The Cavaliers are working to re-integrate Caris LeVert into their lineup, starting him against the Bulls on Saturday, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. According to Fedor, the team may continue starting LeVert, who was acquired in a trade last month.
“We’ve got to do the best that we can to possibly help him,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We brought him here to be a big piece of what we were doing moving forward, and we’ve got to get him comfortable. His teammates have to be able to play with him.
“We’ve got to find longer stretches of minutes for him, where he can just go out and feel like he can be himself. His minutes have been kind of choppy. We want to find ways to get him longer stretches where he doesn’t feel like he has to press, press. press to get something done in a small amount of time.”
Cleveland owns the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference at 41-33. LeVert has averaged 12.6 points on 41.8% shooting since joining the team after averaging 18.7 points on 44.7% shooting with Indiana earlier in the season. The 27-year-old had also been dealing with a foot injury and no longer has a minutes limit.
There’s more from the Central Division tonight:
- Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton is back in Cleveland taking shots, Fedor shares (via Twitter). Sexton, who suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee roughly four months ago, appeared in 11 games before the injury. He’ll become a restricted free agent this summer.
- The Pistons’ centers have serious potential to improve their three-point shooting, head coach Dwane Casey said, as relayed by Steve Kornacki of The Detroit News. Detroit has been playing Isaiah Stewart and Marvin Bagley III significant minutes, but neither player is a good shooter. “They have the ability, too,” Casey said, “and it doesn’t matter which one. Marvin is coming up and setting the screens and Isaiah has the space in the corner. His next evolution in his pro career is that he has to be able to knock that 3-point shot down, and he will. I have no questions at all that either one of them is going to be able to. But we have to have that spacing when they’re in the game together.”
- Bulls star Nikola Vucevic appears to be happy in Chicago and doesn’t want to discuss a potential trade, as relayed by Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. If the Bulls underwhelm the rest of the campaign, the team may consider making some offseason moves. ‘‘That’s something that’s totally out of our control as players,’’ Vucevic said. ‘‘Our job is to try and go as far as we can, then the front office makes the decision on the team going forward. I was in a limited amount of trade rumors in my time in Orlando, so it’s something I really don’t think about very much. What’s the point of me worrying about that when it’s completely out of my control? That’s how I approach things like that.’’
MB3 is a much worse shooter than projected from college. Maybe he figures it out someday but usually by the end of the rookie deal you have a pretty good idea of what a guy is. And he isn’t anywhere near that Chris Bosh comp he had going into and coming out of Duke.
After his 4th season Bosh had 20 made 3s. Bagley has 92 near the end of his 4th season. Both guys under 30% but Bagley was slightly more efficient from 3. And their situations were obv very different. Bosh was drafted to be Toronto’s franchise player & they treated him that way the whole time he was there. Bagley was drafted to basically be an inside complement to their guards which was the focus/strength of their team with DFox/Buddy/Bogdan. Fox was (& still is) the franchise guy in Sacramento. If Fox wasn’t there Bagley would be flourishing in Sac same way Fox has been & same way Bosh did in Toronto
Casey is so fired up for this. “Doesn’t matter which one”. Sounds silly, like anyone can hit 3s. Maybe he wants someone to go stand in the corner.
If Bagley gets experimented with, it’s because the stakes are lower as a backup.
Well, Holmgren can hit 3s… maybe this is about him.
S., Bagley got huge chances in Sacto, to be and to fit in however he could. He did not and they moved on. The SGs you mentioned were not catered to as much, and how did Fox discourage him? Bagley is not #1 in Detroit either, was higher in Sacto.
I fully expect the Bulls to extend Vujevic. He’s happy, Durable and a Double-Double Machine. They’ll never be able to get back anywhere near what they gave up to get him in a trade so what would be the point? He gets too 3 happy at times but in the NBA today who doesn’t?
His defense is atrocious and the eastern conference has 4 monster centers on teams better than the bulls, if the bulls don’t trade Vuc this offseason to improve their defense in the front court substantially they will never win anything and never be better than the 5th best team in the East, and I am a bulls diehard but you gotta be realistic tio mike
MB-III was over drafted. Elements of his draft profile should have precluded him from being among 2018’s Tier 1 prospects. Measurables alone suggested he couldn’t be a real C (rim/paint protector) or a guy who cover on the perimeter. He was a truly great HS and college player (safely the best in his class in each case), and perhaps that overrode everything, but it shouldn’t have gotten him all the way to #2.
Banchero is not the same player as MB-III, but will likely have similar elements in his draft profile. It’s why I don’t see him being a Tier 1 prospect for many teams, meaning he’d be at least one Tier below JS and CH (and perhaps a few others). Bagley would be a cautionary tale here (and not because they are both from Duke).