The Cleveland Cavaliers Will be Scary Good

Quicken Loans arena was the star attraction in downtown Cleveland Wednesday night. There wasn’t any country concerts or Broadway plays but the yearly wine and gold scrimmage between Cleveland Cavaliers starters, bench players and invitees. Last year the event was held in the basketball gym of Baldwin Wallace college and possibly 900-1,1000 people showed up. That was definitely not the case this year. There was such demand for tickets it was held at the Q and over 17,000 people showed up. This wasn’t a regular season or even a preseason game, it was only a scrimmage! The atmosphere was like the seventh game in the NBA Finals. Ahmaad Crump announced all of the players and once Anderson Varejao, Dion Waiters, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and especially Lebron James were introduced the crowd lost it.

Lebron was introduced last and got an ovation for at least two minutes. It was then game time. It felt like it was 2003-2010 all over again. Automatically from the start of the scrimmage, the offense is going to be uptempo and quick. Varejao and Irving were already in mid-season form as they both played for FIBA over the summer while everybody else looked a bit winded and lost at times. The first thing I noticed immediately was the shot improvement of Waiters.

Since coming into the NBA, Waiters had a hitch in his shot which ended up in alot of misses and long rebounds to opposing teams. It appeared last night that he has worked on correcting this issue. His shot was one motion instead of the two-second pause that the hitch added and he made two three-point shots in a row. Waiters has also slimmed down and he seemed to be running up and down the court better and was less winded. The Cavs obviously are full of top pieces on the team but Waiters is the most important piece of them all whether he is starting or coming off of the bench.

Irving looked like he was ready for the season to start yesterday. It looks as if Blatt is going to run the offense through Kyrie, so far. Lebron brought the ball up during a few periods of the game but Irving controlled the ball for the most part. Gone are the terrible days of a Mike Brown “offense” which slowed the entire team down. Guys were cutting and already in their set or positions whether it was in the post or on the wings and they scored immediately as soon as they got the ball. It truly was a thing of beauty. Two plays stood out to me that already shows the excitement that his team will bring.

The first play was a steal on a fastbreak by Kyrie where he ran towards the basketball and in one motion passed it between his legs to Lebron and he dunked it in. The crowd went insane! The next play was also started by Kyrie on a give-and-go as he passed the ball up the court to Lebron. Lebron then faked as if he was going for a dunk, passed it over his head to an incoming Shawn Marion for the easy two-handed dunk. It was just amazing to see the chemistry and fluidity this early on with the team.

The ball movement of the team was the most surprising thing I saw. The way they were all swinging the ball around from the top of the key to the wings was a work of art. It looked like the San Antonio Spus were passing the ball to each other. There was little defense played but passing the ball that fluidly with all new players is something that isn’t often seen. The bench is still a work in progress as Blatt will probably use a number of rotations during the preseason until he finds a mix that works. Another surprising note from the game was James Jones. He was on the court for a majority of the game and even as he was defended, his shots went in. He didn’t miss a shot all game long and looks like he could fill the extra shooting void if Ray Allen decides to retire instead of coming to the Cavs.

Love looked like a player that was still figuring the offense out as it came. He immediately took a three-point shot at the top of key and missed it but with it being a scrimmage and no players were boxing out, Brendan Haywood got the rebound and put it back up. In a real game situation Blatt would probably want Love to work the ball around so in case of a potential miss it won’t lead to a long rebound. He showed his excellent passing ability and started a number of the fastbreaks most notably with Marion and Waiters. Most fans have talked about his defense being an issue but with Lebron and Marion and the intensity they bring, he should be fine.

Then there was Lebron. There isn’t much to say but that he is much smaller than he has been over the years. He is still noticeable from afar but the bulk and size doesn’t stand out as it once did. He was much faster and still makes shots look like the easiest thing on earth. Lebron didn’t show much since it was only a scrimmage game but I can tell Blatt is going to use him in a number of different ways. He was used in the post with a number of sets and seemed to be more involved around the basket than he has been in previous years. That doesn’t bold well for defenders. Opposing teams aren’t going to be able to double-team everybody and if Lebron is in the post and with Love, Irving and Waiters spread out, the Cavs will potentially be able to score in droves.