Summer league round-up: Cleveland Cavaliers

About bloody time.

View the Cavaliers' long overdue summer league roster.

- Christian Eyenga: Everything I know about Christian Eyenga can be found here. Nothing has happened since then to really advance my knowledge. But I'll add this unoriginal thought: This is a Cavaliers team that is trying to win now. It really is. If you trade for Shaquille O'Neal, you're trying to win now. They're the rules. So why then would you take the biggest prospect in the draft with your sole first round pick? I'm not saying that any of them are brilliant players or difference makers, but players like Sam Young, Dejuan Blair, Jermaine Taylor....these are potentially useful pieces, and as things stand, the Cavaliers bench is pretty bare. Would it not have been worth taking one of their ilk instead? What is the percentage possibility of Eyenga becoming a better NBA player than these others? I don't know. But it'd have to be quite a way above 50% to make this make sense.

- Jamont Gordon: Jamont Gordon fills up the stat sheet in all categories, but he has his flaws. He's an inefficient scorer, he turns it over too much, his own hairline hates him, and he's too short for his skillset. But one of the biggest flaws has always been his jumpshot. And, based on last year's play, it still is. Gordon averaged 11.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals in 24 minutes per game for Upim Bologna last season, but shot only 32% from three point range. He drew a lot of foul shots as per usual, but also missed a lot as per usual, shooting 68% from the stripe. Gordon's an unconventional kind of smallish guard, but he's quite a good one. He's just going to have to improve his decision making and/or shooting before he cracks the big league. If that happens, we'll forget about his fivehead.

- Danny Green: I like to think of Danny Green as being a bit like a crap Shane Battier. I like to think I know things. I don't.

- David Harrison: Harrison's rookie contract expired last summer, and after a brief training camp tryout with the Timberwolves, he left the NBA altogether. He buggered off to China, where he did the usual Chinese thing and put up a crapload of stats all across the board. Harrison totalled 21.0 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals, 2.3 blocks and 4.2 fouls a game, shooting better from the field (62.1%) than the foul line (56.9%). Thems is good looking numbers, for sure, but good looking numbers are easy to achieve when you're over 6'8 tall and even slightly mobile. May I remind you once again that Olumide Oyedeji averaged almost 20/20 in China last season. Even Priest Lauderdale put up big numbers, bigger than Harrison's, to the tune of 21/13/4. And he's not even mobile. (By the way, add Priest Lauderdale to the list of American players who have obtained Bulgarian passports. But at least Priest had the decency to play there for four years.)

Harrison turns 27 next month and has never really developed. Don't let me be catching you talking about him as having potential. But more importantly, here's a Priest Lauderdale fact: Priest Lauderdale was once banned from playing in the Phillipines Basketball Association because the league ruled he was too big. The PBA atthe time had a rule which stated that teams could field two imports with only a combined of 13 feet six inches, and the 7'4 Lauderdale had a 6'4 team mate (Jermaine Walker). That rule has since been dropped due to its inherent stupidity. Good times.

- Robert Hite: The ironically named Hite was in the Belgian league last year, averaging 16.3 points and 4.8 rebounds for Oostende. But Cleveland, if you want Robert Hite, sign Luther Head. I'm seriously.

- Darnell Jackson: Jackson has an unguaranteed salary for next year, and if the Cavaliers get serious about winning now and decide to stock up with veterans, then his roster spot might be in jeopardy. But, since there's no real threat of that right now, he should be fine.

- Tarence Kinsey: Kinsey last season played about 13 important seconds all year. The rest of the time he saw was garbage time. Since you will no doubt know that Tarence Kinsey is the Kingsey Of Garbage Time, it might not surprise you to know that Kinsey managed to record a true shooting percentage last season of .595%. And this from your 13th man. Not too freaking bad, is it? Kinsey's contract is unguaranteed until July 28th, but I'm pulling for him to make it. And if he doesn't, I want my Bulls to get in on that. (Giggidy? Maybe.)

- Leo Lyons: Lyons was covered in the Indiana Pacers round-up of the other day. Nothing has happened since then to make me change my mind.

- Maureece Rice: Rice was one of about 46 people to get a training camp contract with the Sixers last year, but he never really stood a chance of making the team. After that went south, he went north, and was acquired by the Erie BayHawks of the D-League. He didn't start out too well, but things got better, and he ended up averaging 19.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists on the year. Rice is still a bit fat, but he slimmed down a bit, and returned to his more suited position of shooting guard. He's managed to rebuild his resume after a bad previous 18 months, and another year like the second half of last year, and who knows; he might get somewhere. By the way, a slightly dodgy anagram of his name is "eerie cum race." Remember; everyone gets an anagram now. Peruse at will.

- Jawad Williams: Williams signed with the Cavs in training camp, and beat the long odds to make the team pretty much on the basis of his performance in one preseason game. He then sat on the inactive list until the contract guarantee date came around, at which point Ferry waived him. As soon as he cleared waivers, though, Jawad was bizarrely brought back for two ten contracts, where he once again sat around doing nothing. Clearly, Dan Gilbert was paying for a winner.

Then, disaster; the Thunder bought out Joe Smith, who signed with the Cavaliers, and Williams lost his roster spot. (By this time, he had played all of 10 minutes in 9 games.) That looked to be the end of that, and Williams slunk off to the D-League to average 25.7 points in 19 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

And then he bounced back. The overdue medical retirement of Eric Snow finally went through, and the Cavaliers had a roster spot open again. They wasted next to no time in burning it on Williams again, signing him through 2010 and giving him the opportunity to once again sit on the bench. They even let him play once; in the Cavs final game of the season, when they rest as many vaguely capable players as they could, Williams came off the bench to score 8 points and pull down two rebounds in 10 minutes. In the 81 games before that, he had managed only 2 points and 0 rebounds in the same amount of time. It truly was a breakout of Ndudi Ebi-like proportions. And boy, did he deserve it.

Will Williams make the roster again? I doubt it. There's no reason why he should (no offense). However, considering Jawad's amazing powers of survival in the Ohio area, I'm not putting it past him. And if he does, I'll be sure to tell you.

I Just Brad Wanamaker Love To You

Three days ago, I watched some NCAA basketball. This is rare for me. Very rare, in fact. To be exact, the only games I can recall seeing before these were the Tyrus Thomas versus LaMarcus Aldridge showdown in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, and whichever game it was that Adam Morrison cried in. I don't watch the NCAA because, simply put, I can't. But we'll come to that later. For now, let's stick with the important thing here; I had the opportunity to watch three NCAA games on Saturday, and so, in an exercise designed for both personal development and CV boosting, I did. I tried as hard as I can to judge every player that I saw on the basis of this one game. Here's what I got:

- The first game was between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. I missed the first half of the first half, and when joining the action, the first thing I saw was Luke Harangody shooting a three. It missed. Instantly, I am drawn to this guy, a slightly chubby white guy with a haircut that I thankfully saw the back of in about 1995. Now, pardon me for being judgemental, but you can't normally be a good basketball player if you have a crew cut. Just can't do it. When I see Luke Harangody, I don't think "that guy is clearly the focal point of this team's offense, and one of the highest scorers in the conference". Instead, I'm thinking this is someone from the crowd, hiding on the court, in a Karl Power-esque moment. Imagine my surprise, then, when the ticker across the bottom reports Harangody's immense scoring and rebounding averages (25.1 ppg, 13.2 rpg, ). I have since learnt my lesson and am now fully on board any Luke Harangody bandwagons that may be in progress. Although he'll need to acquire some vertical leap from somewhere.

- I admit to not watching the rest of that game as intently as I could have been, for my head felt like there was a Frenchman living in it. But here's what I noticed from every non-crew cutted player out there - Sam Young didn't do a damn thing and I was left wondering what it was he's supposed to be good at; Kyle McAlarney can shoot off screens well and has NBA threee point range already, which is fortunate for a player who shoots two and a half times as many three pointers as twos; Dejuan Blair looks like a fat Elton Brand, should shoot his free throws with a bit less arc, was impressively willing to dive on the floor, and was better than everybody else combined on the boards; Jermaine Dixon was constantly in the right place at the right time, with a jumpshot that looked as smooth as Juan Dixon's, yet which belied his 26% three point percentage; and Levance Fields was pretty good at everything.

- The second game featured Oklahoma State versus Texas A&M. I was excited for this one, because it meant that I'd finally get to see Blake Griffin, but it quickly became apparent (after I asked someone) that Griffin actually plays for Oklahoma, not Oklahoma State. There's some proof, if ever it were needed, that I still don't know anything about the NCAA. But I'm trying, dammit.

- The Aggies court was one of the ugliest things I've ever seen. It had a checkerboard effect, which never looks good on a basketball court, and a weird motif in the middle that looked like a crude drawing of Africa. The crowd, however, seemed keen, and had this weird unison thing going on - on every foul shot, they would mime an inverted vagina with their hands, hold it aloft, and fall silent. Indeed, so silent did they fall, commentator Ron Franklin had to whisper so quietly his voice changed. That was mildly entertaining, and seems to be the norm/a rarity amongst college hoops fans. (Delete as applicable.) Also, the fans in all three games didn't boo too much, which was a welcome change. They were louder, happier, and generally less presumptuous than most NBA fans, all of which were welcome changes. most welcome of all, though, were quite how many good looking ladies in ill-fitting cotton t-shirts lined the crowd of these games. That is something that I could TOTALLY get used to, and let it never be forgotten that the ill-fitting cotton t-shirt is actually a great look on a girl. Particularly the ample chested ones.

- This was the first time I have seen or heard Fran Franschilla outside of his time honoured "random interjections into ESPN's draft night coverage" role. I wish I hadn't.

- To the game itself; the commentary team made a big deal out of Derrick Rowland's 1 point, 7 rebound and 3 assist performance, consistently praising his work ethic and tenacious defense, which they considered more important than his inability to hit a cow's arse with a banjo. In fairness, Rowland was indeed running around giving it all, and had a nice weakside block and one nice assist. But the seven rebounds were more luck than judgement, and the jumpshot was one of the most broken that I've seen from a guard in a while. These things count a lot for me - it's rarely if ever advisable to be playing a man short on offense, particularly when the player in question is a guard.

- If Bryan Davis could jump off the ground, he'd be good.

- I like guards who grab lots of rebounds, and so I like Obi Muonelo. Of course, his 9.1 rebounds per game is a total warped slightly by the fact that he's playing mainly power forward, despite only being 6'5, but that's still a mighty impressive number. I particularly like guards who grab lots of rebounds but who can also drain threes, and so Obi Muonelo has made a friend for life here. I also like point guards who constantly put the ball, amusingly fat players, and players whose surnames accurately describe them. As such, Byron Eaton is also one I'm going to follow. It was also amusing to hear Fran Fraschilla consistently describe Eaton's body as being that of a "football player", and in one specific instance "Jerome Bettis", always managing to stop short of saying "a bit fat". (Eaton is listed at 5'11 and 210, even after losing 40lbs. So he must have been great fun to watch last season.)

- As for other Oklahoma State players, Fran Fraschilla mentioned in commentary that James Anderson only goes left, and as far as I could see (using a one game sample size), he was correct. Every time Anderson needed to go right, he rose up for the shot instead. He also never passed, and I wasn't overwhelmed by him as a player. He's a better cricketer. Terrell Harris, meanwhile, looked decent, if a bit ordinary. And Keiton Page used all the dap that Fraschilla gave him to throw up a stinker, full of turnovers and hurried shots. Whoops.

- For Texas A&M, no one really stood out. Josh Carter would have stood out were he a freshman, and not the senior that he is. Rowland, as mentioned, tried hard but has a bovine backside problem. Donald Sloan seemed solid but unspectacular, and his name seems more fitting on a slightly corrupt oil baron. Junior Elonu was probably their most impressive player in terms of NBA prospects, as he showed decent defensive instincts and some fledgling offense. David Loubeau was impressive on offense for a skinny freshman, but I couldn't hear his name without thinking of the dyke bar in South Park. And I have no idea what Dash Harris is supposed to be good at.

We missed most of the first half of the third game, between North Carolina and North Carolina State, but the second half was entertaining. Particularly the fight in the last two seconds. I noted the following:

- People (i.e. everyone) who said that Tyler Hansbrough is going to struggle in the NBA look to be right. It's good to have touch, but it's not worth much when you can't get the shot off in the first place. See also: the demise of Michael Sweetney's career, albeit in his case it wasn't due to a lack of size, but too much of it. Ty Lawson seemed to push the ball a lot, so add him to the list. I liked everything about Danny Green. Little things players with good jumpshots = another yes. That's a fine role player right there. Deon Thompson looked rather polished, and I'm guessing Tyler Zeller is related to Notre Dame's Luke Zeller in some way. Partly because of the name, and partly because they had basically the same face. If it's not the case, that's a spooky coincidence.

- For NC State, Ben McCauley's defensive rotations had Drew Gooden-like qualities, which is never a good thing, but he seemed to have a soft touch and an enjoyable hard foul with two seconds to go. So I liked him. Courtney Fells shot extremely well.....briefly. And Brandon Costner never seemed to know what he was doing, disappearing for long stretches, and then trying to force his way back into the action with some poor shots. Wasn't overwhelmed by the State side, although the crowd's penchant for throwing up \m/ 'The Fingers Of Rock' \m/ was most welcomed.

That's all I got.

Also, I've spent a while recently trying to understand the NCAA recently, its rules, its setup, and its nuances. I've done this by asking people, and it's going rather well. I now understand, if not necessarily agree with, most of what's going on. But I still have three questions:

1: Why are some fouls 1+1, yet some are instant two shot fouls? I'm guessing it's related to team fouls, but I couldn't [be bothered to] figure it out.

2: Why is the shotclock 35 seconds? I seriously can't see a need for this.

3: How do universities afford stadiums that big?



And here, for those interested in the continued plight of an NBA fan in England, is a small rant. These games were broadcast on a channel called NASN, the North American Sports Network. NASN is a channel outside of any standard satellite package, so you have to pay extra for it. I used to do this, but decided it wasn't worth its money, and cancelled it about three years ago. However, these three games were being broadcasted free for the day, as a teaser if you will. This was because NASN was to be renamed the following day to ESPN America, as the famous conglomerate bought out NASN a few months ago. Does this mean, though, that we're now going to get ESPN's NBA games on ESPN America? Does it bollocks. And so we're still stuck with our one game a week.

It's pathetic, really. God bless the internet.