Cavs lose to the tanking BULLS

[kozlodoev]

If the preseason ended today, the preseason Warriors, Cavs, and Spurs would all miss the preseason playoffs.

Nets win the 2018 championship. Book it.

[trickybilly]

Felt like Crowder took a play or two off from the highlights. I have always been in the "crowder is slightly overrated" crowd though. Still the best contract in the league by a mile.

[bello_man09]

its pre season the whole cavs team is proven. they won't start playing ball until January. Our team is a little different. We have a lot of unproven guys who are super young. they will be going hard when their number is called regardless.

[Eddie20]

For a guy that doesn't like to conclusions (see his Bell is Green light thread) he sure jumps to a lot of conclusions.

[Donoghus]

C'mon it's preseason.

Only thing you worry about this time of year is health.  The results don't matter.

[Surferdad]

Questionable whether or not the Cavs even make the playoffs this year with all of their turnover.

That is one of the most nonsensical statements that I've ever seen posted on here.  With a healthy Lebron, they can sleepwalk into the playoffs.

Lighten up, dude.  I think tarheels was trying to make a joke.

[RockinRyA]

Preseason.

lauri markannen beat lebron and his friends. I don't care if its a drew league game. How does that happen

Players are not yet in game shape, and most important of all, they dont care if they win or lose. Its a warmup for most vets.

Wade is cooked though. If you cant see that he is pretty much done, you don't have eyes imo.

They're not winning **** with him and Isaiah playing 1 & 2 together.

I didnt say Wade isnt cooked, nor did I make a prediction about how the Cavs will do in the season. All I am saying is, its preseason. Some players do not go full speed during preseason, while some start off slow.

[Ed Hollison]

Just because it's preseason doesn't mean the Cavs won't face some major issues this year. Their second best player (IT) might miss dozens of games. Their starting backcourt right now of Rose and Wade are horrible 3pt shooters and defenders. Their starting PF is 6'6" and their starting center is 6'10". Lebron is about to turn 33 and is already struggling with ankle issues, and has one foot out the door for LA next year.

Let's be real, of course: this team is making the playoffs. And when they get there, whatever seed they go in with, they'll be a favorite to reach the finals. But don't be surprised if they struggle in the regular season and win something like 48-50 games.

[Surferdad]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20984959/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-makes-preseason-debut-battling-ankle-injury

The bulls which have lauri markannen as their best player beat the Lebron/wade/love/rose/Thompson/Smith/Crowder cavs

What I saw on cavs:
-lebron looks slow
-Wade looks finished/slow
-no one fits together on the cavs
-cavs Don't play defense for the most part

Basically what the others have said re: it being preseason and guys being lazy. Lebron passed it to Jae in the corner like 5 straight possessions. Killer instinct Lebron wouldn't do that.

I do partially agree with what you've said about Wade and their lack of cohesion though. With that said, we will suffer from that same problem in the first 20 games.

Wade just looks cooked. He's played one season too many. If he's looking that ragged in the preseason/his first few games, I don't think it's gonna look any better halfway through an 82 game stretch. It's a mistake to start him and it always has been.

LeBron played but he was hurt.  I hope we can agree on this simple correlation:  A healthy LeBron makes any team a Finals contender.  Take that away and any team will struggle.

[keevsnick]

Preseason.

lauri markannen beat lebron and his friends. I don't care if its a drew league game. How does that happen

PRESEASON

[guava_wrench]

Preseason.

lauri markannen beat lebron and his friends. I don't care if its a drew league game. How does that happen

Players are not yet in game shape, and most important of all, they dont care if they win or lose. Its a warmup for most vets.

True. But top vets usually come into training camp in peak conditioning, especially guys like Wade. Remember Pierce's fitness every training game? Wade is like Lebron-- always at peak conditioning.

[CelticD]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20986158/kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers-says-lebron-james-told-move-starting-center

Love says LeBron told him he'd be playing center. I wonder how that'd go in the locker room. Everyone already knew it was LeBron's team, but the confirmation is the icing on the cake, and makes Irving's desire to leave that much more understandable.

Love had a pretty poor game and just couldn't go up against Lopez who bullied him down low so he must be pretty frustrated.

[RockinRyA]

Preseason.

lauri markannen beat lebron and his friends. I don't care if its a drew league game. How does that happen

Players are not yet in game shape, and most important of all, they dont care if they win or lose. Its a warmup for most vets.

True. But top vets usually come into training camp in peak conditioning, especially guys like Wade. Remember Pierce's fitness every training game? Wade is like Lebron-- always at peak conditioning.

You know there is a difference between game shape and in shape right? You could do workouts, you could do training, but there's no replacement for actual games and practices. PJ Brown was in shape during his retirement, but it took him a while to get in game shape when he came back. Vets usually rest in the offseason, do light workouts and calisthenics. Its mostly young guys like Brown who are busy the whole offseason.

[SparzWizard]

Lions went 4-0 in the preseason at one point, followed by a 0-16 in the regular season.

[celticsclay]

Lions went 4-0 in the preseason at one point, followed by a 0-16 in the regular season.

I agree with others that the record is completely irrelevant. That being said you can do some takeaways from players that look slow or out of shape that carries over into the season. It's definitely possible to predict an increased chance of a negative season from players. To that point I think it is fair to point out wade looked really old and slow and last night. He may just be cooked. The fact that he is best friends and has been named a starter further complicates things if he doesn't produce. The chemistry on that team definitely bears watching as multiple players (some on one year deals) are going to play the least minutes they have in their career. They dodged the first bullet that smith has been ok coming off the bench publicly.