Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Cleveland

I got sucked in.

I thought that the Cleveland team that ran through the regular season and through the first two rounds of the playoffs was legit. Since I didn’t watch Cleveland closely during the year or even during those first two rounds, I didn’t realize that “LeBron at the top of the key, forcing shots” was a play. It’s pretty clear that LeBron is a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1-10 as a one-on-one (or one-on-three) player. But he’s a 10 when the ball and his teammates are moving. He’s fabulous off of the ball because he’s quick and smart and can get open for easy shots, either on the floor or in the air for ridiculous alley-oops. He’s superhuman at finding other guys open for easy shots. But he’s bad or merely mortal when he freezes at the top of the key while his teammates space the floor and stare at him. It doesn’t work. It didn’t work all series against Orlando and will never work long term. It’s terrible. It’s also aesthetically awful. I love basketball and I absolutely hate seeing this “we don’t trust anyone to do anything except LeBron play” being run. It’s ugly, it’s awful, it’s selfish, and it’s probably the number one reason why non-NBA fans say that they hate the NBA. If that’s all the NBA was, I’d hate it too, but it’s not.

I simply don’t understand why the Cavs would purposefully eliminate their best asset and make LeBron into a one-man team when he’s best at creating. The only good thing that can happen is he makes that awful step-back 22 footer. If he does actually drive to the hole out of this set, maybe he’ll get fouled or maybe he’ll get a layin, but those take effort (which explains why he rarely does it late in games). Also, how easy is that to defend? The other players can simply box out or help on LeBron. It’s much easier to guard someone if they’re just standing and watching, but it’s not easy to guard someone who is moving without the ball expecting a pass if they’re open. I hope they realize that they are wasting LeBron’s true gifts and knock it off next year. Also, since he’s a smart player, he must realize this too. Hopefully he realizes that it doesn’t work and waves the play off when it comes in and just does his thing. What is Mike Brown going to do? Bench him?

All that being said, his teammates were absolutely terrible in this series. I’ve ranted too much about this already. I picked Cleveland to win simply because of LeBron. This is a 30-win team without him.

Contrast that to Orlando, where Jameer Nelson, arguably Orlando’s best player during the year, gets hurt and Orlando is in the finals. If Hedo Turkoglu goes down, then Pietrus would step in and they wouldn’t miss a beat, same for Rashard Lewis. If Howard goes down, then Gortat would step in, no worries. I should have known better. Even though LeBron was wonderful this series, he needed role players to step up. Jordan, for as awesome and dominant as he was, always had someone on his team hit big shots in big moments. LeBron did not have that this series and it’s a shame. Also, as for next year, how do they get over the hump with these four guys taking up space and not doing much of anything to help the team win?
  • Zydrunas Ilgauskas – signed through next year, making over $10M (he grabs a stray rebound here and there and hits the occasional 20-foot shot, but is virtually no threat and no force defensively, he’s essentially worthless out there for the low, low price of $10M!)
  • Anderson Varejao – signed through next year (player option for this year), making around $6M (I hate him, but I guess he’s not that expensive)
  • Sasha Pavlovic – signed through next year, making around $5M (he was used in a strange way this series, and wasn’t effective)
  • Ben Wallace – signed through next year, making over $14M (I’ve heard rumblings that he will retire. If he does so, when he’s owed over $14M next year, then I’d be more surprised at that than if my dog, Sully, started talking to me about the weather and that he likes cheese more than sausages).

That’s $35M set aside for next year for guys who give Cleveland no shot at winning. As much as I hate Varejao as a player, he does bring some things (rebounding and annoyance) that may lead to wins, but he’s a zero offensively and that’s where the Cavs had their biggest issues… aside from being completely unable to contend three-point shooting, which is interesting for such a “good” defensive team. Maybe they’re just good until they play a team that can actually shoot and isn’t the least bit afraid to do so.

Now L.A. has role players who have stepped up in the past, in fact recently, so I can certainly see them winning this series. From an athletic standpoint, it seems like the two teams match up well. Odom should be able to defend Lewis better than anyone Cleveland threw at him (with the exception of LeBron for very limited minutes), of course, Gasol starts and will get run ragged by Lewis until Phil makes a change to Odom. Ariza should be able to guard Turkoglu. Kobe will probably match up with Lee/Pietrus. Fisher will attempt to guard Alston (or Nelson, if he plays), who is quicker, but not that dangerous. Bynum/Gasol will match up with Howard/Gortat.

I like Orlando’s chances and I actually trust them a bit more than I trust L.A. because they are super talented and can really shoot the rock, and they are also playing fearlessly. But I can’t shake the matchup problems. Cleveland was either too small (West and Williams) or too slow (Z and Varejao) to contend with Orlando. L.A. does not have that problem.

I originally thought that Orlando was going to win in six, but now I’ve changed course, simply because I looked a little closer. LA wins in six.

On LeBron’s Exit
Here’s what I’ve heard:

  • he should have been gracious in defeat
  • he should have walked over to Dwight Howard and wished him well in the next series
  • he should have addressed the media and answered questions about the series and about his future in Cleveland and the state of the franchise around him
  • when he spoke a couple of days after the series ended, we wanted him to say that he was remorseful for not doing what we wanted him to do in the first place
  • I’ve heard that even the greats walked over and said good luck and that it’s just part of the game

Look, I’m a fan of good sportsmanship too. I would have liked him to respect the game and his opponents. I don’t know exactly what that means, but an overt handshake and a look saying “you beat me this time, but you won’t next time” or something like that would have been fine. But here’s the thing: I do not like contrived graciousness. I don’t like contrived anything for that matter, but if LeBron was so upset that he lost and couldn’t deal with the situation, why be phony? He acted how he acted. He owes nothing to anyone. I don’t understand how “saying the right things” means that he’s a better person when, in effect, he would have been lying to us. His non-verbal gesture said more than any verbal statement could have. He let us know exactly how he feels.

He’s pissed.

He’s pissed he lost.

He’s pissed his teammates pissed down their legs.

He’s pissed that he has a coach who can think of no better gameplan than “LeBron, you bail us out.”

He’s pissed that he’s missed another opportunity to mark his greatness by winning a title.

He’s pissed that he played as well as he could play and came up short.

He’s pissed.

I like that certainty.

I dislike being lied to.

He would have had to suppress his true feelings if he went through some b.s. press conference lauding the Orlando Magic. He would have had to lie to our faces if he said that his team is not to blame for the losses. He would have danced around the subject of 2010 even though he probably knows what he’s going to do (nice touch wearing the Yankee cap when he finally did talk though). I respect what he did. LeBron is no dummy. He knows exactly what his actions meant. He didn’t have to call Danny Ferry and idiot for putting that squad out on the floor with him.

It doesn’t matter to me whether he stays in Cleveland or goes elsewhere, but I do want him to be put in a situation where he has the right complementary players and the right coach who knows how to deal with championship caliber teams. It doesn’t look like Mike Brown has it. Sadly, the one guy that does is in L.A. where he’ll likely nab his 10th ring.

 
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