The Cleveland Cavaliers will have a team scrimmage in Dayton on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the team is going to soak up the experience.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are amidst one of their more important training camps in recent memory. They are going to be playing a mix of veterans, such as George Hill, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson and Kyle Korver, along with young pieces such as Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman, Collin Sexton and Larry Nance Jr. With plenty of uncertainty surrounding the team’s outlook and approach in 2018-19, the Cavaliers will benefit even more from outworking their opponents and playing team basketball as much as possible. Them scrimmaging at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base epitomizes the team concept, and the team, according to head coach Tyronn Lue, is “very excited” for the experience. They’ll be taking advantage of the opportunity to meet the selfless men and women who defend our country right away, per Cleveland.com’s Cavs’ Twitter.
Coach Ty Lue and the Cavaliers are looking forward to playing the 2018 Wine & Gold Scrimmage at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton on Sunday. They’ll eat and spend time with the servicemen and women before the game. #Cavs pic.twitter.com/stSa59DbQ2
— clevelanddotcom Cavs (@PDcavsinsider) September 29, 2018
Lue praising our servicemen and women is something that is outstanding to hear. The Cavaliers are a team that appears to be working their tails off thus far, especially with the players playing more uptempo.
It’s not as if they weren’t before, but this year it’s even more essential, as the team isn’t as talented. However, the Cavs are very deep, and if players such as Collin Sexton and Osman play to their potential and set the example of working as hard as possible, then that will help this team play as well as possible.
Unselfish defensive grinders such as Hill, David Nwaba, Nance and Thompson will probably soak up this Wright-Patterson experience as much as anyone, and with the way this team is structured, they’ll need to set the tone from a collective team leadership standpoint. Nance said on Cavaliers’ Media Day that “there’s not one definitive leader in the locker room” on this Cavaliers’ team, such as there was with LeBron James last year, and this sort of experience for a younger roster is invaluable from a team chemistry standpoint.
In a year that will have its up and downs, meeting a group of people with the work ethic of servicemen and women and playing in front of them was a tremendous way to set an example by Lue early on. He’s doing all the right things so far to start the season.