Prior to the Cavaliers 99-96 loss to the New Jersey Nets on Friday night, I caught up with former Cavaliers Head Coach and current living legend Mike Fratello. I asked the Coach of the Ukraine National Team and Czar of The Telestrators what his opinions were of Kyrie Irving so far this season, as well as what other players he'd compare Kyrie's game too. 

That conversation is below: 





StepienRules: Based on what you've seen so far, can you just offer your opinions on Kyrie Irving and his play so far?

Mike Fratello: I think they're [Cavaliers Organization] very happy that they selected the young man. You try to do your homework, and do your research, but you never know until you actually get him there. And here he is, and they've seen the kind of talent that he has, he seems to be a very mature person for his age, and he has a very, very bright future. So Cleveland has one piece that they can move forward with now, use that as a cornerstone, and hopefully add other pieces around him.

StepienRules: Over the years, who would you compare his game too as far as other Point Guards?

Mike Fratello: Kapper, Kapper, his game is like Kapper's game, you and Kyrie. 

StepienRules: Oh, okay, that would be Tim over here with Nets radio?

Tim With Nets Radio aka Kapper: My game is very solid.

Mike Fratello: You know, I don't know who I would compare him to really. I think it's better if we let him get his own identity, and down the road let somebody say his game is like Kyrie Irving's. Because, what do you want to say, want to say he's a Chris Paul type guard? I don't know that yet. I'd like to see this kid get his own way, develop his own reputation, and then let people try to be like him.

If Anderson Varejao was ever going to be invited to the NBA All Star Game, that time is right now. This season. The best player on his team is a 19-year old rookie, his organization is in the beginning stages of the ultimate NBA rebuild, and despite that he's taking the floor every single night and playing like an NBA Title is hanging in the balance. Beyond all that, statistically, he's also right there with each and every other Center in the Eastern Conference not named Dwight Howard.


Throughout Anderson's career he's been somewhat dismissed as being simply a "nice piece" for a contending team. Which is basically because for all those years that's what his contending team needed him to be. But while he was that, and is still capable of being that if needed, he is also demonstrating right now that he can be more than simply that too. Anderson's game is not completely designed to only fit-in, and only compliment a collection of stars around him. His basketball IQ is high, he believes in teamwork, and if that's the way he best helps his team he'll gladly fill that role. But he can also lead from the front too, he's a competitor, and if I was to wake up one morning as a coach who needed to win one game later on that night or I'd surely get fired, say I woke up tomorrow as Mike D'Antoni, Dwight Howard is the only Center in the Eastern Conference I'd rather have on my team than Anderson Varejao right now. The only one.

Over at Waiting For Next Year, Scott has been pointing out the All Star qualities of Anderson Varjeao for a while now, and I agree with him. He mentioned yesterday at WFNY that Anderson is second in the Eastern Conference in rebounds per game (11.2), total rebounding percentage (21.0), and also has a lead in terms of total offensive rebounds and offensive rebounding percentage (16.6) right now too. So enter his points into my Andy Is An All Star Arguement here, and allow me to then add the following: Anderson Varejao is averaging more rebounds per game than any Eastern Conference Center not named Dwight Howard, he's averaging more steals than any of them as well, has a better PER number than Joakim Noah, and is scoring only eight tenths of a point per game less than Tyson Chandler too.

How Many All Star Spots Are Available: no comments

I stood watching Mike D'Antoni's pregame press conference and walked away before the game literally feeling sorry for the guy. About an hour later, I finally asked myself why it was I cared exactly? I suppose I don't. But if I did care, I later decided, if I was related to the guy, delivered him newspapers as a kid, or had some remote rooting interesting in his team's success, I'd feel bad for him as an NBA Coach because he doesn't have anybody on his team like Anderson Varejao. Nobody even close. For all the high profile stardom that Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony combine to possess, even in today's NBA, you can't go out on given nights and fake heart, you can't fake pride, you can't fake that will and sheer desire to win, and you can't fake the overwhelming belief in your teammates that elevates the play of everybody else around you.


Anderson Varejao was all those things the Knicks weren't on Wednesday night, because he is all those things. He is all those things these Knicks can't fake. All of the things that Carmelo Anthony wasn't on Wednesday and hasn't been this season, as he followed a 1-point game on Tuesday by shooting 5 for 14 in Cleveland, Anderson was. It was Anderson Varejao that listened as Melo bark at him all the way down the floor following the technical foul on Tyson Chandler late, and it was the same frizzy haired Brazilian who responded by dunking on Anthony two possessions later. The same guy we call Andy who finished with game high's in rebounds (16), steals (4), and blocked shots (2), as indication of that pride, hustle, and overall toughness, to go along with his 10 points and 4 assists. Same guy who completely willed these Cavaliers to victory on Wednesday night because he believed in his teammates a thousand times more than those guys believed in D'Antoni's Knicks. 

I'm tempted to write that many words in about Anderson Varejao specifically right now too. He went out and grabbed 8 offensive rebounds on the game, a chance for 16 additional points, and the Cavaliers won by 10. He shot fifty percent from the field, and did his damage on both ends of the floor against a front-line that reads on paper Tyson Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Carmelo Anthony. He made things difficult for all those guys at different stretches in the game too defensively, whether playing in a one-on-one situation, or being in the right position to help under the basket. It took Stoudemire 19 shots to score 19 points, Carmelo scored 15 points on 14 shots, and Chandler stayed at a manageable 11-point number as well. Which was maybe why, during his post-game presser (video below), D'Antoni had his eyes closed for approximately one minute dreaming about just how awesome it would be to coach Anderson Varejao. Or maybe that was a minute long blink, I still haven't decided.



While it was Anderson Varejao who assumed that ultimate role of leading veteran to help the Cavaliers get back in the win column, I also have to give some credit to Antawn Jamison too. It's only fair. It did take him 15 shots to get to 15 points, and on one hand I did kinda knock Stoudemire's performance for that same thing, but regardless, a couple of the shots that Antawn did hit were big. His team won too, Stoudemire's didn't. Which is all these Cavaliers seem to ever do when New York shows up on the schedule. Omri Casspi seemed on his way to 20+ point performance too on Wednesday, as he was big in the opening the quarter with 9 points, and that's another positive as well for this young team. He would've finished with more than the 13 points he did score too if he hadn't been forced to the locker room with a cut that required stitches in his chin during the 3rd quarter. He returned to the bench, could've played, but by that time it was almost a route as the Cavaliers lead stayed around double digits for the rest of the fourth. Omri tweeted after the game that "it was a great team win" on Wednesday, and he was right about that.

There is a distinct difference between criticisms and critiques as far as NBA related commentary is concerned. Or I suppose any commentary. If a team doesn't show up, doesn't play hard, goes in the tank, gives up, quits, or whatever type of cliche' you feel like using to express that said team played with zero pride, then criticisms are fair. Byron Scott had his Cavaliers team ready to play last night. They didn't stagger into Miami the same way they limped off the floor in their previous two games, they were collectively ready to put forth a max effort in Miami last night, they did hold LeBron James (18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) ten points below his season average, and they kept a Heat team who usually hangs 100-plus on the board at a striking distance number of 92. So heading into Tuesday's game, I think Byron Scott did his part to stop the proverbial bleeding as it related to the Cavs previous three losses.


While he was somewhat forced too because Tristan Thompson was unable to go, he did also kinda give Samardo Samuels a chance that he hadn't given him over the last handful of games as well. He could've played Semih over Samardo, but B-Scott recognized that Erden was nowhere near athletic enough to be on the floor with Miami last night, and he didn't put him there. Good move. Samardo responded in 22 minutes with a game high plus / minus of +10 as a result, scored 15 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, dished out 2 assists, blocked 1 shot and added a steal as well. He should've played in the 4th quarter over Antawn Jamison though. Jamison posted a team worst plus / minus of -13 in 30+ minutes of work, scored only 5 points, grabbed only 4 rebounds, and allowed Chris Bosh to go off in the 4th quarter by scoring 17 of his game high 35 points in the decisive period. 17 points, and the Cavaliers lost by 7. That sound you hear is Jamison's trade value falling off the face of the NBA universe. Byron should have also most definitely not forgotten that Kyrie Irving was sitting on his bench too, until he remembered with only about 5 minutes left in the game, and he should've pulled Gee (who did play well on both ends) way sooner than the 1:57 mark also. 


Those are all critiques there though. If Byron doesn't steady the ship, if it's another Coach leading this team, the Cavs could've very easily had their doors blown off from the open jump last night, lost by 20+ again, and that feeling of progress you couldn't help turn the game off noticing would be non-existent. That game was a step forward though, no way around that, and hopefully some of what the Cavs did well last night will carry over into tonight's game with the Knicks. So I'm not criticizing Byron Scott at all, those are just the breaks sometimes. I am really wondering though, what the hesitation is behind giving Kyrie Irving 30+ minutes per game. Is it Kyrie's stamina at this point, a decision to manage minutes based on the compressed schedule? I suppose those would be good reasons, but I don't really know. I do know that Kyrie looked spectacular at times last night however, bouncing that ball off the backboard from all angles on his way to a team high 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting with 4 assists and 4 rebounds, and I did want to see him play more than the 25 minutes that he did. Maybe I'm just being greedy though.

Bob Finnan of The News-Herald published a quote from Antawn Jamison today that read like this: "Last year is last year, and that (stuff is) not going to happen. This is a different team. This is a better team. What happened last year happened last year. The biggest thing for us is that we're 6-9, we're tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference and the most important thing is to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible."


As opposed to 6-9, last year the Cleveland Cavaliers were 7-10 before the first time they played the Miami Heat. They were probably somewhere around being tied for seventh or eighth place in the Eastern Conference at that time too. I'm not totally sure about that though because I don't really start charting possible playoff match-ups until like the 40th or 50th game of the season, but that's just me. I guess Antawn does. But without knowing specifically, I suppose it is also fair to assume that the Cavaliers did hold a similar playoff position after seventeen games last year too.

We know what happened in that Miami Heat game a season ago though. The circumstances surrounding tonight's game with the Heat don't really compare at all either, beyond the fact that it does come at about the same time on this year's schedule, and the Cavs record is sorta the same heading into it. That was a totally different deal last season however, we all know that. No need to go back into all those reasons why it was. What last year's game against the Heat did do though, was send the Cavaliers season into a downward spiral of historically pathetic proportions that they never responded from. That pummeling on December 2nd impacted each of the games that followed, and the Cavs lost the next one million times they stepped on the floor as a result. More than simply losing though, they completely gave up too. Quit trying, quit competing, and quit caring about whether or not they got humiliated on the basketball court.

That was last season though, and Antawn is right that this year's team is a better team. Even though they lost their last three games by seventy-six points while Steph Curry, Derrick Rose, and Al Horford sat in street clothes, I still believe that. Antawn Jamison needs to step up and help prove that though. He can't be complaining about an offense that has no flow and at the same time chuck up one-handed runners that make no sense with 22 seconds left on the shot clock. He needs to be that veteran leader. He needs to help this young team play with the pride the Cavs didn't have last season. Offering the tough talk heading into tonight's game is a start, there's nothing wrong with what he said, and he's right on all accounts I think. But these Cavs need to also know that if they give a collective effort that's less than what would qualify as going all out, they will still get embarrassed this season too. Regardless of how much better they might be than the worst team in NBA history. They will get especially embarrassed by LeBron James and the Miami Heat too if they don't max out tonight.

On Friday I caught up with Brian Scalabrine following the Cavaliers loss in Cleveland to his Chicago Bulls. That conversation went up at SLAM Online earlier this afternoon, and here is the link if you missed it.


Below is an excerpt from my article with Scal as well:

The 10-year NBA veteran Brian Scalabrine was eating a salad over by his locker just after his Derrick Rose-less Bulls squad hung a 39-point beat-down on the Cavaliers this past Friday in Cleveland. Scalabrine had checked into the game a few minutes earlier and exploded for 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in eight minutes of work.

I walked over toward his locker, introduced myself and asked him if he had a few minutes to talk. He responded by putting his hand behind his right ear and offered the following in a voice loud enough for half the locker room to hear.

“What did you say?” he asked with a smile on his face. “I can barely hear you. I’m not sure if you noticed all those fans cheering for me out there when I checked in, but the crowd’s roar, it was deafening. You really gotta speak up.”

As everyone within earshot starting laughing, including me, The White Mamba then reached over, grabbed a chair, and motioned for me to sit down.

My conversation with the coolest guy in the NBA was as follows...

For Full Article: SLAM Online

I can only imagine how difficult this news must be for season ticket holders of the Canton Charge. My sympathies, you guys. Christian Eyenga is moving on though, and the direction he's heading is up. Back up to the Cleveland Cavaliers that is, effective immediately. This according to a report earlier today by Fox Sports.com's Sam Amico, who tweeted that Christian had been re-called from the Cavaliers D-League affiliate and is back on Broadway. Or back approximately near where South Broadway turns into Ontario. 


Sam also mentioned that after missing Saturday's game for personal reasons, Daniel Gibson was practicing today as well, and that it's yet to be determined whether or not Tristan Thompson's ankle will hold him out of Tuesday's game in Miami. 

Relevant information to be sure, but this is Skyenga's day. And while the term "slow start" only begins to describe the way he opened this Lockout shortened season, the fact of the matter remains that he is indeed back. Regardless of whatever. He'll have another opportunity here shortly to soar through the NBA skies once again, and my only hope is that Dave Wooley is ready to report back for duty here at StepienRules.com in order to continue chronicling Skyenga's further rise through the Cavaliers scoring ranks.

I posted my thoughts following the Cavaliers 121-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday over at WFNY earlier this morning. Below is an excerpt of that:

On Tuesday Stephen Curry did not play for the Golden State Warriors when they traveled to Cleveland. On Friday Derrick Rose didn’t play in Cleveland either, and on Saturday All Star Center Al Horford was sidelined for the Cavs visit to Atlanta as well.

After being 6-6 this past Monday, the Cavaliers dropped each of those three games by 10, 39, and 27 points respectively. In the words of Martin Lawrence back in 2003, stuff just got real.

Real adversity that stared this Cavaliers team and coaching staff directly in the face with each of Joe Johnson’s game high 25 points last night. Each of Jeff Teague’s 14, Marvin Williams’ 12, as well as each of fifty-eight year-old Jerry Stackhouse’s 6. It was that many Hawks who finished the night scoring 11 or more points for the game too, with 12 Hawks in total having scored, and this laugher was never close.

Not exactly the performance you’re looking for after getting humiliated at home the previous night by 40. If you are an organization that is trying to rebuild a team and culture after setting the record for the most ever consecutive losses in NBA history a season before, you cannot allow this recent trend of non-competitiveness continue. It has to stop.

The Cavs are going to lose games this year because their talent isn’t really too good. They’ll probably lose a lot of them by season’s end, and that’s not the problem. In some ways losing right now is beneficial in a big picture sense, but the unwillingness to compete, fight, or try on a nightly basis isn’t. Things could get much worse here too if that doesn’t change quickly.

For the full post go here: Cavaliers get smashed in Atlanta, have lost last three by seventy-six points

My recap of the Bulls 114-75 win over the Cavaliers last night is over at Waiting For Next Year this morning.

Below is an excerpt of what I wrote about it: 

I walked into the Bulls locker room just prior to tip-off on Friday because I wanted to say what’s up to Brian Scalabrine. When a living legend is in town it’s always good to at least stop by and say hello.

Prior to doing so, I was pretty sure the Bulls front-line was going to present some match-up issues for the Cavaliers last night. It wasn’t until I was actually standing there though, looking around the room at just how many super-athletic and extremely tall bigs the Bulls currently employ, that I realized the Cavs had no chance whatsoever of winning the game. I ended up talking to Scal and told him good luck tonight, because I knew he was about to get some serious burn.

He did too, because well before the game was technically over, the Cleveland Cavaliers had already been blown completely off their home floor by the visiting Bulls. The starting combination of Bulls’ Forwards (Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer) alongside their Center (Joakim Noah) finished with totals of 48 points, 32 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots for the game. They each played less than three quarters worth of minutes too.

In the process, they helped their squad win the Points In The Paint battle 50-28 overall, out-rebounded the Cavs as a team by 16 (54-48), and they led by as many as 42 points late in the 4th quarter before Scal went in and did work. [...]

For full post click here and read at WFNY

Cavs are in Atlanta tonight as they look to respond from this historically bad loss against Hawks. Tip-off at 7pm ET.

Byron Scott said after shoot-around today that he does expect Anthony Parker to be back in action tonight against the Chicago Bulls, although his minutes would be limited. He said that he does plan on re-inserting AP into the starting line-up for this one tonight too. 

I asked him if he still planned on using any of the rotation groups we've been recently introduced to over the last few games, which have included Alonzo Gee and Omri Casspi on the floor together along with extended minutes of Ramon Sessions together with Kyrie Irving as well, and he answered that by saying he'll probably go back to the normal rotations and then see what happens.

Here is that video: