Why Cleveland?
Here's what I'm tired of:
1. I'm tired of national television announcers naming the top three teams to watch out for in the Eastern Conference to be Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland.
2. I'm tired of ignorant commentators somehow thinking Cleveland even has any kind of shot at the finals.
3. I'm tired of comentators and experts not really realizing that in picking Cleveland to be a legitimate team they are going against everything we've learned from the past.
4. I'm tired of everyone picking a 45-win Cleveland team and saying they are more relevant in the playoffs than the 52-win Orlando Magic.
I know I can't be alone in this. Magic fans everywhere (assuming Magic fans even exist outside of Florida...but we know no one in Florida is rooting for the Heat) have to be crying foul after their team was put down over and over again. Even Jeff Van Gundy, the brother of Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy, said (at least two months ago, much earlier in the season) that the Magic just don't have what it takes to be relevant. Yet Cleveland keeps getting thrown in to the picture, despite any real emperical data to support that pick. Maybe they just have that "gut feeling" or a tingling in their ears to know that Cleveland can win in the playoffs. Here's why i think people are dumb for picking Cleveland:
1. They are a team that has been outscored by their oponents on the season.
2. They have a horrible record on the road, something that could come back to bite them as the #4 seed in the east (which means they'll most likely not have home-court advantage IF they make it to the eastern conference finals).
3. This is what I feel is the most relevant of the reasons: They are a one-man show!
Everyone knows that Lebron James is "The Man." King James is certainly worth the hype. Not only is he a fantastic show (and talent) on the court, but he is a genuinely likeable and marketable guy. But we also know that there once was a similar "guy" in the league named Michael Jordan. He racked up records with the amount of money he made from endorsements. He was equally as stellar on the court, winning scoring titles and bringing the Bulls into relevance...almost. The problem was that Jordan, without at least ONE marquee player around him (i.e. Scottie Pippin), couldn't win that championship. Everyone talks about how Jordan needed Scottie, and how Kobe needed Shaq (or vice versa) in order to climb over the hump. We've heard that talk so much over the last ten years, why are people suddenly thinking that a one-pony show like the Cavs actually are relevant this year?
You can look at the teams in the recent past that have won the championship, starting with the Spurs and on through the Pistons and Lakers. Those teams either have big-time stars with great supporting players, or have several very good players that play together as a team, both on offense and defense. The Spurs with Duncan and Robinson and the Lakers with Kobe and Shaq showed how having two big stars next to eachother could pay dividends. The Pistons played more of a team game, where the scoring was shared by a group of talented players that could carry the team on any given night. Cleveland just doesn't have that. James' only real compliment offensively is center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is on the back end of his career. Wally Szczerbiak, a trade-deadline pickup with good range and an ability to put points up on the board, has managed to average only 8.2 points coming off the bench. Joe Smith, another aging veteran, has done about the same.
James is going to have to hope that Szczerbiak can score more hoops, and that Ilgauskas, Smith, and a so-far extremely ineffective Ben Wallace can overcome their achy legs/knees/backs to help carry this team to the finals. Who knows, maybe Daniel Gibson will come up big again this year. Let's just hope, for Lebron's sake, that they at least play some defense.
Orlando has three guys averaging over 18 ppg (Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis - Cleveland has one, Lebron), they outshoot their opponents (Cleveland doesn't), and they outscore their opponents (another failing grade for the Cavs). They aren't a perfect team by any means but I don't think you can shoot them down so quickly, no pun intended. They may not fit the mold exactly of the championship teams of the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, or Los Angeles Lakers, but i still think that's better than perfectly fitting the mold of the 1980's Chicago Bulls, which is something that Lebron has to be getting tired of.
The moral of this story: watch the Cavs fail to overcome the best teams in the East during the playoffs.
My prediction for Cavs: First Round, Cavs over Wizards 4-2; Second Round, Celtics over Cavs 4-1.
My prediction for Magic: First Round, Raptors over Magic 4-3. I don't know, i just like the Raptors better?
Update: I was wrong about the Magic...thank goodness! And who would've thought the Hawks could take 2 in a row from the Celtics? Crazy! I'm (sort of) sure there will be another post on the playoffs sometime soon.
1. I'm tired of national television announcers naming the top three teams to watch out for in the Eastern Conference to be Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland.
2. I'm tired of ignorant commentators somehow thinking Cleveland even has any kind of shot at the finals.
3. I'm tired of comentators and experts not really realizing that in picking Cleveland to be a legitimate team they are going against everything we've learned from the past.
4. I'm tired of everyone picking a 45-win Cleveland team and saying they are more relevant in the playoffs than the 52-win Orlando Magic.
I know I can't be alone in this. Magic fans everywhere (assuming Magic fans even exist outside of Florida...but we know no one in Florida is rooting for the Heat) have to be crying foul after their team was put down over and over again. Even Jeff Van Gundy, the brother of Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy, said (at least two months ago, much earlier in the season) that the Magic just don't have what it takes to be relevant. Yet Cleveland keeps getting thrown in to the picture, despite any real emperical data to support that pick. Maybe they just have that "gut feeling" or a tingling in their ears to know that Cleveland can win in the playoffs. Here's why i think people are dumb for picking Cleveland:
1. They are a team that has been outscored by their oponents on the season.
2. They have a horrible record on the road, something that could come back to bite them as the #4 seed in the east (which means they'll most likely not have home-court advantage IF they make it to the eastern conference finals).
3. This is what I feel is the most relevant of the reasons: They are a one-man show!
Everyone knows that Lebron James is "The Man." King James is certainly worth the hype. Not only is he a fantastic show (and talent) on the court, but he is a genuinely likeable and marketable guy. But we also know that there once was a similar "guy" in the league named Michael Jordan. He racked up records with the amount of money he made from endorsements. He was equally as stellar on the court, winning scoring titles and bringing the Bulls into relevance...almost. The problem was that Jordan, without at least ONE marquee player around him (i.e. Scottie Pippin), couldn't win that championship. Everyone talks about how Jordan needed Scottie, and how Kobe needed Shaq (or vice versa) in order to climb over the hump. We've heard that talk so much over the last ten years, why are people suddenly thinking that a one-pony show like the Cavs actually are relevant this year?
You can look at the teams in the recent past that have won the championship, starting with the Spurs and on through the Pistons and Lakers. Those teams either have big-time stars with great supporting players, or have several very good players that play together as a team, both on offense and defense. The Spurs with Duncan and Robinson and the Lakers with Kobe and Shaq showed how having two big stars next to eachother could pay dividends. The Pistons played more of a team game, where the scoring was shared by a group of talented players that could carry the team on any given night. Cleveland just doesn't have that. James' only real compliment offensively is center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who is on the back end of his career. Wally Szczerbiak, a trade-deadline pickup with good range and an ability to put points up on the board, has managed to average only 8.2 points coming off the bench. Joe Smith, another aging veteran, has done about the same.
James is going to have to hope that Szczerbiak can score more hoops, and that Ilgauskas, Smith, and a so-far extremely ineffective Ben Wallace can overcome their achy legs/knees/backs to help carry this team to the finals. Who knows, maybe Daniel Gibson will come up big again this year. Let's just hope, for Lebron's sake, that they at least play some defense.
Orlando has three guys averaging over 18 ppg (Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis - Cleveland has one, Lebron), they outshoot their opponents (Cleveland doesn't), and they outscore their opponents (another failing grade for the Cavs). They aren't a perfect team by any means but I don't think you can shoot them down so quickly, no pun intended. They may not fit the mold exactly of the championship teams of the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, or Los Angeles Lakers, but i still think that's better than perfectly fitting the mold of the 1980's Chicago Bulls, which is something that Lebron has to be getting tired of.
The moral of this story: watch the Cavs fail to overcome the best teams in the East during the playoffs.
My prediction for Cavs: First Round, Cavs over Wizards 4-2; Second Round, Celtics over Cavs 4-1.
My prediction for Magic: First Round, Raptors over Magic 4-3. I don't know, i just like the Raptors better?
Update: I was wrong about the Magic...thank goodness! And who would've thought the Hawks could take 2 in a row from the Celtics? Crazy! I'm (sort of) sure there will be another post on the playoffs sometime soon.
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