COURT SIDE
Cavaliers get back on track following flurry of deadline moves ... What’s up with Fultz in Philly? ... 2004 draftees still balling ... Paul Pierce was a Raptor-killer
Narratives can change awfully quickly.
Only a week ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers were probably the NBA’s biggest group of misfit disappointments. The best player in the world and his teammates couldn’t get along, couldn’t play a lick of defence and didn’t look close to an outfit capable of making yet another run deep into the playoffs.
They also had a young general manager being carved for allegedly being in way above his head and a lot of regrets about the Kyrie Irving to Boston trade that brought Isaiah Thomas to town.
Yes, things looked bleak. Then GM Koby Altman and his staff decided to set fire to it all and completely recalibrate the Cavs, dealing away seven players, nearly half of the roster.
The Cavs got younger, more dynamic and sounder defensively. Yes, they might have helped out the Lakers a bit too much (Jordan Clarkson is overpaid and now Los Angeles can afford to bring in LeBron James or two other allstar free agents in the summer), but the old group was melting down in spectacular fashion and this, on paper at least, moves the Cavs back to the top of the heap in the East.
Prior to Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma City, James certainly appeared to be enjoying his new lot in life. If all of the smiles after so many months of scowls and waves of disgust didn’t give that away, how about his consecutive high-assist games? James handed out at least 15 helpers both before and after his new teammates arrived, becoming just the fourth player to notch consecutive 15-assist triple-doubles since 1983. The Cavs scored 48 points off of James assists against Atlanta, the most any James team has managed in a game in his career.
J.R. Smith, horrendous all season, finally has shown some signs of life, Kyle Korver is nailing everything,
George Hill (who has been amongst the leaders all season in shooting accuracy), Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson give them a bunch of other gunners and rookie Cedi Osman has been praised for bringing some enthusiasm to the mix and got his third straight start on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, Hill gives them above average at the initial point of attack for the first time in ages, fellow newcomer Larry Nance Jr. can cover a lot of ground and
Tristan Thompson doesn’t have to try to do everything himself on defence. James being engaged again certainly helps.
THE SIXERS SENSE
Have we seen a more bizarre situation than the one surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers and 2017 No. 1 overall selection Markelle Fultz?
The 19-year-old point guard played in four games before being shut down by the team due to a mystery shoulder ailment that was messing with his shot, with sporadic medical updates following and little concrete info coming out of any of them. On Dec. 9, the team said his shoulder soreness was gone, indicating, if one uses logic, that a return might not be too far off.
Two months later, Sixers boss Bryan Colangelo told Philadelphia reporters, in rather confounding fashion: “There’s always a chance that he’s going to be out there soon, and there’s a chance that he’s not going to play this year.” Well, OK then. Phillyvoice.com did an excellent expose on the mystery this week, revealing that everyone seems to have an opinion about what went wrong and how to fix it and that Fultz’s work with his trainer, a close family friend, might have resulted in the shooting issues that resulted.
Or it might have just been the injury.
Maybe one day we will all find out.
CLASS OF 2004 THRIVING
Was cool to see Emeka
Okafor back in the NBA and starting a game for the first time since 2013 this week. The No. 2 pick behind
Dwight Howard way back in 2004 missed three full seasons due to injury and toiled in the development league before resurfacing with New Orleans. The longevity of that draft crop has been solid: Howard, Okafor, Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, Devin Harris, Luol Deng (theoretically), Al Jefferson, Jameer Nelson, J.R. Smith, Tony Allen and second-rounder Trevor Ariza are still going. It’s impressive to see so many players from one class still producing nearly 15 years into their careers. Just don’t remind the Raptors or their fans about
Rafael Araujo and Pape Sow.
AROUND THE RIM
Speaking of the Raptors, only James has scored more than the 1,225 points
Paul Pierce scored against Toronto in his career (and that doesn’t even count all of the playoff daggers). Nobody’s played more minutes against Canada’s NBA outfit. Pierce was honoured by the Celtics last week.