn't pass
SG - JR/Shumpert - Streaky shooters who can defend sometimes but are hardly reliable
SF - Lebron is obviously fine
PF - Love is a great offensive threat and boosts their scoring whenever he's on the floor but cannot defend to save his life. Paired with:
C- Thompson/Mozgov you have two subpar offensive threats who aren't good defenders. At least Thompson can snag offensive rebounds, Mozgov is a softy who can't catch, has butterfingers, and is afraid to finish over guys.

PG- Delly is fine, Mo Williams is a horrible defender
SG - Shumpert/JR
SF - RJ Is solid
PF - Channing Frye - Basically a broke man's Kevin Love. That's an understatement.
C - Mozgov/Thompson

Put together any combination of these players and none of them are scary. Their deadliest defensive and offensive lineup is probably -

Kyrie
Lebron
JR
Thompson
Mozgov

but that's dependent on how hot Kyrie, Lebron and JR are since their frontcourt can't score.

I dont have an agenda with this post, not trying to make "excuses" for the team, just sharing an observation. What do you guys think?

[JebronLames]

If they win this year, LeBron moves up to #2 all time

[TheMarkMadsen]

oh look another "3 max contract players" isn't enough help, thread.

[lilteapot]

If they win this year, LeBron moves up to #2 all time
If he pulls of the biggest upset in NBA history you mean by beating the 73+ win GSW? Absolutely, no contest.

[lilteapot]

oh look another "3 max contract players" isn't enough help, thread.

So you don't know how to contribute to the thread so you resort to useless comments.

Either come in and explain to me how this team is championship caliber, or get out.

[Hey Yo]

PG - Kyrie who is Great, but doesn't pass
SG - JR/Shumpert - Streaky shooters who can defend sometimes but are hardly reliable
SF - Lebron is obviously fine
PF - Love is a great offensive threat and boosts their scoring whenever he's on the floor but cannot defend to save his life. Paired with:
C- Thompson/Mozgov you have two subpar offensive threats who aren't good defenders. At least Thompson can snag offensive rebounds, Mozgov is a softy who can't catch, has butterfingers, and is afraid to finish over guys.
I'd say TT plays avg. D.

Plus he draws many fouls battling down low for rebounds which sometimes puts opposing bigs in early foul trouble. Def. needs to work on his offensive coordination in the post/down low.

[RedBlackAttack]

PG - Kyrie who is Great, but doesn't pass
SG - JR/Shumpert - Streaky shooters who can defend sometimes but are hardly reliable
SF - Lebron is obviously fine
PF - Love is a great offensive threat and boosts their scoring whenever he's on the floor but cannot defend to save his life. Paired with:
C- Thompson/Mozgov you have two subpar offensive threats who aren't good defenders. At least Thompson can snag offensive rebounds, Mozgov is a softy who can't catch, has butterfingers, and is afraid to finish over guys.

PG- Delly is fine, Mo Williams is a horrible defender
SG - Shumpert/JR
SF - RJ Is solid
PF - Channing Frye - Basically a broke man's Kevin Love. That's an understatement.
C - Mozgov/Thompson

Put together any combination of these players and none of them are scary. Their deadliest defensive and offensive lineup is probably -

Kyrie
Lebron
JR
Thompson
Mozgov

but that's dependent on how hot Kyrie, Lebron and JR are since their frontcourt can't score.

I dont have an agenda with this post, not trying to make "excuses" for the team, just sharing an observation. What do you guys think?

I don't think it is "weirdly" assembled, but this is what happens when you attempt to put a team together primarily through free agency and trades as opposed to doing it organically through the draft.

When guys are drafted together, they find ways to fill the spaces in one another's games. For instance, if Draymond Green had been drafted onto any team other than Golden State, his game might look completely different than it does today.

Kawhi Leonard may have not blossomed the way he has in the last couple years in a different environment... or, maybe he does blossom, but he wouldn't look exactly like the player we see in San Antonio.

Those players had the benefit of being drafted into systems already firmly in place or taking shape, and growing with it.


The Cavs have to assess where the holes in their roster are, what players have shown on other teams and how they might potentially fill the gaps here. When guys are 7-10 years in the league, they're much less likely to mold their games in the same way that a rookie or second year guy might.

Btw, with the way Mozgov has played this year, he shouldn't be a part of any "best lineup" for the Cavs. It all depends on the team we're playing.

One thing the Cavs have done over the last two years is create a very versatile roster. They can go really big at virtually all five positions, or go small. There are shooters at every position now, as well as two premier slashers (LeBron/Kyrie). I will remind you that Kyrie is still only 23. He's the youngest player on the whole team.

They have a couple real pitbulls defensively and on the boards in Delly and Tristan.

Really, the one guy who still hasn't found a consistent place is Kevin Love. They haven't been together very long and he is still only 27. I'm hopeful things will get figured out eventually.

Let's face it, if we weren't in a league where we had a team having a historically great season, the Cavs would be getting a lot more praise. They've been at the top of the conference since Day 1 and have been dealing with injuries and other outside forces. Still on pace for about 60 wins.

[DukeDelonte13]

I'd say TT plays avg. D.

Plus he draws many fouls battling down low for rebounds which sometimes puts opposing bigs in early foul trouble. Def. needs to work on his offensive coordination in the post/down low.


TT is an excellent defender.

[AintNoSunshine]

oh look another "3 max contract players" isn't enough help, thread.

Word. We should make more "4 Hall of Famers" isn't enough help thread instead:lol

[JtotheIzzo]

PG - Kyrie who is Great, but doesn't pass
SG - JR/Shumpert - Streaky shooters who can defend sometimes but are hardly reliable
SF - Lebron is obviously fine
PF - Love is a great offensive threat and boosts their scoring whenever he's on the floor but cannot defend to save his life. Paired with:
C- Thompson/Mozgov you have two subpar offensive threats who aren't good defenders. At least Thompson can snag offensive rebounds, Mozgov is a softy who can't catch, has butterfingers, and is afraid to finish over guys.

PG- Delly is fine, Mo Williams is a horrible defender
SG - Shumpert/JR
SF - RJ Is solid
PF - Channing Frye - Basically a broke man's Kevin Love. That's an understatement.
C - Mozgov/Thompson

Put together any combination of these players and none of them are scary. Their deadliest defensive and offensive lineup is probably -

Kyrie
Lebron
JR
Thompson
Mozgov

but that's dependent on how hot Kyrie, Lebron and JR are since their frontcourt can't score.

I dont have an agenda with this post, not trying to make "excuses" for the team, just sharing an observation. What do you guys think?

If you were the 'consensus best player in the world' up until Steph's explosion, and I told you that I would give you:

Kyrie Iriving (FIBA WC MVP, and ASG MVP)
Kevin Love (Dream Teamer, consensus top ten NBAer before trade)
TT
JR
Iman
Mosgov
Channing Frye
Delly


ND YOU STILL MAKE EXCUSES?????

Piss or get off the pot Bran.

[StephHamann]

OP is weird

[NZStreetBaller]

It almost seems as if there was no thought into it what so ever. Just try and get lebron as much help in cleveland as possible...

[Gileraracer]

If they win this year, LeBron moves up to #20 all time


fixed

[Marchesk]

If they win this year, LeBron moves up to #2 all time

Will he shoot above 40% this time?