Cole Miner Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I'm trying to think of one above average defender on the roster outside of Lebron. Struggling. Good thing Shawn Marion seems willing to play for peanuts. Marion might make sense starting for that reason. Important part of the article on the trade. "Part of the Cavaliers' motivation in making the deal for Love was a belief Love would have ended up with the rival Chicago Bulls in a trade and created a significant obstacle in the Eastern Conference, sources said. Cleveland wouldn't have had the salary-cap space to sign Love next summer and could have only obtained him through the trade with Minnesota in a deal now." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I don't buy it. LeBron wanted Kevin Love so they got Kevin Love. Anything else is just the Cavs trying to pretend like LeBron and his agent aren't running the team. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I'm trying to think of one above average defender on the roster outside of Lebron. Struggling. Good thing Shawn Marion seems willing to play for peanuts. Everything I've ever heard of Shawn Marion suggests the opposite, but maybe he sees the Love-James-Irving lineup as something he'd like to be a part of for peanuts. I like the move for the Cavs. It's going to take them some time to gel and get the rest of the right pieces around Lebron-Love-Irving, but that's a problem most teams would like to have. Worst case, they'll be the 2 seed out East. There's a pretty wide gap between the Bulls & Cavs and the rest of the East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I think you can count Varajao as a positive on the defensive end. Also, the Cavs were 17th in team defense last year, and they didn't lose anyone who I would consider an amazing defender. They also added Lebron. I don't think he makes them a top 10 defense by himself, but certainly it gets them closer. As I have tried to say numerous times in this thread, Love has improved defensively each year in the NBA and last year ranked as almost exactly average. Despite what people had somehow convinced themselves, Wiggins wasn't going to come in and be a 6'8" Tony Allen from day one. This trade is great, and I am really over the moon about it. If you had told me last year that the Cavs would get Kevin Love for two future first rounders and Anthony Bennett, I would have laughed in your face. It's unfortunate, but it doesn't really matter to me that the ping pong balls bounced in such a way to make one of those first rounders number one overall. As a Cavs fan, this is sort of uncharted territory for me. I went in to this off season saying "I'll be happy if they get either Lance Stephenson or Hayward, don't resign Deng or Hawes, and maybe pick up a couple more role players". I don't really know what to do with myself now. I think the interesting things left for the Cavs will be what they can turn the three contracts from Utah in to, and which pick they gave up (they have three). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Funny comment from P.J. Carlesimo on SportsCenter. He likes all the new parts and then mentions Brendan Haywood as a good addition. He brought him up multiple times. They got Lebron and Kevin Love, who the heck is noticing Haywood. LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Metta World Peace is apparently changing his name again for his CBA run. He'll be now known as Panda Friend. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Panda Friend = **** I would have liked Killer Panda more. Yeah, it's violent, but it's a great homage to his days as Ron Artest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I was just about to come on here to talk about Panda Friend. That is the absolute greatest thing in the Chinese Basketball Association and maybe all of earth.The Love trade works so well for the Cavs. They just gave themselves a long, long window. LBJ/Love/Irving really mesh well together on paper.They gave up an unproven rookie who may turn out as the most overrated guy coming into this draft -- needs help shooting, using both hands on the dribble, gets by on elite athleticism that won't be so elite in the NBA -- and an outright bust of and the 28th-ish pick in the draft. I know Bennett could improve but he's not improving to anything that special.LBJ's 30 and the best player in the world for a while longer. Kevin Love is 25 (!) and putting up absolutely monster stats that bode well in how the NBA has adjusted. Kyrie's about to get unleashed on the league now that he has some talent (to say the least) with him. If the spare parts get filled out correctly, then that team is going to run away with the conference. By the time LBJ hits the wall in four years, Love will be 29and Kyrie 26. That's just nasty.Blatt's a defensive coach. LBJ's a defensive player. They'll play defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 then that team is going to run away with the conference. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glfpunk Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Comparing Love/Irving to Bosh/Wade, I'd take Love all day over Bosh. I like Bosh but it seems like all this time talking about this trade possibility has had people nitpicking the hell out of Kevin Love because he's under a microscope and they're forgetting exactly how great he is. I'd take 2010 Wade over Irving but only because of Wade's ability to catch fire and take over a game at times. But for consistency I still like Irving. Wade has always done a lot of dumb shit that is aggrivating to me like taking the ball down the court and taking dumb shots when no teammate is anywhere near the rim to get a rebound. He did this more towards the end than 2010 though. I think the trio of James/Love/Irving works much better together than the big 3 did in Miami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Back when the deal was speculated being Bennett, Wiggins, Waiters, and multiple picks, it sounded like too much. The trade seems fair, to maybe Minnesota getting not quite enough, especially with the sign and trade. It all depends on Wiggins. It might turn out to his benefit, getting to mature with no spotlight, rather than under the Lebronoscopetm. At least we don't have to hear about the trade again for a while. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 then that team is going to run away with the conference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Comparing this big three is a little weird. I think Love is better than Bosh, but I can buy someone saying they are even. Position matters in the NBA, so I'd rather compare Wade to Waiters. Wade is obviously better. Conservatively, what, ten times better? Eight times better? That being said, Irving is so much better than Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers that they basically aren't playing the same sport. Shit, Matthew Dellavedova is better than Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Metta World Peace is apparently changing his name again for his CBA run. He'll be now known as Panda Friend. I totally forgot the C stood for Chinese. I was all hyped up for Artest suiting up with the Topeka Sizzlers or some shit. My lawn. You kids. Off it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muhammedboehm Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Please tell me there's another Topeka other then the capital of Kansas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muhammedboehm Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 The four letters is reporting Durant had left Team USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Metta World Peace is apparently changing his name again for his CBA run. He'll be now known as Panda Friend. I totally forgot the C stood for Chinese. I was all hyped up for Artest suiting up with the Topeka Sizzlers or some shit. My lawn. You kids. Off it. Knowing him, he'd try to play for the Collective Bargining Agreement. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Panda Friend lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 The four letters is reporting Durant had left Team USA I should have placed bets on Spain a while back.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_MJ_ Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Watch Bennett have a better year than Wiggins next season. Okay, I kid... The Durant thing is interesting. Lebron and him have certainly played an extraordinary amount of professional basketball over the last couple of years, but this is still out of nowhere since he was already there. Tough luck for Team USA. Westbrook, in the background of the next TEAM USA pic with the "This is my team" smirk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 I know Durant cited mental and physical exhaustion but I have to think the Paul George injury had something to do with it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 I have to imagine that the George injury is going to hamper FIBA(not just team USA) for years to come. Olympics? The pros will probably want to play in that, but all these other boutique tourney's? The NBA ought to be slamming the door shut on those right quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 The thing that he did that he got to be notorious for is that, every few days or every week or so, he would decide that it was time for this Brazilian naked wrestling contest. You didn't know who the chosen one was, but what would happen when you least expect it, this 7-foot, 310-pound guy would turn the corner, and he would be stark naked and he would run right at you full speed, grab you, he would take you to the floor and then he would do about five rollovers with you. And he would always tell our trainers who it was going to be, so they were always prepared for it, but you never knew who it was going to be. Former Shaq coach Alvin Gentry 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 I hated him when he was playing but Shaq is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 I don't know.. these guys do play in an awful lot of pickup games and street ball games, etc.. It's no different than playing for Team USA but I can see how they might view it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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