How many of you thought it was going to be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?
LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and the rest were just going to seamlessly blend under the guidance of David Blatt and become the greatest team in the history of the NBA. They were going to win more than 70 games and walk to the first championship in Cleveland since 1964. Every game was going to be a party and they were going to win by more than 20 every night.
If only it were that easy.
Three games in and the Cavs are far from a finished product. Blatt has no idea yet who to play together and when, and the overall effort from select players has been questionable at times. James looks like he's either irritated with the team, or in considerable discomfort from his back being worse than we're being led to believe.
An opening night loss to the New York Knicks was followed up by a gritty overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. Then last night, after playing even with the Portland Trailblazers through the first quarter, the Cavs were completely blasted the rest of the way, losing 101-82. James was clearly disappointed in the effort put forth by some of his teammates, and probably himself as he didn't appear completely engaged.
What does it all mean?
According to Twitter, it means that this team is destined to fail, James is going back to Miami next year, Blatt will be fired by mid-season, and Dion Waiters will be traded in the next two weeks as he clearly can't exist on this team.
It's easy to overreact though. It's easy to watch the game and see all the things that are wrong with this team. It's easy to forget that many of them are playing together on an NBA team for the first time.
In other words, it's not going to look great right away.
It's a bit of a cop-out, but the best example is to look at the Miami Heat from 2010-2011 when James first joined that team. It was a disjointed effort through the first 17 games as the Heat were 9-8 and many wondered if this "superteam" was a bad idea. Then they ripped off 10 straight wins and 20 out of 21 to silence the critics.
Will the Cavs do the same? I doubt it. This team has multiple players (Love, Irving, and Waiters) that are deficient defensively, and while you can hope for some improvement, Irving and Waiters in particular showed some of their bad habits last night. Waiters in particular seemed lazy on the defensive side and while Irving has shown some effort, it seems when his man starts to score on him, he shrinks defensively. Damion Lillard had struggled from the floor his first few games, but last night couldn't miss and often Irving failed to even attempt to close out on the shot.
Yet they may only need to make small strides defensively if the gel on offense. Right now, players still aren't sure where they need to be on the floor. More than once, we've seen a pass made to a player that's either vacated the spot, or failed to move to where the pass was intended. These type of errors will disappear as they become comfortable with one another.
The more disappointing thing from last night was that the ball movement screeched to a halt once the team faced adversity. It turned into 2013 all over again with Irving and Waiters taking turns dribbling the ball into oblivion, then hoisting a last second shot. Compounding things was the fact that they both shot the ball poorly. Waiters overall is only shooting 30% on the young season, and while there's still the likely possibility that he'll get it turned around, he clearly is out of whack.
Waiters was the one that worried me, as well as most everyone else. He has the potential to be a borderline all-star, or completely flame out depending on how he fits in, or doesn't fit in. The point that can't be overstated is he needs to show more consistent effort on the defensive end. I truly believe he could be a top 10 defender if he tries, but more often than not, he fails to do so.
On offense, he needs to find where he fits in on this team. He seems undecided whether he's going to pull up and shoot the jumper, or drive to the rim. On the few drives he's made, he seems more concerned with drawing contact than actually trying to make the shot. He's not getting the calls, he's getting frustrated (as is James on his drives), and then fails to get back defensively.
Maybe he does need to come off the bench. I don't know, and he doesn't seem to know either. This is just one of the pieces that Blatt has to figure out going forward.
Blatt also needs to figure out a consistent bench rotation. This is another trial and error thing that the team is going to struggle with initially. Remember, most of these guys haven't played with each other. It's going to take time. Blatt not only has to find the right mix of guys on the floor, but they have to figure each other out as well.
You could make the argument that's what training camp and the preseason is for, but the reality is that until you're playing the games, you'll have no idea how it's going to go. Teams are very vanilla in preseason, so how you were defended then is vastly different from how you'll be defended come the regular season.
The important thing to constantly remember is that it's going to take time. If after 30-40 games they still haven't come together at all, I'd be concerned then. Right now? I'm looking to see how the team responds to adversity, not just in the game, but from one game to the next. Tonight I'm going to want to see how they respond to last night's game when they play the Utah Jazz.
I don't think they'll ever be a defensive juggernaut, but I do think by the end of the season, they will have figured it out and will be a lot of fun to watch.
It just takes a little bit of patience.
Brownie Bites
The Browns have been a fascinating team to follow this year. They probably have no business being 5-3, but yet that's where they're at going into tomorrow night's massive match-up with the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football. This game has divisional implications for both teams. Both teams are trying to keep pace with the suddenly surging Pittsburgh Steelers and the team that loses faces a dramatically more difficult path to the playoffs.
The Bengals, like the Browns, have been Jeckyll and Hyde type of team. They've looked great offensively at times, then at other times they've looked bad. They looked great on defense early on, but haven't been as good of late. They have the advantage of being at home and facing a Browns team that has really struggled on offense of late.
I don't know what's going to happen with this game. Brian Hoyer has looked awful at times, yet when it comes down to crunch time, he's gotten the job done more often than he hasn't. He's 7-3 as a starter in games he's finished, yet he could easily be 5-5 or worse. But what-ifs aren't really valid points in an argument and the fact is, the team has won with him at quarterback.
It's been very disheartening to listen to certain local talk show hosts (Chuck Booms of 92.3 The Fan comes to mind) push and push for Johnny Manziel to start, and Booms argument that Hoyer has been terrible is slightly misguided at best. I find it odd that a guy who has largely been supportive of the local teams and players is so against the local product as quarterback, but Booms has had a strange love affair with Manziel from the start.
The problem with Hoyer is he has made some bad throws, making it harder to defend him at times. You could argue that more than few throws, if on point, would've led to easy touchdowns and you'd be correct. Yet some of those throws aren't as easy as the detractors want you to believe. The throw to Ben Tate against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a prime example of that. Hoyer had to wait for the route to develop, then had to make the throw right before being blasted by a defender. Could the throw have been better? Yes, but it certainly wasn't as easy as some have made it out to be.
You'd think from the critics that he had all day to set his feet and throw the ball and it just sailed on him. The disheartening thing is the talk makes it sound like the Browns have lost the last two weeks. Yes, the games have been ugly, but the bottom line is Hoyer has made enough plays to get the job done.
Do I think his performance warrants bringing him back next season? At this point, no. But it does allow Manziel time to learn as much as possible so that when it is his time, he's prepared. At the same time, if Hoyer suddenly catches fire and finishes the season strong, that changes the whole dynamic of the upcoming offseason.
It's just sad that because some want to see Manziel play, they'll find anything on Hoyer to rip. He has a new center in front of him that was shoved to the ground on three different occasions, leading to negative plays. The run game has been non-existent for three straight weeks. Jordan Cameron has been out due to a concussion (that was improperly blamed on Hoyer by some). Oh, and some guy by the name of Josh Gordon has not played at all this season due to his bogus suspension.
Yet Hoyer still has the team 5-3. Nitpick all you want, you can't argue with the overall result. Hoyer's play, while not always pretty, has been inspiring and he's continuing to soldier on despite the lack of a running game.
Lost in all the hoopla over Manziel vs. Hoyer is the defense playing much better the last few weeks. Granted, you have to consider the level of competition, but it's been nice to see the defensive backs make some plays and while the defense is still prone to getting gashed in the run game, they've been able to stem the tide when they need to.
Joe Haden has raised his level of play of late and you can't understate the importance of Donte Whitner and Tashaun Gipson in the back end. Buster Skrine has had his ups and downs and Justin Gilbert has still struggled some, but the unit overall has been better and should continue to get better.
Which leads us back to the game tomorrow night. It's a big one and if the Browns find a way to win, the fans will start thinking a division title is possible. If they lose, the cries for Manziel might get louder.
Hang on fans, it's going to get wild.
