What Kyrie Irving Making the All Star Team Means for the Cavs Rebuilding Stretegy

Kyrie Irving in his second season has amassed high critical acclaim. Rookie of the year award, MVP in the rookie vs sophomore game, and now his first all star appearance.

Irving is a special talent no doubt, if he can avoid the injury bug, his ceiling is as high as any young star with potential.

However, what does this mean for the Cavs and their rebuilding strategy. The Cavs are one of the youngest teams in the league. Two second year players and a rookie comprise 60% of their starting lineup. Their bench consists of very few players that could crack an 8 man rotation on another NBA team and their roster as a whole lacks the presence of veterans needed to be successful.

So what is the Cavaliers plan? How long is losing to be accepted? When is the time to make a move towards being just average?

The Cleveland Cavaliers pave the path for the return of the “KING”

While many experts, analyst and fans speculate whether or not their will be a reunion between the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James in 2014, the Cleveland Cavaliers are paving the path to turn that speculation into reality.  Even though it is all speculation and after witnessing the whole “The Decision” fiasco we know we won’t hear James saying anything until last-minute.  Or will he have to???

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ body language has been a little different the last two years.  They seemed to be master-minding a plan to take the Eastern Conference by storm.  Intentionally drafting the perfect team to compliment a “KING”.  Drafting a team not to win so they can continue having top five draft picks, but at the same time drafting a team that will be a “Dream Team” caliber kind-of-team when finished.

One of LeBron James’ biggest reason for leaving the Cavaliers was the lack of talent on the team and an owner who wouldn’t spend the money to give him a supporting cast.  So James took his talents to South Beach and

Dan Gilbert had his feelings hurt, learned his lesson and now is doing his part to right a wrong.  Gilbert is returning royalty back to the city of Cleveland.  Making sure the fans get what they are entitled to after all these years of supporting the Cleveland Cavaliers…

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Philadelphia 76ers Stifle Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers

11/18/12 – According to sources, Andrew Bynum's latest injury occurred while he was bowling. Wow.
With that said, the Sixers still had to play on Sunday night in the fifth game of their home stand. They had a nice win Friday night over the Jazz largely due to the efforts of Jrue Holiday and the front-court duo of Kwame Brown and Lavoy Allen. The opponent tonight was the Cleveland Cavaliers led by young star PG Kyrie Irving. For the Sixers to win, they would need to do their best to contain him. They also had to match the hustle and rebound effort put forth by Cleveland's active big men, Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson.

The game was very tight in the early going. The Sixers had 3 pointers from Turner, J-Rich, Jrue, and Dorrell Wright in the first quarter but Cleveland was matching everything that was being thrown at them. At the end of 1 the Cavs led 21-19. In the 2nd the game stayed close with both teams shooting well. Irving was leading the way for Cleveland with Turner and Nick Young for Philadelphia. The two put up a combined 19 points for the Sixers up to this point. The Cavs led for most of the quarter, but in the late going a Jrue deuce gave the Sixers the edge. They took the lead into half-time 43-42. The Sixers were getting good contribution from a number of players, while the Cavs were excelling in rebounding and second chance points. In the 3rd the Sixers finally got some separation. Nick Young, Turner, and Jrue led the charge. Good defense, getting to the free throw line, and a 7-0 run helped them get the advantage at the end of 3, 62-57. In the 4th the Sixers went up by as much as 10 but Cleveland stuck around to cut the lead by grabbing offensive rebounds for easy put-backs. The Sixers then responded and would put the game out of reach. Turner and Hawes had a couple buckets and helped to seal the deal, final score 86-79.

Nets Cruise in Brooklyn, Send Cavs Back to Cleveland with Fifth Road Loss

The Cleveland Cavaliers played their sixth road game in a row against the Brooklyn Nets, and lost 114-101.

The Cavs were down by as much 24 but rallied back to close the deficit to 10 at the end of the third quarter. Instead of pushing for the comeback with the starters in, coach Byron Scott left Anderson Varejao and Kyrie Irving sitting on the bench. Joe Johnson came off the bench and earned  some of his max contract scoring 16 points in the fourth to help close the game.

The story for Cleveland was Anderson Varejao who finished with a career-high 35 points to go with 18 rebounds. He was an absolute monster all night. He seemed to be around the ball at all times, and in the early goings was the only one who could score for the Cavs. Kyrie Irving caught on later, and had himself a night as well, putting up 34 points. 

Deron Williams had his best game, finishing with 26 points and ten assists. Combined with Joe Johnson, the Nets backcourt accounted for 51 points. With these two players at the top of their game the Nets can compete with anyone in the league.

Dion Waiters with a Better than Expected Debut

It has been a rough going for Cleveland Cavaliers' Dion Waiters since being selected as the number-four overall pick in this past summer's NBA Draft. Starting with draft night, many experts were unsure about the Cavaliers' decision to select Waiters so high, as they felt there were better options available at the time. It was their belief that he may not be able to adjust to NBA life quickly enough to make him worthy of such a high pick.

In preparation for this season, it seemed these pundits were right, as Waiters struggled for Cleveland's Summer League team. He was not in NBA game shape and it showed throughout. When preseason began, Waiters' fitness improved, but he was not excelling as the Cavaliers hoped he would when picking him, and came off the bench for the first three games. In one game, head coach Byron Scott pulled Waiters from the game early in the fourth quarter because he did not execute an inbounds play properly. Scott said the rookie was not focused and they could not afford someone on the court who did not know how to run the plays.