The young, upstart Cleveland Cavaliers after starting the season 2-7 have fought their way to the #2 seed in the East and a strong chance for spot in the playoffs. Will they be a flash in the pan or will they hold on and continue to develop into a contender that might have homecourt or a buy in the 1st round of the playoffs? Lead by their team captain and franchise player Kyrie Irving, this team seems to be hitting their potential just in time to make their post all-star break push. But when did this change of fortune for Cleveland begin? As near was we can tell it was a beating at the hands of Utah that led to an absolute explosion in the locker room with rookie Draymond Green telling the media someone someway had to help Kyrie get easier shots.
11/17/19 Rock Bottom?After a stretch in which the Cavaliers lost 4 games in row it was beginning to look as if this season was going to be a return to the lottery. Strangely enough on November 17th right before a home game against Denver Cleveland's previous GM Rizzo sent DrumR a email asking him about the state of the team and it's franchise player Kyrie Irving. Upon hearing about the news from coach Kyrie immediately took steps to arrange an evening with the three.
Kyrie: I just thought to myself the start we were on just wasn't our typical basketball. With the changes we'd made and players coming into camp in some of the best shape of their careers the only change was our new GM. I thought maybe if I brought Rizzo to dinner who had a hand in hand picking one of colleagues from previous leagues to dinner he could help us communicate better.
DrumR: HAHA yeah that was a good night. We went out and hit some of the low key spots downtown Cleveland and we talked a lot about life and basketball in general. Rizzo impressed upon me I should trust Kyrie more and that even though I favor a more open style of basketball that Kyrie wasn't the type of ball hog to get his points outside of the offense. I told coach the next day that we should sit down with Kyrie the next day and start hearing more of his views and I decided to take a more active hand in the line-up decisions.
M. V. P.
What came next was an absolute tear from Kyrie Irving thrusting him into the MVP conversation for this season and a string of wins that have made many of DrumR's offseason moves look almost prophetic in retrospect. With George DePaula increasing his distribution duties, and Lou Williams providing floor spacing at a career best rate Kyrie has been allowed to flourish as the dynamic scorer is was always meant to be.
Since November 18th: Kyrie Irving 26pts 5.5asts 4rbs 1.2stls 7.5fts/gm
6 30pt games
2 40pt games
1 50pt game
6 30pt games
2 40pt games
1 50pt game
DrumR: I don't care what anyone says. I think moving Terrance Ross and Ian Mahami are one of the prime reasons we're in the place were in now. Coming into possession of this team one of the first things I noticed was we were going to lose our next pick due to cap concerns and a lot of teams were in strange situations financially with FA coming. I decided I would move these guys for cap space and whatever positive net back I could get. Especially with DePaula, Kyrie, and Harkless all needing to be paid soon. I was able to turn that money into Lou Williams and Nikola Pekovic and get us to a point where were not going to lose picks. In addition I think I have a clear idea now of our major hole and still have a chance to use my late 1st and two 2nds to augment my bench.
"Sweet" Lou Williams is having a true 6th man of the year caliber season. The 31yr old 13yr vet is shooting the 2nd best fg% of his career and having the best season he's ever had from behind the arc. His game hasn't been one dimensional either as he's leading the Cavs with a 2.8 A/TO.
Nicola Pekovic has been part of the Cavs 3 headed monster at center putting up a solid 9pts and half a blk, stl, and assist in 18 minutes a game off the bench.
12/2/19 The JaVale McGee Trade.
In the middle of a back to back against the 76ers the Cavaliers traded Fuqwan Edwin and Terrance Jones for veteran bigman JaVale McGee. While thought to be a slight overpay by some this trade went under the radar for the most part most notably not registering a mention in national podcasts by noted analysts. Yet his impact on the team was strong as the league saw the Cavaliers win 15 of their next 18 games. Though the Cavs have been limiting JaVale about 20 minutes a game to keep him fresh; the big man has still been maintaining averages of 9pts 5rbs 1stl 2blks in 20mins. All together the 3 centers are giving Cleveland approximately 20pts 13rbs 1.6stls 4.5blks in 48mins which isn't fantastic, but damnit we'll take it. The Cavaliers just saw their season high 10 game win streak come to an end in Miami. With new minor injuries piling up what seems like every sim it's only a matter of time before the Cavaliers came back down to Earth. Still they find themselves in a great situation in an East that seems more wide open than ever. With this kind of noise maybe now they'll become the kind of destination free agents will love and finally bring a championship to the ring-starved city of Cleveland.DrumR: I'll admit we were playing well and I'd talked myself into not making anymore trades. I can be stubborn and I felt that this season we would win just enough to keep our pick and try to stay the course. Then Zhou Qi got injured and I realized just how fragile our center depth was. While we loved Terrance Jones I saw a chance to get a bigger, better, playoff tested version of him in JaVale McGee and a guy who could man the middle for use in the big playoff moments Qi hasn't learned enough about it. Plus his contract expires with a lot of our big money contracts again ensuring we have the money to sign our core players.
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