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Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

Sorry, it is still too early to condemn the Wiggins for Love trade. Love serves a HUGE purpose in this offense even when he is not involved. He gives so much space for Kyrie and LeBron to work in the paint it is sick. Does Love's defense suck? Yep and he is not averaging 25+ points anymore, but everyone KNEW those numbers were going down to the 17-19 range. He still rebounds and he serves his purpose.

Maybe in the end we overpaid for a stretch 4 with no defense. But Wiggins still wouldn't fit this offense either. Wiggins would have needed to hit outside jumpers to fit in, and that is NOT his game still. Yes he would have been perfect defensively, but we now have Shumpurt and JR Smith filling that role and doing a good job of it.

Love is still learning, heck, the coach and his teammates are still learning how to play with him too. Now that Kyrie and LeBron have figured it out (ie those 2 playing together), I have a feeling over the next few weeks it will figure out the last cog, how to use Love better.

This post nails it to me. If he is in the 15-20 point range consistently and shooting a decent %, he is really a help. Plus his points are not needed in high volume from not only having LeBron and Kyrie, but JR Smith is scoring a ton and some other players are providing some points. And as you said, I hope everyone realized that he would not and need not average 25+ points. Even though he does not average that, he still is more than capable of it if someone is having a really off night/gets injured. I still hope for more from him but as of late, I think he has been a major asset for this team and will continue to grow. Not sure how the Wiggins trade will play out but I think we have not found out yet.
 
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Mozgov is the man.

Think he's my favorite Cavalier. Likely because he can't open his mouth and speak English so he just plays basketball. Which is good.

Seriously. How was he playing little enough in Denver that they were willing to move him? I've seen him miss a couple bunnies, but his all around shooting is much better than I expected when they made the deal. Denver really only got (maybe) 1 decent pick in the deal. Shump seems to be a poor mans Wiggins that does more what the Cavs need than Wiggins would have. Shump won't be as good of a defender, but being happy and productive as a 3 and D guy is important. Smith seems to be a great fit for the Cavs as well. He and Love are in a similar boat where they both can get open shots whenever Kyrie or Lebron want them to. Opponents have to understand that and can't gamble as much on defense because if Love or Smith go off the Cavs are going to win.

Let's get one more win before the break.
 
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Seriously. How was he playing little enough in Denver that they were willing to move him?

No doubt. I hate to dis a Buckeyes, but I'm so glad we got Mozgov instead of Koufos.

Watching Mozgov makes me think that he could get really worn down playing this much over a full season and playoffs. So, another benefit of Denver not playing him much is that he was fresh when he showed up in Cleveland.
 
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Mozzie Bear is the man, love what he has brought to the team. I remember his first game after the trade thinking that if he keeps it up, he will be the main ingredient we have been missing. He has done that and more...love how many second chances he gives us with his offensive boards, we have many guys who will not miss twice very often. Plus he is a better shooter than I expected. Obviously Shumpert and Smith have been very good additions and great off the bench, but I think Mozgov fills the biggest gap in terms of what this team was missing. Me enjoying watching the Cavs this much is pretty much uncharted territory.
 
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Lebron playing like he's on vacation tonight. Love's value as a floor spacer is showing tonight especially with Mozzy and TT in a little foul trouble. If they are going to beat the Bulls in the playoffs they'll need Love to play well.
 
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Last night.. the Cavs were TIRED.. understandably.. I'll take 13-2 runs
Agreed. I"m not too upset about last night...really everything just kind of went right for the Bulls like a perfect storm. Don't see that happening routinely in a seven game series. LeBron had an off night with the ball in his hands...several just weird turnovers and he was -27 in +/- last night. Cavs had 16 turnovers compared to the Bulls 8. And Mozgov got into foul trouble early which meant Chicago was able to rotate Gasol, Noah and Gibson pretty effectively while the Cavs were forced to go smaller with Thompson, Jones and Marion at times. Add to that Rose played like the Rose of old and the Cavs settled for tons of outside shots on a night where they were not shooting the ball all that well and it was amazing they were within single digits in the 4th. LeBron was 2-9 from three, Smith was 1-5 and Jones was 2-8. As Reggie said I would have liked to see more high ball screens by Thompson for Kyrie...think that could have helped given the big lineup Chicago was going with last night.
 
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