The CSL

It was an unusually cold night in Atlanta on the first day of February. A mid-season affair between teams looking to accomplish two different things. While the Hawks seem to be in the business of acquiring as many ping pong balls as possible, the Cavaliers are looking to throw their name into the ring known as the dog fight of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Eastern Conference has been an arms race the entire season and it’s not just a top heavy affair; the top 10 or so teams in the conference have been adding pieces to better their playoff position and/or chances. The same goes for the Cavaliers.

In a deal that was agreed upon in the middle of December, GM Rizzo was able to bring in two legitimate rotational players without giving up much of anything from the roster to acquire them. The Terrence Boys – Ross & Jones – give Cleveland a ten-man rotation that they are comfortable with going into games with night in and night out.

Terrence Ross got the start at the shooting guard position next to Kyrie Irving and did exactly what he was expected to do: score the basketball. Of course Irving is going to lead the team in shot attempts but Ross was able to connect on seven of his 15 shots for 15 points while also adding six board and four assists.

It felt real good to finally be playing with the Cavs and playing with Kyrie. He’s a good dude and a better player and he’s going to make my life easy. Atlanta zoned us up hard tonight and I let the guys down by not hitting any of my threes. I think it was just nerves tonight because that usually won’t happen.

While Ross is shooting a career-low from beyond the arc, he’s shown the ability to be able to hit at a much higher percentage and with the talent around him in Cleveland, he should find himself with some cleaner looks than he was used to seeing this season in Memphis.

The other piece of the trade was Terrence Jones. The five year veteran out of Kentucky is 6-9 and 252 pounds of intensity. Playing with a mean streak, Jones is a furious defender that loves to block shots and get in the passing lanes. He’s not an offensively gifted player and he’s not looking for plays to be run for him. He’ll do his work in the paint on post ups or put backs and is fine with doing the dirty work.

We acquired Terrence Jones from San Antonio and like what he brings to this ball club. He’s going to be the primary backup to Jarnell Stokes at the four but we won’t hesitate to see him play some at the center position. He’s got the size and the strength to bang in the paint with the bigs of this league so it could be something we experiment with. If we decide he’s going to have to play the four full time, we will definitely work on his conditioning this offseason to work on his foot speed and get his weight to a place it needs to be to keep up with the new age power forwards of today’s game. Regardless, we are very excited to have both Jones and Ross here in Cleveland and think they could push up the standings.

While there is optimism in Cleveland, is it warranted? Sure, they added two players for cheap that will produce for them, but the arms race went on across the playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs are currently three games back of the eighth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks while the Heat and Pacers are one-half and two games back, respectively. The Nets – currently the seven seed – added Nick Stauskas to beef up their outside shooting to go with their already impressive roster, anchored by LaMarcus Aldridge and Dwight Howard in the front court. The Miami Heat seem to be playing very well since trading away the playoff poison known as DeMarcus Cousins, winning seven of their last ten games. The last team standing between Cleveland and the playoffs is Indiana. Led by Goran Dragic, Kevin Love and Derrick Favors, the Pacers have a ton of fire power to keep them afloat and alive in the playoff hunt.

The Cavaliers have come a long way considering what this team went through the last two seasons. The ultimate goal of the season was to make the playoffs and Cleveland is fighting. Not many believed they could do it – and they may be right – but the future is looking up going into the 2018-2019 season and beyond.

Hawks dont jave their pick so i dont think theh are playing for ping pong balls.

But the east is ridiculous and teams will need some injury help.

Love the 2 acquisitions. I was actually trying to get them at some point but never worked out.
They are quality starters on multiple year deals.

I think you need to find a real lieutenant for Kyrie to make it to the next level.
You have good young assets under contracts and it should feasible

Maybe Rudy Gay from Miami?
It seems Miami is rebuilding and not sure he would cost so much based on the latest tag price of Lowry and Cousins

I tried to get Jones from the Spurs but he was already gone. A very good addition. He is the kind of player that actually makes teams better.

I was expecting Jones to get more playing time. Maybe let Stokes be your C, Qi is just not ready now and Mahinmi better suited coming off the bench, I think.
Would love to see the Cavs in the postseason, but cheering for you would mean we might miss the playoffs haha. So maybe next year:P..

Well I'm going the opposite way of what DJ said..
Let Jones play C! Dude is 6'9 (taller than Stokes), 252 (nobody aint moving him around easily down low), will abuse Cs by driving with his 57 handling... And what about the shot blocking? That guy can protect the rim at elite level even if he's got no size to do it at all..
Give it a try. Continue running small ball, play Dribble Drive.. Everybody but Harkless and DePaula will thrive with this offensive set because of good, high handles for the position.. Plus by playing Jones at C you can pair him with Stokes and get the very best production you can out of your interior players.

Love the cheap, positive pick ups. Gotta find a big to work with Kyrie even if that means goodbye DePaula. But gotta be one who's able to SCORE for real... That's my opinion.
Use DePaula + Stokes + whatever to find the perfect complement (aka Blake Griffin light) to Kyrie and go for it big time. Maybe a Love - Kyrie duo would be good? Kevin is 28 and, well, I know his raw efficiency isn't fantastic but he's one of the very few players who'll manage to out-rebound Stokes, fits well with Terrence Jones down low, his TS% is good (look in game, it's better than the average player I believe, or it was when he played Dribble Drive here, plus he's got room to get even better with pref work).. And that's a guy you have a real shot at acquiring. I know he's not the defender you want but Kyrie / Ross / Harkless / Love / Jones looks good, young, legit and you have lots of depth behind them.

Marcos_Beck wrote:Well I'm going the opposite way of what DJ said..
Let Jones play C! Dude is 6'9 (taller than Stokes), 252 (nobody aint moving him around easily down low), will abuse Cs by driving with his 57 handling... And what about the shot blocking? That guy can protect the rim at elite level even if he's got no size to do it at all..
Give it a try. Continue running small ball, play Dribble Drive.. Everybody but Harkless and DePaula will thrive with this offensive set because of good, high handles for the position.. Plus by playing Jones at C you can pair him with Stokes and get the very best production you can out of your interior players.

Love the cheap, positive pick ups. Gotta find a big to work with Kyrie even if that means goodbye DePaula. But gotta be one who's able to SCORE for real... That's my opinion.
Use DePaula + Stokes + whatever to find the perfect complement (aka Blake Griffin light) to Kyrie and go for it big time. Maybe a Love - Kyrie duo would be good? Kevin is 28 and, well, I know his raw efficiency isn't fantastic but he's one of the very few players who'll manage to out-rebound Stokes, fits well with Terrence Jones down low, his TS% is good (look in game, it's better than the average player I believe, or it was when he played Dribble Drive here, plus he's got room to get even better with pref work).. And that's a guy you have a real shot at acquiring. I know he's not the defender you want but Kyrie / Ross / Harkless / Love / Jones looks good, young, legit and you have lots of depth behind them.

Not sure I would invest in Love, especially when it comes at DePaula price.
Love can be a good player (you proved it Marcos) but extremely frustrating

Yea, love is not a good option for Cleveland. He wont catapult them to contender status and would only top them at what the wizards were last year. I think rizzo has higher goals.

Believe me Marcos, I've thought about both ideas: playing Jones at C and trading for a legit scoring big man. Jones at C may be coming next sim while is has proven very difficult to find a legit big to pair with Irving. Nobody is willing to part with a player of that luxury.

If you learn how to live with advanced stats then Love isn't that frustrating at all... 20/10 every game, I'll take it.

Really underrated move and not only do you improve but you've added fairly young guys to your roster. Great work here.