Cavaliers fail liftoff- lose to Rockets 115-104

  The Cleveland Cavaliers made a cardinal mistake when playing a talented but very young team Wednesday night in Houston as the Cavaliers allowed the Rockets to gain confidence early in the game and never looked back as the Rockets surprised the Cavaliers 115-104 in Houston.

Evan Mobley set his season/career-high in the defeat with twenty-nine points to go with twelve rebounds to lead Cleveland in defeat with Kevin Love finishing with twenty-one points and thirteen boards to aid Mobley.

Darius Garland missed his second game with back spasms in the defeat.

Cleveland finishes the back half of a two-game road trip in Charlotte on Friday night against the Hornets.

Swashbucklings

1)  The Rockets have a bunch of good young players that can get up and down the floor but are still developing as professionals and the worst thing that you can do against a talented team is to allow them to get into a rhythm and gain confidence.

That's what happened in this one as the Rockets young player started hitting shots, gained confidence, and outscored the Cavaliers by ten in the second quarter.

2) This was indicated by Houston's three young building blocks (Christian Wood, Jalen Green, and former Cavalier Kevin Porter Jr.) each hitting three three-pointers in the game-many of them deep.

When young players start making the type of shots that you love to see them take from a defensive standpoint, that is a great sign that it may not be your night.

3) I was planning on mentioning soon that the Cavaliers may want to watch Evan Mobley's minutes if they want him to have legs remaining for the postseason.

After all, Mobley played just one year at USC and the fifty-two games that the Cavaliers have played thus far are roughly the same as Mobley's senior year of high school and his USC campaign combined.

4) SO... Naturally, Mobley goes out and notches a career-high twenty points to go with double-digit rebounds.

Still, I do wonder when Mobley will hit the proverbial wall.

5) Mobley also showed a seldom-seen physical side of his game sitting on the block against Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun.

Mobley wasn't afraid to back Sengun down low and put the ball on the floor to drive by his fellow rookie as he bullied him aside.

6) The Rockets are a bad, albeit young and talented team but they had a few things going for them besides the home-court advantage.

Jalen Green, who the Rockets took before Evan Mobley in the draft and has been a disappointment, had to be fired up to face Mobley's team with the publicity around Mobley's rookie season.

And for as long as Kevin Porter Jr is in the league, Porter is going to have a special motivation every time that he faces Cleveland.

Green finished with 21 points and Porter with 16 and each hit three bombs from behind the arc.

Cavaliers trade Kevin Porter to Houston

   The Cleveland Cavaliers experiment with the talented but problematic Kevin Porter Jr. ended as the Cavaliers sent Porter to the Houston Rockets for basically nothing but the right to write him off their cap.

Cleveland reportedly received a Top 55-protected second-round pick from Houston, which basically means unless the Rockets would make the Western Conference finals, the Cavaliers will receive nothing except for the cap space as mentioned earlier.

Porter hadn't played all season after an off-season mishap that saw various charges brought against him with all charges eventually dropped, but showed up for the Cavaliers home win over the New York Knicks and was very noticeable on the bench cheering for the team.

However, that didn't last as Porter threw a tantrum in the locker room after learning of his locker being moved to make room for the two players acquired from the Brooklyn Nets that resulted in Porter arguing with members of the front office including General Manager Koby Altman and throwing food around the locker room.

Porter's rookie year didn't see any of these problems after the Cavaliers traded four second-round picks to the Detroit Pistons for the final pick in the first round in 2019 to select Porter.

Porter averaged ten points, three rebounds, and two assists in fifty games in his rookie season and was thought to be part of the Cavaliers core for the future.

At 6'4 and with great quickness and leaping ability, Porter can play either shooting guard or small forward and is a better-than-average passer.

While I realize the problems in giving chances to troubled players over and over again, I'm not sure that I wouldn't have tried again with a player of Porter's talent.

Now, keep in mind that I don't know how many chances Porter has been given already and I don't know how keeping Porter around could be a difficult sell in an organization that seems to have a little bit of momentum rolling right now, but from what I've read Porter has not been unpopular in the locker room.

The one reason that does make sense is the arrival of Isaac Okoro that plays the same spots on the floor and it's not out of the question that it could have been difficult to find enough playing time for both Okoro and Porter to help both players develop properly.

Kevin Porter was a project worth trying for the Cavaliers and I won't criticize them for that.

However, any project worth starting is worth finishing- I'm not sure the Cavaliers completely finished the project.

Drummond carries Cavaliers to win over Knicks

        Andre Drummond may have been motivated by the Cleveland Cavaliers acquisition of Jarrett Allen or he may have been auditioning for a potential suitor, but Drummond picked up the Cavaliers and carried them to a 106-103 victory over the New York Knicks in Cleveland.

Drummond finished with 33 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers with Cedi Osman finishing with 25 points to lead the starting five that saw each starter finish with double-figure points.

Cleveland was scheduled for a doubleheader on Sunday and Monday against the Washington Non-Bullets, but the battered Cavaliers will have a long respite as Washington's Covid-19 outbreak has caused both games to be postponed.

Cleveland will host the Brooklyn Nets next Wednesday and hopefully will see the two newest Cavaliers, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince, face their old team in their Cleveland debut.

Swashbucklings

1)  The trade rumors started about six seconds after the announcement of the Cavaliers' involvement in the four-team trade, but Andre Drummond immediately showed what some team might be getting, should they decide to trade for a big man for their playoff run.

The best way to get out of a town is to play hard, perform well, and make teams want you.

More players in all sports need to take heed of Drummond's example.

2) Andre Drummond's 30/20 was the first for a Cavalier since Carlos Boozer in 2004 (Can it be 17 years since Carlos Boozer played in Cleveland?) and was only the sixth time for anyone in Cavalier history.

3) I'll never forget Carlos Boozer and the stunt that he pulled.

When players bemoan a franchise's lack of loyalty, remember Carlos Boozer and how players aren't always a shining beacon of honor either.

4) The Cavaliers won this game with only eight players, the starting five, Lamar Stevens, JaVale McGee, and two minutes from Dean Wade. 

The five starters all played forty minutes or more and hopefully after the extra days from the Washington postponements and getting Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince on the court will keep Cleveland from being this light on the bench for a while.

5) It wasn't Andre Drummond that took the most shots in this game.

Drummond took eighteen, but it was Cedi Osman that fired up the most shots with twenty,

Fortunately for Cleveland, Osman hit ten of them and five from three-point land.

I'm torn on Osman, who I think will be a solid player with occasional streaks of top-level play.

Those streaks will come and go with an unpredictable outside shot.

6) Kevin Porter Jr. arrived on the bench for the first time this season and he was very involved among the injured players on the bench rooting the team on.

I'm not sure of the status of Porter, but the Cavaliers have been far too secretive with why Porter isn't playing and when he may be expected to return.

I don't need specifics, but a date of when they hope to have Porter at practice would be fine to start.

Cavaliers trade in, Draft Kevin Porter Jr.

The Cleveland Cavaliers added the shooters that the team hoped to add in the first round of the NBA draft with the selections of Vanderbilt's Darius Garland with their pick at five and Belmont's Dylan Windler with the selection obtained from the Houston Rockets at twenty-six.

Yet, as I wrote in the previous post on the selection of Dylan Windler, I felt that one player might have been worth the risk involved to take at 26 and I wished that the Cavaliers would have stepped up and gambled on potential greatness.
Apparently, someone in the Cleveland front office was thinking the same way as the Cavaliers shipped three future second rounders, possibly a fourth future second rounder and a cold hard five million dollars to the Detroit Pistons for the 30th slot in the first round.
The Cavaliers second rounders on the move are all picks that they have obtained through various trades (2020 Utah, 2021 and 2023 Portland along with 2024 Miami, if it is within 55 and 60 in the overall draft), so they still have their own second rounders for the future.

The drafting of USC guard Kevin Porter Jr is the type of "Gamble on Greatness" choice that teams in Cleveland (including the Browns and Indians) need to do more of as Cleveland will almost never be a free agency magnet for superstar athletes.
Porter has an NBA ready body, can play above the rim, runs the floor well in the transition game and is an effective scorer with both the outside shot and driving to the basket.
Add into the equation, Porter's ability to create shots ( among the top factors in young players finding success in the league) with never being mentioned to being a "me first" player and you have a player with all of the skills needed to be a success in the league.
Porter's game has been compared to that of James Harden, Porter tries to emulate Harden and as a fellow lefty, has many of the moves that make Harden arguably the best scorer in the game.
So if Porter has all of these abilities, he reads like a player in the top seven, not one available at the final pick in round one, so what's the problem?


On the court, Porter is another player that needs the ball to play best, played just 21 games at USC and averaged a little under ten points a night, while off the court Porter was suspended at both USC and high school along with a reputation for not being an easy player to coach.
The good news is that Porter's issues are more along the line of immaturity than serious problems and with his background ( This links to an excellent article by The Ringer and Porter's background), I think that can be overcome.
If you watched the ESPN piece on Porter during the draft and his interview with Maria Taylor after being selected as I did, I had the feeling that this isn't a bad guy at all, but rather a young man that with the right mentor and guidance could be helped past his problems.

As a player, Kevin Porter Jr brings all that you could hope for a first-round draft pick and even though Porter carries the potential of being a bust, I'm fully on board with taking the leap of faith.
At this place in the draft and for the cost that the Cavaliers paid to move up, Kevin Porter Jr could be a steal.
Give the Cavaliers credit for trying to make something happen rather than being content.

Tonight is the NHL Draft where the New Jersey Devils lead things off, plus DAZN boxing, so there will be two or even three posts today depending on time.