Number One With A Bullet

Let's start with this...



Now allow me to say that I don't give a damn.  As long as the man behind the curtain is giving the Cavs a better chance to break the championship drought, he can meddle all he likes.  Integrity be damned.  So.... Let's just assume everything is on the up and up.  ;-j

Or better yet, in true American fashion, let us completely disregard it and focus only the portion that is of personal interest.  Who do the Cavaliers select with picks one and four?

As I see it the team needs to fill any two of three needs: point guard, true 5 and wing scorer.  Baron Davis is old, Andy and JJ are undersized and, damn, we need to score some points.  Hopefully the trade exception can help to fill the third hole, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  Let's examine the amateur availability.

True Center

All of the highly rated big men (Enes Kanter, Jonas Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo, Dontas Motiejunas, Jan Vesely) this season are foreign.  Since 2000 exactly 10 foreign players of 6'10" or taller have been taken with a top ten pick.  Of those ten let us excuse a couple (Andrea Bargnani, Danillo Gallinari) because they are primarily perimeter players.  Of the eight remaining, only three (Yao Ming, Pau Gasol, Nene) could be counted as successful on the court.  Let's bear in mind that there is not a lot of wiggle room here.  We are talking about top ten picks, but those who busted did so by any estimation.  Darko Milicic is the most famous of course, but let's not forget about Yi Jianlian.  At least you know his name.  Can you recall Mouhamed Sene (exactly 103 NBA points)?  Or Nikoloz Tskitishvili (2.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG for his career)?  Yeah, me neither.  And I would be remiss if I did not remind you all of our own DeSagana Diop (2.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG).  Now this measure only accounts for those who never attended college in the US, so perhaps I am unfairly penalizing Kanter (just like the NCAA!).  Still when using the #4 (there is no chance one of these guys goes first) overall pick, it might be smart to steer away from a demographic that has produced just three positive returns ever!  It is more difficult to scout these players because there is both less video and an unfamiliar level of competition, so will stray to the historical.

For the sake of this discussion we shall now assume that the Cavs will seek to grab a point guard and a dynamic scorer with their two picks.  It might even be possible to snag a big man with some upside (Trey Thompkins, Jeremy Tyler) at the top of the second round.  Literally every mock draft I have seen has the Cavaliers selecting Kyrie Irving at the top and Derrick Williams going second and, for now, we will table any discussion of which player is "better."  We need only to accept that we need two players.

The smart move is to pick Williams, the charismatic high-flyer, #1 overall to put butts in the seats and points on the board.  No doubt that Irving will be long gone by pick 4, but, unless someone starts buttering their bacon, either Brandon Knight or Kemba Walker will be available.  Irving is clearly the better PG prospect, drawing grand comparisons to Chris Paul, but, again, the Cavs need two exceptional players.  The only way to do this is to pick Derrick Williams #1 and "settle" for point guard 1a with the fourth pick.

I will stand by this.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl Update! - Aly Michalka

Plus bonus Brenda Song!  Aly should be schilling for every plastic surgeon with an advertising budget.  Oh mon dieu.

Alter Ego: Bruce Whiskers!

So I guess the feud with Catwoman is done with.

A Quest Called Tribe

How is the 2011 Indians season different than that of 2010?  Here it is in a nutshell.  In 2010, "closer" Kerry Wood would enter, get knocked around and then toss his glove into the stand over the dugout at the Tribe suffered yet another loss.  In 2011, closer Chris Perez becomes frustrated at his rust after not being needed for a week and vaults the pill over the center field wall after a 4-run Indians win.  Gotta love it.

Two days after I lamented Michael Brantley's team leading batting average of .298, boy have I gotten my come uppins.  After tonight's victory the Tribe boasts Trvais Hafner (.345), Brantley (.302) and Asdrubal Cabrera (.288) all in the top 22 in hitting for the AL.

It's very nice to see Carlos Santana starting to hit a bit more (3-for-6, 4 BB in the series, .325 AVG & .460 OBP over his last 11 games), although it has still yet to play out if Manny Acta's faith in him will be rewarded with true cleanup hitter production.  The highlight of the day for me, however, was not his dinger, but the throw he made to pick KC backstop Matt Treanor off of 2nd base.  Awesome.

Speaking of round trippers, Asdrubal Cabrera spanked his 7th of the season.  That is, loyal readers, a career high.  AzCab put up 6 in 581 plate appearances two years ago.  Much of the credit for the power surge is owed to double play parter and fellow Cabrera, Orlando.  O-Cab sat down with the younger middle infielder during spring training and explained that Asdrubal embodied more raw power than he had been showcasing.  Orlando recommended that Az pick an at-bat for himself every night, as long as the situation allowed, and just let 'er rip.  He has and the result has been the team lead in home runs.  This is a tangible example of the leadership and experience that Orlando Cabrera brings to the clubhouse and why he will stick with this team all the way to the playoffs.

I'm still not sold on Carlos Carrasco (5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB 5 K), but I have figured out a way to rationalize his presence in the rotation.  Not only is he an entire shade better than Jeanmar Gomez, but Carrasco (2-2, 5.03), who came into the season as the nominal #2 starter, could now very easily be regarded as our #5 man.  He's certainly the last of the bunch that I would pick to take the hill on any given day.

Lastly, I'll be surfing the North Coast this weekend and had my sights set on diggin' the Tribe/Reds game on Saturday whilst grabbing my free Shin Soo Choo jersey.  Cool, right?  Well, I made the mistake of putting an associate in charge of ticket acquisition.  Tonight, roundabout 9:40p, he informed that the game was sold out.  "No!", I said.  "How is this possible?"  But true it was.  Scrambling, I was able to snag some cheapies off of Stubhub before even those flew off of the shelves.  It will be awesome to drink in the vibe of a capacity crowd at the Jake for the first time since the ill-fated 2007 ALCS.

And I though I had nothing to say tonight.

Cheers

P.s. The Cavs pick at spots 1 & 4 in the NBA draft.  They got the top spot with the pick acquired from the Clippers, which had a 2.8% chance of being selected for #1.  Wow, but we'll chat about that tomorrow.

Pretty Girl 05.18.11 - Leah Remini

Ok, Leah calm down, you made this list.  As long as you don't speak.