NBA Summer League 2013: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Los Angeles Lakers

The Cavaliers made their Las Vegas Summer League debut today against the Lakers and won their first game, 70-62. The starters for the Cavs were Chris Quinn, Dion Waiters, Carrick Felix, Kenny Kadji and Tyler Zeller. The starters for the Lakers were Lester Hudson, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Mitchall Watt, Elias Harris and Robert Sacre. During the first half it was a game that was particularly hard to watch. Well at least it was hard to watch the Cavs. The Lakers got off to a 6-0 run in the first run and at the end of the first led 18-10. For the whole game, Dion Waiters struggled. He was 1-11 from the field and scored a mere three points. These numbers raise a lot of questions for head coach, Mike Brown. With the game that Waiters had today, he certainly did not make a good first impression on Mike Brown. The Cavs also had some terrible offense in the first half. They started the game 0/4 and their first points were from Tyler Zeller off a breakaway slam. But eventually the Cavs offense started clicking. Their leading scorers were Jermaine Taylor with 17, Tyler Zeller with 15 and Carrick Felix with 14. Taylor, who is from the Developmental League, showed some real promise. He came off the bench and essentially gave a spark for the Cavs that they desperately needed. Taylor also showed that he can hit the three ball; he was 2-5 from the three point line. Another player that showed he has a high ceiling was Carrick Felix. Felix was all over the court scoring 14 points, grabbing six rebounds and having one steal. He was going after loose balls, but also showed he could score. What intrigues me with Felix is that he plays incredible defense, but also can flat out shoot. Felix was 2-3 from the three point line, which is 60%. Those are outstanding numbers. Felix can be the shooter the Cavs need. Kenny Kadji also looked great in his summer league debut. He totaled six points and five rebounds. During the game, Kadji looked like a guy that could hit the boards for the Cavs, and also showed some good post moves. The Cavs’ x-factor on the floor tonight was Matthew Dellavedova. Dellavedova came off the bench and immediately started orchestrating the offense. He totaled five assists and had two points. Dellavedova looks like a guy that could be a third guard on the Cavs roster because he can really look for his teammates. If I had to pick a player of the game for the Cavs, it would be Tyler Zeller. Zeller had a great game; he had 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. It looked like Zeller just started where he left off at the end of the season. He has improved greatly and should be a player to watch for the Cavs throughout the summer league and heading into next season. What the Cavs need to work on though is limiting their turnovers. They had 18 turnovers. If they want to beat teams like the Heat, Pacers, Bulls and Nets, they just can’t do that. Especially against the Heat. The Heat feed off of turnovers; it ignites their offense. So for heading into next game, a key thing for them to work on should be limiting their turnovers.

Even though the Lakers looked like they had the game, they couldn’t make shots down the stretch. However, they did have some players that showed they had game such as Marcus Landry who shot 3-8 from the field and racked up 14 points. Landry also showed he has great range, shooting 3-8 from three. The Lakers are also a team that is in rebuilding mode and are looking for youthful talent. With the summer league roster they have, it looks like they can fulfill those goals.

The Cavaliers looked not so great, but then great in their first 2013 NBA Summer League game. They have some guys on their roster that seem like they can help the team go to the next level. However, they will need better play out of Waiters and also they need to look to limit their turnovers.