Cleveland Cavaliers

With many Cavaliers' fans already having their eyes on the draft, I've been scouting college basketball pretty intensely over the past couple of months. That being said, we are going to try to provide you with as many scouting reports as we can until the draft on June 27th. Today, we present Gorgui Dieng of Louisville. Dieng was possibly the most important piece of this season's NCAA champion Louisville Cardinals. His first name is somewhat apropos in this draft. "Gorgui" means "the old one" in Wolof, the native language of Senegal. At 23 years old, Dieng is certainly an old early entrant into the NBA draft. Along with being named to the First-Team All-Big East, he was also named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Measurements and Athleticism: Dieng stands in at 6'11" with a 7'4" wingspan, which looks even bigger on tape. He's about 230 pounds, having put on about 30 pounds since leaving Huntington Prep in West Virginia (same school as Andrew Wiggins). At the combine, he had the second-highest standing reach of anyone measured behind Rudy Gobert. He's very agile, moves well in space and laterally, and has some pretty decent leaping ability. He's also got pretty good stamina for a center, as he played nearly the full game on multiple occasions for the Cardinals. Offense: Dieng's got some potential on this end, but it's not particularly due to his post game. It's a pretty rudimentary, and he showed absolutely no left hand after breaking it earlier this season. He does have a pretty good touch around the rim - he shot about 72% at the rim this season according to hoop-math.com -- but his footwork seems slow and his instincts don't seem entirely natural from the low block. He can't really get his own shot when posting up a defender because it's easy to anticipate his only consistent move: a dribble into a right-handed hook shot from about 6 feet. It worked in college because he was longer and more athletic than other big men; but in the NBA everyone will be his size, therefore he will need to diversify his post game. Where he does show a lot of potential offensively is from the high post. First off, he's an extraordinary passer. While surveying and looking over the defense with his height, Dieng hits cutters at the rim and easily finds the open three point shot as the defense collapses around him. To top it off, he's shown fantastic potential as a set shooter from 14-17 feet. He has a high release point that makes it near impossible to block with excellent, consistent mechanics -- he keeps his right hand directly under the ball and his release point is very consistent. Finally, this is a small thing but it's worth mentioning: Dieng is an excellent screener. He was the catalyst for springing Peyton Siva free in Louisville's pick-and-roll-heavy offense innumerable times. He sets a super wide base with his long legs, making it difficult for defenders to get around him. He's not great at rolling to the hoop yet, but he could be an excellent candidate for pick-and-pop plays with his jump shot. Rebounding: Dieng is a solid rebounder who improved each of the last three seasons. One way that he should be able to get quick buckets around the rim is as an offensive rebounder, as he finished second and third over the past two seasons respectively in the Big East in offense rebounding. He's also a pretty solid defensive rebounder because of his superb motor and great length. He attacks the ball above the rim and has soft hands that allow him to secure the ball. He finished second in the Big East in Defensive Rebound Percentage and in overall rebounds per game, at 9.4 per game. Defense: Dieng is one of the best defensive big men in this draft. He's truly one of the guys in this draft that can affect a game without scoring (see: Final Four game versus Wichita State). As the true anchor of the Louisville defense, which finished number one in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defensive rating, Dieng was th

It seems a case has been made for the Cavs taking every top prospect with the exceptions of Ben McLemore and Anthony Bennett, So I'm going to play a little Devil's Advocate and see if I can't create a case for Mr. Bennett. There are two immediate objects to drafting Bennett. 1. He doesn't fit the Cavs, with TT already at the PF position it appears redundant to draft another PF especially an "undersized" one at that. I concede that it is hard to imagine a team starting two power forwards making a finals run with them at the center of the team. However I think its a pretty big mistake to look at draft prospects for a 20 win team and say "this guy slots in at PF and then next year we draft a SF, and then sign a C and our championship team has a starting lineup of V, W, X, Y and Z." Realistically the Cavs are several years away from contention and how that contending team shapes up in the end is still far from clear. How much do Waiters/TT/Irving/Zeller progress? Does one get injured or bust? Can we land a big name FA and fill a position without a pick? Can we trade for an established star? With all the uncertainty about how the final core of the team shapes up I think the pertinent questions about draft picks boil down to two. A. How good of a prospect is he and B. Can we get him on the floor to develop and see what we have while showcasing him to teams that might be shipping out an all star level player (ie Love, Horford, Cousins) I'll cover A in a sec but I think B can be done quite easily. Here is a list of big man mins played for the Cavs last season. TT- 2500 Zeller- 2000 Andy- 900 Walton- 850 Speights- 700 Jones- 300 Samuels- 200 Leur- 100 For TT thats 82 games at 31.3 mins a game. He might go 2-300 more total that that but not much higher in the long run than 34-35 mins a game. Zeller did not produce at a high level for those 2000 and if he doesn't progress a lot in this offseason I would expect them to be cut way back. Andy obviously we hope to see him play more but he has only 2 seasons in his career playing > 2,000 mins in 9 years as a pro, while playing fewer than 50 games 5 times. From these three I keep TT~ the same # of mins for 2013/14 and TZ and Andy's mins combined at a similar rate with (hopefully) Andy taking ~1800 and Zeller looking at ~ 11-1200 (~15 mins a game with a few missed games). We are left with a hodgepodge of players that I think most fans would be happy to not see on the floor next season who totaled ~2200 mins. at 25 mins a game over say 75 games for Bennett that leaves ~ 400 mins left for random D leaguers as injury fill ins or to be spread out among the other three mentioned above. AS an example of a team that has done something similar recently the Jazz managed to get significant mins to 4 big men this past year (all playing in 70+ games) while fielding a fringe playoff team -they barely missed in the West and would have been the 7 seed in the east and only 2 games out of the #5 spot. They did this without having a single player outside of those 4 big men rack up a PER over 17. Objection #2- Bennett is undersized for a PF. Simply put I disagree. Three of the top PFs of all time, Barkley, Rodman and Malone, were 6'6", 6'7" and 6'8". If you consider Duncan and Garnett Centers you could argue that the top three PFs of the past 25 years have all been Kevin Hetrick over at Hardwood Paroxysm (he also posts on Cavstheblog) did a series on this year on what combine measurements are positively correlated with success at each position. Here was his conclusion for PFs For big men, increased length lightly corresponded with improving power forward offense, with reach providing the best correlations. On defense, and for centers at both ends of the court, size measurements frequently, and surprisingly, calculated as very-low and often negative correlation with performance. Over two-thirds of the correlations betw

Shane Larkin is poised to make noise in the NBA. (This is Part 14, the final in the series that I published at Hardwood Paroxysm throughout the year.) The 2013 NBA combine is behind us.  After thirteen parts attempting to quantify what it all means, now it is time to declare winners & losers.  Let’s start with the crew deserving a bump in their draft status. Winners Shane Larkin – If his NCAA-leading points produced through pick & rolls (scores plus assists) didn’t impress you, or his 24 points per game during Miami’s ACC Tourney run, then how about his joining this crew: Derrick Rose, Russ Westbrook, Mike Conley Jr, John Wall, Nate Robinson, and Jerryd Bayless?  Those were the drafted underclassmen point guards with sprint speed below 3.15 seconds and no-step vert of 30” or more.  Ignore concerns about his tiny stature; this Hurricane is primed to do big things. Otto Porter – Tall small forwards rate as the NBA’s most-productive two-way players.  Who stood  tallest of the 2013 small forward class?  Of course, Otto Porter, also the draft’s most productive 19-year old.  I see a strong NBA career, despite middling athleticism tests…which aren’t consistently reflective of NBA success or failure for a small forward, anyways (actually, most of those correlations were negative). Phil Pressey – He surpassed 3.2 seconds in the sprint and 11 seconds in the agility drill as a draft-worthy upperclassmen point guard.  That’s been a can’t-miss combination over the last thirteen years and a great source of late value.  Peyton Siva also bested these thresholds, but currently ESPN and Draftexpress include him outside the likely draftees*; at nearly 23, he has never been a particularly effective collegiate offensive player.  This serves as opportunity to say, don’t overrate players that otherwise may not warrant drafting, just because of favorable combine results (obviously an Olympic track athlete isn’t likely to find NBA success). Nerlens Noel – Did I bump my head?  I am giving Noel the benefit of the doubt here.  The small group of very long, very speedy prodigy centers is fairly glamourous.  Nerlens’ 110” reach meets one criteria, and I have faith that his sprint speed bests 3.3 seconds. Victor Oladipo – The complete list of underclassmen (Oladipo is still 21 as of February 1st, 2014) shooting guards with first-round talent and a 6’ – 9” wingspan, 31” no-step vert and 35” max vert in the last fourteen drafts is: James Harden, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, Joe Johnson, Eric Gordon, Ronnie Brewer and Jeremy Lamb.  I expect the young Hoosier will fit nicely into this list.  Ben McLemore also leapt over 31″ from a stand-still, exhibiting a trait often portending success for first-round, underclass shooting-guard talent.  Allen Crabbe barely missed the combination of qualifiers that Oladipo met. Cody Zeller - His sprint speed ties the third best of the centers evaluated by this study.   His no-step vert rose the highest of the entire 2013 Combine.  Given the precedent of these traits predicting success in underclassmen centers, this helps solidify Zeller in the top-ten. Norvel Pelle flashed an exciting blend of speed and length…who is he?  I don’t know, but as a late second round project, he may be worth a look. Losers Rudy Gobert – Here’s the shocker; my big, contrarian view.  Also, this may not be fair, because this project focused solely on NCAA players.  But heading into May 16th, reports of his wingspan were 7’ – 9”…now it’s a confirmed 7’ – 8.25”.  Why would this bump his draft stock?  As an anecdotal case, the players in the draftexpress.com database with wingspan greater than 7’ – 8” include: Mamadou N’Diaye, John Riek, Alexis Ajinca, Saer Sene, Michael Olowokandi, Chris Marcus, and Boban Majanovic.  Is this a list that inspires confidence?  Detailed here and here, as a general rule, increased size did not correlate to improve

Cleveland Jackson, Alex Raffalli, David O'Leary and I collaborated on an email chain over the last couple weeks that evolved into a pre-lottery mock draft. We completed it just in time to revise this mock draft as soon as the lottery positions are assigned on Tuesday night. For now, though, Part 1 is below. Part 2 is coming later. Team need was considered with each selection in combination with an overall talent ranking. 1- Orlando Magic (Brendan) - Nerlens Noel: His weight is a bit concerning along with the fact that he won't be healthy enough to make his rookie debut until Christmas. But Noel is the best shot-blocker in the country while also possessing a combination of size and athleticism you can't teach. It would be hard for Orlando to pass on a replacement-ish player for Dwight Howard here with the Kentucky freshman on the board. 2- Charlotte Bobcats (Jack) - Ben McLemore: This is the portrait of an athlete, a human shooting guard machine standing 6 foot 4 and a half inches in sneakers. McLemore has superhuman quickness, explosive leaping ability and picture perfect shooting mechanics, which have at times been compared to Ray Allen. He’s so good, that he could go first overall in this draft if a team had concerns about Noel’s health. His athleticism makes him excellent on defense and he has every tool to become a star in the league and his weaknesses are only in areas where he has undeveloped potential. There may be a conversation someday as to whether McLemore should have gone #1 in this draft, and I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of the debate. If the Cavs somehow end up in a lottery position to take this guy, you draft him and figure out how to make it work later on. 3- Cleveland Cavaliers (Alex) - Otto Porter: The Cavaliers need everything Otto Porter brings, and they need it now. He has the length, the shooting ability, the basketball IQ and the defensive mind to fit in the Mike Brown mold and help the Cavs greatly at a position where they have been so bad since LeBron James left. He is the biggest upgrade the team could wish for. Of course, he isn’t the most athletic guy or the strongest (he needs to put a good 20lbs on his frame to defend bigger wing players, but what rookie doesn’t need to put up some weight anyway?) and might not be the most talented possible pick, but he will help the Cavs win! Also, given that his name means eight in Italian, I think he should be forced to have jersey #8. I mean, makes sense, right? (the only problem with this logic is that the most famous man named Otto in history is most likely Von Bismarck and he was German... Doesn’t make sense anymore, does it? And of course, I’m waiting for suggestions on “more” famous Otto's) 4 - Phoenix Suns (David) - Anthony Bennett: I don’t know if there’s a team more in need of help at either forward spot than the Suns. Bennett is a low post animal with an insane wingspan who’s already very accomplished at finishing in a crowd and while absorbing contact. Sure, he’s a tweener and he’ll have trouble guarding small forwards most of the time, but he could be real good real fast. Plus, he’s a brute who’ll bully his way to buckets from day one. The only downside here with this pick is that we could break up the possibility of the Suns starting both Morris twins next year, which for obvious reasons would have been brilliant on about 37 different levels. 5- New Orleans Pelicans (Brendan) - Victor Oladipo: This guy successfully completed a 360-dunk in a Big Ten Basketball game while also completing 19 credit hours to graduate from Indiana in three years. He wowed scouts at the combine with a 42-inch vertical, while also suggesting that those concerned with his height (6'4.25") simply round up to the nearest tenth and then he's 6'5". Relax. According to Oladipo he is "abnormal", which in my

Kyrie Irving recently turned 21 years old. Drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers two short years ago, he was given the task of leading a team with a serious lack of quality players in a city with a heartbroken fan-base. He would be the face of the franchise, picking up a crown that had been tossed aside by its previous owner. He would be Mike Conley, we hoped, back when Mike Conley wasn't particularly good at basketball. Turns out, he is a much, much better player than that. His rookie season was one of the best in the history of the NBA, and there is no hyperbole there. He excels in nearly every facet of what an NBA offense requires. Breath-taking shooting ability? Check. Quickness and handle? Check. Pick and roll savant? Sure thing. Gifted passer? Yeah, he does that too. One of the best isolation players in basketball, he even can post guys up. He turns the ball over a bit, mostly because he has too much confidence in his own ability. So what is the problem? "He is the worst defender in the history of Dr. Naismith's sport" The most common and persistent criticism regards Irving's defense. Writers, even ones I respect, consistently make the claim that there was no improvement for Irving in his second season in the NBA on the defensive end. This is false. For one, Irving is pretty darn good at creating turnovers defensively. His instincts are good and his athleticism allows him to disrupt passing lanes. Opposing point guards saw their Player Efficiency Rating and effective field goal percentage go down while Irving was guarding them this season compared to his rookie year. He isn't a good defender by any means, but he did improve. How many young players in the league are actually good defenders? Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, and LeBron James all took time to develop the focus and stamina to put in consistent defensive work in, and, to be honest, these guys don't do it all the time. Irving has a huge offensive burden when he is on the floor. Why are we killing him for not being a great defender as a 20 year old? There is also the simple fact that with the hand-check rules the way they are in the NBA, there are only a few guys with the strength and lateral quickness to actually stay in front of point guards. Outside of Eric Bledsoe and maybe Avery Bradley, even the best defensive point guards like Chris Paul and Mike Conley give up penetration from opposing point guards. This is why interior defense is so important. Tyler Zeller wasn't a disaster defensively just because Spencer Hawes could bully him down low. He was also a disaster defensively because he provided almost no value protecting the rim. The Cavaliers as a team finished second to last in the NBA in the total number of shots blocked defensively, nearly 100 below the league average. When opposing guards light up the Cavaliers, please remember that it isn't necessarily Kyrie Irving's job to keep guys out of the lane. The bigs have to help. They haven't so far. I cannot stress enough how little I worry about Kyrie Irving's defense. "He is a diva in training" The diva label is courtesy of Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. In another more recent article, allegedly about the NBA Draft lottery, Livingston went even further: Not only is he injury-prone, he paid no attention to deposed coach Byron Scott's harping on defense and sometimes barely tried on that end of the floor. Irving stiffed the fans on Fan Appreciation Night, then curtly denied the cover story an embarrassed public relations man whipped up to explain it. I will admit to being pretty bothered by this. I was also bothered when Irving failed to stand up for Byron Scott as it became clear that Scott's job was in real danger. Irving admitted to being disinterested for a road game in Detroit this season that I attended. In that game, Irving came out and scored 11 points in the first quarter before realizing that none of the other Cavaliers were all that into the game. It appear

After a massive delay due to computer issues, I present you all with our 2013 Playoff discussion.  Unfortunately it’s all moot at this point – all the teams have passed the 2nd round.  Still, Robert, Colin and I touch on some pretty great topcs about the four second round match ups.  It’s definitely worth a listen! As always, we can be found on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/cavstheblog/0031-2013-playoffs-or-the-last And on iTunes at:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cavs-the-podcast/id528149843?mt=2 Enjoy!

This Tuesday is an important day for the Cleveland Cavaliers. That evening the NBA Draft Lottery takes place, determining the order for the teams possessing the top fifteen picks in the draft. If everything stood as is, the Cavaliers would pick third overall, and according to a plethora of mock drafts, would select Georgetown small forward Otto Porter. While most Cavs fans would love to see this take place, life and the NBA Draft Lottery doesn’t always go according to plan. It’s entirely possible that the Cavaliers could draft fourth, fifth, or even (gasp!) sixth in the upcoming NBA draft. At that point, Porter and Nerlens Noel, reported to be the top two players on the Cavaliers’ draft board, will probably have already been drafted by other teams. Never fear, even if the Cavaliers’ fortunes take this tragic turn, there are many possibilities that could lead to a successful draft night for our favorite team. Here is one scenario that appeals to me. Assuming that Noel and Porter are off the board, the best pick for the Cavaliers could be Maryland Center Alex Len. If you took the time to read eraulli’s excellent post on Len, you already know that Len is a talented offensive player and underrated defender. ESPN’s Chad Ford has compared Len to former Cavalier Zydrunas Ilgauskas due to his size, rebounding, and ability to score both at the rim and with his midrange game. While there is some question about Len’s drive due to his lack of dominance at Maryland despite his size and skill, much of this can be attributed to Maryland’s poor guard play. Comments from Len, his coaches, and teammates paint a far different picture of his drive. Len also seems like an excellent fit for the Cavaliers for many reasons. He can run the floor well, play the pick and pop and pick and roll with Irving and Waiters, and his offensive and defensive skills both fit well with Tristan Thompson’s as the Cavaliers’ front court of the present and future. After drafting Len, the Cavaliers can turn their focus to the only position they have not addressed through the draft, small forward. There is no denying that after Porter there is a significant drop at the small forward position. That being said, a realistic option for the Cavaliers could be to package the 19th, 31st, and 33rd picks to move up far enough to draft the one small forward who has been rated above Otto Porter at times this season, Shabazz Muhammad. As noted by numerous analysts, Muhammad’s draft stock has fallen from potential number one pick to late lottery status over the past year. Currently he is ranked eleventh on Chad Ford’s Big Board and is ranked behind both Porter and Dario Saric at small forward. While Ford still has Muhammad being drafted ahead of Saric in his second mock draft, this could easily change as well. Kevin Pelton also had a pretty harsh assessment of Muhammad when predicting his future WARP (Len didn’t fare well either). Muhammad has been criticized for being a one dimensional scorer and bad teammate, to say nothing of the whole age debacle. In all fairness to Muhammad, there are plenty of signs he still should be able to be a productive NBA wing. As Tom Ziller wrote, Muhammad seems to have become this year’s Harrison Barnes, a wing who hasn’t lived up to pre-college expectations, isn’t super-efficient, and is therefore overly criticized. While Muhammad isn’t as big or athletic as Barnes, it should be pointed out that Barnes is an athletic player who doesn’t play athletically. In addition, Muhammad could be affected by the "Howland Variable" John Hollinger used in his 2011 draft rater. For those who don’t have ESPN Insider, the basic gist is that Howland’s system doesn’t allow for as much individual success for NBA prospects at UCLA as other systems. Citing the success of players such as Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday,

The Cavaliers received the 19th overall pick in the well-discussed, hilariously spectacular Luke Walton trade of 2012. At the time, Cavs' fans assumed this selection would be around the 25-30th overall selection due to the Lakers' previous successes and the eventual Dwight Howard trade. So when the Lakers struggled to make the playoffs, eventually succeeding and making this a top 20 pick, Cavs' fans rejoiced in the collapse of a prospective NBA superpower. So let's fast-forward to June 27. What can the Cavs possibly expect when the 19th overall selection rolls around? Well, let's go in the time machine and see what we can dig up. Past Five Drafts: -The 2012 iteration of the draft brought us Andrew Nicholson, a senior power forward out of St. Bonaventure selected by the Magic. He was one of the two or three best players available at that spot (along with Perry Jones III and Jared Sullinger) in my opinion, and he didn't disappoint in his rookie campaign. Playing 17 minutes per game, he shot 53% from the field and averaged about eight points per game, utilizing his solid face-up game to be a good compliment to Nik Vucevic when paired together. He should continue to develop into a solid rotation big man. -In 2011, Tennessee's Tobias Harris was considered a potential lottery pick, but dropped to the Bucks due to questions about what position he plays. The Bucks never really figured out the enigma of how to utilize him, and dealt him in the J.J. Redick deal this February. While in Orlando, he has flourished, averaging 17 and 8 with the Magic as he plays starters minutes. He has potential to be a starting NBA point forward in the vein of Lamar Odom for a while in this league. -2010 saw yet another solid rotation player be selected in Avery Bradley out of Texas. One of the top players in the 2009 recruiting class, Bradley never really figured out Rick Barnes' offensive system, and hasn't been an offensive threat since. Instead, he's reinvented himself as a tenacious defender who looks posed to take over the reins from Tony Allen as the best perimeter "defense-only" defender in the league. Another solid rotation player. -Jeff Teague was selected in 2009 out of Wake Forest. Teague left after his sophomore season, and was one of the 11 point guards selected in the first round of that draft. He has developed into one of the better young point guards in the league, and is about to see a big pay day this offseason as a restricted free agent. He should be a starting point guard in the NBA for a long while. -The last time the Cavaliers had the 19th overall selection, the Hickson was brought into the fold and forever changed the landscape of the NBA. Okay, that might be an exaggeration. Hickson is an undersized center who can't play a lick of defense, but he scores at an efficient rate and rebounds well. No matter how much you hate him for being a probable misogynist, or being the piece that didn't bring the Cavaliers Amare Stoudemire, Hickson has developed into a decent big man who can provide some energy off the bench. The Rest: -Javaris Crittenton's career was cut short because of he liked to play with guns. -Quincy Douby was an undersized shooter and a bad selection at 19th overall in the terrible 2006 draft. Rajon Rondo went two slots later, and there are only about 3 solid NBA players outside of the top 21 in that draft. -Hakim Warrick has been hanging around forever after starring at Syracuse. He was kind of decent for a while on bad Memphis teams, but really Warrick is forever the example of a positionless 3/4 not working out in the NBA. -Dorell Wright has turned into a pretty solid spot up 3-point shooter from the small forward position after entering the draft from high school. -2003 was the immortal "Sasha Pavlovic at 19th overall season," so we'll just skip it. -Ryan Humphrey is 2002's 19th overall, and I can honestly tell you nothing about him. Doesn't even have an SBNation profile. Maybe I can ask my frien

Topics: Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery and Cavs draft scenarios depending on their pick, Knicks vs. Pacers, the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals, and a discussion about Phil Jackson’s Jordan vs. Kobe analysis from his new book. Follow @TheBottomUpShow for more great content

More draft combine news out.  The agility, speed, and leaping measurements are out, at least for those who participated.  Here is the link.  One of the best bloggers in the business, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress does a good job pondering what it all does and doesn’t mean, here. The big winners?  Shane Larkin of Miami bested the vertical (44″), the 3/4 court sprint (3.08 seconds), was tied for second in no step vertical (34.5″), and was 5th in agility drills.  At 5’10″, Larkin can jump and touch four inches above the rim from a standstill.  I’m 5’10″, Shane Larkin, and I hate you. Other winners include N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie (pictured above) who had a 40″ vertical, a 10.19 agility drill (#1), a 3.10 second 3/4 court sprint (#2).  At 6’7″ with a 7’2″ wingspan, expect this showing to push Leslie into the first round, where he would be a good backup plan to Otto Porter.  Cody Zeller had a very nice showing as well, with a 37’5″ standing vertical, a sprint time of 3.14 (#6), and an agility time of 10.4.  Those are extremely good numbers for a guy who measured over 7 feet in shoes.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the 6’6″ shooting Guard from Georgia also posted very nice speed and agility numbers, likely increasing his draft stock after a season where he posted good numbers, but his team played poorly. Players who didn’t fare so well included Deshaun Thomas who posted the worst agility drill at 12.94, the fifth worst sprint at 3.53 and a 32″ vertical.  My boys Rudy Gobert and Kelly Olynyk were the slowest of the bunch at 3.59 and 3.57 seconds respectively.  Olynyk at least posted a decent agility drill, but Gobert trailed only Thomas at that too.  DrafExpress has been tracking these things for a while now, and their results weren’t good historically, either.  In Gobert’s defense, players of his size rarely compete in these events, and I give him his props for trying.  His numbers compare favorably with a guy not quite his size, Brook Lopez. In other news, Mary Schmitt Boyer of Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer explores whether the Cavs should acquire Paul Pierce and many other topics in her “Hey Mary” Q&A. In the big man round-up, Terry Pluto drops the intel that the Cavs are interested in Greg Oden still, and the News Herald’s Bob Finnan notes that the Cavs could be a landing spot for Pau Gasol, as well as conjecturing on multiple topics like whether Andrew Bynum will get a max contract.