The Problems with the Cavs and Other NBA Notes

Kevin Love
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After losing six straight games (the first five without LeBron James), the Cleveland Cavaliers have rattled off seven consecutive wins behind Kyrie Irving and James. James has averaged over 30 points and Irving has averaged over 24 during the stretch. Both dropped over 30 last night against Detroit. While that seems like a great thing, there is something looming underneath those two players point totals. Kevin Love dropped only seven points while taking less than half of the shots of the two leading scores (Love had 11 shot attempts, eight of those from behind the arc, while James had 24 and Irving had 23). 

Stats via basketball-reference.com

During this same seven game stretch, Love is averaging 14.5 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. Kevin Love is becoming the new Chris Bosh. Love's current numbers and Bosh's numbers from his first season in Miami are extremely similar and both have had tough times fitting in around James and a high-profile guard. There is one big difference between Love and 2010-11 Bosh. Love can leave Cleveland at the end of the season and the Cavs can get no one in return. Bosh was locked up until 2014 and was only leaving if he was traded. 

If I was Kevin Love, I would, at this point, leave Cleveland at the end of the season. He is not getting the touches he deserves and is slowly becoming the fourth option behind J.R. Smith. Love is the second best player on the team behind James (He is better than Irving) but is being treated like he is a bench warmer. In the last game of the six game losing streak against the Suns, Love was benched at the end of the game, while James Jones, Mike Miller, Smith, and Tristan Thompson all at some point played over him. After the game, Cavs Head Coach David Blatt was highly criticized for benching him and the rumors of Love leaving were at a peak. All of those rumors have gone away for the time being because of the win streak, but that does not mean they are gone for good. 

Kevin Love
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One of the big reasons that Love is having trouble in Cleveland is that he is not a player who creates his own shot. As a big man, he needs to be fed the ball in the post or be the screen setter in a pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop. He has never been a man who can take his defender off the dribble consistently  Because of this, he does not get the ball as often as he should. And if he does not get the ball in a scoring situation, he will not try to create his own shot by taking his defender off the dribble. Love has to pass the ball. On the flip side with Irving, James, and even Smith, these players can receive the ball anywhere on the court and just go one-on-one with the defender. Love cannot go one-on-one with a defender outside of the post and or mid-range area. To add on to that, all three of those players are players who run a lot of isolation plays and take their defenders one-on-one. This hinders Love's offense ability because he cannot get opportunities when the ball stays in only a select few hands. 

Kevin Love is better than Chris Bosh. Love can be a guy who drops 25 and pulls down 12 rebounds every night. He is not going to get that in Cleveland. He is not being treated and used right with the Cavs and if there is not a change for the better, there will be a change at power forward next season.

Kyrie Irving and LeBron James
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The Love Dilemma is not the only problem with the Cavs. The "Big Three" are playing too many minutes. Coming into the season, Blatt said that James would be playing less minutes this season. While he is averaging the lowest minutes per game of his career, James is still averaging just over 37 minutes a contest which is third in the league. Just ahead of him at second in the Association is Irving. For James, he needs to be rested more often so he will not wear down in the playoffs. LeBron is 30 now and he needs to manage his minutes. Irving may be only 22, but his minutes need to be managed better as well. At his current rate, he is going to worn down by the playoffs. Irving has a injury-history and has never played in the playoffs before. He needs his minutes to be managed so he will not crash and burn by the first round of the playoffs. Blatt needs to pace Irving. Also, by sitting James and Irving, the Cavs can play their younger players so they can get experience. Shawn Marion and Mike Miller cannot play forever. There is talent on the Cavs bench that they could exploit when James and Irving are on the bench.

There are problems with the Cavs and there will continue to be problems with the Cavs. Changes need to happen if Cleveland wants to be real contenders because if Love is not happy and James and Irving are playing forty minutes every night, the chances of them winning the title are slim to none.

Other Notes

Brandon Jennings
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Brandon Jennings tore his ACL on January 24. This a major loss for the Detroit Pistons, who are currently two and a half games out of the eighth spot in the East. With Jennings and big men Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, the Pistons had a great trio of players that were beginning to click. If Jennings was not injured, I would not be surprised if the Detroit made the playoffs and were a tough team to beat. Now, the Pistons are going to have a tough time making the playoffs with the current roster assembled.

Andrew Wiggins is having a fantastic January. He is playing great basketball and making a bad Timberwolves team watchable. Yet, the T-Wolves are still 7-37 and are on their way to possibly gaining the number one pick in the upcoming draft. If they end up getting the number one pick and they draft Duke star Jahlil Okafor, Minnesota will have a nucleus to base their team around for the next ten years.

The Golden State Warriors are the best team in the NBA because they not only have stars, but great role players. Everyone knows about Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green, but Marresse Spreights is third on the team in scoring, Andre Iguadola is still going strong, and Shawn Livingston and Leandro Barbosa are playing really well as back-ups to the Splash Bros. The Warriors have the makings of a powerhouse. 

After a bad rookie season where he was oft-injured and could not gain much playing time, Phoenix Suns center Alex Len is having a good season. While the numbers are not much, under seven points and seven bounds a game, he still leads the team in rebounds and blocks. Len is not going to be a star anytime soon, but he is going to be a major contributor to these playoff contending Suns.

Book Review: The Death Row All Stars by Howard Kazanjian and Chris Enss

Wyoming is anything but a hotbed for baseball. There have been only 14 major leaguers from the state and only one minor league team in the state since WWII (Casper Rockies/Ghosts 2001-11). However, that does not mean the state is void of good baseball players, teams, and stories. The Death Row All Stars: A Story of Baseball, Corruption, and Murder by Howard Kazanjian and Chris Enss tells the story of a baseball team in Wyoming in 1911 made up of players in the state's penitentiary, many of them who committed hanious crimes. The book talks about corruption and murder, but baseball's role in the story is surprisingly minimal.

Cover of The Death Row All Stars
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What was most annoying about the lack of baseball was that the Wyoming State Penitentiary team was not the main focus of the book. The Death Row All Stars is a short book at only 156 pages, with the last 30 being the notes, bibliography, and index. So, I was not expecting the book to be filled with detail and intently describe specific moments. But I did expect the book to focus on the team and it's players, not just management and one player. The main focus was on four characters: Warden Felix Alston, former Warden Otto Gramm, team manager George Saban, and right fielder Joseph Seng. The team was only used as a way to connect all four. While the story of Seng was interesting, the story of Alston, Gramm, and Saban runs dry at the end. However, with that being said, I understand why the story did not revolve around the team: their story was not long enough and detailed enough to carry it for the length of a book.

One of the reasons the books disappoints is not only its lack of information on the team, but also the team's players. Other than Seng, very little is given about the other players on the team. The reader is given the bare minimum on the background of these players. While there may be little information on some of the players, I find it hard to believe that all the players either had a boring background or little information in their backgrounds.

I had high hopes for The Death Row All Stars and when I finished the small paperback, I was throughly disappointed. I was reading the story for the story of the baseball team at the State Penitentiary, not about the lives of people around the story. The Death Row All Stars is a misleading title to a book not really about baseball.

Thoughts on the First College Football Playoff National Championship

Cardale Jones
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Coin Toss

Oregon, being the higher seed, got to call the opening coin toss. They chose heads and it was heads. The Ducks elected to receive. In the 2011 BCS Championship Game, Oregon called tails, the coin came up tails, and they elected to receive the kick as well. Oregon lost both games.

Missed Tackles

What lost the game for Oregon was the amount of tackles they missed. Multiple times, Cardale Jones bulldozed an Oregon defender, who had stopped the 6'5", 250 pound signal caller a few yards from a first down, and got a first down. The Ducks also had difficulty tackling running back Ezekiel Elliott and Jalin Marshall on kick returns. If Oregon tackled Jones or Elliott on a few third downs behind the first down marker, Ohio State would have punted more often, giving Oregon more chances to score. Oregon's inability to make a big tackle, especially on third down, was the team's downfall.

Turnovers

Ohio State had four turnovers. Oregon had one, an interception at the end of the game. While, it is never good when a team commits four turnovers, the Buckeyes need to be applauded for their ability on defense to make stops after turnovers and for the offense for forgetting about the turnovers. The Ohio State defense stopped the Oregon offense twice after turnovers, including one time inside the five, and gave up only ten points off of turnovers. That is very good when facing a fantastic Oregon offense. On offensive, Cardale Jones had a bad fumble and an interception, yet put that behind him to lead Ohio State to the victory. 

The Dropped Passes

Oregon scored first, stopped Ohio State on the Buckeyes' first possession, and looked to be rolling on their second possession. Then, on a 3rd and 3, Charles Nelson drops a pass and Oregon punts. On the next Oregon possession, Mariota throws a beauty to Dwayne Stanford on a 3rd and 12 that was guaranteed to be a big play. But, Stanford dropped it. On Ohio State's possessions after both drops, they scored a touchdown. Those two drops changed the whole momentum of the game. Oregon's offense was not the same after the drops, while Ohio State gained confidence and momentum.  

Ezekiel Elliott

Ezekiel Elliott
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Ezekiel Elliott may not have had an 80+ yard run like in the Big Ten Championship or Sugar Bowl, but he did have the best game of his career and won of the best performances of all-time in a championship game. He rushed 36 times for 246 yards and four touchdowns, all career highs. Elliott could not be stopped Monday night. It seemed like every time he got his hand on the ball, he was running for eight or nine yards. Elliott was the best player on the field at AT&T Stadium. Right now, he is the best running back in the country.

76 Years Ago

The First NCAA Basketball Tournament was in 1939. Eight teams competed in the tournament. The final was between: Ohio State and Oregon. In this first tournament, however, Oregon pulled off the victory 46-33 behind John Dick's 13 points. 

Now What? Oregon

Before the game, it was almost guaranteed that Marcus Mariota would declare for the NFL Draft. Now, there are some murmurs that Mariota will stay for a final season at Oregon. While I love it when college players stay an extra year (or two), Mariota should go pro. It is his time to leave Oregon and become a professional. He is at a peak ranking (even after the championship) and is more likely to be highly criticized and lose his high ranking (ex: Jake Locker). Mariota's draft stock may fall slightly after the loss, but there are too many teams in need of a QB in the top ten, even top five, for him to slide to far down. The next QB for the Ducks will most likely be either Jeff Locke or Morgan Mahalak. With either of them, there is likely some struggles in 2015, but Oregon should still be a good team.

Now What? Ohio State

Cardale Jones, JT Barrett, and Braxton Miller
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The big question heading into the 2015 season for Ohio State is going to be the QB situation. Urban Meyer will have to chose from three high quality QBs: 2012 and 2013 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Braxton Miller, 2014 Big Ten QB of the Year JT Barrett, and starting QB of the Big Ten Championship, Sugar Bowl, and National Championship Cardale Jones. However, it is likely to be a two-horse race between Barrett and Jones, as Miller will graduate in the spring and be able to transfer and play immediately. Schools reportedly in the running for Miller are Florida State, LSU, Oregon, and Duke. All are better options than possibly sitting the bench at Ohio State. In the decision between Barrett and Jones, Meyer has to chose Jones. The man just won his first three starts in the three most important games of the season. He started and won the National Championship. While Barrett might have done that if he were healthy, Meyer can not base his decision on alternate timelines. He needs to base it on performance and success.