Until they crapped the bed last night at home versus Golden State. Ahhh, the sweet taste of reality. If you can believe it, the Cavs are actually 8-10 over the past 18 games. The past week they defeated Boston (when they still had Rondo, giggle), Milwaukee, and Toronto. During that three game span, Kyrie Irving averaged 35 points a game. That's a lot. The team now sits at 13-33 and that's good for third to worst in the NBA. Somehow they are still only nine games out from the eight seed. Will it happen? Highly doubtful unless more moves are made. Wait, more moves you ask? Yes sir. Last time I begged GM Chris Grant to start wheeling and dealing and he finally pulled through for me. What happened?
Grant has shown a penchant for making shrewd business moves the past couple of seasons to acquire a plethora of draft picks and clearing cap space like it's his job. Because, well, it is. He got on da phone with Memphis (Grizzlies) who desperately needed to clear cap space. So here's what went down:
Memphis sent big man Marreese Speights, guards Wayne Ellington and Josh Selby, and a future first-round draft pick to the Cavs for forward Jon Leuer.For you guys and gals who don't know anything about anything, I think we all know this is a total winner for Cleveland. Three players and a future first rounder for a scrub who floated between the Cavs and the D-League Charge? Yes please. Are the players game changers? Not really. Speights is a solid big man down low and has helped our rotation of bigs without Varejao in the line up. Ellington is CJ Miles 2.0 and might be a better option considering his defensive acumen. Selby was already sent to Canton but who cares right? The diamond here is the future first round pick which the Cavs will most likely get in 2015 or 2016. It will most likely fall in the 6-14 range because of its protections. Since 2010, it's the sixth first round pick the Cavs have traded for which is pretty solid considering there's only two rounds in the whole NBA draft.
Want even more exciting news? Can you even handle it? Irving was selected to his first All Star game last week as a reserve. It's the first All Star Cleveland has had since you know who. Most of us would expect this is the first of many All Star selections in Kyrie's future. Furthermore, with Rondo's injury, it may be Irving getting the starting nod in Houston in a couple weeks. It may be a sneak preview of what Irving and LeBron look like in the back court together BOOM! Summer of 2014, here we come!
Okay, enough excitement for one post. Here's what the Cavs got coming up. From Feb 1st through the 13th, the Cavs will play seven games. Six of those are at the Q. They will then have an entire week off before their next game because of All Star Weekend. Let's see if the team can keep up their winning ways and possibly get to 30 wins.
One last thing...
