Building The Right Way (NBA Draft Preview)

by Cleveland Frowns on June 28, 2012

A lot of folks like to say the post-LeBron Cavs are “building the right way,” which, according to Dan Gilbert, means building “with, not around superstars.” Others, including Byron Scott, describe “building the right way” as following the model of the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that was completely destroyed by LeBron and the Heat in the Finals.

But even if you’re crazy enough to believe that an eventual Thunder title is inevitable or otherwise think that tanking for high draft picks for half a decade is the way to go, the Cavs still have really long way to get there: Surround a player who’s the second-best scorer in the league (a second-overall draft pick himself) with two more hits on top-five draft picks; trade another top-five draft pick for a legit center-type, and add an All-World shot blocker/paint presence by hitting big on a late first-round pick. And then you get to be destroyed by LeBron and the Heat in the Finals. Hooray for building the right way. Hooray for the NBA draft.

As for teams that have actually won something, going back to Michael Jordan’s first title in 1991, 19 of the the leagues 22 champions have been led by legit top-3-at-worst players, if not the undisputed best player in the league. Of these 19 champs, one had LeBron, six had Jordan and Scottie Pippen playing together, ten had one of the most dominant seven-footers to ever play the game (Hakeem, Shaq, Duncan), and the other two paired Kobe Bryant with another really really good seven-footer (Gasol). The three exceptions here are: 1) The 2008 Celtics who combined four future Hall of Famers close enough to their primes with a Hall of Fame head coach; 2) The Rasheed/Billups/Hamilton/Wallace Pistons who had Ben Wallace in his prime to deal with Shaq (back before Kobe got that really bad taste in his mouth), and; 3) The Mavericks team that got to win because LeBron couldn’t take any shortcuts (none!).

Unfortunately for the Cavs, they won’t be landing any most-dominant seven-footers-to-ever-play-the-game-types in this draft, nor any Jordan/LeBron/Kobe-types, nor even a Gasol-type seven-footer. The best folks think the Cavs can do is land Florida’s Bradley Beal, who might be as good as Ray Allen if he’s really really good. Anyway, the NBA draft is still always fun.

Here’s a good read on the Cavs’ options by Brendan Bowers at Stepien Rules (if we wanted the Cavs to win, we’d pick MKG, FWIW). And in other draft news, Bowers is having a draft party tonight at Mullarkey’s Irish Pub in Willoughby. Dangerous territory, we know, but Bowers is great, so if you’re looking for an NBA draft party.

Alright, NBA, fantastic, and a great day for America. Salute.

  • nj0

    This is why, try as I might, I have such a hard time getting into the NBA. There seems to be only one way to build a championship team.

    That said, what’s the consensus “smart” pick/move for the Cavs?

    • ClevelandFrowns

      I think it’s MKG assuming Beal is gone, but some folks like MKG better than Beal.

      • bupalos

        >>>but some folks like MKG better than Beal.>>>

        Present.

  • ClevelandFrowns

    Tweet of the Day: “Ladies, guard your vaginas. The GOP is about to retaliate.” – @Wolfrum

    • nj0

      Let the insanity begin.

    • p_forever

      before the ACA decision was handed down, there were chants of “real women buy their own birth control.” so yes. an astute tweet, indeed.

  • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

    Completely “destroyed”?

    • ClevelandFrowns

      If you want to pick nits, go with “thoroughly destroyed.”

      • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

        The scoring advantage was +20 to Miami over 5 games. Hardly an example of any kind of destruction.

        The old “if ifs and buts were candy and nuts” thing applies here, but the Thunder played well under their averages for the series. If Harden ever gets off the bus, it goes 7.

        • ClevelandFrowns

          4-1. 4 wins in a row. Five games, the Thunder won one of them.

          • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

            When we talk about the Thunder competing with the Heat, close games are meaningless. When we talk about the Mangini Browns competing in games, the record is meaningless.

            I just want to make sure i have this straight, for the sake of consistency.

          • ClevelandFrowns

            When you lose a series 4 games to 1, you got blown out. When you lose a football game by a field goal to a team with at least four times as much talent as you have, you’ve turned in an impressive performance. It really isn’t rocket surgery.

          • Steve

            It’s not like losing a football game 40-10 at all. According to a great book for anyone who needs help with basic sports statistics – A Drunkard’s Walk – it takes a 23 game series to truly separate teams even when we expect lopsided results. Winning 3 of 4 close games and blowing out the opponent once is, unequivocally, not domination.

  • http://twitter.com/BenCox83 Ben Cox

    Man, getting to the Finals with four starters in their early 20s, only to fall to the three time MVP, is pretty awful. If this is the wrong way to build (and you seem fairly dismissive), which way is the “right” way for a team such as the Cavs to build? Do the Miami way, through free agency (and Miami is a free agent destination bc of income tax/weather)?

    This is pretty much their only option, IMO. Strike gold in the draft. Unless you want to overpay mediocre free agents again. T

    • ClevelandFrowns

      I completely agree that striking gold in the draft is the way to do it, and mainly want to point out just how hard that is to do. What I’m dismissive of is the idea that there is some kind of “Thunder model” that’s any different from that. Note that OKC has done very well in the draft after a horrendous stretch that netted them those high picks yet still might never get over the hump.

    • nj0

      I think the point is that the OKC model is just highly unlikely to happen.

      The Right Way: First, get lucky and get one of the best players in basketball, then get lucky in the top five, then get lucky in the top five again, then get lucky and trade a top five for a legit center, then get lucky late in the draft…

      If somehow you do all that, you can be the second best team in the league with the hope that things don’t fall apart next year due to injury or contract issues or what have you.

      • DAT law firm

        Of course it’s unlikely to happen. But it’s the chance we’ve got right now, and after one season we don’t have to give up and start over yet.

        The alternate model to the OKC one is the Minnesota one, where they cleverly outsmart themselves and then change the team’s direction every couple years.

        • nj0

          Not disagreeing. Just saying I can’t fault the cynicism directed at The Right Way.

    • Beeej

      Is Shawn Kemp available?

  • GrandRapidsRustlers

    The only problem with the Thunder model is that if this team adds Beal or MKG the model ends. A healthy Kyrie and Andy with that wing scorer and this is somewhere between a 7-10 seed in the East and your top 10 pick in the next draft is gone (unless Stern fixes the lottery for you).

    It was easy for the Thunder to keep adding new talent every year while they got murdered on a nightly basis in the western conference.

    You don’t get that luxury in the top heavy east. They have to nail the 2nd pick tonight. The rebuilding pretty much comes down to tonight unless you whiff entirely and then you will be top 5 again next year.

    • Petefranklin

      If that kid from Iowa St is still there then nail his name on a locker. I dont care if he doesn’t like to fly just take him. He really manned up against UK and lots of other good competition last year. Somehow if we can get Beal to go along with him we will be conference final competitive probably next year. If it takes getting rid of Miamis picks to move up I say do it before the Celtics get a chance to.

  • JWMarriott

    OK, let me get this straight. The Cavs are bad. If they get some good players in the draft, they might be better. But even if they do get better, they still might not be better than a team with better players. I think I follow.

  • https://twitter.com/jimkanicki jimkanicki

    confused. so the cavs should not try to build through the draft? is the premise of this post that the cavs are being dumb to try this?

    i guess that makes sense when you consider the current champs’ recent drafts have been wade and then:
    Jerome Beasley, Dorell Wright, Pape Sow, Matt Freije, Wayne Simien, Jason Smith, Stanko Barać, HKK Široki, Michael Beasley, Darnell Jackson, Marcus Thornton, Robert Dozier, Dexter Pittman, Jarvis Varnado, Da’Sean Butler, Latavious Williams, and Norris Cole.

    all we need to put your working model in place is a corrupt tax-dodging trust-fund-baby owner, a videographer for a head coach, an insufferable PA announcer, and a thriving warm-weather beachfront club scene.

    • Art_Brosef

      Do not forget illegal tampering president

      • https://twitter.com/jimkanicki jimkanicki

        whoops. yes.
        and i also forgot that cavs need to repeal the state income tax (thanks biff) to get on par with that savvy organization in miami.

        • Biff

          My favorite is that Frowns chides OKC for tanking to get into the lottery, but says nothing of the fact that Miami completely leveled their organization in order to create enough cap space to sign 3 near-max guys. But I guess when your team President is already meeting with your targets while they’re under contract with other teams, it mitigates the risks significantly.

          • http://twitter.com/byRiverBurns River Burns

            I’ve heard Kyrie Irving is pretty good friends with Harrison Barnes and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. With any luck, they’ll be teammates in Rio in 2016, and they’ll collude to rendezvous in Cleveland once their contracts expire.

          • Biff

            Hey the 2016 Rio Olympics will mark the 8-year anniversary of Nick Arison steering Lebron and Bosh to Miami during the Beijing games. It does seem appropriate.

          • BIKI024

            i’ve heard from someone that hangs with Lebron that he tried to convince Wade and Bosh to come to Cleveland but they wanted nothing to do with playing there. Bosh wanted no part of living in another cold market and had his sights set on Miami the whole way, and of course Wade was already Mr. Wade County. So if Bron wanted to join them he had to go to Miami.

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            I thought he left Cleveland because he was chafing at the hands-off enabling of Dan Gilbert, as well as to strike a blow in the larger war of poor millionaires vs. rich billionaires?

          • ClevelandFrowns

            It seems way dense for you to fail to acknowledge that leadership vaccums can affect folks in ways that aren’t necessarily “chafe-y,” or anything like it at all. Same with your failure to acknowledge that one can have underlying motivations/feelings that result directly from the fundamental struggle between labor and capital (and/or the fundamental struggle between billionaire a-hole constitutional amendment purchaser-types v. historically oppressed races/classes) without explicitly acknowledging the struggle itself. Stop being so dense.

          • BIKI024

            @NeedsFoodBadly: that may be the case, but doesn’t mean he didn’t try to talk Wade and Bosh to bring their talents to the shores of Lake Erie.

          • acto

            Biki,
            I does not sound right….
            “I will be taking my talents to the North Coast.”

            Perhaps in a Jack London novel, but not in real life.

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            Frowns – Not being dense, I just question the factors you use to explain “The Decision” as being the primary motivators. I prefer the simpler (and therefore more likely) explanation that LeBron wanted to play ball with his buddies and really liked Miami and warm weather.

            The underlying motivations you speak of are interesting, but I don’t think were really on LeBron’s mind at the time he decided to switch teams, otherwise why wouldn’t he just say so? The guy has maintained a Jordanesque relationship with political issues (he stays out of it), so I don’t think he cares that much. Not enough to harm his brand, at least.

            I’d like to hear more about why you think that he doesn’t need to explicitly acknowledge these things, if they are his primary drivers. Why not take at face value what he said – Miami seemed like a better place to win championships, and he digs South Beach?

            If LeBron really was a Ali-style, vocal firebrand, that would actually be very interesting. But he’s not, and I don’t believe social change is what drives the man.

            For what it’s worth, I think your narrative works better if it takes LeBron’s motivations out of it, using the actions surrounding The Decision to have this wider discussion about race and management and whatever (I think you’re dead-on re: Gilbert and casinos, btw), but in my opinion, LeBron’s shoulders aren’t built to carry the weight of that story because I don’t see it reflected in his words or actions.

            And that’s not a value judgement – I don’t think he has to be politically motivated to be a fine person or whatever else.

          • ClevelandFrowns

            “I prefer the simpler (and therefore more likely) explanation that LeBron wanted to play ball with his buddies and really liked Miami and warm weather.”

            I don’t believe it’s that simple at all. And a deep-seated distrust of Dan Gilbert and/or a strong enough feeling that he didn’t want to put his legacy in Gilbert’s hands doesn’t at all have to be something that’s “politically motivated.”

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            Apologies to Biki who will be getting all the notifications for this.

            Frowns – I DO believe it’s that simple. If you take what Biki says at face value – which I mostly do (not to mention I’d heard from others “in the know” before The Decision that LeBron’s favorite city was Miami) – LeBron had no problem working for Gilbert. He wanted to play with his friends for the most part. Everything else was secondary, including where they played and who for. They didn’t want to play in CLE? No big deal – they all liked South Beach.

            If he didn’t like Gilbert, why didn’t say so and why hasn’t he said so? He’d burned enough bridges and pissed off enough people in Cleveland, what did he have to lose? He has had every opportunity to say “Hey, I didn’t like the organization, particularly the guy at the top who I don’t respect, but all the love to you Cleveland folks” but he has never done it, even though no harm and probably some gain could come from it.

            He might’ve worried about his legacy in Danny Ferry’s hands versus Pat Riley’s, but I really see no evidence in word or deed that he has ever worried about who owns the team he plays ball for – he took interviews with that creepy oligarch Prokhorov, after all.

            And his legacy ultimately rested more in his own hands than anyone else’s anyways, which I think he’s always known.

    • Jim

      No. The best way to build a team nowadays is to form a dream team of sorts with three best friends in a warm climate with lots of things for 20 something year-olds to do. And you need to make sure all of said teams fans “fan up.” Then you have a championship caliber team.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      You guys really need to learn how to read. Of course the Cavs should build through the draft, follow that OKC plan. The point is just, good luck with that.

  • Biff

    So let me get this straight: The OKC model of teambuilding (drafting skilled, high character players and conserving cap space) is an inferior model for others to follow because OKC, with its entire core age 23 or under, lost to a team that was created in one offseason when 3 of the best players in the league decided that they should all take sub-max contracts (ignoring FLA’s lack of state income tax, of course) to play together. I agree, Frownie. The Cavs should just do what Miami did.

    • Beeej

      Somebody should tell Heckert and Antonetti about this too!!! We’d be champions year round.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      See my reply to Kanicki above. I’m only pointing out that there’s still a better than excellent chance that Cavs fans will keep eating shit no matter how hard the organization tries to hew to that “okc plan.” Don’t shoot the messenger.

      • Biff

        I mean, I guess there are going to be 29 teams that don’t win every year, but if the Cavs build a team that can make the playoffs every year and eventually contend, even if it isn’t “the best” team in the league, I don’t think we will feel like we’re eating shit. And I think there’s a very good chance they can do that based on the way they’re going about things. Clearly, they’re not trying to take any shortcuts through trades or free agency.

        • ClevelandFrowns

          Without The Ring It Don’t Mean A Thing, Biff.

          WtRIDMaT.

          Grandma Frownie has it tatooed on her knuckles.

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            Something tells me you wouldn’t have said that a couple weeks ago.

          • acto

            Big ups for Grandma Frownie’s prison tats!

  • Max

    I wonder how much of a genius Sam Presti would be if Kevin Pritchard had drafted Durant first overall?

    • Sam

      But he didn’t though

      • Petefranklin

        Thats kind of why I have a somewhat blind faith in Grant and the FO. They did manage to not let Kyrie slip to someone else. So we’ve got that going for us.

  • Bryan

    Serious question: If the Cavs and Heat met in the playoffs, who would you root for? The level of snark in your Cavs posts these days is hard to cut through. I can’t tell if you are even a fan of the team anymore. Its fine if you’re not fan. I am just trying to understand where you stand on the team, and whether your anti-Gilbert sentiments have turned you away from them.

    • CleveLandThatILove

      I want to know if I’m reading too much into the “if we wanted the Cavs to win we’d..” line.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      “Cleveland Frowns is written by Peter Pattakos, an attorney in Northeast Ohio who … believes that The Curse of Chief Wahoo is the best evidence there is of a benevolent metaphysical order, and also believes that Wahoo’s Curse is something better to root for than any of the Cleveland teams as long as the red sambo stays on the Indians’ uniforms.”

      • Art_Brosef

        *unless one of Cleveland teams is coached by Eric Mangini

        • ClevelandFrowns

          Not true. Had the Browns turned into a consistent contender as they inevitably and promptly would have had Mangini been allowed to stay I would have been forced to confront the conflict with the Curse in the same way that I did with LeBron. In a way, those two years of Mangini here were sort of the ideal situation for me as a Cleveland sports fan because I didn’t really have to think about it and could just enjoy the beautiful progress they were making.

          Relatedly, are you around for happy hour today?

          • Art_Brosef

            Fair enough, I suppose. And yeah Ill be at Map around 6 give or take.

          • ClevelandFrowns

            See you there.

          • acto

            Just great. All of the cool kids are going to the map room and I am going to be stuck at Red’s Porch, in the sun, in 103 degree heat with my suit and tie on.

            “May I take your order”

            “Yes, I will have a gin and soda, and please, just dump that ice water down my pants”

          • ClevelandFrowns

            Lose the tie, at least. A tie is only a liability at the bar.

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            Can you really call yourself a Cleveland sports fan now, though? Or are you a fan of sports who lives in Cleveland?

          • ClevelandFrowns

            If I’m pulling for what I honestly believe is good for Cleveland (and Cleveland sports) in the end, then Cleveland sports fan is just fine. So it’s fine.

          • NeedsFoodBadly

            Absolutely it’s fine.

            My above question wasn’t meant as a slight or anything, by the way – it’s clear from the updated bit at the top that your sports views have evolved somewhat (or at least how I perceived them), so I was genuinely curious about how you characterize that.

            And I totally get the difference between rooting for the Browns/Cavs/Indians as they are now and what you would like them to be.

      • Bryan

        Wow. I never really grasped the central role that the curse of Chief Wahoo plays in your views.

        I started reading your blog because it was the only place that did justice to Mangini’s obvious talents. Since that time, I always assumed you were rooting for the Browns and were very lukewarm on Indians and Cavs.

        Now you are saying that you REALLY don’t even root for the Browns. Or, better said, your hopes for the Browns are secondary to your hopes for the Curse of Wahoo, which itself is strengthened by Browns’ failure.

        I need a drink.

        • ClevelandFrowns

          Brosef and I will be at Map at 6ish.

          • acto

            Frownie,
            I do not believe you at all.
            Come out of the closet, you are a Brown’s fan even with the Curse of Chief Wahoo and the Plague of the Walrus combined.

            It is in your blood Frownie.

            Art, when Frownie has had a few and feeling no pain, please give him a quick, sharp, jab in the nose.
            I bet that he bleeds orange like the rest of us.

          • ClevelandFrowns

            Black sludge, Acto.

            Plague of the Walrus can be another fantasy team name.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      Note that I wasn’t pulling so hard for the Cavs to win even when LeBron was here. http://www.clevelandfrowns.com/2009/10/absurdly-premature-2009-10-cleveland-cavaliers-season-preview/

      • nj0

        “Maybe a failure by these Cavaliers, which might be the highest-profile and most spectacular sporting failure in Cleveland’s highest-profile and most spectacular history of such failures, might finally knock the cobwebs loose and cause folks in a position to do something about it to finally effect the long overdue burial of Chief Wahoo.”

        Or maybe not.

  • bupalos

    >>>a team that was completely destroyed by LeBron and the Heat in the Finals.>>

    Good lord. They absolutely were not. All of the first 4 games could have gone either way. I don’t know if you saw the Cuban comments, but he basically said that OKC was better equipped with personnel than Dallas to beat the Heat but never installed zone schemes, in part because of the shortened season.

    • BIKI024

      mostly in part to inept coaching, not due to the shortened season. They couldn’t make the proper adjustments like Dallas was able to last year.

      • bupalos

        I think that’s right but Cuban was saying it’s not like they didn’t know switching up some zone schemes might be a good idea, they just didn’t play enough to be good at it and weren’t comfortable switching things up on the fly like that. Rookie club, short season, I’m sure that played into it.

        In retrospect they probably should have tried though. A pretty significantly inferior Boston stayed right with them throwing in a makeshift zone. That’s not Boston’s forte at all, but it was by far the most successful defense they played, the heat had a lot of old Cleveland-style possessions against it.

        • BIKI024

          Maybe Phil Jackson comes back.. how far is OKC from Montana???

        • Petefranklin

          A zone is not all that hard to implement it’s the man switching that is hard. Brooks looked like a rookie in the finals, how they beat the Spurs and Pop is still a mystery to me.They should have come out with zone all series but especially game 5 since they had nothing to lose after the first part of QTR 2.

        • ClevelandFrowns

          I do think this is an interesting angle.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      4-1. You play to win the game.

      Also, Cubes! There’s a guy who never talks out of his ass.* So the Heat won because OKC didn’t know how to play zone? With LeBron in the post dishing to red hot Chalmers/Miller/Battier all around the perimeter I’m not sure how it would have been any different even if this was right.

      *Which isn’t to say that I don’t like Cubes because I do.

      • bupalos

        >>4-1. You play to win the game.>>>

        Right. They played to win the games and won them. They did not play to completely destroy anyone and they didn’t completely destroy anyone.

        Seriously, that game 2 couldn’t have been any tighter and the whole thing swung big time right there.

        • ClevelandFrowns

          Losing a seven-game basketball series 4-1 is like losing a football game 40-10.

          • manc

            Ah, c’mon…your talking about 2 completely different things here.

            I like this Waiters kid.

      • Petefranklin

        Zone would have put the pressure on those three to make the threes instead of knowing the queen and wade could bail them out anytime they wanted because the refs were giving them all the crucial calls. If those three Chalmers/miller/Battier come out cold under pressure because of the zone maybe the queen reverts to his M.O. of gagging. Guess we’ll never know.

  • http://twitter.com/HerbWhiteESQ Herb White ESQ

    I think it’s important to note how many teams have won championships recently through having one of their best players originally drafted to that particular team. Even teams who have made the Finals recently (which is not an easy task, mind you).

    Miami 2012: Originally drafted Dwyane Wade, one of the best players in the NBA. Struck gold in Free Agency with Lebron poo-pooing his legacy to win and Chris Bosh realizing he could be a really effective super-role-player and not an Alpha Dog on a championship team. Unlikely for this scenario to play out again anywhere else.

    Dallas 2011: Dirk originally drafted to the team. Struck gold through overspending and got lucky with building a great team. Unlikely to happen again.

    LA 2010: Kobe, originally drafted to the team, played his whole career there. It’s LA, they get lucky on big trades and signings for a host of reasons.

    LA 2009: See above.

    Boston 2008: Paul Pierce, Finals MVP, originally drafted by Boston, surrounded by two legit HOFers and one potential HOFer in Rondo (also drafted by the team). This team was put together, surprisingly, on draft day.

    SA 2007: Best PF ever, Tim Duncan, drafted by the team. Manu and Parker (Finals MVP this year), both excellent HOF-caliber players, both drafted by the team. Won in a sweep over Cleveland (still broken by this, I am).

    Miami 2006: Wade and Shaq (crazy trade landed the team a just out of his prime all-time great center). Wade was, again, drafted by Miami.

    Do I need to keep going? Yes, there are multiple ways to build teams that win, but the ones that consistently seem to win know how to draft and build through the draft (or at least around it). None of those teams listed above win any championships without smart drafting of players. The draft is the most important part of building a winning team, no bones about it. The tricky part is hitting the jackpot with getting a player who is talented, loyal, and competitive. All the guys responsible for their teams winning in the Finals had those characteristics, and it shows.

    As flashy as the Heat are, I’d take a dynasty built the San Antonio way any day of the week – built through the draft and with complimentary pieces. They won four titles through this method. Let’s not ignore that because Miami are highfalutin studs right now. It’s not the OKC model. It’s the San Antonio model.

    • Santoro Bulk

      Kobe wasn’t drafted by LA.

      • http://twitter.com/HerbWhiteESQ Herb White ESQ

        They acquired him on draft night. In my estimation, that counts. I understand what you’re saying, though.

  • smittypop2

    Just to clarify some of your examples: Kobe was drafted by Charlotte and traded for 2Pac Divac and some other junk, Dirk was drafted by Milwaukee and traded for Robert “Tractor” Traylor RIP. I do agree with your sentiment though. Almost every team that has won titles in the past 20-30 years drafted or traded on draft day for the core of the team and the majority of the superstars. The Heat were the a-holes to buck the trend and try to cheat the sytem (legacy wise and probably tampering wise). Rockets-drafted Akeem/Hakeem.
    Bulls-drafted MJ/traded for Pippen on draft day.
    Spurs-drafted DRob, Duncan, Manu and Parker.
    Lakers-traded for Kobe on draft day, FA Shaq and stoke Gasol from Grizzlies (LAL are probably one of 3-4 destination cities in the league).
    Pistons-no real HOFers, got lucky with some nice trades/draft picks.
    Dallas-traded for Dirk on draft day, acquired other key pieces via fa/trades.
    Heat-drafted Dwade and we know the rest.

    I guess I can sum it up by saying F the Heat.

  • Khip

    If anyone wants an example of “the wrong way” to build a championship team, review the Cavs’ plan from after the 2003 NBA draft thru the end of the 2010 season.

    • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

      If anyone wants an example of “the wrong way” to troll, review the post that I’m replying to right now.

      • Khip

        If you can give me an example of something the Cavs did right during the time period, I’m all ears. Just about every personel move during that time period was wrong and reactionary without any thought put into it

    • acto

      Khip,
      How very true, but my favorite example of the wrong way is “Michael Jordan, Director of Basketball Operations”.

      • Khip

        Love it. That is a much better example

  • BIKI024

    Very good draft for the Cavs. Actually Jason Lloyd of the ABJ called Dion Waiters yesterday. We need a scorer, particularly from the 2 and after we lost out on Beal we got the 2nd best scorer (some say best scorer). The guy was projected 6 and 7 in most mocks so it wasn’t that big of a reach as some of the whiners have been complaining.

    and then of course a great trade for Zeller. no he’s not the 2nd coming of Brad Daugherty, but we have up next to nothing for him and we also need depth at Center, and he gives it to us.

    but it’s gonna be fun to see Kyrie and Dion pairing up, double trouble for the NBA

    • smittypop2

      I love “scorers” that avg 12.6 ppg and can’t really shoot. Also, white stiffs are white stiffs (Euros are the exception).

      • BIKI024

        12.6 career, whiteboy. He averaged 16.8 last year. And he’s far from a stiff. Plus he’s got good genes, his lil bro is going #1 in most mock drafts next year.

        Besides, to get him for what we paid was great value, the dude was projected to go 11 and we gave up the 24th pick and a bag of peanuts for him.

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