Who Smells Like Champagne Now? 2016-2017 Cleveland Cavaliers Season Thread
- Thread starter jaguar paw
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ShoryukenHaduken
All Star
He sat due to air balling open shots and no defense same with kevinfukk it I'm out then
David is a great basketball mind
" Well Houston has done a good job of doing it. I think the better teams have figured it out. I think the truly elite teams. Cotton Fitsimmons (former NBA coach for multiple teams, including the Phoenix Suns when Griffin got his start there) had a sign on his desk that said you could never have too many shooters and I think there’s a lot of validity to that. We might have one too many non-defenders on the floor from time to time, and that’s made Ty’s [Lue] job challenging. We went all in on a team designed for the playoffs. We’re not young, we’re not athletic, we’re not long. We’ve got a very fine margin for error. So if we don’t play really hard or if we’re not together, we’re not very good. It’s by design, because the thought process is when that much talent is highly motivated and you get days off in between and all that, you can absorb the fact that you’re older and not as athletic or energetic on an 82 game basis. But I think a lot of teams have figured it out, and I think there’s a lot of teams that frankly, if they had figured it out, would be more than you’d want to deal with."
FTS: I always make the analogy that LeBron James gets you in the game against anyone, and then it’s a matter of what you get from Kyrie that sort of determines what the team’s ceiling is. And there have been low points where I’ve reached out to Cavs officials wondering ‘Is he really good? Am I completely wrong about this?’ How do you evaluate Kyrie? What kind of things do you look for when you watch him?
Griffin: I think his leadership piece has come a long way. He was a really young kid, even for his age because he only played 11 college games. The onus of winning and the mantle of ‘you must deliver’ was never on him. Everybody adjusts to that differently. He didn’t embrace that much to begin with, and I think he was trying to prove what he was capable of. It was less about making other people better, and I think he’s evolved now. He had a half where he had 10 assists, you know, he can do all of it. It’s just he chooses what he’s going to do or not do. In the Finals he figured out he is capable of playing offense and defense in the same game for 40 minutes. He pushed himself hard enough to do that. Ky is like a lot of young players, they like the path of least resistance.
FTS: Millennials, right?
Griffin: He doesn’t like to push the ball, it’s just not his nature. He’s gotten by in the halfcourt his whole life because his handle is so good, he never felt the urgency to press the ball, whereas most guys develop their game as to what they need to do to succeed. Ky never had to do that. So when you’re explaining to him why it’s important to push the pace and I think he was reluctant to do that, because, well, ‘because I can get mine regardless’. Well, it’s not necessarily about you. So I think where he’s grown and evolved is he’s starting to figure that out. There’s days where he’s as good as any player in the league at his position. And there’s days where he’s the 198th-some best player adjusted plus/minus player. And there’s days where the defensive quintile that [our analytics department] has him in looks real. There’s days where, when he’s highly motivated to do it, you realize he’s special. His hands are lightning quick, his feet are lightning quick. When he wants to, he can do whatever he wants. Fortunately for us, we’re found that in the playoffs we tend to get the best of him.
The interview was great too
Exclusive: Cavs GM David Griffin on his roster vision, Kyrie’s growth, and LeBron’s greatness
" Well Houston has done a good job of doing it. I think the better teams have figured it out. I think the truly elite teams. Cotton Fitsimmons (former NBA coach for multiple teams, including the Phoenix Suns when Griffin got his start there) had a sign on his desk that said you could never have too many shooters and I think there’s a lot of validity to that. We might have one too many non-defenders on the floor from time to time, and that’s made Ty’s [Lue] job challenging. We went all in on a team designed for the playoffs. We’re not young, we’re not athletic, we’re not long. We’ve got a very fine margin for error. So if we don’t play really hard or if we’re not together, we’re not very good. It’s by design, because the thought process is when that much talent is highly motivated and you get days off in between and all that, you can absorb the fact that you’re older and not as athletic or energetic on an 82 game basis. But I think a lot of teams have figured it out, and I think there’s a lot of teams that frankly, if they had figured it out, would be more than you’d want to deal with."
FTS: I always make the analogy that LeBron James gets you in the game against anyone, and then it’s a matter of what you get from Kyrie that sort of determines what the team’s ceiling is. And there have been low points where I’ve reached out to Cavs officials wondering ‘Is he really good? Am I completely wrong about this?’ How do you evaluate Kyrie? What kind of things do you look for when you watch him?
Griffin: I think his leadership piece has come a long way. He was a really young kid, even for his age because he only played 11 college games. The onus of winning and the mantle of ‘you must deliver’ was never on him. Everybody adjusts to that differently. He didn’t embrace that much to begin with, and I think he was trying to prove what he was capable of. It was less about making other people better, and I think he’s evolved now. He had a half where he had 10 assists, you know, he can do all of it. It’s just he chooses what he’s going to do or not do. In the Finals he figured out he is capable of playing offense and defense in the same game for 40 minutes. He pushed himself hard enough to do that. Ky is like a lot of young players, they like the path of least resistance.
FTS: Millennials, right?
Griffin: He doesn’t like to push the ball, it’s just not his nature. He’s gotten by in the halfcourt his whole life because his handle is so good, he never felt the urgency to press the ball, whereas most guys develop their game as to what they need to do to succeed. Ky never had to do that. So when you’re explaining to him why it’s important to push the pace and I think he was reluctant to do that, because, well, ‘because I can get mine regardless’. Well, it’s not necessarily about you. So I think where he’s grown and evolved is he’s starting to figure that out. There’s days where he’s as good as any player in the league at his position. And there’s days where he’s the 198th-some best player adjusted plus/minus player. And there’s days where the defensive quintile that [our analytics department] has him in looks real. There’s days where, when he’s highly motivated to do it, you realize he’s special. His hands are lightning quick, his feet are lightning quick. When he wants to, he can do whatever he wants. Fortunately for us, we’re found that in the playoffs we tend to get the best of him.
The interview was great too
Exclusive: Cavs GM David Griffin on his roster vision, Kyrie’s growth, and LeBron’s greatness
Griffin: Just f***ing amazing what he did. I think this regular season none of our guys have wanted to do that. Again, the path of least resistance, let’s just make it to the Finals, the playoffs, healthy. Because they know it’s all about the Finals. We win 65 games and lose in a playoff series, we fail. Nobody takes joy in regular season victories. This team is really, to the extreme in that. But LeBron is everything to this franchise. He sets the tempo, he sets the culture. I call him ‘cheat code’ because you know you’re going to get the best of every offensive player you put him with. Defensively he’s taken a lot more plays off this year than he has in the past, but you’ve seen in these first two games he can do whatever he wants.
Wonder where he got that from
Wonder where he got that from
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
I remember the Pistons game as if it was yesterday
. It was literally 1 on 5 and they could not stop him at all. Only Bron can make a lottery bound team into a serious contender.
Let's get them brooms out today fellas
I'll give credit to Lue they've looked better game to game.
This 7 days off should help JR and Kyrie as far as their health. Even RJ to a certain extent.
Love needs to get his mind right.
Depending on who they face in round 2 they might need to see if Tavares and/or big D-Will can help.
And LeBron is still in his prime.
12 to go
This 7 days off should help JR and Kyrie as far as their health. Even RJ to a certain extent.
Love needs to get his mind right.
Depending on who they face in round 2 they might need to see if Tavares and/or big D-Will can help.
And LeBron is still in his prime.
12 to go
And i bring up Tavares because they will need him in a series against Milwaukee or the Spurs.
They should see what he can do.
Side note, I can't remember the last time this team won 4 games in a row.
They should see what he can do.
Side note, I can't remember the last time this team won 4 games in a row.
Now the Raptors and Bucks have to decide when they want to get swept.