The Cavaliers lost one of the best basketball players on the planet last summer, a crushing blow to the organization after four straight years of making the NBA Finals.
LeBron James made a quick decision to leave Cleveland and join the Lakers on the first night of free agency, but the team under-performed this season as a result of injury, awkward fit and lack of consistency. They were eliminated from playoff contention — just like the Cavaliers.
“Character-wise, everyone here gets an ‘A,’” Cavs center Tristan Thompson said, as relayed by Joe Vardon of The Athletic this week. “It would be easy for us to show up and lay down, but that’s not what (owner) Dan (Gilbert) is paying us for, that’s not what ’Bron taught us while he was here.”
Vardon ponders whether the Cavs are in a better position without James than the Lakers are with him in his article, detailing the young talent, cohesiveness and determination this current Cavaliers team has.
Cleveland sports a young nucleus of Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic, combined with veterans such as Jordan Clarkson, Kevin Love and Thompson, though the team has accrued just a 19-56 record this season. The Cavs are 4-8 during the month of March, compared to the Lakers at 3-11.
“LD’s done a great job getting us in this position,” Thompson said of head coach Larry Drew, who guided Cleveland through a very tough first half of the season. “I give the coaches a lot of credit. They’re four-time Finals coaches, and they don’t know their future.”
There’s more out of the Eastern Conference:
- Cavaliers forward Kevin Love is set to receive a special honor at Carnegie Hall in May, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. Love will be recognized by the Child Mind Institute at the Change Maker Awards for raising awareness about mental health, particularly in the lives of young kids. “It’s bigger than basketball,” Love said. “I think stuff like this is super important. The narrative of sticking to sports and more than an athlete, we just have such a big reach, it’s important for us if we’re able to share these stories and do these things and know that it is bigger than basketball. Although this is what we do, the main thing is the main thing, it’s opened a lot of doors for us to do important things and cool things like this.”
- Bobby Marks of ESPN.com previews the offseason for the Wizards, a team on the heels of a disappointing 2018/19 regular season. Trevor Ariza, Wesley Johnson, Tomas Satoransky, Sam Dekker, Bobby Portis, Jeff Green, Thomas Bryant and Chasson Randle will all reach free agency on July 1, with the franchise holding a $20MM team option on forward Jabari Parker. John Wall could miss most (or all) of next season as he rehabs from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.
- David Fizdale‘s honeymoon year with the Knicks is nearing its end, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. Fizdale has experimented with several different lineup combinations in his first season as coach, as the pressure of having a successful draft offseason continues to mount for the team. The Knicks are expected to pursue top-level talents once free agency officially opens on July 1.
lol @ fizdale
No decent FA will wanna go to play for Fizdale, just ain’t gonna happen.
Neither helps the Knicks cause that the team is owned by Dolan.
That makes it a lose-lose situation for the Knicks.
The ONLY thing players care about is $$$$
So the Knicks will be fine.
Money is not the only thing players care about, as the best players are going to have the opportunity to be paid by multiple teams this summer. There will be other factors, including fit, staff, direction, etc.
Apparently Fiz is well liked as a guy, but he’s a terrible Head Coach. He was extremely successful as an Assistant, and I would like to see the Knicks fire him, and have him catch on somewhere else in his more natural fit.
Dolan is a train wreck, but the players are not playing for him, they’re playing for a coaching staff. Yes, he has interfered in trades before, including the overriding of the deal that would have brought Lowry to NY. That said, it seems like he has more confidence in the Mills/Perry management team, as the decisions being made look to be there’s.
Knicks will land somebody(s) of quality this offseason, though that doesn’t necessarily mean Durant/Kyrie.
Tristan Thompson said they get an “A” for character. He is scum bag, what does he know about character?
I definitely think it’s a stretch to say that the Cavs are in a better spot than the Lakers, but just like the first time, it’s a blessing in disguise that LeBron left.
They weren’t beating Golden State again, and they’ve gotten the rebuild started a lot sooner. The chance to add Zion/Morant/Culver/Barrett to the nucleus they have now is exciting. They’re still pretty far away, but there’s progress being made.
I would also be pleased if the Cavs came out of the draft with Jarret Culver, even though he is not ranked as high as those others. Plays at 6 Sat.
Not until after the draft can the Cavs have a roster equal to the Lakers sans James. But there’s no guarantee the Cavs will draft higher! There will be pingpong upsets.
I mentioned Culver in my original comment. But yeah, I’m a fan of him too.
Cavs are one year into a rebuild while the Lakers are about 1-3 years away from one. Better position is a matter of opinion and perspective.
Even though the Cavs have lost games this season, they are fun to watch. They get close, but don’t know how or have the talent to seal the deal at the end of games.
Big factor with the Cavs compared to Lakers, is that the Lakers have to PAY James for the next 3+ years of the end of his career while the Cavs are in a rebuild. Remember, the lightbulb is the brightest right before it goes out. 2017-18 season was James’ best season of his career considering he didn’t miss any time, played a ton of minutes for an old guy and his stats were at his highest of any other vet at that age.
I’d take the Cavs as they don’t have any toxic contracts the likes of the Lakers. And what little contracts you think the Cavs are paying more for, they’ll get rid of them or they’ll come to a close soon.