Game 51 : Cleveland Cavaliers (18-32) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (20-31) - 8:00PM

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[JonFromVA]

So, either a well rested Cavs team should beat this hard-tanking Thunder team, or the Cavs might as well start making future decisions with a Magic 8 Ball:

[Stillwater]

Poku got hot from 3 last night doubt he does it again on a back to back but as is this kid is proving every gm that passed on him to be a crash test dummy
Funny how that works isn't it... player with guard skills gets picked as a center but stock falls because he is a toothpick

[Stillwater]

With Bradley and Moses Brown although raw as hell for OKC the Cavs are going to miss JFro at the rim I am guessing in this one.

[JonFromVA]

Poku got hot from 3 last night doubt he does it again on a back to back but as is this kid is proving every gm that passed on him to be a crash test dummy
Funny how that works isn't it... player with guard skills gets picked as a center but stock falls because he is a toothpick

Yeah, Poku is a beast. He just made the ESPN 25 under 25 list!

[Stillwater]

Poku got hot from 3 last night doubt he does it again on a back to back but as is this kid is proving every gm that passed on him to be a crash test dummy
Funny how that works isn't it... player with guard skills gets picked as a center but stock falls because he is a toothpick

Yeah, Poku is a beast. He just made the ESPN 25 under 25 list!

see how dumb it looks to over react to one game lol

[JonFromVA]

Poku got hot from 3 last night doubt he does it again on a back to back but as is this kid is proving every gm that passed on him to be a crash test dummy
Funny how that works isn't it... player with guard skills gets picked as a center but stock falls because he is a toothpick

Yeah, Poku is a beast. He just made the ESPN 25 under 25 list!

see how dumb it looks to over react to one game lol

No, no ... Poku is unstoppable. If a player isn't a superstar by 19, they're never going to be one. There's zero chance that Hartenstein contests his shot and breaks him like a twig.

[Stillwater]

Yeah, Poku is a beast. He just made the ESPN 25 under 25 list!

see how dumb it looks to over react to one game lol

No, no ... Poku is unstoppable. If a player isn't a superstar by 19, they're never going to be one. There's zero chance that Hartenstein contests his shot and breaks him like a twig.

The truth hurts doesn't it ...when all you got is time lol

[JonFromVA]

see how dumb it looks to over react to one game lol

No, no ... Poku is unstoppable. If a player isn't a superstar by 19, they're never going to be one. There's zero chance that Hartenstein contests his shot and breaks him like a twig.

The truth hurts doesn't it ...when all you got is time lol

Does it? How are you feeling about Sekou these days and his 3.8 ppg and 34.3% shooting?

He just had his best game of the season the other day .vs. the Thunder.

I wonder if he was going up against Poku?

Talk about your Clash of the Stillwater Titans ...

[Stillwater]

No, no ... Poku is unstoppable. If a player isn't a superstar by 19, they're never going to be one. There's zero chance that Hartenstein contests his shot and breaks him like a twig.

The truth hurts doesn't it ...when all you got is time lol

Does it? How are you feeling about Sekou these days and his 3.8 ppg and 34.3% shooting?

He just had his best game of the season the other day .vs. the Thunder.

I wonder if he was going up against Poku?

Talk about your Clash of the Stillwater Titans ...

Yeah Sekou and Detroit are not good for eachother obviously he was better as a prospect than he has been in the NBA
sort of like DG was except for that game the other night where he actually played basketball at a pro level for once.

[JonFromVA]

Poku got hot from 3 last night doubt he does it again on a back to back but as is this kid is proving every gm that passed on him to be a crash test dummy
Funny how that works isn't it... player with guard skills gets picked as a center but stock falls because he is a toothpick

I'll grant you it was a back-to-back, so, we can certainly revisit in the future.

But... I'm staring to get why GM's passed on a 7ft toothpick, that didn't handle the ball all that well, creates 2 turnovers for every assist, shoots the 3 ball, but not very well, and was effectively defended at times by a 6'1" player you say can't defend anyone, and easily shutdown by our 6'5" rookie.

His length in the paint was nice? But who knows if he'll ever become strong enough to become a factor in the paint, let alone exploit shorter wings outside it.

Alas, I don't condemn 19 year olds, no matter how bad they may have looked in a single game.

If you want to get on NBA GM's after last night, Moses Brown says hi.

[JonFromVA]

The truth hurts doesn't it ...when all you got is time lol

Does it? How are you feeling about Sekou these days and his 3.8 ppg and 34.3% shooting?

He just had his best game of the season the other day .vs. the Thunder.

I wonder if he was going up against Poku?

Talk about your Clash of the Stillwater Titans ...

Yeah Sekou and Detroit are not good for eachother obviously he was better as a prospect than he has been in the NBA
sort of like DG was except for that game the other night where he actually played basketball at a pro level for once.

Fortunately for Garland, the NBA doesn't actually work the way you think it does.

[Stillwater]

Does it? How are you feeling about Sekou these days and his 3.8 ppg and 34.3% shooting?

He just had his best game of the season the other day .vs. the Thunder.

I wonder if he was going up against Poku?

Talk about your Clash of the Stillwater Titans ...

Yeah Sekou and Detroit are not good for eachother obviously he was better as a prospect than he has been in the NBA
sort of like DG was except for that game the other night where he actually played basketball at a pro level for once.

Fortunately for Garland, the NBA doesn't actually work the way you think it does.

It should work like this :
do what the org you were drafted by wants from you or expects from you then go do everything you were doing that got you there a thousand times over and over and over or find yourself a new team or maybe a new line of work...
DG and Sexton and Okoro have been given so much more opportunities to develop in CLE than the Sekou type project prospects have gotten but there is clear pathways for him to find a better situation. Time will tell sort of like IH who got a bad draw ending up in smallball hell with Harden and Westbrook and then being on a roster with a lot of bigs in Denver one of whom is basically the best passing center in nba history.( luckily it rubbed off)
I think front office expectations and current team matters as far as all of this development goes and Sekou being on the same roster as the disinterested Griffin who has dunked more in 7 games with the Nets than he did in the last season he played in Detroit seemingly being cooked tells you all you need to know with how bad that culture is in Detroit that he would go that far to get out. Not having a decent team around those kids there doesn't help them either.
But regardless of that and my interest in long term elite upside projects many of whom fade away and never reach their potential because of bad situations I don't think you can say DG or Sexton or Okoro would have any better outcomes on a different roster esp one like Detroit in fact I would guess most of them would be fighting for minutes and not getting very many at all for different orgs.
So yes the Cavs are a perfect place for developing these kids and no most orgs don't have the patience and so I don't think it is that unrealistic to expect more from DG given how much slack he has already.
He did not back up his solid performance btw , but I knew he wouldn't and so did you I would imagine given how much slack you are giving them.

[JonFromVA]

Yeah Sekou and Detroit are not good for eachother obviously he was better as a prospect than he has been in the NBA
sort of like DG was except for that game the other night where he actually played basketball at a pro level for once.

Fortunately for Garland, the NBA doesn't actually work the way you think it does.

It should work like this :
do what the org you were drafted by wants from you or expects from you then go do everything you were doing that got you there a thousand times over and over and over or find yourself a new team or maybe a new line of work...
DG and Sexton and Okoro have been given so much more opportunities to develop in CLE than the Sekou type project prospects have gotten but there is clear pathways for him to find a better situation. Time will tell sort of like IH who got a bad draw ending up in smallball hell with Harden and Westbrook and then being on a roster with a lot of bigs in Denver one of whom is basically the best passing center in nba history.( luckily it rubbed off)
I think front office expectations and current team matters as far as all of this development goes and Sekou being on the same roster as the disinterested Griffin who has dunked more in 7 games with the Nets than he did in the last season he played in Detroit seemingly being cooked tells you all you need to know with how bad that culture is in Detroit that he would go that far to get out. Not having a decent team around those kids there doesn't help them either.
But regardless of that and my interest in long term elite upside projects many of whom fade away and never reach their potential because of bad situations I don't think you can say DG or Sexton or Okoro would have any better outcomes on a different roster esp one like Detroit in fact I would guess most of them would be fighting for minutes and not getting very many at all for different orgs.
So yes the Cavs are a perfect place for developing these kids and no most orgs don't have the patience and so I don't think it is that unrealistic to expect more from DG given how much slack he has already.
He did not back up his solid performance btw , but I knew he wouldn't and so did you I would imagine given how much slack you are giving them.

Sarcasm? I'm assuming no ...

Yes, Sexton, Garland, and now Okoro have been gifted a ton of minutes to develop, but they'd all still be getting significant minutes on a better team (let alone Detroit?!?) because ALL THREE OF THEM have NBA talents that would be helpful off the bench.

Of course only on you would find a 21 & 5 +19 stat line in a win to be somehow unacceptable.

You know who the world thinks came down to Earth after that game?

Go figure ... it's your boy!

The Cleveland backcourt ran wild and Aleksej Pokusevski came back down to Earth Thursday night in Chesapeake Energy Area. With the loss, the Thunder have now moved to 20-32 and have lost five straight games.

Pokusevski’s hot-streak comes to an end

Pokusevski simply hasn’t looked like the same player lately.

Pokusevski finally came back to earth Thursday night, scoring just 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting. The 7-foot Serbian also snagged six rebounds and dished out two assists.

After breaking the Thunder rookie 3-point record on Wednesday, Pokusevski shot just 2-for-8 from 3-point land on Thursday.

Here's some of the things the same si.com article had to say about Darius (and Collin):

Cleveland’s guard combo capitalizes

Collin Sexton and Darius Garland took full advantage of Oklahoma City’s young backcourt in Thursday’s contest.

With unquestionably good chemistry, Sexton and Garland combined to score 48 points on 17-for-32 shooting.

Sexton led Cleveland with 27 points, consistently pushing the pace and attacking Oklahoma City’s defense.

Garland shot 53-percent from the floor.

cbssports has an article that points out that Garland has scored 20 or more points in 5 of his last 12 appearances, where all the articles pointing out that he failed once again to surpass 37 points.

[Stillwater]

Fortunately for Garland, the NBA doesn't actually work the way you think it does.

It should work like this :
do what the org you were drafted by wants from you or expects from you then go do everything you were doing that got you there a thousand times over and over and over or find yourself a new team or maybe a new line of work...
DG and Sexton and Okoro have been given so much more opportunities to develop in CLE than the Sekou type project prospects have gotten but there is clear pathways for him to find a better situation. Time will tell sort of like IH who got a bad draw ending up in smallball hell with Harden and Westbrook and then being on a roster with a lot of bigs in Denver one of whom is basically the best passing center in nba history.( luckily it rubbed off)
I think front office expectations and current team matters as far as all of this development goes and Sekou being on the same roster as the disinterested Griffin who has dunked more in 7 games with the Nets than he did in the last season he played in Detroit seemingly being cooked tells you all you need to know with how bad that culture is in Detroit that he would go that far to get out. Not having a decent team around those kids there doesn't help them either.
But regardless of that and my interest in long term elite upside projects many of whom fade away and never reach their potential because of bad situations I don't think you can say DG or Sexton or Okoro would have any better outcomes on a different roster esp one like Detroit in fact I would guess most of them would be fighting for minutes and not getting very many at all for different orgs.
So yes the Cavs are a perfect place for developing these kids and no most orgs don't have the patience and so I don't think it is that unrealistic to expect more from DG given how much slack he has already.
He did not back up his solid performance btw , but I knew he wouldn't and so did you I would imagine given how much slack you are giving them.

Sarcasm? I'm assuming no ...

Yes, Sexton, Garland, and now Okoro have been gifted a ton of minutes to develop, but they'd all still be getting significant minutes on a better team (let alone Detroit?!?) because ALL THREE OF THEM have NBA talents that would be helpful off the bench.

Of course only on you would find a 21 & 5 +19 stat line in a win to be somehow unacceptable.

You know who the world thinks came down to Earth after that game?

Go figure ... it's your boy!

The Cleveland backcourt ran wild and Aleksej Pokusevski came back down to Earth Thursday night in Chesapeake Energy Area. With the loss, the Thunder have now moved to 20-32 and have lost five straight games.

Pokusevski’s hot-streak comes to an end

Pokusevski simply hasn’t looked like the same player lately.

Pokusevski finally came back to earth Thursday night, scoring just 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting. The 7-foot Serbian also snagged six rebounds and dished out two assists.

After breaking the Thunder rookie 3-point record on Wednesday, Pokusevski shot just 2-for-8 from 3-point land on Thursday.

Here's some of the things the same si.com article had to say about Darius (and Collin):

Cleveland’s guard combo capitalizes

Collin Sexton and Darius Garland took full advantage of Oklahoma City’s young backcourt in Thursday’s contest.

With unquestionably good chemistry, Sexton and Garland combined to score 48 points on 17-for-32 shooting.

Sexton led Cleveland with 27 points, consistently pushing the pace and attacking Oklahoma City’s defense.

Garland shot 53-percent from the floor.

cbssports has an article that points out that Garland has scored 20 or more points in 5 of his last 12 appearances, where all the articles pointing out that he failed once again to surpass 37 points.

Your'e need to be for or against DG and Sexton is laughably predictable. I don't dislike DG because I love Sextons game and upside...I dislike DG because he was supposed to be better than he is.

[JonFromVA]

It should work like this :
do what the org you were drafted by wants from you or expects from you then go do everything you were doing that got you there a thousand times over and over and over or find yourself a new team or maybe a new line of work...
DG and Sexton and Okoro have been given so much more opportunities to develop in CLE than the Sekou type project prospects have gotten but there is clear pathways for him to find a better situation. Time will tell sort of like IH who got a bad draw ending up in smallball hell with Harden and Westbrook and then being on a roster with a lot of bigs in Denver one of whom is basically the best passing center in nba history.( luckily it rubbed off)
I think front office expectations and current team matters as far as all of this development goes and Sekou being on the same roster as the disinterested Griffin who has dunked more in 7 games with the Nets than he did in the last season he played in Detroit seemingly being cooked tells you all you need to know with how bad that culture is in Detroit that he would go that far to get out. Not having a decent team around those kids there doesn't help them either.
But regardless of that and my interest in long term elite upside projects many of whom fade away and never reach their potential because of bad situations I don't think you can say DG or Sexton or Okoro would have any better outcomes on a different roster esp one like Detroit in fact I would guess most of them would be fighting for minutes and not getting very many at all for different orgs.
So yes the Cavs are a perfect place for developing these kids and no most orgs don't have the patience and so I don't think it is that unrealistic to expect more from DG given how much slack he has already.
He did not back up his solid performance btw , but I knew he wouldn't and so did you I would imagine given how much slack you are giving them.

Sarcasm? I'm assuming no ...

Yes, Sexton, Garland, and now Okoro have been gifted a ton of minutes to develop, but they'd all still be getting significant minutes on a better team (let alone Detroit?!?) because ALL THREE OF THEM have NBA talents that would be helpful off the bench.

Of course only on you would find a 21 & 5 +19 stat line in a win to be somehow unacceptable.

You know who the world thinks came down to Earth after that game?

Go figure ... it's your boy!

The Cleveland backcourt ran wild and Aleksej Pokusevski came back down to Earth Thursday night in Chesapeake Energy Area. With the loss, the Thunder have now moved to 20-32 and have lost five straight games.

Pokusevski’s hot-streak comes to an end

Pokusevski simply hasn’t looked like the same player lately.

Pokusevski finally came back to earth Thursday night, scoring just 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting. The 7-foot Serbian also snagged six rebounds and dished out two assists.

After breaking the Thunder rookie 3-point record on Wednesday, Pokusevski shot just 2-for-8 from 3-point land on Thursday.

Here's some of the things the same si.com article had to say about Darius (and Collin):

Cleveland’s guard combo capitalizes

Collin Sexton and Darius Garland took full advantage of Oklahoma City’s young backcourt in Thursday’s contest.

With unquestionably good chemistry, Sexton and Garland combined to score 48 points on 17-for-32 shooting.

Sexton led Cleveland with 27 points, consistently pushing the pace and attacking Oklahoma City’s defense.

Garland shot 53-percent from the floor.

cbssports has an article that points out that Garland has scored 20 or more points in 5 of his last 12 appearances, where all the articles pointing out that he failed once again to surpass 37 points.

Your'e need to be for or against DG and Sexton is laughably predictable. I don't dislike DG because I love Sextons game and upside...I dislike DG because he was supposed to be better than he is.

I don't much care about your expectations because they never seem to be based on anything beyond your opinion.

I listen to your observations because at least they're verifiable.

[Stillwater]

Sarcasm? I'm assuming no ...

Yes, Sexton, Garland, and now Okoro have been gifted a ton of minutes to develop, but they'd all still be getting significant minutes on a better team (let alone Detroit?!?) because ALL THREE OF THEM have NBA talents that would be helpful off the bench.

Of course only on you would find a 21 & 5 +19 stat line in a win to be somehow unacceptable.

You know who the world thinks came down to Earth after that game?

Go figure ... it's your boy!



Here's some of the things the same si.com article had to say about Darius (and Collin):



cbssports has an article that points out that Garland has scored 20 or more points in 5 of his last 12 appearances, where all the articles pointing out that he failed once again to surpass 37 points.

Your'e need to be for or against DG and Sexton is laughably predictable. I don't dislike DG because I love Sextons game and upside...I dislike DG because he was supposed to be better than he is.

I don't much care about your expectations because they never seem to be based on anything beyond your opinion.

I listen to your observations because at least they're verifiable.

The great thing is I don't need your validation to be right or wrong and my expectations are based on
more than just my own observations.

[JonFromVA]

Your'e need to be for or against DG and Sexton is laughably predictable. I don't dislike DG because I love Sextons game and upside...I dislike DG because he was supposed to be better than he is.

I don't much care about your expectations because they never seem to be based on anything beyond your opinion.

I listen to your observations because at least they're verifiable.

The great thing is I don't need your validation to be right or wrong and my expectations are based on
more than just my own observations.

For sure, you be you Stillwater. I gave up a long while ago that I might be able to change your mind about anything. If I can implant an idea from time to time that sticks, that's a bonus.