With the Cavs riding an 11-game winning streak and two off-days before welcoming in the Los Angeles Clippers to the Q on Thursday, Jared and I have decided to do a little back-and-forth about what would solidify the team’s chances of being championship-caliber. These are some of our Cavs thoughts and we want to hear yours.
Spencer: We begin this thread with my piece yesterday about the possibility of Mo Williams’ return to Cleveland. Jared is not a fan of the potential move, and I don’t know why. Care to explain?
Jared: Williams is a limited player who can do fine as a shooter/scorer but would get very limited minutes with this Cavaliers team. An offensive minded backup point guard just gives us another player with that side as their main skill. Williams was a bad defender last time and is likely worse this time. Matthew Dellavedova provides a different set of skills, although limited, than Mo. You touched on it in your piece a bit but is Mo really someone you want the Cavs to make their final trade for this season?
Spencer: Personally, I don’t believe the Cavs even have to make a move at this rate, and if they do, it will likely be very minor. But if they gauged Minnesota’s interest and could get Williams back in a deal in exchange for someone like Brendan Haywood and a future second-rounder, I’m all about that if I’m David Griffin. Because at this point in the season, it’s pretty clear that Haywood is running on empty and has little to contribute on the court.
That being said, you said to me before that you would like them to get out there and grab another backup big. Who do you think you fit that role well?
Jared: That is a great question, but I might hold off on my favorite trade for a later post. I would look at teams that are not competing and see if they have a big that is an expiring contract or one that may not have a big future role. Haywood also has value to teams who might want to attack the trade market next year with his deal so that plays a bit of a role as well. Ian Mahinmi (Pacers), Robert Sacre (Lakers) and John Henson (Bucks) are 3 players that could be available and would interest me.
To be clear though, a big man interests me but I am less interest in pigeon-holed thinking related to position/need that the Cavs would fill. What about you, do you think there is a position/need that the Cavs could fill that would change their season/post-season?
Spencer: Honestly, there isn’t a move out there that would completely alter their season and potential playoff run. Because that already happened after the acquisition of Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. Unfortunately the one player that I thought would’ve been perfect for the Cavs is on terrible terms with his own team and the league itself: Larry Sanders. But nothing’s changing on that front, so my wish won’t come true there.
As far as those names that you mentioned, Ian Mahinmi is an interesting thought. He’s had playoff experience and is an established backup big that could immediately contribute. Henson is young and up-in-coming, and he’s been quite productive with his minutes increased as of late, so there’s no possible deal there in my opinion. And if I have to address Sacre, I’m not exactly enamored by his play, but he is definitely serviceable.
Switching gears, I think the key to the rest of this season is staying healthy. How many times have Cavs fans, and Cleveland fans in general, seen a team get on a role just to have it all go away in the snap of a finger because of a devastating injury? Too many to count.
So I ask you, what is your key to the remainder of the Cavs’ year?
Jared: I think injuries, obviously, play a key role but for me the key is Kevin Love. As a person who struggles with back issues, it seems very obvious that Love’s is bothering him. Not getting into the All-Star game will be a blessing for that. With his back rested, Love will still need to figure out his place in the offense. I am not one to focus squarely on the box score stats instead watching the games tells the story. Love doesn’t seem comfortable on the court.
At this point LeBron James and Kyrie Irving seem to have things figured out, that leaves a ton of time for Love to get things together. As you noted Mozgov, Shumpert and Smith have all been huge additions for the team as well. Timo seems to have his role figured out well. Who do you think is more important moving forward Shumpert or Smith? Which should start for the Cavs down the stretch?
Spencer: Before I get into that, I’d like to address the Love situation. I am an avid Twitter user (@SpinDavies for those who do not know me), so I see fans talking about Kevin Love’s struggles and how “bad” he’s been. That irks me. Look, understand that I’m not excusing his poor shooting from long distance, but the man is clearly aching right now. He is busting his tail off and fighting for every rebound, and that’s been huge for the team and should be commendable. Is he the Timberwolves version of Kevin Love? No, but he honestly can’t be, because he’s the third scoring option on the Cavs. Does he need to improve? Yes, but let’s not write the guy off halfway through the season.
Now to answer your question regarding Smith and Shumpert: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” David Blatt has found his rotation and it’s worked tremendously. The only way I see Iman Shumpert cracking into the starting lineup is if J.R. Smith goes incredibly cold for a stretch of 5-7 games and costs the team some games. But as of now, Smith is playing team-first ball on both sides of the floor. If that keeps up, don’t expect a change anytime soon.
You got anything else Jared?
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Jared: Gonna answer my question that I gave you and ask you one final prediction. I see Smith and Shumpert switching roles, maybe as soon as after the All Star break. Not because anyone is doing anything poorly but the 2nd unit has really struggled to create offense. Smith doesn’t have any trouble with that at all. With him coming off the bench, Blatt can rely a little less on Kyrie and LeBron. Using Love and Smith together on the second unit would give both a chance to be dynamic offensively apart from Irving and LeBron. Shumpert can guard a bit more, Delly can do that for the second unit, and just hit spot up corner 3s. I’d be okay if they keep it as is but expect it to change.
On to my final question. The Cavs currently have 30 wins and are in the 5th seed, 1.5 games out of the 3rd seed. With 32 games left in the year, how many wins do you think the Cavs end up with and in what seed do they enter the Playoffs?
Thanks Spencer, this was fun.
Spencer: 62.
No, just kidding. The Cavs are going to end up somewhere around 47-52 wins, so I’ll just predict that their final record will 48-34 with the third seed in the East behind Atlanta and Chicago. This season has been full of ups and downs, so I expect there to be at least one more stretch of poor play and another stretch of excellence.
No problem, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Glad to contribute in my first week here, and I’m excited to be a part of KJG.
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