Weekend Break: Prayers for OG and Calm Down about Cleveland

Deep breaths everyone

Woah! Saturday edition of TBP? What did you do to deserve this? As in what atrocity did you commit in a past life to deserve this? Just kidding just kidding I’m thrilled you’re here.

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He Never Had a Chance

I feel bad for good two-way wings. NBA fans are so obsessed with players who check the theoretical two way-wing box that what these players actually do on the court becomes second in importance behind what they might be capable of. The devious scourge of potential will follow a two-way wing for his entire career and cause fans / media members / general managers to use phrases like “offensive leap” even if the player has been in the league a decade and hasn’t yet made any such leap. The idea of the leap is infinite.

In turn players like OG Anunoby—who is a New York Knick as of this morning— catch flak for being good players instead of great players just because players of his archetype have the best chance to be great based on gaudy physical measurements and propitious athletic ability. A 6-7 wing doing something positive is never viewed as a singular positive action. Instead it’s viewed as a taste of what is to come and if more of the same doesn’t come then the prevailing opinion is that expectations weren’t met. A cycle of frustration ensues. OG Anunoby is a good player and that’s fine but he won’t be allowed to simply be a good player at Madison Square Garden because of how the basketball world thinks about players that physically look and move like him.

At the same time though Knicks fans are right to have high expectations because their team just traded a real 6MOY candidate and also their third-leading scorer to land Anunoby. That’s a haul and proof that expectations hold more weight than actuality in NBA front offices and not just on Twitter.

OG Anunoby is a high-level wing defender with a pretty limited offensive repertoire. He is a good player (led the league in steals last year and shoots 37.5% from 3PT for his career.) But when you’re 6-7 and athletic and can shoot threes… being a good player is supposed to be just a stepping stone to superstardom apparently. Sometimes good is the last stone.

Good luck OG you were doomed from the start.

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Everyone Calm Down About the Cavs

Cleveland traded for Donovan Mitchell before last season and gave up a bunch to do it (Lauri Markkanen and picks and some other decent stuff but mostly Lauri and the picks) and in Mitchell’s first season as a Cavalier things went very well (51 wins in the regular season) and then not so well (lost in the first round of the playoffs) but overall the team’s trajectory appeared to be moving in the right direction.

That was last season. Now just eight months later everyone is acting like the Cavs are a clown show destined for irrelevancy (only thing worse than a clown show is an irrelevant clown show) and that the sky is falling falling falling down about to crush good Ohioans like bugs.

“This year was gonna be the test year… couldn’t have gone worse” Bill Simmons said recently on his podcast “Mostly White Guys” or whatever it’s called about Cleveland’s hopes to retain Mitchell after 2024-25. Simmons thinks Mitchell is 100% no questions asked leaving town after 2024-25 so Cleveland’s best/only path forward is to ship him off and wash its hands of the entire damn thing. Simmons isn’t alone in this belief either because I’ve seen plenty of mock Mitchell trades in the past few weeks from all corners of the basketball media world.

Truthfully I think everyone needs to calm the hell down about the Cavs. Seriously can we all please take some deep breaths please. Are we sure things aren’t actually fine in Cleveland? (I’m talking purely about the Cavaliers of course I don’t know much about the city itself but I do know the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is there so that’s cool I suppose they did just induct Rage Against The Machine after all.)

The Cavs are playing well as I speak to all of you beautiful people. Right now. They’re 18-14 and sixth in the East so it’s not like everything has come crashing down and this season is already a lost cause just because they’ve endured some injuries to important players.

Also Mitchell’s contract is up after next season. He’s still under contract to play a lot of basketball. Is trading a star because you think he’ll leave in two years not crazy? I think that’s crazy. Why even sign guys at all then? Five-year contract? But what if he leaves after those five years? Not worth the risk! See how silly that sounds?

Roster turnover isn’t inevitable either. Pretty much every important Cav is under contract for multiple years on reasonable deals (Garland until 2028 Allen until 2026 Mobley until 2025 when he’s an RFA so probably 2029 and Strus until 2027) so the foundation is in place and it’s a pretty solid foundation too especially if you think Evan Mobley can still get better (I do).

Cleveland trading its best player after one season when they moved mountains to get him then won 61% of its games with him in the lineup is an obscene overreaction even in a league that emphasizes winning quickly. Can a trade be made? Sure. Should a trade be made? Maybe. (The double-dig lineup with Mobley and Allen is fun but maybe a floor-spacing five alongside one of them would be a better fit for the NBA in 2023.)

But completely abandoning ship after one season? Ludacris. What happened to perseverance? What happened to trying!!

Do I think this exact Cavs roster can win an NBA championship? No. I also don’t think trading its best player will bring the franchise any closer to winning anything especially when other smaller (and perhaps more impactful) moves are there for the making.

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Thanks for reading. I love you! Really I do. I’m having a blast writing TBP and we’re only getting started. Send the link to your friend and physically force them to subscribe. Ok I’m out of here. Talk soon. Free Palestine.